Queen Mary at risk ?

[anonymous-user]

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19289793.fears...


Not sure how much of this is hyperbole , but it doesn’t make for good reading !

Such a waste of a iconic ship.

[sherman]

A fool and their money will need to be parted to take that on. I suspect its for the scrap heap but stranger things have happened

[Simpo Two]

Interesting that the ship is now 'Scottish' - it may have been built there but was paid for and owned by Cunard.

[Crafty_]

Picture of the captains quarters, 2008. It was raining outside, the bucket is doing a bad job of collecting the rainwater thats coming in through the roof. Another of the "on display" rooms had water pouring over a piece of furniture.



On one side they had cut out the side of the ship and added a box like structure so you could see one of the propellers:


You could also get down to the engine rooms, which bar the walkways and cutaways in various bits of machinery it hadn't been too messed about with. There was some sort of shonky "haunted" tour which (in pitch darkness) took you through lots of rooms below decks where machinery had been removed, a flash on the camera showed.. well, not much. This also took you to the swimming pool, which was still intact but wasn't really being looked after.

Up on deck the lobby areas, bars etc all looked ok and were quite lovely - I love the old grandness of her and her ilk.

She wasn't really being maintained, that much was clear. A few years ago there was another report of her being in a bad state and there was some talk of a guy who was trying to raise money to bring her to the UK, the plan being to tow her back. I'd be surprised if she made it to be honest, In any case it came to nothing.

The problem is to get it back in to a decent state just isn't going to be worth it - you just wouldn't get your money back.

Edited by Crafty_ on Tuesday 11th May 20:55

[Condi]

Very expensive things to maintain when new and bringing in a profit. No doubt hideously expensive at nearly 90 years old and tied to a dock for years.

[h0b0]

I recently watched a video on this topic

[aeropilot]

I was on her back in April 1999 (met up with some friends who were staying on her for a few days) and she wasn't looking great then to be honest.

Very sad if she ends up being scrapped, which I suspect will be the case before the end of the decade.

[Simpo Two]

If I was the boss of Carnival, and had it not been for the pandemic, then with my spare billions I might have bought it and got it going again just for the hell of it. Penty of publicity and PR there!

[hidetheelephants]

Crafty_ said:

She wasn't really being maintained, that much was clear. A few years ago there was another report of her being in a bad state and there was some talk of a guy who was trying to raise money to bring her to the UK, the plan being to tow her back. I'd be surprised if she made it to be honest, In any case it came to nothing.

The problem is to get it back in to a decent state just isn't going to be worth it - you just wouldn't get your money back.

There's no chance the USCG would let her be towed anywhere without a lot of money being spent on repairs, modifications and that huge hole being plugged; moving her on a semi-sub barge is the only plausible way of doing it. Destined for razor blades barring a loony with more money than sense turning up.

[aeropilot]

hidetheelephants said:

Crafty_ said:

She wasn't really being maintained, that much was clear. A few years ago there was another report of her being in a bad state and there was some talk of a guy who was trying to raise money to bring her to the UK, the plan being to tow her back. I'd be surprised if she made it to be honest, In any case it came to nothing.

The problem is to get it back in to a decent state just isn't going to be worth it - you just wouldn't get your money back.

There's no chance the USCG would let her be towed anywhere without a lot of money being spent on repairs, modifications and that huge hole being plugged; moving her on a semi-sub barge is the only plausible way of doing it. Destined for razor blades barring a loony with more money than sense turning up.

And for the same reason, that could also cause an issue to scrapping it, as its age makes it likely that there is a lot of asbestos pipe lagging on her, and I would think Long Beach Port wouldn't be too keen on her being cut-up where she sits now, so even towing her somewhere to be scrapped will likely mean spending more money to make it fit for towing than she's worth as scrap...?

She may well end up looking like the sad decaying & rusting hulk of the SS United States moored up in Philadelphia dockyard.

[Crafty_]

Quite. That plan wasn't tenable. I agree though, I can't see her moving from where she is in one piece. I suppose the start of the end will be if the hotel closes because she isn't safe.

I read somewhere, or was maybe told she had concrete poured in to her for stability.

I wonder if they could save some of the rooms / interior so they could be re-created? if there was space you could take the whole lobby area.
Or maybe this (minus the oiks )



or the Bridge:


Far as I know she's still a record holder:

[anonymous-user]

Big problem is when she arrived in long beach they gutted a whole level , took all bar one of her engines/boilers etc out , which not only affects her structure (but lost things to actually see! Her remaining engine room is very popular apparently? I believe the Cousteau ? museum never happened so all that gutting was for nothing.

I personally would love to see her home in Scotland somewhere. Maybe boris instead of spending £200 million on a new royal yacht, could bring her home? Wouldn’t have to be Scotland of course. Restoration could be a UK wide effort.


Incidentally why is she kept afloat rather than dry dock ? Wouldn’t that have preserved have infinitely?

[hidetheelephants]

A drydock big enough would have cost much more than they paid for the ship.

[anonymous-user]

hidetheelephants said:

A drydock big enough would have cost much more than they paid for the ship.

What about now ? Would it still be possible? Not necessarily at that site though.

[paulguitar]

Simpo Two said:

If I was the boss of Carnival, and had it not been for the pandemic, then with my spare billions I might have bought it and got it going again just for the hell of it. Penty of publicity and PR there!

Small change for Carnival's owner, Micky Arison. He's worth $10 billion and also owns the Miami Heat basketball team. Seemed a decent bloke to me as well when I worked for him.

[anonymous-user]

paulguitar said:

Small change for Carnival's owner, Micky Arison. He's worth $10 billion and also owns the Miami Heat basketball team. Seemed a decent bloke to me as well when I worked for him.

Carnival own Cunard don’t they? So it would be coming full circle if that happened.

[paulguitar]

Iwantafusca said:

paulguitar said:

Small change for Carnival's owner, Micky Arison. He's worth $10 billion and also owns the Miami Heat basketball team. Seemed a decent bloke to me as well when I worked for him.

Carnival own Cunard don’t they? So it would be coming full circle if that happened.

They do, and yes, good point.

[aka_kerrly]

Iwantafusca said:

hidetheelephants said:

A drydock big enough would have cost much more than they paid for the ship.

What about now ? Would it still be possible? Not necessarily at that site though.

Anything is possible, however as a bit of a reference point the dry dock for the SS Great which is barely a third of the size of the Queen Mary cost £10m in 2005. That's a concrete lined hole with a glass panel at what would be water level to create a sealed environment for the hull, it's still quite high maintenance.

There are bound to be people on this forum with expertise in this area but i think it's fair to say anyone who could get involved with this kind of project has billions.

[anonymous-user]

hidetheelephants said:

There's no chance the USCG would let her be towed anywhere without a lot of money being spent on repairs, modifications and that huge hole being plugged; moving her on a semi-sub barge is the only plausible way of doing it. Destined for razor blades barring a loony with more money than sense turning up.

I guess in some ways that can have a positive flipside; in that she couldn't be easily towed anywhere for scrapping either without substantial work? Though I suppose she could potentially just be broken up where she is?!

[Simpo Two]

paulguitar said:

Iwantafusca said:

paulguitar said:

Small change for Carnival's owner, Micky Arison. He's worth $10 billion and also owns the Miami Heat basketball team. Seemed a decent bloke to me as well when I worked for him.

Carnival own Cunard don’t they? So it would be coming full circle if that happened.

They do, and yes, good point.

Clearly we need to write to Mr Arison...! Back with Cunard where she belongs, and think of the prices he could charge for a cruise on the original Queen Mary...