• The entire suite could be rented for use for large corporate, conference and convention, hospitality and national and international diplomatic events -- cocktail parties and receptions with drinks and hors-d’oeuvre. Over 1,000 guests could be easily accommodated in the suite at one time.
• Individual rooms might be rented in combinations for smaller hospitality occasions.
• Weddings and receptions might be held in any or all of the lounges.
• The main lounge could serve as a regular venue for a live entertainment/cabaret operation called simply "The Main Lounge".
• Guided tours, an important part of the historic attraction, would be strengthened. Paid visitors could be ushered through these restored rooms when not in active hospitality use. Instead of two bare bones "ballrooms" – the Queen’s Salon and the Royal Salon -- with chair storage spaces, pantries, kitchen, dingy hallways and tourist facilities tucked in-between, the magnificent suite of five lounges in a golden circle would once again astonish guests and visitors alike -- as they did when first completed.

We propose to re-establish the rooms with their original décor and original configuration. Instead of servicing the rooms from small pantries at their ends as they were originally, today they can be serviced from a single central pantry located in the space that once was the third funnel hatch and the forward engine hatch. This joined area was decked over in the conversion and converted into a kitchen. It occupies part of the space of the ballroom and all of the space that was the starboard gallery. This kitchen now services the Promenade Café and Chelsea Restaurant as well as the Queen’s Salon and Royal Salon when used for banqueting. A pair of original service elevators in its center goes down to the main kitchens on R deck as well as to the administrative space above – where new upper deck kitchens might be created.

• The Promenade Café would be removed and replaced by the Sun Deck Café, a better and larger space on Sun Deck.

• The Chelsea Restaurant would be removed and replaced by a restaurant in the Verandah Grill (an original restaurant space) with an outdoor eating area called the Verandah Café – again a bigger and better space.

• New upper decks kitchen would be created on Sun Deck where administrative offices are now located. These administrative and sales offices would be relocated to a better space in the proposed Queen’s Wharf complex. The existing upper deck kitchens on Promenade Deck , minus the area of the starboard gallery and ballroom, would serve as a central serving pantry for this suite of lounges.

• The character defining enclosed promenade would again encircle the promenade deck with the turnabout re-opened just aft of the first class smoking room. This would allow tourists and visitors to circle promenade deck without intruding on the space reserved for hotel guests and Club Queen Mary members at the aft end of the ship.

• A slight shortening of the long gallery by about 12 feet would allow for integration of the internal grand staircase and elevator leading up to the Verandah Grill and create a crosswalk thru the ship as well as lobbies for both the long gallery on the port side and ballroom on the starboard side.

Cocktail parties and receptions – we see these lounges furnished and used as originally designed for hospitality receptions and cocktail parties, not sit down banquets, nor stripped for business meetings that are set up theater-style.

Weddings and receptions – the rooms as designed and originally furnished are perfect settings for wedding ceremonies and receptions.

Cabaret Queen Mary - We envision an elegant crowd enjoying the show with waiters serving drinks. During an extended intermission we see the audience moving through a heavy hors d’oeuvre line in the long gallery, some stopping to sit at elegant tables and chairs set up in the restored ballroom, others moving into the smoking room to light up, (and to be entertained by a magician?"), and others making their way into the starboard gallery for a quieter atmosphere before returning to the main lounge for the rest of the show.

The Long Gallery

With its entire space re-assembled and restored, its windows uncovered, its paneling -- including the areas forward of the fireplace and its side- screens restored, its furniture and carpet re-assembled and/or recreated, the smoking room would once again be ready to receive guests.

The Ballroom

The Starboard Gallery

Chair Storage, Kitchens, Pantries and Lavatories

In most cases little or no furniture need be removed from the rooms for their planned hospitality uses. In the case of the Main Lounge, the center of the room might be opened up for dancing by removing some of the tables and chairs in the center of the room. The second funnel hatch located just forward of the room provides a perfect location for storage and logistical support for hospitality services.

 The recommended approach showing the center of the lounge cleared for dancing.

The Enclosed Promenade

The enclosed circling promenade was one of the most prominent and defining architectural characteristics of the Queen Mary. Circling enclosed promenades are being incorporated into the new Queen Mary 2 and the planned Queen Victoria. The enclosed promenade on the Queen Mary is entirely recovered in this proposal to its pre-war majestic sweep.

• The turnabout is re-opened to allow visitors and guests to circle the deck without intruding on the Club Queen Mary.
  
• Lobbies are created to add dignity to the lounges.
  
• Shops are restored to their original boundaries to recreate the majestic sweep of the enclosed promenade.

Related articles from the Retained Riches, Lost Glories and Hidden Treasures areas series of articles are available on this site:

• The Enclosed Promenades
• The First Class Lounge
• The Long Gallery
• The First Class Ballroom
• The Starboard Gallery and First Class Cinema

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