A July 18, 2025 visit to the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach offered another opportunity to revisit the former Cunard liner and her art deco surroundings. Permanently moored in Southern California since 1967, she preserves a connection to the era of express Atlantic crossings and the wartime service that earned her the nickname “Grey Ghost.”

In July 2004, we traveled aboard Queen Mary 2 (Cunard Line) on an 11-night Northern Europe cruise from Southampton during the ocean liner’s inaugural year. Beginning with embarkation on July 11 as Day 1, the voyage visited South Queensferry for Edinburgh, the Norwegian fjords, Ålesund, Bergen, Hamburg and Rotterdam before returning to Southampton on July 22. This master gallery brings together our photographs from the voyage, with individual port galleries documenting each stage of the cruise in greater detail.

This collection preserves the story of my friend, jazz musician Alan Rowe, through the original tickets, daily programs, menus and other memorabilia he saved from his September 10–15, 1964 transatlantic crossing aboard RMS Queen Mary (Cunard). Traveling Tourist Class from Southampton to New York, Alan was on his way to the United States after receiving a full scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston.

In June 2022, we traveled aboard Queen Elizabeth (Cunard Line) on a seven-night roundtrip Alaska cruise from Vancouver, British Columbia. The voyage combined scenic cruising in Glacier Bay with visits to Icy Strait Point, Sitka, and Ketchikan before returning to Vancouver on July 1. This master gallery brings together our complete voyage aboard the third Cunard ship to carry the Queen Elizabeth name.

On Day 6 of our July 2004 Northern Europe cruise, Queen Mary 2 (Cunard Line) visited Ålesund, Norway, on July 16 during the ocean liner's inaugural year. Arriving after the previous day's visits to Hellesylt and Geiranger, the call continued Queen Mary 2's first voyage through Norway and placed Cunard's new flagship against Ålesund's distinctive island and mountain setting.

RMS Queen Mary is one of the most celebrated ocean liners of the twentieth century and an enduring symbol of the golden age of transatlantic travel. Built for Cunard White Star and entering service in 1936, she competed for the Blue Riband, served as a vital Allied troopship during World War II, and carried passengers across the North Atlantic for more than three decades. Since completing her final voyage in 1967, Queen Mary has been permanently preserved in Long Beach, California.

On Day 5 of our July 2004 Northern Europe cruise, Queen Mary 2 (Cunard Line) made her first visit to Norway, calling at Hellesylt before continuing through Geirangerfjord to Geiranger on July 15. The inaugural-year visit placed the new ocean liner among the steep mountains and waterfalls of the Norwegian fjords, where Marco Polo (Orient Lines) was also anchored at Geiranger.

Queen Mary 2 (Cunard) entered Long Beach Harbor on February 23, 2006, for her historic first meeting with RMS Queen Mary. Thousands gathered around the harbor and hundreds of boats took to the water as Cunard’s modern flagship approached her legendary namesake, bringing together two generations of transatlantic ocean liners during Queen Mary 2’s first visit to the U.S. West Coast.

Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 arrived in Los Angeles on January 23, 2006, during her annual World Cruise. Illuminated at Berth 93 that evening, the legendary ocean liner was nearly 37 years into her Cunard career and less than three years from retirement, yet still making long-distance voyages around the world.

On Day 3 of our July 2004 Northern Europe cruise, Queen Mary 2 (Cunard Line) anchored off South Queensferry on July 13 during her inaugural year. Positioned in the Firth of Forth near the historic Forth Bridge, the call provided access to Edinburgh while offering distinctive views of Cunard's new flagship against one of Scotland's best-known maritime and engineering landscapes.

Queen Elizabeth 2 (Cunard Line) crossed the North Atlantic from Southampton to New York on Voyage 1160, April 14–20, 1999. The crossing formed the final leg of QE2’s 1999 World Cruise and was also our honeymoon, making this voyage both an important part of the Ocean Liner Photography archive and a personal record of travel aboard one of the most celebrated ocean liners of the twentieth century.