I was just in Long Beach for a conference and we stayed at the Marriott Renaissance. Hotel was pretty nice and the price wasn't bad either. As for the Queen Mary, I would not recommend it! The conference I was at had booked a reception on the Queen Mary and the ship was also the conference hotel. Everyone we talked to either complained about the rooms or actually moved to a decent hotel. The boat itself is nice and the reception hall was beautiful but the rooms are dated and not very nice. In addition, the ship is on the other side of the waterway from downtown.