Donning a black-and-white service cap, a captivating smile and seemingly endless amounts of enthusiasm, Paul Jacek proudly serves as the Queen Mary’s first officer.
He first experienced the Queen Mary as a 12-year-old in the 1970s. Half a century later, Jacek remains enamored by the ship and its mystifying history.
After two periods as a tour guide, Jacek became the first officer in 2024 and quickly became a recognizable face for locals and tourists alike.
Jacek’s Childhood
In Longmont, Colorado, Jacek grew up in a fairly theatrical family. His mother was, in his eyes, one of the greatest storytellers in the world, and his father was a mechanical engineer — two subjects that Jacek would later gravitate towards.
“I was such a strange kid,” Jacek said. “The only place I would go to was the theater, which was the greatest freedom. With that great gift that imagination is, you can do and be anything.”
His infatuation with ships started when he was 7 years old and watched the musical comedy, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”
Jacek’s face quickly turned pale after seeing the Titanic dramatically sink into ice-cold waters. According to one of his half-brothers, Jacek ran across the aisles, then rushed outside the theater and into the crosswalk, where his half-brother luckily intercepted him.
Soon after, an interest in engineering led to him studying the inner workings of the Titanic’s reciprocating engines. Then at age 12, another legendary ship was in his sights.
“When I found out that a ship called the Queen Mary was going to be in California, oh, I went to the library as often as I could,” Jacek said.
Since his aunt and uncle lived in Seal Beach, he got to spend some time every summer on board.
During Jacek’s first Queen Mary experience, he remembers looking through the car window and feeling like he was in a Broadway play.
“It’s a real thing.”
“To realize that this was actually a floating thing and that it moved really boggled my 12-year-old mind,” Jacek said.
He fondly remembers walking the decks, seeing the engine room, which housed the Museum of the Sea with an aquarium, and watching Sparky the electric eel and Nipper the Maine lobster.
According to Jacek’s family members who served in the Navy, each ship contains a singular soul. After departing the Queen Mary for the first time, they told Jacek he was talking to the ship’s soul.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you got to work here?’” he said.
A Dream Come True
Jacek didn’t have to dream long. He became a Queen Mary tour guide in 1980, where he worked for four years. Afterward, he went off to Hollywood, working as an actor, comedian and in a variety of other jobs.
The Queen eventually called him back to Long Beach. In 2023, he learned they were hiring tour guides and got his old job back. One year later, he became the ship’s first officer.
“I get to show the kids whatever age, the stuff I look[ed] forward to as a kid. It’s a little surreal,” he said.
As the Queen Mary’s first officer, he serves as a historian, public ambassador and VIP tour guide.
Over the years, Jacek has built a formal-focused standard for himself based on his time working in theatre and as a flight attendant.
“The secrets of life are the principles in the theater. Keep your chest to the balcony. It’s a perfect tilt to the head. Speak clearly, make sure your clothing is clean and get off stage,” he said.
Jacek’s Queen Mary Stories
The Queen Mary is 92 years old, officially launching on Sept. 26, 1934. On July 27, 1967, the Cunard Line accepted the City of Long Beach’s $3.45 million bid to purchase the Queen Mary. Three months later, the ship made its “Last Great Cruise” from Southampton, England to Long Beach, where it resides to this day.
Walking the decks over the years, from a young kid to an employee, Jacek has a unique perspective of the ship and its passengers.
Jacek experienced what the ship was during the ‘70s and ‘80s, when the ship’s patrons were spread across first, second and third class.
“A lot of people want to know what it was like to travel from first class, but the bulk of people travel in the other two and those are the stories I’m really looking forward to hearing because it’s as if it’s not the same ship because of the socioeconomic differences,” he said.
He also knew Captain John Treasure Jones, the last captain to set sail on the Queen Mary in 1967 and a celebrity in the nautical community. He said the captain had charisma and surety in himself, two things Jacek admired.
“When I was told I was going to be a first officer, I thought, ‘My goodness, I hope you can see Captain Jones. I hope you can see where you are because I would like to be as much of an officer as you were,’” Jacek said.
While he doesn’t have any “heads falling out of cabinets” stories, he remembers a particularly eerie search for a guest’s phone with passenger information employee Maria. He went down with her to find the phone inside the NO3 Speakeasy.
Just when they were about to turn to leave, Jacek heard a voice say, “It’s in this chair.”
He asked Maria if she said anything, but she hadn’t. When he turned back to check the chair, the phone was in fact sitting there.
Want more local news?
Sign up for the Signal Tribune’s newsletters
Heartbreak and Struggles
Though his first tenure aboard the Queen Mary ended over four decades ago, the lows of this time stick with Jacek just as much as the highs. Jacek somberly reflects on when he worked on the ship in the ‘80s during the AIDS crisis.
“Somebody asked me on tour, ‘Why don’t you go to the wedding chapel?’ and I didn’t know this ‘til I said it, ‘Because that’s where I buried all my friends,’” he said. “These poor men, their families had thrown them away, so it was the crew that took care of [them].”
In 1990, the Queen Mary displayed the AIDS Quilt, a traveling memorial for departed victims of the disease. Jacek vividly remembers studying the panels of the quilt and seeing the name of someone he went to college with.
Jacek had no idea they died.
He stood there and dropped his head. Then, Jacek was approached by an elderly woman holding tissues with a sweater that says, “Hello, my name is: listens.”
“That’s all she was to do here: stand and see people’s stories. That really impacted me,” Jacek said. “I stood at the bedside of three of my friends that have passed. So really, it’s true: life is breath to breath. The rest is paperwork.”
Even with the anguish, he still gets excited to come to work and meet new people — even though he jokingly admits he might have a four-star day from time to time.
“I got enthused and excited to come to work, I got to meet [a] lovely lady today, you know, What’s new? What’s next?” he said.
