Why didn't they turn the RMS Olympic (Titanic's sister ship) into a hotel like they did with the Queen Mary?

Question

If people are so interested in Titanic, it would seem logical to have preserved the Olympic.

Answer 1

Olympic was scraped in the 30's.........long before the fascination with Titanic began.......that started with "A Night to Remember" a book and then film in the 50's and then went thru the roof when Ballard found the wreck and Cameron made the movie.........

when it was time to scrap Olympic people were only too happy to let the memory of Titanic go; there were also hundreds of ocean liners afloat and working in the 30's so an old clapped out steamer wouldn't have been an attraction......and as the other poster mentioned, turning Mary into a hotel was the first of its kind deal which was/is touch and go.......

Answer 2

There are probably a lot of answers -

First, Queen Mary was the first passenger liner and possibly the largest ship to ever be preserved in such a manner.  The success of the project was very much in doubt from the very beginning, and the project hasn't been the most successful.  There were a few times when the future of the ship in Long Beach was in doubt.

While Titanic does have a large cache' not nearly as many people know of Olympic.  While the Olympic was a distinctive liner in her own right, it's arguable that she wasn't nearly as "famous" or celebrated liner as either of Cunard first Queens (Mary and Elizabeth).

Unlike military vessels, ocean liners don't appear to be as attractive to maritime museums and other preservation organizations because they don't appear to be nearly as much of a draw as military vessels.