The people behind The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor (Thirteenth Floor Entertainment) have put on a couple of offseason haunt events at the Queen Mary over the years, but their Valentine’s Day event Dark Masquerade was the first of a kind. Initially, it was only set for February 13th (Friday the 13th) and February 14th (Valentine’s Day). Now, it’s expanding to March 13th (Friday the 13th) and March 14th, 2026.
Here’s the official description from their website.
Dress to haunt—and be haunted—at Dark Masquerade, an after-hours takeover of the Queen Mary. Sway through a high-energy masquerade dance party under dimmed chandeliers and creeping fog, then slip into the ship’s belly for story-driven encounters where Dark Harbor icons pull you deeper into their legends.
Descend six fathoms below the waterline for Gale’s Requiem, follow bass-thick vibrations down grated catwalks as you slip past gauges and humming pipes, stand inside the “resonance” circle to feel the pulse climb, and watch Dr. Edwin Masters’ final test derail as Graceful Gale seizes the baton and turns the room—and you—into her orchestra; clutch a single red glowstick for The Search for Mary, weaving with your sweetheart through shadowed corridors in pursuit of mischievous Scary Mary; then brave Sweethearts’ Slaughterhouse, where you’ll peek past swinging kitchen doors, decode the Chef’s love-letter menu, and decide if you dare accept his bite-sized “tastings” before the dessert bites back.
Every ticket includes a complimentary masquerade mask. Themed eats and signature cocktails are available for purchase throughout the ship.
The Good Of Dark Masquerade
Luckily for people like me, who live and breathe spooky events during the Fall months, this is slightly spooky. There are characters walking around in costume and the various experiences feel like miniature versions of the larger and more intricate mazes on the ship during the actual Dark Harbor event. Some of the spaces are also usually only allowed for VIP or people who have the speakeasy tokens during the actual event. Gale’s Requiem is one of those experiences, taking guests down to the bottom of the ship, six fathoms deep. It has a dancing performance from Gale and is a pretty cool visual, as you can see above.
Sweetheart’s Slaughterhouse is also a welcome change to the maze formula, instead taking guests on a story that feels a bit interactive. You’re tasked with telling characters information and finding items to help move the story along. It looks like they’re taking a page out of the Delusion book, which is always a good thing, as that’s the best event that Thirteenth Floor puts on year in and year out.
The Search For Mary is also a small version of the Lullaby maze, and it features the best part of that maze, the catwalk sequence, high above the area where Gale’s Reqiuem is held. You can hear guests screaming from above if you’re watching Gale, so that’s a nice touch.
Each of these experiences is an abridged version of the full-on event, but they feel like you get enough out of your ticket for it to feel worth it.
The Bad Of Dark Masquerade
Part of me wants to go easy on this event because it was the first one, and part of me doesn’t because Thirteenth Floor should know better at this point. The absolute worst thing about this event was the “food”. I paid $75 between two people for two drinks (that’s okay, alcoholic drinks are always marked up at any haunt event) and two bowls of the coldest mac and cheese that I’ve ever had. That’s where I’ll draw the line.
Some hiccups with timing of groups or spacing out people in Sweetheart’s Slaughterhouse, I can forgive, it’s a live production. The food not being hot is an entirely different thing. It was simply unacceptable, and for people going to the March events, I sincerely hope they fix the food, or just grab something before heading out to the event.
The other issue was the lines with drinks. They had different themed cocktails at each bar, with certain bars having exclusive cocktails. The one near the dance floor had the longest line, and employees had to get to the point of telling guests that there were other bars with shorter lines. The problem there, is that if you want the blue tequila drink, you HAVE to get it at the bar with the longest line.
The other small thing on The Search For Mary event is that the opening section was so dark and didn’t have any sort of signs to tell guests where to go, that we almost ended up running into a wall.
Dance The Night Away, But It Definitely Needs Some Fixes
If you’re in the mood to dance, there’s plenty of that going on at Dark Masquerade. People were dancing the entire time I was at the event. For an offseason experience, this is close. If they change up the food on offer (having death themed macaroni and cheese can might as well be food trucks outside or something like that), and find a way to fix the lines at the bars, this would be a great date night for you and your significant other.
You can buy tickets for the March 13th/14th events on their website and get more information about dress codes, and other policies.
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