QE2 sold as $100m floating Dubai hotel

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | June 18, 2007 | David Millward

[Stoat]

QE2 sold as $100m floating Dubai hotel

By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
 

Last Updated: 3:54pm BST 18/06/2007

 

 

 

• Profile: The world's most famous cruise liner
• Have you travelled on the QE2? Was it worth the money?
• Where is she now? QE2 webcam

  After nearly four decades as the world’s most celebrated ocean-going liner, the QE2 is to become a floating hotel off the coast of Dubai.

  
  The QE2 on a previous visit to Dubai in 1997. The liner will become a luxury floating hotel
  
   

  The veteran of 25 world cruises and more than 800 transatlantic crossings will undertake its final commercial voyage from Southampton to Dubai in November next year.

  Cunard will then hand the liner over to its new owners, Istithmar, the Dubai Government’s investment arm, in a £50.5 million deal that demonstrates the Gulf emirate’s continued commitment to investment in its tourist industry.

  The QE2 will be then berthed off Dubai’s futuristic Palm Jumeirah development, the world’s largest man-made island on which many celebrities have bought property.

  The liner will undergo a substantial refit, before being tethered to a specially constructed pier where, apart from serving as a luxury hotel, it will be used as a shopping and entertainment destination.

  It will provide much needed hotel rooms at an emirate where, despite a frantic building programme, tourist accommodation is at a premium.

  The refurbishment programme will aim to recreate the ship’s original interior décor and fittings. The resort will also feature a museum dedicated to the history of the QE2, which has carried 2.5 million passengers since its maiden voyage in 1969.

  Its fate echoes that of another iconic ship, the Queen Mary 2, which became a floating hotel off Long Beach, California when it went out of service in 1967 after 31 years afloat.

  The QE2’s sale comes at a time when the cruise industry is flourishing because of an increasing number of retired people with a substantial disposable income.

  More than 1.2 million Britons a year go on cruises and it is estimated that the industry is growing at around 12 per cent a year.

  Even though the QE2 is still the fastest cruise liner in the world, the ship faces competition from newer craft.

  “In ocean going ship terms, she has had a very long life," said Carol Marlow, Cunard’s president and managing director. "It is certainly the longest serving-liner we have ever had, it has outlasted other transatlantic vessels.

  “She is still doing very well in terms of bookings and technologically it is maintaining very well.

  “But because of her age, we would eventually have to find her a new home. The offer from Dubai means that it will be possible to preserve both the ship and the heritage."

  However many will mourn the demise of the liner which not only has carried generations both around the world and across the Atlantic, but also saw service in the Falklands campaign.

  She was requisitioned and used as a troop ship, setting sail for the south Atlantic on May 12, before returning to Southampton on June 11.

  In Dubai, the prospect of providing a new home for the QE2 was greeted with enthusiasm as the resort tries to establish itself as a"global tourist destination."

  Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of the Government-owned Dubai World, the developers of the Palm Jumeirah, described the ship as"one of the wonders of the maritime world."

  It would, he claimed, have a new home at"the newest wonder of the world."

[PAR35]

Its fate echoes that of another iconic ship, the Queen Mary 2, which became a floating hotel off Long Beach, California when it went out of service in 1967 after 31 years afloat.

Luckily for him, not the sloppiest reporting I've seen all day. He gets a runner-up award. I guess no one uses copy editors any more.

[Stoat]

Military Ping

I thought that the fate of this proud ship might be of interest to those who served in the Falklands War, as well as many others.

 

In 1982, the vessel was requisitioned for the Falklands War as a troop ship.

She set sail on May 12 that year and arrived safely back in Southampton on June 11, with many of the survivors of the conflict on board.

 

In 1982, the vessel was requisitioned for the Falklands War as a troop ship.

She set sail on May 12 that year and arrived safely back in Southampton on June 11, with many of the survivors of the conflict on board.

[Stoat]

I guess no one uses copy editors any more.
 

Sadly, this is evident in so many places.  Even something as simple as pressing the spell-check button seems to be beyond the ability of many newspaper writers, as I am frequently able to find multiple spelling errors, oftentimes on the same page, in many major newspapers.  Flawed as spell-check functions remain, even errors that are so glaring as to be easily caught by these rudimentary functions often appear in print.

 

[Stoat]

What wonderful pictures - thank you.

You're quite welcome, and I'm delighted that you have enjoyed them.  :-)

 My grandfather came home on the QM from WWII during her “Grey Ghost” years. He said she’d been stripped down to bones.

Amazing memories to be cherished forever.  I often wonder if there would be a similar will for private industries and corporations to pull together these days in the event of a national crisis, as was the norm in WW2.  With the endless shrill squabbling and anti-Americanism having been elevated to a virtue, I have grave doubts that such a cohesive unity could be achieved in the present-day climate.

[Stoat]

I can safely say I water skied the wake of the QE2 as she cruised through the Panama Canal somewhere around 1978. Mighty big wake!

And I'm guessing that the ship was most likely running at a reduced speed, as is often the standard procedure while in inland waterways (steamship companies don't like to be sued by waterfront property owners for washed-out bulkheads and damaged docks and vessels).  A huge underwater mass like that is going to displace a LOT of water volume  .....sounds like a memory to be retold for generations around the campfire  :-)

I've enjoyed many a wild ride on the family sailboat when the Trident submarines pass by  :-)

[AGreatPer]

Quite the view from your garden. Nice post.

[ßuddaßudd]

I beleive I may still have photos of that day and ship. My Dad darn near killed us all on several occasions on the wakes of ships. Many good memories of being in Panama.

[Stoat]

I beleive I may still have photos of that day and ship.

If you can find them without too much trouble, I as well as I'm sure many others would love to see them posted to this thread.

My Dad darn near killed us all on several occasions on the wakes of ships. Many good memories of being in Panama.

hehe!  I'm glad that you survived your youth (which was a similar concern for many of us)

[Churchillspirit]

The Queen Mary is alive and well and doing a great job in Long Beach.

She is visited by thousands of people each year and is not only a floating hotel, but a convention center as well as being on the register of historic places.

Every week hundreds of folks (several of them school children) learn of the part she played in history. As well as carrying the rich and famous across the Atlantic for almost thirty years, she did yeoman work during WW11 as a troop ship.

I wish her sister ship, Queen Elizabeth 2 long life in her new home.

[Churchillspirit]

David Millward should do his homework.

It is The Queen Mary which is in Long Beach, not The Queen Mary 2

[namsman]

I’ve been to Dubai several times on business and alcohol is freely available in hotels. In fact, I washed down some very nice pork ribs with a beer at a barbecue on the grounds of the airport Meridian Hotel. If they had casino gambling Dubai could give Las Vegas a run for its money. I once arrived at the airport shortly after a flight from Moscow and was amazed at the number of good looking, young, blonds who were “visiting”.

I think the country might be regarded as a big “Rick’s Cafe Americain” used for R&R by the gulf region’s residents. No body wants to mess things up by suggesting that enforcement Sharia is a bit lax for most things. One still has to be careful about not eating or drinking in public during Ramadan. Hotels make concessions by not having live music and placing screens that block public views of restaurants.

[RJL]

The older liners are so much more beautiful than the newer floating hotel designs.

I absolutely agree, the QE2 is a truly beautiful ship, while the newer ships are... NOT.

[GATOR NAVY]

QE2 exiting the Straits of Messina astern of my ship at 25 knots and heading north last spring.

[dalereed]

“The Queen Mary is alive and well”

That total rust bucket was lucky to have made it around the cape on it’s last trip coming to Long Beach.

I had the contract to construct the Jacque Casteau Museum of the Sea in the bildge of that thing.

It’s lucky it didn’t sink on the way here.

[Churchillspirit]

The RMS Foundation is dedicated to preserving the ship.

As you obviously know, that is a daunting task - given her age, but I see improvements every day. She is certainly doing better than her contemporaries.

[the scotsman]

‘England’s QE2’?...

The QE2 was built on the Clyde shipyards of Glasgow,Scotland.