QUEEN ELIZABETH - 2

JULY- 2007  QE2 has been sold to Istithmar,the investment arm of Dubai World, a wholly owned company of the Government of Dubai. Nakheel, developer of The Palm Jumeirah, is also a Dubai World company. The cost of the deal is said to be worth US $ 100 million. Delivery to Dubai Nov. 2008. It will be used as Hotel and Museum ship.
About Popularity:
Final Voyage of Cunard's Q E-2, sailing from Southampton to Dubai on November 11, 2008 was sold out within  minutes of going on sale. The books opened for this historic voyage on June 27, at 6:00AM Pacific Daylight Time, and in just over half an hour all space was gone.
Facts:
Sailed 5.6 million nautical miles - that's more than any other ship ever, and the equivalent of travelling to the moon and back 13 times
Carried almost 2.5 million guests
Completed 24 Full World Cruises - 802 Atlantic crossings - In total 1438 voyages.

July - 20 - 2009 The world's most celebrated passenger liner, the Queen Elizabeth 2, is expected in Cape Town, its new home for 18 months as a floating hotel for the 2010 World Cup.
After weeks of speculation, the vessel's Dubai-based owners said that, after extensive negotiations with South Africa's National Tourism Department, it is confident that the QE2 will steam into Table Bay and berth in Cape Town harbour in the next two months, and will remain here until at least December 2010.


Cunard Line - United Kingdom a Carnival Corp. Company.Second ship with this famous name.
Built as the last British built traditional oceanliner. Her maiden voyage took place in May 1969. The QE-2 had slowly built up a following trading off her superliner status and statisfying a niche market with scheduled Atlantic crossings and cruises around the world.
Due to her steam turbine engines she was not that profitable vessel as expected. The decission was made to re-engined her with a diesel-electric powerplant of 99.500 kW in total.The conversion was carried-out between end 1986 and April 1987 at Lloyd Werft - Germany together with other modifications, which included a fatter and more attractive funnel. She is still the fastest passenger ship presently in service with a top speed off 32 knots.The fastest cruiseliner in operation - QE2 can go faster backwards than most cruise ships can go forwards!
Extra thick steel hull for strength and stability for Atlantic crossings.

When the new Queen Mary-2 enter service in 2003 she will replaced the QE-2 on the Atlantic crossings. From that time the QE-2 will be used for cruises out of Britain. It is expected that in the near future her career is drawing to a close. It happened 2008 see above!

Gross Tonnage: 70.327 - Built: 1969 at Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in the UK - Refits: '72/'77/'82/'86-87/'92/'94/'96/'99/2001/2004 - Number of passengers lower beds: 1791 - All berths: 2008 - Passenger decks: 12 - Length: 293,53 m. - Beam: 32,06 m. - Flag: UK


The first Queen Elizabeth


Welcome QE-2 May 2004 North Sea Canal - Amsterdam


QE-2 May 2004 North Sea Canal - Amsterdam


Sydney


                                                                                ATLANTIC CROSSING

November 11-2008 The Duke of Edinburgh went on board to meet crew members and hand-over a painting to the major of Southampton. All images below are of courtesy of Cunard Line.
Dubai:nov.26-2008  The famous ship's foghorn sounded long and deep and the setting sun gilded the water of Port Rashid as the QE2 wound her way around the last bend heading towards a new beginning. Resounding cheers from hundreds of well-wishers swarming the banks filled the air as the stately luxury liner glided by.
Earlier, while the iconic ship sailed past The World, heading towards Dubai's Port Rashid, an Emirates A380 performed a fly-by in honour of her arrival, the plane was joined by a Royal Navy helicopter.The yacht belonging to His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai - led a flotilla of more than 60 yachts, accompanied by Royal Navy Frigate HMS Lancaster.
At 2pm nov.28 a glorious era came to a close and another began as developer Nakheel officially took delivery of the QE2.

That was the moment when the contract to transfer ownership from UK shipping company Cunard was signed as the world's best-loved liner lay moored at Dubai's Mina Rashid. Later, at a ceremony on a small deck next to the bridge, the handover was marked by the lowering of Cunard's flags and their replacement with those of the UAE and Dubai-based Nakheel.
Cunard President Carol Marlow was momentarily overcome by emotion as she spoke. "The time has come for Cunard to bid farewell to its longest serving vessel"
Nakheel last year agreed to pay £50 million (then worth Dh368m) for the ship. Now, having taken possession, the company will send its engineers to assess the vessel and finalise plans for her conversion. The work, to be carried out at Dubai Drydocks, will take up to three years and the vessel will then take pride of place at a specially built precinct at the Palm.
Febr. 10-2009 The multi-million-dollar transformation that would turn British ocean liner the QE2 into a floating luxury hotel in Dubai may be faltering under worsening economic conditions. Nakheel, the government-owned company that's handling QE2's transformation, may have altered or postponed the plans to convert the former cruise ship into a luxury hotel after scaling back on several major projects and slashing 500 jobs.It's still too early to tell exactly how the QE2 project will be impacted by Nakheel's financial tightening, but news of the company's struggles have led maritime blog sites to speculate about a different fate for QE2, including a one-way ticket to the scrap yard or even a repurchase of the classic vessel by Cunard.

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