DUBAI, 19 April 2018:
The Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) ocean liner has been given a new lease of life as a floating hotel in Dubai, 10 years after the Gulf Arab emirate bought it for US$100 million.
State-owned Dubai World bought the QE2 from Cunard Line in 2007, but the 2008 financial crisis delayed any plans for the 40-year-old vessel – one of the world’s most famous ships.
Now the QE2, permanently moored at Mina Rashid port, has been refurbished based on the original design – from its carpets to the theatre and even restaurant menus featuring dishes served in the liner’s heyday.
A reception housed in a boat-shaped structure at the quay welcomed guests to official opening yesterday.
Large portraits of United Arab Emirates rulers hang opposite portraits of a young Queen Elizabeth II and Samuel Cunard, founder of the company that built the ship.
The QE2 first entered service in 1969 and has sailed around the world 25 times, carrying more than 2.5 million passengers, the company said.
In its new incarnation, it has 1,300 rooms, with rates ranging from less than US$200 to as much as US$15,000 for a suite. It also has a museum and 13 restaurants and bars.
Dubai hopes the QE2 will boost tourism in the most visited city in the Middle East, which welcomed over 15 million tourists in 2017. Officials say they are targeting 20 million by 2020.
Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, the world’s largest ocean liner, was also docked at Mina Rashid yesterday and sounded its horns to mark the occasion.
– Reuters