DUBAI, April 18 (Reuters) - The Queen Elizabeth 2 (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 $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 … [Read more...]
QE2 to Open as Floating Hotel in Dubai
By Zainab Fattah (Bloomberg) -- The Queen Elizabeth II ocean liner may finally start generating returns for Dubai after the emirate spent $100 million buying the vessel more than a decade ago. The 963-foot (294-meter) cruise liner has been turned into a hotel and will be moored permanently at Mina Rashid in Dubai, according to an emailed statement. It will eventually have 13 … [Read more...]
Drydocks World to Convert QE2 Ocean Liner to 5 Star Luxury Hotel
The Queen Elizabeth 2, the ocean liner known as the QE2 that plied the Atlantic for almost 40 years, will be moored in Asia as a 400-room luxury hotel after plans to keep the ship in Dubai were scrapped. Drydocks World, a unit of state-owned Dubai World, signed an agreement with Oceanic Group Pte Ltd., a cruise company with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, to … [Read more...]
Queen Elizabeth 2 to Anchor Port Rashid Makeover
By Asa Fitch Dubai's decision to turn the Queen Elizabeth 2 into a floating hotel has ended years of uncertainty about the fate of an asset snapped up at the height of the global economic boom. Istithmar World, the investment arm of the state-owned Dubai World, purchased the vessel in 2007 for $100 million from the cruise operator Cunard. The original plan was to turn it … [Read more...]
QE2 Headed for Cape Town
The Queen Elizabeth II is headed for Cape Town, South Africa. This just in from BBC News: Cunard sold the Southampton-based liner for £50m to the United Arab Emirates real estate developer Nakheel. It had planned to refurbish the ship and open it as a floating hotel in Dubai but that has been put on hold. The QE2 will now go to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape … [Read more...]