Queen Elizabeth 2

Queen Elizabeth 2 as a floating hotel in Dubai in March 2020
History
Owner	1969–1971: Cunard Steamship Company Ltd 1971–1998: Trafalgar House 1998–2008: Carnival Corporation & plc Since 2008: Istithmar World, Dubai
Operator	1969–2008: Cunard Line 2018–2022: PCFC Hotels 2022–present: Accor[1]
Port of registry	1969–2008: Southampton, United Kingdom 2008–2018: Port Vila, Vanuatu Since 2018: Dubai, UAE
Route	North Atlantic and cruising during Cunard service
Ordered	1964
Builder	John Brown and Company (Upper Clyde Shipbuilders), Clydebank, Scotland
Cost	£29,091,000
Yard number	736
Laid down	5 July 1965
Launched	20 September 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II
Completed	26 November 1968 (Sea trials commenced)
Maiden voyage	2 May 1969
In service	1969–2008
Out of service	27 November 2008
Identification	IMO number: 6725418 1968–2009: Callsign: GBTT, British ON 336703 2009–present: Callsign: YJVW6, MMSI number: 576059000
Status	Floating hotel & museum at Mina Rashid, Dubai
General characteristics
Tonnage	(1968): 65,863 GRT, 37,218 NRT [3] (1994): 70,327 GRT, 37,182 NRT
Displacement	49,738[2]
Length	963 ft (293.5 m)
Beam	105 ft (32.0 m)
Height	171 ft (52.1 m)
Draft	32 ft (9.8 m)
Decks	10
Installed power	3 × Foster Wheeler ESD II Boilers (original design) 9 × MAN B&W 9L58/64 (1987 refit)
Propulsion	Two Brown-Pametrada Steam Turbines (original design) Two GEC propulsion motors (2 × 44 MW) (1987 refit) Two five-bladed variable-pitch propellers (post powerplant replacement)
Speed	34 knots (63 km/h) max 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h) service 20 knots (37 km/h) astern
Capacity	1,777 passengers 1,892 (all berths) passengers
Crew	1,040

Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) is a retired British passenger ship converted into a floating hotel. Originally built for the Cunard Line, the ship was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic liner and a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was then laid up until converted and since 18 April 2018 has been operating as a floating hotel in Dubai.^[4]

Queen Elizabeth 2 was designed for the transatlantic service from her home port of Southampton, UK, to New York, United States.^[5] She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Queen Elizabeth 2 was designed in Cunard's offices in Liverpool and Southampton and built in Clydebank, Scotland. She was considered the last of the transatlantic ocean liners until "Project Genesis" was announced by Cunard Line in 1995 after the business purchase of Cunard by Micky Arison; chairman of Carnival and Carnival UK. Project Genesis was intended to create new life in the ocean liner saga, and in 1998, Cunard revealed the name: RMS Queen Mary 2.

Queen Elizabeth 2 was refitted with a modern diesel powerplant in 1986–87. She undertook regular world cruises during almost 40 years of service, and later operated predominantly as a cruise ship, sailing out of Southampton, England. Queen Elizabeth 2 had no running mate and never ran a year-round weekly transatlantic express service to New York. She did, however, continue the Cunard tradition of regular scheduled transatlantic crossings every year of her service life.

Queen Elizabeth 2 retired from active Cunard service on 27 November 2008. She had been acquired by the private equity arm of Dubai World, which planned to begin conversion of the vessel to a 500-room floating hotel moored at the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.^[6][7] The 2008 financial crisis intervened, however, and the ship was laid up at Dubai Drydocks and later Mina Rashid.^[8] Subsequent conversion plans were announced in 2012^[9] and then again by the Oceanic Group in 2013,^[10] but both plans stalled. In November 2015, Cruise Arabia & Africa quoted DP World chairman Ahmed Sultan Bin Sulayem as saying that QE2 would not be scrapped^[11] and a Dubai-based construction company announced in March 2017 that it had been contracted to refurbish the ship.^[12] The restored QE2 opened to visitors on 18 April 2018,^[13] with a soft opening.