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Home > Ocean Liners > QE2 > QE2 News 2007 (QE2 Sold articles) > The QE2 was the last beautiful ship - why are her successors so ugly?

After 40 years at sea, QE2 sails off to become a retail destination in Dubai

Record-breaking Cunard liner to be moored off huge artificial island
Maev Kennedy and Mark Milner
Tuesday June 19, 2007
Guardian - taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/transport/Story/0,,2106121,00.html

Time and commerce have done for the QE2, the last survivor of the era when luxury passenger liners looked like ships and not like floating apartment blocks.
The ship, which has carried more than 2.5 million passengers since it was launched by the Queen on the Clyde in 1967 - making it the longest-serving in the history of the Cunard line - has been sold to Dubai for £50m.

It will be moored off the Middle East coast as a hotel, shops, and a museum of its own glamorous history.

The QE2 has been a record breaker both for speed and endurance, but after 40 years and 5.5m miles, keeping it at sea for much longer would have started to cost serious money.

Historic ships experts yesterday thought Cunard had got a remarkably good price, given that much more money will now have to be spent after the new owners promised to restore the original glamorous interiors, which are a hymn to the swinging 60s, decked out in plastic, brightly-coloured leather, and a bar with a scarlet baby grand piano.

Cunard is selling to Istithmar, the investment arm of Dubai World, owned by the government of Dubai. In 2009 the QE2 will become a floating "hotel, retail and entertainment destination" at the Palm Jumeirah, the enormous palm-shaped artificial island being developed as a complex of tourist hotels and apartments, also by Dubai World.

Its chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, said: "She is coming to a home where she will be cherished."

Carol Marlow, president of Cunard, said yesterday: "We are delighted that when her legendary career as an ocean liner ends, there will continue be a permanent home for her that will enable future generations to continue to experience fully both the ship and her history."

Over 40 years the QE2's passengers have included most of the crowned heads of Europe, politicians including Lady Thatcher and Nelson Mandela, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and explorer Sir John Blashford-Snell, stars including Vera Lynn, most of the Beatles individually, Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

The 40th anniversary cruise in September, back to the Clyde where the ship was built - now almost empty of shipping - was already sold out, but tickets will now be snapped up for all its remaining voyages. "She was a wonderful thing, marvellously ship-like, beautiful sweeping line," said Martyn Heighton, director of National Historic Ships, the organisation which compiles the register of the national collection of important old ships. "But at 40, she really was getting on a bit. Basically ships only have 30 years in them, whether they're a modern passenger ship or a timber warship - after that keeping them going gets very, very expensive."

Dubai World also includes Dubai Ports World, the company which won a bid battle last year for control of the British company P&O, which operated almost 30 ports around the world. DPW paid £3.9bn for the 165-year-old P&O but the takeover ran into a storm of political protest in the US, where it was claimed the sale of terminals at six US ports, including New York, could have national security implications. Amid calls for the deal to be blocked, the US federal government gave Dubai's acquisition of P&O its blessing. But in response to the opposition DWP agreed to sell the US operations to an American company in a hastily arranged deal.

Yesterday Sultan bin Sulayem said that as a maritime nation Dubai understood the importance of the ship. "QE2 is without a doubt one of the wonders of the maritime world, and is easily the most famous serving liner in the world today. I am delighted we will be able to create a home for her on the newest wonder of the world, the Palm Jumeirah." While the vessel will doubtless be magnificently restored, one feature will have to go - the Player's Club casino falls foul of Dubai's strict anti-gambling laws.

The hot, dry climate should help in the long-term preservation of the ship, Mr Heighton said. "I never actually sailed on her," he added sadly. "But I did once wave to her as she came into port."

Timeline

  • September 1967 The 70,000-tonne ship is officially launched at John Brown Shipyard on the Clyde by the Queen.
  • April 1969 Maiden voyage to Las Palmas. QE2 goes on to cross Atlantic 800 times, and circumnavigate globe 24 times.
  • January 1971 Rescues 500 passengers from burning French ship Antilles.
  • May 1982 Sets out for South Atlantic in May carrying 3,000 troops, and 650 volunteer crew, returning safely to Southampton the following month.
  • 1986 Steam turbine engines replaced with diesel.
  • 1990 QE2 sets diesel-engined record for fastest Atlantic crossing: four days, six hours and 57 minutes.
  • April 1992 Extensive repairs after hitting rocks off Massachusetts.
  • September 1995 Survives 95ft wave during Hurricane Luis.
  • 2004 New 150,000-tonne Queen Mary 2 takes over as Cunard flagship.
  • September 2007 The 40th anniversary cruise from Southampton to the Clyde is already fully booked, with tickets starting at £1,069.

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