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Graphic shows timeline and details of Queen Elizabeth 2 liner.
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DUBAI

Venerable liner QE2 returns to service as hotel

By Mike Tyler

September 25, 2018 - Cunard’s former flagship, the 50-year-old Queen Elizabeth 2, returns after 10 years of retirement to serve as a luxury floating hotel and museum at Port Rashid in Dubai.

The new owners, CFC Hotels, part of Dubai’s Ports, Customs and Free Zones Corporation, opened sections of the ship to guests in April. All 13 decks of rooms and the dining and entertainment areas await the official opening in October.

Guests can expect to see QE2 period furniture, famous memorabilia and other classic interior design features. The rooms and suites will have the original portholes and windows.

Travel Weekly notes that QE2, launched on Sep 20, 1967, by Queen Elizabeth II, had travelled more miles than any passenger vessel afloat when her engines were turned off in 2008. She made her maiden voyage on May 2, 1969, to New York. She set records for transatlantic speed during her cruise life, and once carried British troops during a wartime deployment. She crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times and carried more than 2.5 million passengers before her retirement.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 25/09/2018; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Other
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