Timeframe: How the QE2 got a new lease of life as a floating hotel in Dubai

It's been five years since the world-famous ship was transformed

QE2 reopened in 2018 as a floating hotel at Port Rashid. All photos: Antonie Robertson / The National

A theatre where live entertainment is held on Dubai’s only floating hotel, the Queen Elizabeth 2, which is being taken over by French hospitality group Accor.

The interior of the ship, which is permanently docked at Dubai's Mina Rashid port, has been completely preserved.

The midships lobby area in the restored QE2.

The old Golden Lion pub.

The casino is filled with slot machines - now purely decorative.

A games arcade cluttered with old machines remains.

The QE2's stairs have been restored.

The hotel has 447 hotel rooms and nine food and beverage outlets.

Inside a deluxe room on the QE2 hotel.

Inside the renovated Yacht Club restaurant on the QE2.

The corridors are all soft carpet and 1970s kitsch.

The ocean liner is named after the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The midships lobby area in the restored QE2.

On April 18, 2018, a new chapter began for the world-famous QE2. After more than 1,400 voyages and years of rumours about her fate, she opened her doors to a new generation of guests as a floating hotel at Dubai’s Port Rashid.

At the time, Hamza Mustafa, chief executive of PCFC Hotels, which owns and developed the vessel, said: “It is one of Dubai’s most highly anticipated projects and we know that a lot of people are going to be very excited to see her for the first time, or to step back on board the vessel that created so many wonderful memories during her 40 years at sea.”

When PCFC Hotels brought the QE2 to Dubai in 2008, the initial plan for the 70,000-tonne vessel, which saved it from the scrapyard, was to restore her as a 500-room floating hotel on Palm Jumeirah. It was expected that the ship would undergo a significant refit, restoring the QE2’s original interior decor and fittings. And once complete, it would feature shops, restaurants, cafes and a museum showing the history of the ship.

The QE2 sets out on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1969. Getty Images

When the 2008 financial crisis scuppered these plans, what followed was years of rumour, conjecture and indecision.

In 2009, the QE2 was supposed to have travelled to South Africa in time for the World Cup the following year. It never happened. Another plan reported in 2013 was for the QE2 to become a hotel in either Hong Kong or Singapore. However, this also turned out to be an empty announcement. Other plans to take the ship back to Scotland never came to fruition and reports she was to be scrapped refused to go away.

However, plans to transform her into a hotel finally came to fruition six years ago. The ship now features a gym and indoor pool, and a theatre that regularly attracts international names.

In 2022 it was announced that Accor Hotels had taken over the management of QE2 Hotel with plans to further refurbish and enhance the ship.

The QE2 was built in the famed shipyards of John Brown in Clydebank, Scotland. The liner was launched on September 20, 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II and took her maiden voyage in 1969.

Queen Elizabeth II and Dr John Rannie attend the launch of the QE2. Getty Images

It would go on to become the Cunard Line’s flagship for more than 30 years, succeeded by the Queen Mary 2 in 2004.

When the QE2 was bought by Dubai World in 1997, it had completed more than 800 Atlantic crossings and had carried 2.5 million passengers.

The 293.5m vessel had also been used as a troop carrier by the UK during the Falklands War.

The ship could accommodate 1,892 passengers and 1,040 crew and could reach a top speed of 34 knots after being converted from steam to diesel in the 1980s — faster than many modern ships.

During its long career, it also attracted celebrities such as Nelson Mandela, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and Buzz Aldrin.