Travellers' Checks | Queen Elizabeth 2 luxury ocean liner to become floating hotel in Dubai
The QE2 has been languishing in a port in the Middle East since 2008 but may finally be back in the spotlight as reports surface of a major facelift
All kinds of rumours and speculation have surrounded the former Cunard flagship since she was sold to a Dubai investment company in 2008. As well as possible scrapping in China, and a return to Britain, floating-hotel plans go back at least as far as 2009, when she was expected to be sent to Cape Town to serve as such. Hong Kong and Singapore were also suggested as possible locations in 2013, but she has barely moved since 2008.
Launched in 1967, the QE2 first dropped anchor in Hong Kong in 1975, on her maiden round-the-world tour, and visited the city several times.
Another regular visitor to Hong Kong was the MV Doulos, which tied up alongside Ocean Terminal many times to sell cheap, mostly Christian-themed books to hordes of local readers in the 1990s and 2000s.