This past week, Cunard celebrated its 175th anniversary, and stage a show of its Three Queens (Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2) in the Mersey at Liverpool. But one of its storied Queens was in distress, half a world away. The QE2, sold in 2008 to serve as a luxury hotel in Dubai, lies moldering at a pier, with no future plans.
Once the flagship of Cunard's fleet, QE2 was built at a point where trans-Atlantic crossings by ship had mostly given way to jets, and she was therefore built for both that trade and the cruise business—but she was a true liner, with a classic profile, unlike today's ships, including her Cunard successors, that look like a hotel strapped to a hull.
QE2 was sold in 2008 to Dubai World, and later to another company, but neither was able to complete the hotel project. In 2013, the engines were turned off and maintenance stopped; in the humid heat without ventilation mold has developed and other parts have suffered damage.
A campaign, backed in part by the Telegraph (UK) is determined to "rescue" the QE2 for service as either a cruise ship or a hotel, although some have said they'd rather have the ship scrapped than just left to rot. MORE.
Photo: Wikimedia / Nogginthenook
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