Queen Elizabeth 2

Queen Elizabeth 2 as a floating hotel in Dubai on 5 March 2020
History
NameQueen Elizabeth 2
NamesakeQueen Elizabeth II
Owner
Operator
Port of registry
RouteNorth Atlantic and cruising during Cunard service
Ordered1964
BuilderJohn Brown and Company (Upper Clyde Shipbuilders), Clydebank, Scotland
Cost£29,091,000
Yard number736
Laid down5 July 1965
Launched20 September 1967 by Queen Elizabeth II
Completed26 November 1968 (Sea trials commenced)
Maiden voyage2 May 1969
In service1969–2008
Out of service27 November 2008
Identification
StatusFloating hotel & museum at Mina Rashid, Dubai
General characteristics
Tonnage
  • (1968): 65,863 GRT, 37,218 NRT
  • (1994): 70,327 GRT, 37,182 NRT
Displacement49,738
Length963 ft (293.5 m)
Beam105 ft (32.0 m)
Height171 ft (52.1 m)
Draft32 ft (9.8 m)
Decks10
Installed power
  • 3 × Foster Wheeler ESD II Boilers (original design)
  • 9 × MAN B&W 9L58/64 (1987 refit)
Propulsion
  • Two Brown-Pametrada Steam Turbines (original design)
  • Two GEC propulsion motors (2 × 44 MW) (1987 refit)
  • Two five-bladed variable-pitch propellers (post powerplant replacement)
Speed
  • 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) max
  • 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph) service
  • 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) astern
Capacity
  • 1,777 passengers
  • 1,892 (all berths) passengers
Crew1,040

Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) is a retired British ocean liner. Built for the Cunard Line, the ship was operated as a transatlantic liner and cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was laid up until converted into a floating hotel, operating since 18 April 2018 in Dubai.

Queen Elizabeth 2 plied the route from her home port of Southampton, UK, to New York, United States. She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until she was succeeded by the Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Queen Elizabeth 2 was designed in Cunard's offices in Liverpool and Southampton and built in Clydebank, Scotland. She was refitted with a modern diesel powerplant in 1986–87.

Queen Elizabeth 2 retired from active Cunard service on 27 November 2008, and was acquired by the private equity arm of Dubai World, which planned to begin conversion of the vessel to a 500-room floating hotel moored at the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. Due to the 2008 financial crisis, the ship was laid up at Dubai Drydocks and later Mina Rashid. Subsequent conversion plans were announced in 2012 and then again by the Oceanic Group in 2013, but both plans stalled.

The restored QE2 opened to visitors on 18 April 2018 and today operates as a floating hotel in Dubai, managed since 2024 by French hotel chain Accor.

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