The QEII will pull into Dubai's port
of Mina Rashid today at 3 p.m. (Dubai local time). The ship will be gutted,
rebuilt and reborn in some two to three years as a floating luxury hotel berthed
on The Palm Jumeirah, a massive manmade island shaped like a tree. QEII's
afternoon arrival in Dubai will begin a day of "celebratory" events.
The ship will sail to its berth joined by a flotilla of private yachts
(including the massive yacht owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
ruler of Dubai), the Royal Navy and the Coast Guard. Later, an Emirate Airlines
A380 Airbus will make a fly-by, and in proper festive fashion, there will be a
huge fireworks display. The official handover, from Cunard to Nakheel, the
Dubai-based real estate development company responsible for the transformation,
will occur on Thursday. Rumors have swirled about planned changes -- replacing
of the iconic funnel with a glass "funnel" housing penthouse suites,
changing the famed engine room into a theater space -- but official plans from
Nakheel have yet to be revealed.
The world-famous QE2
passenger liner is due to leave on its final transatlantic round trip to New
York - in tandem with its successor, the Queen Mary 2 (QM2).
The 40-year-old Cunard vessel is to be
taken out of service next month and turned into a floating hotel in Dubai.
QE2 returned to its home port of
Southampton early on Friday after completing a farewell tour of the UK.
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