QE2 Today
Updated on August 13th, 2010 by Rob Lightbody
QE2 today is still intact but is effectively in long term lay-up after nearly 2 years at Port Rashid in Dubai.
She is maintained by an expert V-Ships crew of 38 on board and is receiving any essential maintenance she requires. One of her nine giant diesel engines is always running, and has been ever since her arrival in Dubai. This provides power for lighting, air-conditioning, fire & other safety systems. Since arriving in Dubai, she has been fully air-conditioned the entire time and almost all of her interiors and are still intact and in place.
The story since arriving in Dubai...
QE2 was handed over to her new owners, Nakheel, at Port Rashid in Dubai on November 27th, 2008. At the time it was expected that within a few months, she would go into Dubai Dry Dock for a 3 year radical rebuild which would leave only a few small parts of the ship intact, remove her engines and make her unrecognisable to QE2 fans the world over.
However 2009 also marked the biggest global recession the world has seen, which had knock-on effects for big projects all over the world, including Dubai's QE2 project. Dubai had bigger problems, and bigger projects to fund and finish first.
2009 - The world watches and waits...
As the months passed and rumours came and went, QE2 continued to sit exactly where her final passengers had left her and her engines could be seen to be still running. In fact they were being cycled through one at a time so that they stayed in good condition.
Cruise ships came and went, docking immediately behind her, their passengers often unaware of what ship it was ahead of them. Her former fleet-mates QM2 and QV visited during their world cruises in 2009 and then 2010, and QE2 forlornly blew blasts on her mighty whistle to them to say hello, and goodbye.
At night, all her lights were seen to be on and she looked ready
to set off on another cruise. Only the
absence of the
CUNARD logo from her sides, and the absence of passengers on her
decks, told you another story.
Summer 2009 - The Cape Town story...
News broke in July 2009 that Nakheel now had a different project in mind for QE2 - that of a floating hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, with the ship staying largely intact and even travelling there under her own power. QE2 fans around the world were over the moon. Their ship was saved, for now!
To make her ready, QE2 was dry-docked and completely re-painted with many items of maintenance and repair carried out. The images were exclusively released to The QE2 Story forum first, and caused quite a stir around the world, as these were the first real news and images since QE2's arrival in Dubai all those many months before. Nakheel now had a lot of support from QE2 fans around the world... the great ship was being cared for, and was still intact... more than anyone had hoped for. The QE2 was registered under a 'flag of convenience' to Port Vila, Vanuatu and fully re-certified as a passenger trip, ready for the voyage. The SOUTHAMPTON lettering on her stern was painted over to remain legal but the letters remained welded to her hull, to be restored in future when the ship is a static attraction.
Sadly, however, the plan fell through right at the last moment .... Local politics in Cape Town won over in the end.
2009... 2010... 2011... ?
After the Cape Town project fell through, everything went quiet again. QE2 looked wonderful after her refit, her lights were ablaze, her crew was still living on board and looking after her but a new air of permanent limbo began to descend on the project. As of summer 2010, one year after Cape Town, there is still no news to report.
Most QE2 fans, however, are simply glad the ship is still intact 2 years after arriving in Dubai to be chopped up.
So once again, the world watches and waits to see what will happen to the Greatest Ship in the World. Keep an eye on the forum for all the latest breaking news.