QE2 calls for last time tomorrow
Britain's most iconic cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2, is expected to berth in Grand Harbour for the last time tomorrow as it sails to a new life as a floating hotel in Dubai.
The ship was given a grand farewell attended by Queen Elizabeth's husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, when it set sail from Southampton for the last time last Wednesday.
The liner was sold last year to the Dubai World Company for some €65 million.
The company, which manages projects for the government in Dubai, plans to turn it into a floating hotel and tourist attraction, with retail and entertainment space, at the Palm Jumeirah, the enormous palm-shaped, artificial island being developed as a complex of tourist hotels and apartments.
Besides being the pride of British shipbuilding when first launched in 1967, the ocean liner had briefly served as a trans-Atlantic troop hauler during the Falklands war in 1982, etching itself further as a symbol of national pride.
On Wednesday, she set sail for Dubai in the evening as a spectacular fireworks display was let off. Earlier, one million Remembrance Day poppies were dropped over it before a Harrier jet dipped its nose in tribute.
She seemed reluctant to leave, though, as she ran aground in a sand bank shortly after departing in an embarrassing incident which saw several tug boats scrambled to her rescue in no time.
Locally, Maltapost will be commemorating the event with an issue of four stamps in its maritime series, which will feature four world-class liners that have regularly visited the Grand Harbour: the MSC Musica, MS Voyager of the Seas, MS Westerdam and the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2.
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Alfred Grech
Nov 17th 2008, 20:32
@ Brian O Connor - thanks Brian for the info. You must be proud to have worked on such a luxurious vessel. Too bad she's going to be retired.
Noel Galea
Nov 17th 2008, 19:34
MSC Musica, Voyager of the Seas and Westerdam. World class liners? More like world class appartment blocks on a hull!
QE2 is a real liner, one of a kind, that sadly will not be seen again at sea!
Berys Said
Nov 17th 2008, 17:15
It was Queen Victoria that bumped into the harbour wall in May....on her first visit here. (The liner.....not Albert's wife!)
Darby Allen (ex-RAF marine craft)
Nov 17th 2008, 12:44
Traditionally a ship is accorded the feminine gender, and one sails IN her, not ON her; a true seaman would know that.
A few years ago Lloyds of London decided that ships would be described as "it"; but I don't accept that a bunch of pen-pushing landlubbers who have never served at sea can trash a long-held tradition at their own whim. Why do you keep switching between "she/her" and "it" in your article?
It is a great pity that this grand old lady of the sea will end up as a hotel, but that is far better than seeing her scrapped.
T Mifsud
Nov 17th 2008, 12:25
I hope we give her the full salute from the Barrakka Battery while she comes in and when she leaves
Antony de Bono
Nov 17th 2008, 12:09
Hail and Farewell! I hope that this time the QE2 will wear the correct courtesy flag i.e. the Maltese national flag rather than the maritime flag at her starboard yardarm.
Brian O Connor
Nov 17th 2008, 11:12
Alfred.
It should be Docking at about 9am and Should leave at 18.00.Its her final Voyage and I happened to be lucky to be serving on her during her 1000th Voyage as a Chef in , back in 95/96. Surely milestone in maritime History.
Alfred Grech
Nov 17th 2008, 09:41
Does anyone know at what time she'll enter our Harbour?