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The Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as QE2, is a retired ocean liner built for the Cunard Line which was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic liner and a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was designed for the transatlantic service from her home port of Southampton, UK, to New York, and was named after the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth. She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Designed in Cunard's then headquarters and regional offices in Liverpool and Southampton respectively, and built in Clydebank, Scotland, QE2 was considered the last of the great transatlantic ocean liners until Queen Mary 2 entered service..
The Cunarder also the last oil-fired passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic in scheduled liner service until she was refitted with a modern diesel powerplant in 1986/1987. During almost forty years of service, Queen Elizabeth 2 undertook regular world cruises and later operated predominantly as a cruise ship, sailing out of Southampton, England. QE2 had no running mate and never ran a year-round weekly transatlantic express service to New York. QE2 did, however, continue the Cunard tradition of regular scheduled transatlantic crossings every year of her service life. QE2 was never given a Royal Mail Ship designation, instead carrying the SS and later MV or MS prefixes in official documents.
QE2 was retired from active Cunard service on 27 November 2008. She had been acquired by Istithmar the year before 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.[3][4] The 2008 financial crisis however intervened and the ship remains laid up at Port Rashid.[5]Subsequent conversion plans were announced by Istithmar in 2012[6] and by the Oceanic Group in 2013[7] but these both stalled. As of January 2016 the ship remains laid up in Dubai while the port operator claimed that there were future plans for the ship and no intent to scrap her.
By the mid 1960s transatlantic travel was dominated by air travel due to its speed and low cost relative to the sea route, and expansion of air travel showed no signs of slowing down. Conversely, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were becoming increasingly expensive to operate, and both internally and externally were relics of the pre-war years. Cunard did not want to give up the business of passenger service, and so gambled $80 million on a new ocean liner to replace the original ageing QueensRealising the decline of transatlantic trade, and the rising costs of fuel and labour, Cunard decided their new ship had to be smaller and cheaper to operate than her predecessors. The new ship was designed to run at the same service speed of 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h) as the previous Queens, using half the fuel. Staff was also reduced from the levels on the older vessels. QE2 would also be able to transit the Panama Canal and her draught was seven feet less than her predecessors, allowing her to enter ports that the old Queens could not, and compete with the new generation of cruise ships
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