New Queen Elizabeth cruise liner completed

Queen Elizabeth's maiden voyage to the Canary Islands is sold out

Shipping line Cunard has taken delivery of its new 92,400-tonne cruise liner, the Queen Elizabeth.

The ship is set to be officially named by the Queen on 11 October in its home port of Southampton, Hampshire.

The handover ceremony took place on Thursday onboard the vessel at the Fincantieri Monfalcone shipyard in Italy where the liner was built.

It replaces the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) which made its last transatlantic crossing in 2008.

The new QE, as it is already being called, will join the other "Queens" in the Cunard fleet - the Queen Mary 2 (QM2) and the Queen Victoria.

The new ship will now sail for Southampton where it is due to dock on 8 October.

Larger than QE2

Peter Shanks, Cunard president and managing director, said: "I'm certain the British will take this truly magnificent ship to their hearts, as they have all the Cunard Queens."

After the naming ceremony, the liner will leave on its maiden voyage to the Canary Islands on 12 October.

This is the third Cunard ship to be named Queen Elizabeth.

The first was launched on the Clyde in Scotland in 1938 by the then Queen Elizabeth - who later became the Queen Mother - with the present Queen, then aged 12, looking on.

The Queen launched the second Queen Elizabeth, the QE2, on the Clyde in 1967. She also named the QM2 at Southampton in 2004.

The new QE is one foot longer and one foot wider than the QE2 - which was sold to Dubai-based property developers Nakheel after being retired - but with 16 decks, it is much taller.

The ship looks like its sister, Queen Victoria, but is more than a third smaller than Cunard's largest liner, the QM2.