QE2 relaunched as floating hotel in Dubai

The QE2 has opened its doors as a luxury floating hotel in Dubai.

The former Cunard liner is docked permanently at Mina Rashid where it was converted into a five-star hotel over the past three years.

It has been in the UAE since leaving its former home port of Southampton for the last time in 2008.

Owner PCFC Hotels is promising "a unique experience capturing all that was grand about her 40 years of service".

The company, owned by the Dubai government, features cabins converted into hotel rooms and suites, 13 restaurants, an English pub, a ballroom and an exhibition area dedicated to the history of the ship.

Features such as porthole windows, memorabilia and paintings have been kept during the renovation.

A company spokesman said 224 of the 800 rooms were ready for business, with the remainder expected to be completed by October.

Superior rooms have porthole windows

Standard rooms are the size of original 17m sq cabins

Its owners say the ship has been turned in to a "multi-faceted tourist destination"

Chief executive Hamza Mustafa said the ship was coming "back to life".

He said: "We have restored the QE2 to her former glory - we've meticulously brought her back to her original 1969 build.

"When you walk in you get a sense of nostalgia - this is what the ship was famous for and this is exactly what we're celebrating, glorifying her heyday."

An event to mark the opening of the first phase of the new hotel coincided with the arrival in the port of Cunard's current flagship, Queen Mary 2.

QE2's 13 decks are due to be opened in phases until the hotel is fully operational by the autumn.

Simon Palethorpe, senior vice president of Cunard, said: "We hope that her new permanent home will be enjoyed by many visitors in the years to come and are delighted that her spirit lives on for future generations."

QE2 sailed out of Southampton for the final time in 2008

The 293.5m (963ft) long former Cunard flagship carried almost 2.5 million passengers and completed more than 800 Atlantic crossings following its launch from the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank in 1967.

It also served as a troop ship during the Falklands conflict.

The liner had a spectacular send-off when it left Southampton for the last time on 11 November 2008.

Previously mooted plans - including taking it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and a conversion into a floating casino in Macau - came to nothing.

Analysis: Paul Clifton, BBC South transport correspondent

For four decades, the QE2 was the most famous passenger ship in the world, a maritime symbol of British style. Yet even as it was launched in 1967, it was becoming outdated. Jumbo jets were taking over the transatlantic trade.

Over the past 10 years the ocean liner has sat idle in Dubai. Radical plans to transform the ship into a resort came and went. There was even a proposal to slice off the funnel and replace it with a penthouse suite.

Finally the ship is reopening. With prices from £100 a night, it is a cheap place to stay in Dubai terms. There are many who would have preferred to see the old ship scrapped. But today it enters a new phase of its life.

Will it last as long as its Cunard predecessor, Queen Mary? That liner has now spent much longer as a static tourist attraction in Long Beach, California, than it spent carrying passengers across the Atlantic.