Maritime Matters says Nakheel, the Dubai-based new owner of the QE2, is having second thoughts about spending millions of dollars converting the ship into a luxury floating hotel now that the world is in a financial mess and tourists are thinking twice about holidaying in Dubai.
Regular readers will remember I saw the old girl tied up and looking rather lonely when I was in Dubai at the beginning of January, to join a Costa cruise around the Arabian Gulf. I was surprised then that she hadn't been taken off to the shipyard for her multi-million-dollar facelift. Time is money, after all.
Maritime Matters says Nakheel is considering opening the ship as is. A this-is-how-they-did-luxury-40-years-ago sort of museum piece I guess. But before fans get too excited, MM also hints that another option would be to sell the ship for scrap.
After paying Cunard £50 million for the ship? Ouch.
Jane Archer
