Queen Elizabeth II

The owners of the Queen Elizabeth II have scaled back plans to turn the ship into a luxury hotel.

Instead of a lavish 1,000-room hotel floating in Dubai's man-made island shaped like a palm tree, the vessel will boast just 300 rooms and be moored in an unglamorous part of the town.

The ship's operator, the investment arm of indebted conglomerate Dubai World, also said many of the ship's original fittings will remain, after the project fell foul of Dubai's 2008 debt crunch.

 The Queen Elizabeth II will still become a luxury hotel, according to Dubai World, but will boast just 300 rooms instead of 1,000

 The common areas of the ship, like the restaurants and entertainment areas, would be largely left as they are, the owners said

'Unfortunately we had many ambitious plans but they didn't work,' said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of Istithmar - the unit that bought the vessel for $100 million in 2007 - and the chairman of port operator DP World.

'What we are doing now we should have done when we got it,' he added.

 

The common areas of the ship, including the restaurants and entertainment areas, would be largely left as they are, he said.

 Chief steward, Ronald Gelmo, welcomes visitors to the QEII

 Launched by Queen Elizabeth more than 40 years ago, the ship was used as a venue for a star-studded New Year's eve bash last year, but has otherwise largely been left unused

The QEII is currently moored in Port Rashid in Dubai - a gritty commercial port a long way from the tourist-friendly neighbourhood of Palm Jumeirah - and will stay where she is, said Sulayem.

'There have been many grand ideas. There were plans of renovating it in such a way that it becomes something totally different than what it used to be.

'But we realised soon that a lot of people like the ship as it was,' he said.

Launched by Queen Elizabeth more than 40 years ago, the ship was used as a venue for a star-studded New Year's eve bash last year, but has otherwise largely been left unused, with some media reports suggesting she had been abandoned.

The QEII is currently moored in Port Rashid in Dubai - a gritty commercial port a long way from the tourist-friendly neighbourhood of Palm Jumeirah, where it had been due to move

H The QEII sails past the Statue of Liberty in New York before being retired in 2008

Daily Mail