The QE2's future appears secure with the announcement that she will move to Asia as a luxury hotel. A joint statement released today between Drydocks World and Oceanic Group PL has confirmed that the QE2 will be dry-docked in Dubai for conversion into a five-star luxury hotel. The QE2 will be repositioned to an as yet unconfirmed Asian waterfront location.
She will be reconfigured with 100 apartments, 300 hotel suites, three Michelin-starred restaurants, 100,000 square feet of retail space, a museum housing historic items from the QE2's heritage trail, an open-air QE2 Cafe on the Sun Deck, and MICE facilities. Oceanic Group has already launched a QE2 Hotels website, with concept illustrations of the planned interior spaces.
Ownership of the QE2 has transferred to Drydocks World, who will complete the technical and operational aspects of the conversion, with Oceanic Group managing the process and the QE2, once in Asia. The partnership is rumoured to give the Oceanic Group the option to purchase the ship in 10 years time for $35 million.
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