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As Queen Elizabeth 2 approached her 40th anniversary with Cunard, questions began to circulate as to how much longer the ship could stay in service. Cunard had to consider the economics of maintaining a 40-year-old liner in service, particularly with the new SOLAS safety regulations that would apply from 2010 onward.

On 18 June 2007 it was announced that the ship had been purchased by the Dubai investment company Istithmar for $100 million. Her final voyage from Southampton to Dubai began on 11 November 2008, arriving on 26 November in time for her official handover the following day. She will now be refurbished and berthed permanently at the Palm Jumeirah as a "a luxury floating hotel, retail, museum and entertainment destination." The refurbishments will see the QE2 transformed into a must-see tourist destination in Dubai.

In a ceremonial display before her retirement, the QE2 met the Queen Victoria and the Queen Mary 2 near the Statue of Liberty in New York City harbour on 13 January 2008, with a celebratory fireworks display; the QE2 and QV had made a tandem crossing of the Atlantic for the meet. This marked the first time three Cunard Queens have been present in the same location, and Cunard stated this will be the last time these three particular ships will meet, due to the impending retirement of the QE2. However, due to a change in the QE2's schedule, the three ships met again in Southampton on 22 April 2008. QE2 shared the harbour at Zeebrugge with Queen Victoria on 19 July 2008.

Other memorable farewell cruises include the 2008 world cruise and Round Britain Farewell. On 5 October 2008, during her Round Britain Farewell, the QE2 returned to the Firth of Clyde for her final visit to Greenock where she had been commissioned, down the River Clyde from Clydebank where she had been built. She was escorted by HMS Manchester and visited by MV Balmoral. The farewell was viewed by large crowds and concluded with a firework display.

QE2 completed her final trans-Atlantic crossing from New York to Southampton in tandem with her successor, QM2. The two liners departed New York on 16 October and arrived in Southampton on 22 October. This marked the end of QE2's trans-Atlantic voyages.

Final voyage

On her final arrival into Southampton, QE2 (on 11 November, 2008, with 1,700 passengers and 1,000 crew on board) ran aground in the Solent at the Southampton Water entrance at 5.26am. BBC reported "Cunard has confirmed it touched the bottom at the Brambles Turn sandbank (sandback) near Calshot, Southampton Water, with three tugs attached to her stern (0530 GMT). A fourth tug secured a line to the ship's bow." Solent Coastguard stated: "Five tugs were sent out to assist her getting off the sandbank, and she was pulled off just before 6.10am. She has been re-floated and is under way under her own power and heading back to her berth in Southampton. She had only partially gone aground, and the tugs pulled her off."

Once safely back at her berth, preparations continued for her farewell celebrations. These were led by the Duke of Edinburgh who toured the ship at great length. He visited areas of interest including the Engine Control Room. He also met with current and former crew members. During this time, divers were sent down to inspect the hull for any possible damage caused by the vessel's earlier mishap - none was found.

The QE2 left Southampton Docks for the final time at 1915 GMT on 11 November 2008, to begin her farewell voyage by the name of "QE2's Final Voyage" . Her ownership passed to Nakheel Properties, a company of Dubai World, on 26 November. The decommissioning of the ship was particularly poignant for the QE2's only permanent resident, Beatrice Muller, aged 89, who lived on-board in retirement for 14 years, at a cost of some £3,500 (~€4300, ~$5400) per month.

QE2 arrived in Dubai on the evening of 26 November 2008 in a flotilla of 120 smaller vessels, led by MV Dubai, the personal yacht of Sheikh Mohammed, ruler of Dubai. She was greeted with a fly-past from an Emirates Airbus A380 jet and a huge fireworks display, while thousand of people gathered at the Mina Rashid, waving the flags of Great Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai

Since her arrival in Dubai QE2 has remained moored at Port Rashid. Shortly after her final passengers were disembarked, she was moved forward to the cargo area of the port, to free up the passenger terminal for other cruise vessels.

At present, QE2 remains an ocean going vessel, and as such, Ronald Warwick (former Captain of QE2, QM2 and retired Commodore of the Cunard Line) has been employed by V-Ships (who are managing QE2 during her de-fit) as the vessel's legal master.

It is currently anticipated that QE2 will be moved to the Dubai Drydocks sometime in 2009 to begin a series of far-reaching refurbishments which will result in her being converted into a floating hotel. Upon completion she will be moved to The Palm Jumeirah to take up residence at the QE2 Precinct.

Due to the 2008 Global Recession, fears have been sparked that QE2's refurbishment and hotel conversion will not take place, and that the ship may be resold. These rumours have since resulted in owners, Nakheel, issuing a series of press releases stating that plans for QE2's conversion are ongoing, with no intention to sell.However, since arriving in Dubai the only visible exterior change to QE2 is the painting out of the Cunard titles from the ship's superstructure.

QE2 was joined in Mina Rashid by QM2 on Saturday, 21 March, 2009 while QM2 visited Dubai as part of her 2009 World Cruise . She was joined once again by the QV on Sunday, 29 March, 2009 as a part of her 2009 World Cruise.

In April 2009, an alleged concept model of the post-refurbished Hotel QE2 was shown for sale on an online auction website. The model depicts a much altered QE2. Nevertheless, at present; the current owners Nakheel are yet to announce their final decision relating to QE2's conversion.

Design

Exterior

Like both the Normandie and France, the QE2 has a flared stem and clean forecastle. One innovation that made her distinct from all other ships (until the QM2 was launched) is her funnel, which bears at its base an upward turned wind scoop that uses the forward motion of the ship to push air directly up the flanks of the funnel to catch the exhaust and disperse it far above the aft passenger decks. What was controversial at the time was that Cunard decided not to paint the funnel with the line's distinctive colour and pattern, something that had been done on all merchant vessels since the first Cunard ship, the RMS Britannia, sailed in 1840. Instead the funnel was painted white and black, with the Cunard orange-red appearing only on the inside of the wind scoop. This practice ended in 1983 when the QE2 returned from service in the Falklands War, and the funnel has been painted in Cunard orange-red with black horizontal bands (known as "hands") ever since. The original pencil-like funnel was replaced in 1986 with a more robust one, when the ship was converted from steam to diesel power.

Large amounts of aluminium were used in the framing and cladding of the QE2's superstructure. This decision was designed to save weight, reducing the draft of the ship and lowering the fuel consumption, but it also posed the possibility of corrosion problems that can occur with joining the dissimilar metals together, so a jointing compound was coated between the steel and aluminium surfaces to prevent this happening. The low melting point of aluminium caused concern when the QE2 was serving as a troop ship during the Falklands War: some feared that if the ship were struck by a missile, as was HMS Sheffield, her upper decks would collapse quickly due to fire, thereby causing greater casualties.

In 1972, the first penthouse suites were added in an aluminium structure on Signal Deck and Sports Deck (now "Sun Deck"), behind the ship's bridge, and in 1977 this structure was expanded to include more suites with balconies, making the QE2 one of the first ships to offer private terraces to passengers since the SS Normandie in the 1930s, whose balconies were hidden in what would have been her promenade deck. QE2's balcony accommodation was expanded for the final time during QE2's 1986/87 refurbishment in Bremerhaven.

Original interiors

The Qu