Cunard, is honoring the 50th anniversary of its longest serving ocean liner, QE2, with a special voyage onboard the luxury cruise liner Queen Elizabeth.

“This voyage is a significant and timely tribute to the world’s best loved ship. QE2 remains the longest serving express liner in history. She carried 2.5 million passengers over 5.6 million miles. That’s further than any passenger ship – ever! This remarkable ship sailed alone on the North Atlantic for most of her career,” says Captain Ian McNaught, QE2’s last Master.

The 50th anniversary of QE2 will be remembered as Queen Elizabeth sets sail from Southampton on Friday 8 September for a 17-night voyage. Departing guests will enjoy Venice’s iconic canals, mythical Mount Etna in Sicily and Corfu’s leafy beauty.

Celebrations focus on five special theme days, each of which will be accompanied by QE2 inspired menus, talks from special guests, historical snippets in the daily programme, past-passenger gatherings and QE2 quizzes.

Themes include Moving in Royal Circles which looks back at the unique and special bond between QE2 and the Royal Family; The Falklands which acknowledges the ship’s service as a troop ship in the 1982 conflict; Triumph of a Great Tradition examining the QE2’s remarkable career achievements and the long history of Cunard ‘firsts’, and World Flagship in tribute to QE2’s 26 world cruises that made her an icon in cities across the globe.

Celebrations culminate on QE2 Day – 20 September 2017 – exactly 50 years since the ship was launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Events will include a QE2 ball, and a historical retrospective of the ship’s service life to be hosted in Queen Elizabeth’s 850 seat Royal Court Theatre.

Dubai

“QE2 today is still mostly intact but is laid up at Port Rashid, Dubai, after 9 years in Dubai.  Work appears to be ongoing slowly to open her up in a static role, but an expected opening date is currently unknown, “ says The QE2 Story, a private support group from England.

“QE2 was handed over to her new owners, Dubai World owned Istithmar, at Port Rashid in Dubai on November 27th, 2008 after arriving the day before at the end of her final voyage.  It was expected that she would go into Dubai Dry Dock for a 3 year radical rebuild however the global recession had knock-on effects for Dubai’s QE2 project.  Dubai had bigger problems, and bigger projects to fund and finish first.  It also no longer needed the hotel rooms that QE2 was intended to provide…