Hi — remember me? I was The Denver Post’s travel editor before retiring 3 1/2 years ago. But for the next 2 1/2 weeks or so, I’ll be back, writing an online blog about a historic trip I’m taking — the final sailing of the Queen Elizabeth 2, my favorite ship.
The 1,791-passenger liner has been sold for $100 million to Dubai, one of seven emirate states that make up the United Arab Emirates. The glitzy tourist hot spot along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf is the place that’s made headlines with its indoor ski resort and the most expensive this and the biggest that. I can hardly wait to see the 100-story Burj Al Arab hotel, in the shape of a billowing sail, that has been featured in TV ads showing Tiger Woods cracking a tee shot off the roof of this tallest hotel in the world.
And now Dubai will have the QE2. The sleek ship will become a luxury hotel and tourist attraction berthed off the man-made Palm Jumeirah Island.
When I first heard about the final voyage in June 2007, my husband and I said, “What the heck — let’s not worry about the heirs.” And so we decided to leave a chuckhole in our bank account: Prices range from $6,422 a person for an inside cabin to $33,155 a person for a grand suite. The trip sold out within a half-hour. Starting out No. 123 on a waiting list, we inched our way up and finally were confirmed for a cabin in December. It was a great Christmas gift to ourselves.
We love the QE2, which we’ve sailed on eight or nine times, using it mostly as transportation to cross the Atlantic to or from Europe. While the thrill is gone from many of my “been there, done that” travel experiences, I never tire of the QE2. I love wearing fancy clothes on formal nights (my husband, not so much), supping hot bouillon outside on deck when the weather is chilly and sipping champagne at the captain’s cocktail parties. And what’s not to like about having a cabin steward make your bed each morning and turn it down every night? The British-built QE2 represents an era when going by ship was a civilized way to travel, and it holds many memories, some of which I’ll be sharing in my blog.
The 16-day final voyage will leave Tuesday evening from Southampton, south of London, the QE2’s home port for almost four decades. Maybe I’ll get a glimpse of the Duke of Edinburgh, who will make a farewell visit. (His wife, Queen Elizabeth, said goodbye four months ago on a visit to the ship she christened in 1967 in Scotland.) The British Royal Navy will bid bon voyage with sail-bys, and the Royal Air Force plans fly- overs honoring the QE2’s role in the 1982 Falklands War, when the fastest passenger ship in the world carried British troops to ward off Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands. Fireworks will light the sky from a Southampton park. And dozens of small boats and pleasure craft will follow the ship as it leaves British waters for the last time. If a bagpiper starts wailing “Hail Britannia,” I’ll probably wail, too. It should be some sendoff.
The QE2 will make six stops — Lisbon; Gibraltar (will I be attacked by the Barbary apes?); Civitavecchia, the port for Rome; Naples; Malta, and Alexandria (the first time I’ll set foot on the African continent) — before transiting the 100-mile-long Suez Canal (there are no locks to go through like the Panama Canal). Then we will cruise the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden (will pirates try to hijack the ship in these troubled waters off the coast of Somalia, or will the Royal Navy have a frigate accompanying us for safety?) and the Arabian Sea, with arrival in Dubai scheduled for Nov. 27 (will a sheik or sultan show up for some formal hand- over ceremony?).
The sailing will mark the end of an era.
Many QE2 fans feared the Grand Dame’s fate was sealed when Cunard Line launched the 2,620-passenger Queen Mary 2 in January 2004. Two years ago I wrote about the QE2 sailing out of the spotlight and half-jokingly offered a wild speculation: that the QE2 would become a floating hotel in Dubai.
I’ll be more careful what I say this time, even in jest.
