Cruise ship Queen Victoria to call at Dubai on maiden trip

Dubai: The ship that will replace the legendary liner Queen Elizabeth 2 will call at Dubai during her first world cruise.

The Queen Victoria is scheduled to arrive at the cruise terminal in Dubai on March 31 next year.

The announcement from shipping operator Cunard Line that the Queen Victoria will call here comes just weeks after it was revealed that the QE2 would be moored permanently in Dubai as a floating hotel.

Second-largest vessel

The Queen Victoria, which will have a gross tonnage of 90,000, will be the second-largest Cunard ship ever, the largest being the Queen Mary 2 at 148,528 tonnes.

QM2 made her maiden call at Dubai in March this year, and the QE2 has also visited Dubai in the past.

The Queen Victoria is currently being built at the Fincantieri ship yard in Marghera, near Venice, at a cost of about £270 million (Dh2 billion), and will enter service in December.

She will have space for just over 2,000 passengers, along with around 900 officers and crew.

The Queen Victoria's first world cruise is scheduled to begin in Southampton on the south coast of England in early January 2008 and will last 106 days.

Prices for the whole trip could cost as much as $204,000 (Dh750,000). Early on in the trip, the QE2, QM2 and Queen Victoria will meet in New York, the first time three Cunard ships have arrived together in the Big Apple.

The Queen Victoria will go on to visit Costa Rica, Mexico, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India before her arrival in Dubai.

When the Queen Victoria is docked in Dubai, passengers will have several excursions to choose from, including a four-wheel-drive trip to the Hatta Springs, a desert safari, a sightseeing and shopping trip to Sharjah and a coach trip through Dubai.

Once she leaves the UAE, the Queen Victoria will call at Salalah in Oman before taking in Egypt, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal, with the cruise ending on April 22 in Southampton.

Last month Dubai investment firm Istithmar revealed it had bought the 38-year-old QE2 from Cunard for $100 million. The company plans to berth QE2 off a specially constructed pier at the Palm Jumeirah from February 2009 and use her as a floating hotel.

Queen Victoria will go on to visit Costa Rica, Mexico, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India before her arrival in Dubai. The ship will also call at Oman, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal.