Queen Elizabeth 2 arrives in Dubai

Britain's most famous luxury cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2, has arrived in Dubai to begin a new life as a floating hotel moored off an artificial island.

More than 60 naval vessels and private boats, led by a mega-yacht owned by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, have met the 70,000 ton ship in the Gulf on Wednesday.

Cunard, the cruise ship's owner, sold it last year to state-run conglomerate Dubai World for about $100 million.
It will be turned into a hotel and docked along Dubai's palm-shaped island.

In 40 years at sea, the QE2 has traveled 6 million miles (9.6 million kilometres) and carried 2.5 million passengers.