DUBAI, 12 March 2007 — The Queen Mary 2 (QM2), the most magnificent ocean liner ever built, arrived in Dubai yesterday with 4,200 passengers including a 1,600-strong crew on its around-the-world-in-80-days journey that began on Jan. 11 from Fort Lauderdale in the US.
The luxury liner, which is on her maiden world cruise, has arrived from the Indian port city of Kochi and is heading for Egypt. The bulk of the passengers are Australians followed by Americans, Britons, and Germans.
As it docked at the Dubai Cruise Terminal in the Port Rashid complex, the 1,132-feet-long, 72-meter tall vessel made history by becoming the largest ship ever to enter Dubai. The ship has 19 decks, which equals the height of a 23-story building. QM2 is only 118 feet shorter than the Empire State Building in New York City.
The ship also has the largest ballroom at sea and the only planetarium at sea. QM2 entered service in January 2004 and is the largest, longest, widest, tallest and most expensive passenger ship in history.
A host of VIPs and government officials led by the Director General of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) Khalid ibn Sulayem, and Awadh Seghayer Al-Ketbi, acting manager of DTCM-managed Dubai Cruise Terminal, joined the fanfare to welcome QM2 and its passengers.
