A Queen's Ransom

First came the ports. Now comes the ship.

A Dubai investment firm has agreed to buy the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship from Cunard Lines for $100 million. It will dock the world's-most-traveled cruise ship at Palm Jumeirah, the world's largest artificial island, where it will be used as a floating hotel and tourist attraction.

The ship is the second iconic purchase that a Dubai government controlled company has made in Britain. A related firm bought a big British ports operator--P&O, which had its roots in the Peninsular & Orient Steam Navigation Co., a steamship line founded in 1822--for $6.8 billion last year.

Passengers eager to sail on the 38-year-old ship, the world's fastest cruise liner, will have to book passage soon: Cunard will keep the ship in service only until November 2008, when it will make its final cruise, to Dubai.

"Dubai is a maritime nation and we understand the rich heritage of the QE2," Dubai World chairman Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem was quoted as saying in the Gulf News today.