A press release was released today claiming that Universal Event Management (UEM) of Macau have just received the “rights to represent the QE2 in a number of locations.” Locations are said to be the SAR Macau and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Kind of odd choices of venues, however Universal Event Management are based in Macau.
Even though we have what appears to be an official press release, I’m still considering this a rumor. No other media outlets are currently reporting on it. This could be anything from a publicity stunt by UEM, to Nakheel shedding their assets. I’ll believe it when Nakheel releases a statement.
You might recall that Cunard originally sold the QE2 to Nakheel (the government run construction company in Dubai) in 2008. The most famous ocean liner has been laid up ever since. The original plan was to moor her at Palm Jumeria as a floating hotel/event center. Plans have been put off as Nakheel has been suffering serious financial issues. The current recession put a nasty hit on Dubai’s economy, halting all new construction. The city came to a halt. The work stoppage was felt all the way down to the QE2. Ever since then, the QE2 project was put on the back burner.
UPDATED FRIDAY3/30:
CruiseCritic, late to the punch as always, posted the above rumor yesterday. They were, however, able to get a quote from the “Social Manager of the Ships Calendar” (whatever the heck that means).
Leili Gerami of Lege Solutions:
But Gerami shot down that statement, telling Cruise Critic that it wasn’t true and that Universal Events Management had no right to represent the ship in any fashion. "They are doing it themselves, without being in a position to do so," she said.
So basically its just a publicity stunt by an insane CEO from Asia that has no idea how to do a proper publicity stunt.