Dubai  - The world-famous transatlantic Queen Elizabeth 2 arrived in the Gulf emirate of Dubai Wednesday, where the ocean giant was received by a fleet of planes and another of yachts.

An official at the Real estate developer Nakheel, which has bought the vessel, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the flag of the United Arab Emirates would be shown on it on Thursday.

The QE2 will go through a two-year makeover process to become a floating hotel that includes a maritime museum with a Broadway-style deck theatre.

The luxury liner, sold for 50 million pounds to the UAE, left its home port of Southampton for the last time earlier this month on a final two-week cruise following four decades of service.

QE2 will be the centrepiece of man-made palm-shaped island.

"Real life of this vessel starts today," said Manfred Ursprunger, the chief executive of QE2 Enterprises at Nakheel Hotels.

QE2, launched by Queen Elizabeth II in 1967, has sailed around the world 25 times, crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times and carried more than 2.5 million passengers, including royalty, presidents, astronauts and countless international celebrities.

It carried South African president Nelson Mandela during a trip from Durban to Cape Town in 1998. In 1976, police foiled an attempt by the former Irish Republican Army
(IRA) terrorist group to blow it up in dry dock in Southampton. (dpa)