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Just like a modern day Mary Celeste, these never-before-seen images show how Britain's most famous cruise liner stands abandoned and untouched. More than 15 months after she was taken out of service, the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 - better known as the QE2 - looks almost unchanged from her heyday of ocean lining.
The giant liner, which was retired on November 27, 2008, now lies empty and awaiting a much-hyped renovation at Port Rashid in Dubai. These revealing pictures show a grand piano still sitting on one of the huge vessel's many stages and a drum kit is still in place on a bandstand where musicians once entertained passengers.
In the former casino, slot machines remain standing in rows with their lights extinguished. And in an eerie homage to the monarch whose name she bears, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II still hangs watching over the empty corridors.
For anyone looking at these images it would be hard to believe the vast cruise ship has been dormant for so long. Just like the infamous legend of the Mary Celeste, it's as if the crew and passengers had only just disembarked.
In December 1872, the fabled merchant ship was discovered abandoned in fine weather, in seaworthy condition and with little signs of an onboard struggle. She had more than six months of food and water on board, her cargo was untouched and all of the crew and passenger's personal belongings were still in place. The crew was never seen or heard from again.
Formerly owned by Cunard, a private equity arm of Dubai's giant property investment company - Nakheel - bought the QE2 in 2007 for around £65million. The original plans for the vessel including converting it into a floating hotel as part of the Palm Jumeirah - a palm tree-shaped island in Dubai.
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