RMS Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth to safely rest on the bed of the Intracoastal Waterway in Ft. Lauderdale harbour (Port Everglades) and remain open, but instead the vessel was towed out of the harbour to Asia to become a floating university. Losing money and forced to close after being declared a fire hazard, this was due to the ship being sold at auction in 1970 to Hong Kong tycoon Tung Chao Yung. Tung, the head of the Orient Overseas Line, intended to convert the vessel into a university for the World Campus Afloat program (later reformed and renamed as Semester at Sea). Following
MS Queen Elizabeth throughout the hull. However the bow was constructed with heavier plating to cope with the Transatlantic run, and the ship has a high freeboard. Although having an almost identical interior arrangement to "Queen Victoria", the decor is very different. The ship is a tribute to the two previous Queen Elizabeth-named ships: the original "Queen Elizabeth" and ""Queen Elizabeth 2"". She also evokes the era of the 1930s, in which Cunard's first "Queen Elizabeth" was launched, with many art deco interior touches. The ship also features a "Britannia" Club section of the main restaurant, which is a feature popular on "Queen