On 3 October 2008, "QE2" set off from Cork for Douglas Bay on her farewell tour of Ireland and Britain, before heading for Liverpool. She left Liverpool and arrived in Belfast on 4 October 2008, before moving to Greenock the next day (the ship's height with funnel makes it impossible to pass under the Erskine Bridge so Clydebank is not reachable). There she was escorted by Royal Navy destroyer and visited by . The farewell was viewed by large crowds and concluded with a firework display. "QE2" then sailed around Scotland to the Firth of Forth on 7 October 2008, where she anchored in the shadow of the Forth Bridge. The next day, following an RAF flypast, she left amidst a flotilla of small craft to head to Newcastle upon Tyne, before returning to Southampton.