Cunard Line has ordered a new 92,000-ton liner to be named Queen Elizabeth.

She is scheduled to enter service in the autumn of 2010, almost two years after the QE2 will leave the fleet to become a floating luxury hotel in Dubai.

"We are delighted that Her Majesty The Queen has given her blessing to our calling this new Cunarder 'Queen Elizabeth', after our first vessel of that name," said president and managing director Carol Marlow.

"The decision to order another ship for Cunard Line has been taken as a result of the strong booking response to the new Queen Victoria, and we are extremely pleased that Cunard will once again become a three-ship fleet so soon after the departure of the much-celebrated QE2 in November next year."

An agreement has been signed between Cunard and Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of the new 2092–passenger ocean liner at an all-in cost of approximately €500 million.

Queen Elizabeth will be the second largest Cunarder ever built.

Queen Elizabeth will also fly the Red Ensign with her home-port Southampton, like the other ships in the Cunard fleet.

The agreement is subject to approval by the board of directors of Carnival Corporation.

Design details and initial itineraries will be announced in due course and posted on Savensail's dedicated Cunard website ccuk.co.uk  - online at www.ccuk.co.uk

Save'n'Sail is one of the UK's leading Cunard cruise agents and everyone here is extremely excited. Cunard is a superb cruise brand and our levels of repeat business are continuing to grow. Bookings for Queen Mary 2 in the Caribbean this winter are selling well and advanced bookings for Queen Victoria are also strong.

Cunard is a fantastic success story in the cruise industry and the team at Save'n'Sail are strong supporters.

This is a cruise blog entry by Phil