I've not cruised on this ship or even seen her in the flesh, but it was still love at first sight:
http://www.cruise-addicts.com/picturepost/view.php?uid=31

(Click on the small pictures for bigger versions!)

An Edwardian Lido buffet is as inappropriate as chrome and neon gymnasium is for a formal dinner.

The finest cruise ship [judged by other professsionals]interiors of modern cruise hotels are, Disney Magic/Wonder, Recent Costa ships: evolution of the Andrea Doria/ Michelanaello, these 3 were written up in professional interior design trade journals.

Joe Farcus Carnival ships are outrageous and original. He terms it "entertainment architecture". It is to take ordinary people and make them feel important, on a stage set with Fred and Ginger. Love it or hate it, it meets the design objectives.

Classic ships: Rembrandt, floating museum stands the test of time. Canberra: conservative, yet handsome and welcoming. Normandie,Ile de France, and Queen Mary: Art Deco Pioneers. Andrea Doria: tasteful 50's modern atoning for the bombastic facist baroque of the Rex and Conte Di Savoia.
SS United States for doing more with less.

Many found the Normandie to be too perfect, too elaborate, and preferred the more sedate, less imposing yet beautiful Queen Mary ambiance.

quote:

---

Originally posted by desirod6:
There are no absolutes to taste.

---

Desirod6 - thank you for your excellent comments. So often, it seems, when the subject of taste is brought up, we hear only bashing of other people's opinions.

Check this out for ship interior design!
http://home.pacbell.net/steamer/marckwald.html

Let's not forget about 'Superstar Leo's'great interiors too. (Silly name, nice ship!)

See Bard de Boer excellent web site:

http://psp.club.tip.nl/

Scrol down Bart's homepage and click on 'Superstar Leo' in the 'Ship Tours' box.

The pictures of atriums with glass-bubble elevators; glitzy public spaces looking like Las Vegas, and listening to Farcus holding forth on his design philosophy; reeinforced my opinion he was designing schlock Las Vegas-Atlantic City hotels which just happen to float! Example - establishing minimal views of the sea from the multi-level dining rooms. He is aiming at what used to be the "leisure-suit class."

And he seems to have been highly successful. He has designed a product whose incredible dimmensions are exceeded only by their lack of taste!

His stated philosophy was to keep people convinced that they are at a "first class resort" and not on a ship. In this he succeeds; the cruse passengers sign on; and profits roll in. Who can argue with success?
But it's no Greenbrier!

H.L. Menken once said, "no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the common man!"

And the "common man" now, apparently, will give big bucks to those Cruise Lines which serve up the ghastly gliz which Farcas develops at the wishes of his cruiseline clients.

Fracas stressed that they are "giving the guests 'every experience they can have at a first-class resort.' I assume in appealing to the wintersports crowd, he will arrange a ski-lift to the funnel so that the skiers - no, make that snowboarders - can carve arcs in artificial snow from the boat deck to the bilge! Now THAT's a fun ship for you!

Not stressed or even mentioned is that this "world class resort" experience is supported by third-world, minimum-wage crews who may sign-on on a voyage-by-voyage basis, and who are quite likely to panic in an emergency (there have been examples cited here)

The program is a sickening tribute to Carnival, whom, of course, I am sure provided the footage, the computer graphics, and the interviews with corporate and vessel's luminaries. And yes, in the interests of truth, there was mention of the fines that the Fun-ship folks have paid in the past for pollution. this gave them a chance to demonstrate their sexy waste disposal systems etc.

Yet, these fabulous computer-designed and computer-operated wonders, are frequently the subject of such press reports of power losses; fires; and, of course, medical problems. New report often are of this nature:as "The Cruise Ship 'Inchclife Castle' is drifting helplessly without power in mid-Atlantic . etc etc". Much later we read on these pages, or in the Ombundsman section of Conde Nast traveler what a grim time the passengers had in said emergency, accompanied often by less-than-flattering descriptions of crew actions.

That is why I am encouraged by these postings about "Deutschland" indicate that there is still hope for a ship that is still a, byGod ship and looks like a ship.

And Cunard, child of Carnival, do not follow this course with QM2!! You have backslid far enough in service and cuisine from the QE2 I once new. to its current state. You now have a chance to design a real ship, once again, and to nix the atriums; the football stadia, the full-size horserace tracks, or whatever else you may think will be required to bring shore-resort-fixed passengers aboard.

However, ships "à la Carnival" must exists too, since they're (as you wrote too) a large success in term of appeal for the most part of customers today and so economically very interesting. It proved this system works and I'm personnaly dumbfounded by their technic and realization, although I don't like at all their philosophy and all the glitzy decoration which makes me feel sick sometimes (for example these awful green overloaded lights and neons into VICTORY's atrium) as well as their absence of connection with the sea and exteriors for the public rooms (and after all you spend much more time in public rooms than on your minuscule private balcony during a cruise. Another example, a vast majority of people spend their whole year in a close street with noise and trafic below and poor natural light above, that's why I personnaly wouldn't like a cabin in a RCCL Royal Promenade. To see what? a close and buzy street below? That said these Royal Promenades are technically a "tour de force").

What I think it's a pity is the "monoculture" of the actual realizations. 90-95% of modern cruise ships are build from that model and so in a certain way "impose" that mono-philosophy and vision to the vast majority of customers.
I think if several companies proposed ships with the same philosophy than DEUSCHLAND, even less luxurious and bigger to be economically less exclusive, customers (or I should say passengers now) would be able to appreciate their cruise experience too and the market would be more equilibrate. They would have a bigger choice and alternative emotions, they would be happy too (and so they'd repeat their cruise) and a rate of 70% / 30% instead of 95% / 5% (number of berths available) would be better and philosophically more open in my opinion and economically viable.

Of couse all of that is personnal tastes although I tried to analyse objectively the economic aspect the more I was able to during the past years.

I appreciate some realizations which are "compromise" between the two approaches like AURORA for example (and their investment doesn't represente much more than a common Carnival or RCCl or NCL ship) and, but this is quite different, like the QM2 promises to be. I salute Cunard/Carnival for this enterprise and I hope like them it will be a success.

That said, although I'm glad to see someone with the same vision, and it is probably the case of many other unexperienced average potential customers (which are the main market/target for the big companies), if I had the opportunity to cruise on any of these 90-95% ships which do not correspond fully to my tastes or approach... I'd sign immediately with my two hands.

Bye.

This excellent web site reveals all:

http://psp.club.tip.nl/

Scrol down Bart's homepage and click on 'Superstar Leo' in the 'Ship Tours' box.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cambodge:
I assume in appealing to the wintersports crowd, he will arrange a ski-lift to the funnel so that the skiers - no, make that snowboarders - can carve arcs in artificial snow from the boat deck to the bilge!

---

Great idea! Maybe Mr. fartass is working on it this very minute?

Funny story:
When I was taking 'History of Interior Design" in college, the professor showed us interior slides of a grand 3 class 1920's ocean liner. It was pre-Art Deco. I do not recall if it was the Paris or Vulcania.

We saw the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class lounges and dining rooms. An engine room was shown too. He did not tell us which was which.

In a blind taste test, the unbiased students unanimously thought the third class lounge was done in the best taste. It was simple and comforting, and had restrained ornamentation. 2nd class in between,and first class vulgar and ostentatious.

We thought the engine room could be a cool night club

___________________________________________

I have looked at the Rex interiors and came to the same conclusion. Her engine room is the most aesthetically pleasing.

link to Rex http://www.ips.it/scuola/concorso_99/rex/preclick.htm

Her third class cabins are dreary at best. Class division is not missed from the old days.

I used 'Babel Fish'* to translate the entire Rex web site. It worked to a degree - enough for me to get the general meaning of the text. The pictures are great!

quote:

---

Originally posted by jeff:
i have been an "atrium" fan since i'v seen the carnival ship's and now everyone is goin crazy cuttin holes in the deck to let the natural light in.....every time i visit our "pan pacific hotel" here at the canada place cruise ship dock, it reminds me of being aboard a cruise....the hotal also has a very similar 9 story atrium to the ships on the high seas....jeff

---

I will let you know what I think of those interiors when I see them in first hand!

[ 12-22-2004: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by desirod6:
The hardest thing is building around ship camber and deck sheer.

---