The 110,000-ton
The 110,000-ton
The 2,974-passenger ship, which is slated to debut in New Orleans in December, will operate seven-day western Caribbean cruises year-round from the Big Easy.
Farcus pointed out that this is the first Fun Ship whose interior design was directly tied to its intended home-port. When I learned the ship was to sail from New Orleans, I was inspired to use the Impressionists as a jumping-off point for the interior design, said Farcus. Edgar Degas actually lived in New Orleans for a time, so there is definitely a connection between the city, which is an artist`s city with a definite French influence, and the Impressionist painters.
Farcus describes the ship`s main atrium and lobby as a testimonial to all of the Impressionist and post-Impressionist painters. The Artists` Lobby design is dominated by a large hand-painted mural collage of details from famous Impressionist paintings on the central ceiling dome and vertical wall of the Atelier Atrium. The collage effect is picked up again in the promenade and in other public areas throughout the ship. Internally illuminated Murano-glass sculptures of flowers on antiqued bronze stalks provide muted lighting effects and the walls are of wood paneling with inlaid wood marquetry and hand-laid mosaics. The bar fronts are wood inlaid panels interspersed with Murano glass flowers.
The Toulouse-Lautrec Show Lounge takes as its inspiration the diminutive French painter`s sketches and portraits drawn from the subjects he found in the cabarets, theater, circus and brothels of Paris` Montmartre district. The lounge`s walls display hand-painted reproductions of the artist`s poster works, while gold and red dominate chromatically and the overall style is art nouveau. To the sides of the stage are the famous windmill signs of the Moulin Rouge cabaret, its vanes turning in an imaginary breeze, and the windmill motif is repeated in the carpet design.
The ship features two two-level dining rooms. For the restaurants, I wanted to do something quiet and beautiful, explained Farcus, so I chose Monet and Renoir.
Both rooms are architecturally identical, and both feature panels of stylized wood-veneered images of the Eiffel Tower in the walls and ceiling. The fabrics and colors are based on different works by the two namesake painters. The forward Renoir Restaurant takes its inspiration from Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise, a tranquil scene of boaters relaxing at a cafe overlooking the Seine, which is featured in the wall-covering fabric. The flower-covered trellis in the painting is repeated in the carpet`s colors and pattern. In the aft Monet Restaurant, one of the artist`s famous Water Lilies series of nature scenes sets the atmosphere. Here, the carpet pattern repeats the green water lilies floating in a reflective blue pond, which is featured on the wall fabric.
The two-level Restaurant Cezanne on Lido Deck takes elements from the post-Impressionist painters works to create the atmosphere of a 19th-century French cafe. The period hand-painted ceramic-tile wainscoting is complemented by details and reproductions of wall covering patterns seen in classic Cezanne works, including Chateau Noir, Self-Portrait on a Rose Background and House of Pere Lacroix in Auvers.
The Point is the Conquest`s reservations-only supper club, located high up on Panorama Deck. The restaurant takes its name from the style of Georges- Pierre Seurat, known as pointillism, which is the rendering of images through thousands of individual dots, or points, of color. The walls have murals in the style of Seurat`s famous Le Cirque (The Circus), featuring circus tents rendered in the pointillist style. The ceiling is a mural of clouds in a blue sky with special LED and star lights which will provide a sunset-to-night effect during the course of the evening.
New for the Conquest-class is an expanded game room and teen area that serves as a second promenade for teenagers, said Farcus. Decorated to resemble the back alleys of the infamous Montmartre district of 19th-century Paris, the room sports brick walls with peeling stucco decorated with rock concert posters and graffiti, building facades and wood fences. The facilities for teens include a dance floor, video wall, lounge, soft-drink bar and the latest state-of-the-art video games.
The Polynesian world of post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin is re-created in the Tahiti Casino. Beams and columns of bamboo and wood, and cast thatch ceiling panels impart the feeling of a Tahitian village with colorful jungle- motif fabrics and rich wood tones add to the ambiance. Gauguin-style native figurative sculptures with simulated flames rising from their heads complete the mysterious, rustic decor.
Gauguin`s Bar, the Conquest`s sports bar, carries on the Tahitian theme from the adjacent casino, but incorporates more wall murals of Gauguin`s paintings.
Henri`s Dance Club takes its theme from the exotic jungle paintings of Henri Rousseau. Painted metal cutouts made to look like the coarse grass of Rousseau`s paintings are mounted on the wall, with occasional three- dimensional heads of animals similar to the kind often seen lurking in the artist`s works. Muted reds, golds and greens dominate the fabrics and window treatments, while the carpet is a colorful, cartoon-like pattern of animals peeking from behind bright-green leaves of grass.
Vincent`s Piano Bar breaks with the design of the other public rooms by not reproducing any actual Van Gogh works as part of the decor. Instead, the architecture itself is made to imitate Van Gogh`s surreal style with twisted columns painted bright yellow typified in his painting of the Church at Auveres. The walls are finished in murals of sunflowers reminiscent of the artist`s famous painting of a vase of sunflowers, accented by shuttered windows. Light fixtures are colored glass in the shape of irises — another prominent Van Gogh subject.
The Blue Piano Bar takes as its theme from the blue color commonly found in the works of Henri Matisse, considered the greatest French painter of the 20th century. The walls, ceilings and doors are highly decorated — as if painted by Matisse himself — with swirls, flowers, arabesques and abstract designs. The carpet is a pattern designed after the artist`s work Icarus, which shows a silhouetted figure falling across a background of blue sky and yellow stars.
Alfred`s Bar, located on Atlantic Deck beneath the dance club, is named for Alfred Sisely, an Englishman raised in Paris and one of the fathers of the Impressionist movement. The room is decorated like a wood-paneled English drawing room with large reproductions of Sisely`s cityscapes, landscapes and rural subjects displayed on the walls. Dark, rich colors dominate, and between the windows are pedestals supporting busts of the artist`s likeness.
The Degas Lounge, aft on Promenade Deck, takes its theme from the artist`s fascination with ballet dancers. Bronze cast sculptures of ballerina figures are fitted into niches around the room. The ceiling has case decorative bronze-colored moldings and chandeliers, and the fabrics are deep burgundy and gold, creating a very classy venue.
Prior to entering year-round seven-day western Caribbean service departing New Orleans every Sunday, the Carnival Conquest will operate a series of three special voyages. A four-day cruise departing November 15 will feature a visit to Cozumel, Mexico; a six-day cruise departing November 21 will visit Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel; and a four-day Thanksgiving weekend cruise departing November 27 will call at Cozumel. Seven-day cruises will visit Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
