This has to be the only ship in the world whose decor is best described in wattage. Imagine the glow of Times Square at night. Then imagine it going to sea.
That`s the Fantasy, the world`s newest cruise ship. It is like nothing you`ve ever seen before, a floating Fantasyland of light.
I only wish I had the light bulb concession. I tried once to count the number of bulbs in the Celebration dining room and gave up when I got to 600something and realized I had only counted the lights around one of the two dozen windows.
Never mind that the room`s coffered ceiling has a zillion more lights in every coffer. Never mind the 15 miles of neon tubing here and elsewhere in the ship.
Never mind the double-takes you do when you see the Fantasy`s seven-story atrium change color from blue to green to pink to red to lavender.
Seeing is believing
Until you see it, you cannot imagine what Carnival Cruise Line and architect Joe Farcus have wrought on this gargantuan vessel, the second-largest cruise ship in the world in terms of passengers. (Only Royal Caribbean`s Sovereign of the Seas can carry slightly more.)
The Fantasy is a real trip.
The funny thing is that it works.
You may think that using a galaxy of tivoli lights and programmable neon would produce a glow that would out-garish Las Vegas.
Not true. Carnival`s cruise ships have never been known for their conservative decor-and certainly the Fantasy is no exception-but this lighting is functional, it is decorative and it is a conversation piece.
The latter may be its greatest asset. Being talked about will help the Fantasy fill up her 2,600 berths.
Already booked
Not that she needs much help. The Fantasy is already booked nearly to capacity on many of its early cruises.
Besides, lighting is not the only thing that will attract passengers to this ship.
Fantasy is the first big vessel to enter the short-cruise market, making three- and four-day sailings out of Miami to the nearby Bahamas islands. That alone should prove a major drawing card. Traditionally, older and smaller ships have been used in this service.
The ship has the largest casino afloat, as well as the largest spa, a spacious, modern facility where you can work up a sweat on exercise machines or work out a kink in the massage room. Joggers can do their laps on a 1/8-mile rubberized track on the top deck.
Cabins are roomy
Fantasy`s cabins are among the largest afloat. A standard outside cabin has 190 square feet, and includes such amenities as telephone, television and single beds that convert to king size.
Where architect Farcus` work shines, however, is in the large public spaces. This is a vacation ship, and you can`t help but feel that the architect put a lot of fun into his work, both for himself and for the vacationers.
Rooms like the Cats Lounge, inspired by the Broadway musical hit, are the cat`s meow. You enter through a giant stainless-steel replica of an empty cat food tin, and sit at a table whose top resembles a Lite beer cap, a Hellman`s mayonnaise jar or a Kiwi shoe polish can. The bar is a reproduction of a Ronzoni spaghetti box and around the room you`ll recognize giant-sized containers of B&M Baked Beans, Royal Pink Salmon, Ritz Crackers and even Prince Albert in a can.
”When it came time to actually select the items, I went to the Publix near my house to pick them out,” said Farcus. You know he had a ball making out his shopping list.
Lightning bolts
Then there`s the disco, which Farcus describes as ”an architectural interpretation of a high-voltage distribution system.” Simulated bolts of lightning shoot across the walls and ceiling, and music blasts out from the bowl-like capitals of the columns.
Take a walk on the Promenade Deck and you are dazzled with futuristic color and whimsical design, particularly on Century Boulevard, the 450-foot-long promenade that provides access to several bars, the casino and main showroom. As in the atrium, appropriately named the Grand Spectrum, the soft and changing glow of plastic-encased neon helps to illuminate the Boulevard and some of the other public rooms. A ”sidewalk cafe” takes you into the 21st Century with lounge chairs and tables situated aboard futuristic cars that look like they`re floating on air.
Visit Cleopatra`s Lounge for a little piano music to go with your drink, and you may feel you`re entering a pharaoh`s chamber. Hieroglyphs decorate the frescoes, carvings etch the ”sandstone” lintels and ”bronze” doors. Here and there, a sarcophagus in the shape of a pharaonic queen stares out into the room; one wonders if there`s a mummy inside.
”I didn`t want to create something kitsch. I wanted it authentic, so we hired an Egyptologist,” said Farcus. The frescoes are paper laminated on plastic and the statues, stone and metal work are fiber glass, but the designs are true Egyptian, even down to the mildew spot deliberately reproduced on the frescoes.
The walls of a passageway on the pool deck were to be decorated with an artist`s mural.
”That plan was dropped, so Arison (Ted Arison, owner of Carnival Cruise Lines) said to do something with it,” Farcus related. So the architect had a series of enlarged marine signal flags painted there.
”They spell my name,” he admitted. It`s the first time he has ever put his name on any of the many cruise ships he has designed.
A power surge
The dining rooms` thousands of tivoli lights shine softly while you eat. But when the waiters parade around the room bearing baked Alaska or a candle- bedecked tray atop their heads, the tivoli lights suddenly go into motion, chasing each other and blinking off and on as the music swells.
Fun, that`s what Farcus has created.
But there`s elegance aboard the ship too. Italian marble from the same quarry that provided stone for Michelangelo was used on the double stair at the base of the Grand Spectrum. Marble also lends richness to the Majestic Bar, a room notable for its understated decor. Leather, rosewood and Lappiaruska marble from Finland grace the subtle decor of the Pavillon library.
About $2 million in artworks were created for the ship.
Israeli sculptor Yaacov Agam, who created the rainbow condo on Miami`s Brickell Avenue and specializes in kinetic sculptures, designed the centerpiece for the Grand Spectrum-a 20-foot-high rotating work that looks like a combination kaleidoscope and child`s whirligig.
Tile murals
Helen Webber sculpted and painted 5,000 ceramic tiles for 12 striking murals on each of the Grand Spectrum decks.
Austrian-born Hilda Pierce painted 96 original abstract oils for the ship, plus 1,200 large original monoprints, over a period of three years. She also did 15 sketches that spoof famous painters, used repetitively throughout the ship. Mocking Botticelli`s ”The Birth of Venus,” she painted Venus in a bikini and placed her on a surfboard.
”That was my private fantasy for the Fantasy,” she said.
