Art Auctions

Has any of our cruise peers experienced an art auction and/or gallery on the Pacific Princess? Also would appreciate any comments about authenticity and value, Cheers.

There is no art director and therefore are no art auctions on the Pacific Princess. Just another reason to love that ship!

Plus since park west took over the art auctions it's a waste of time .

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The "art" at the art auctions isn't real art. Almost all of the pictures are lithographs. If you want to own a picture that is owned by several hundred or thousand of other cruisers...buy some. Just be aware there is virtually no resale value (regardless what the auctioneer says) and you'll pay a lot more than you would for a similar picture at JC Penney or Walmart.

Haven't had one of these threads in at least a week. Here we go again.

DON

Art auctions are a waste of resources and one major pain in the rectum. If they disappeared, there would be much rejoicing.

Since 90% of the so called art are lithographs, it makes no to buy them through an auction. They have a warehouse with hundreds of identical pictures, with different serial numbers.

Why would somebody try to outbid someone else when there are hundreds of other identical pieces available? And they would be more than happy to sell another piece at the same price or lower? Sometimes I've seen people bidding against each other, and the auctioneer stops the auction when it reaches certain price. He tells both parties that he's doing them a favor. He doesn't want anyone to overpay, and he will sell copies to both parties at the current price and they are both winners! No, they are both losers and the auctioneers just doubled their profit!

The auctioneer tries to work everyone into a frenzy and he says that it is so important that you have a "pre-bid" before the auction starts. That way if nobody else bids, and your bid is higher than their minimum bid, then you automatically win! But what if your pre-bid is higher than their minimum bid? Then you just paid more that you could have.

If you really want to buy something, why not just approach them after the auction? If the opening bid was $300 and nobody bid, then offer $200, take it or leave it. Or just ask, what's your bottom line if I want to buy one of the many copies that you have in your warehouse?

Another problem is they have many raffles for free prints. So you just won the raffle and your not sure if you even like that print, but it's free. Until you pay for the shipping. And the price they charge for shipping is often (always?) more than what the print is worth. If you think it's worth something, then just try to sell it.

I just don't get it?

Since Park West, also known as Fraud West, took over it's a joke.

Wow, lots of pent up aggression towards the art auctions. We have yet to have a bad experience (with the actual purchase) with them, are some of the art auctioneers better than others, absolutely. But we also go in with reasonable expectations on what we are buying. Plus, they really aren't auctions. It's been a long time since I have seen more than one bid on a piece so it's more like buying with flair.

I'm not buying a Picasso for investment purposes, I'm usually buying something that is around $200-$300 that I will really enjoy hanging on my wall. On land sometimes the frame will cost you this much.

They aren't for everyone. Seems like some people have had less than great experiences. We have probably bought atleast 1 piece on 3 or 4 cruises and with the exception of one bad onboard experience (where we simply left and just didn't buy anything) we are very happy with all of our purchases.

Plus since park west took over the art auctions it's a waste of time .

 

 

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I total agree with you.

Tony

Since 90% of the so called art are lithographs, it makes no to buy them through an auction. They have a warehouse with hundreds of identical pictures, with different serial numbers.

 

Why would somebody try to outbid someone else when there are hundreds of other identical pieces available? And they would be more than happy to sell another piece at the same price or lower? Sometimes I've seen people bidding against each other, and the auctioneer stops the auction when it reaches certain price. He tells both parties that he's doing them a favor. He doesn't want anyone to overpay, and he will sell copies to both parties at the current price and they are both winners! No, they are both losers and the auctioneers just doubled their profit!

 

The auctioneer tries to work everyone into a frenzy and he says that it is so important that you have a "pre-bid" before the auction starts. That way if nobody else bids, and your bid is higher than their minimum bid, then you automatically win! But what if your pre-bid is higher than their minimum bid? Then you just paid more that you could have.

 

If you really want to buy something, why not just approach them after the auction? If the opening bid was $300 and nobody bid, then offer $200, take it or leave it. Or just ask, what's your bottom line if I want to buy one of the many copies that you have in your warehouse?

 

Another problem is they have many raffles for free prints. So you just won the raffle and your not sure if you even like that print, but it's free. Until you pay for the shipping. And the price they charge for shipping is often (always?) more than what the print is worth. If you think it's worth something, then just try to sell it.

 

I just don't get it?

I think it's called stupid people!! As PT Barnum used to say: "There's a sucker born every minute!"

Since Park West, also known as Fraud West, took over it's a joke.

It may be a joke but its big bucks for the cruise-line.

Space is money on a ship.

When art takes up this much space its worth a lot to the company (Princess).

Look at the photo gallery.

The pieces available at the on ship art auctions are of the finest quality. They are only up for bid while the ship is in international waters to insure that you can receive the piece at below market prices. Please buy as many of the pieces as you can as this will help keep the prices of cruises down for me. Thank you.

Has any of our cruise peers experienced an art auction and/or gallery on the Pacific Princess? Also would appreciate any comments about authenticity and value, Cheers.

Having none, nothing to miss except the free champagne.

Haven't had one of these threads in at least a week. Here we go again.

 

DON

Getting like dress code and tipping.

Having none, nothing to miss except the free champagne.

AKA- Headache-in-a-glass... (Or so I have heard.)

On our recent cruise on the Dawn,we saw some art we really liked,2 pieces.

The art sales-person,(male and female)on 2 occasions was so rude and condescending, that we were left feeling cold.

We couldn't understand the process.

Something about reserving at this price, then bidding in the auction.

The prices were astronomical.

So if there are thousands of these said prints, how does one access these once ashore.

Cheers.:):)

On our recent cruise on the Dawn,we saw some art we really liked,2 pieces.

 

The art sales-person,(male and female)on 2 occasions was so rude and condescending, that we were left feeling cold.

 

We couldn't understand the process.

Something about reserving at this price, then bidding in the auction.

 

The prices were astronomical.

 

So if there are thousands of these said prints, how does one access these once ashore.

 

Cheers.:):)

Try going online. Still if you feel like throwing money away, I'd be glad to give you my address!

Try going online. Still if you feel like throwing money away, I'd be glad to give you my address!

LOL,cheers,i suppose art is subjective,but not at that price.;)

I always browse the art on display before the auction. If I see something I like, I snap a photo of it and make a note of the artist. When I get home, I go online and find a reproduction for a fraction of the price.

The "art" at the art auctions isn't real art. Almost all of the pictures are lithographs.

Since 90% of the so called art are lithographs, it makes no to buy them through an auction.

Many of the pictures are touted as being Giclée, not lithographs.

This fancy word means they were produced on an ink-jet printer.

The "art" at the art auctions isn't real art.

What?

You say the picture below is not of "real" art?

Or this one?

What?

 

You say the picture below is not of "real" art?

Eye of the beholder and all that. I guess somebody must buy since they keep selling.

Some pretty broad misperceptions here.

We have bought art while on Princess Cruises but all pre-Park West.

None of the art has depreciated in value when looking at any legitimate gallery or on-line dealer. In some cases, like art by Martiros, the price has increased significantly. However, we do recommend one buy art because you like it, and not for investment purposes.

Certainly, there are many pictures where one can buy a poster and come out cheaper, like one person inferred below. But, as another said, most of the time one cannot buy the frame on land for the price of the framed artwork. For instance we saw this for a Behrens picture at JC Penney's - the reproduction in the store cost more than a hand embellished and signed lithograph from a Princess art auction.

Even some of the "free" art we won and paid shipping for was found to be in the $230 price range from an online source for the same artist. Not a bad deal - and in one case that was great documentation of value for a donation to a church auction.

So, making no comment about the current offerings or vendor (other than that we do not like the atmosphere and pre-registration requirement for the current auctions), it is always a "buyer beware", whether on ship or elsewhere. With internet access it is easy to check for current value from a good source (not Ebay) to see if the price is reasonable.

If you don't like it, don't go.

Pretty simple really.