Art Auctions

[SailinC2C]

When we were on Explorerer in May we heard that as of August, Park West was no longer going to be the Auction House for RCI. Is that true?

Is there another company now?

[NorbertsNiece]

Certainly hope not. JMO.

[yogimax]

I believe Park West will be leaving individual RCCL ships at different times.

 

Oasis uses another art company. BTW, I heard PW just got an extension from Carnival.

[yogimax]

Certainly hope not. JMO.

 

Why? Many people enjoy the art auctions.

[jmraggs]

My brother just disembarked off of Majesty last weekend and he said that they didn't have an art auction and he wondered why. It doesn't matter to me, never attended one yet.

[SailinC2C]

It makes sense that you don't get an auction on a 3 or 4 day cruise. They really need the sea days to draw in the crowd. It would be too expensive to carry the inventory for just one auction a cruise.

[Sequim88]

On our 12 nt trans-Atlantic they had two because there were so many sea days (6). They took over the Viking Crown lounge for most of those days which sort of perturbed me because that was a great place to sit and read and view the ocean out of the cold wind. Pictures stacked everywhere on all the chairs and tables.

 

Just got done reading "Cruise Confidential" by Brian Bruns and he had some interesting things to say about the Art Auction business. Seems there's some pretty good money to be had for good auctioniers which I read between the lines to mean someone is probably getting ripped off.

[negc]

Why? Many people enjoy the art auctions.

And many do not. But the real heart of the matter is the fact that PW was the subject of several lawsuits questioning their practices, the legitimacy of their claims regarding the value of some of their "art". RCI is not the only line to sever their relationship with PW. Oasis has another company that sells art on her and I believe that any auctions that they may hold are held in their art gallery and not in public space. At the present time, I don't believe that RCI has announce what, if any company, will replace PW on the rest of the fleet. Many of us wouldn't be disappointed if no replacement were selected

[SailinC2C]

We have bought art at ship auctions and it really is a good price. One of our friends is a CD for Princess and he and his wife ran the Art Auctions for several years before becoming a CD. He said the art is a really good deal. We checked with him before we bought because didn't know. We don't buy on every trip but we usually attend the auctions because the good auctioneers give you a lot in info and it is interesting.

[Queen of Oakville]

It's not like you are buying originals - they are almost all limitted edittion prints of some kind. If a printing house does a run of 500 prints, each are numbered. When those 500 or 5000 prints sell out ... a new run is done. It's not like there are and only ever will be 500 prints of something. I think some people buy on the expectatin that they have one of 500 copies EVER made. This isnt' true. I believe that this is how the auctineers "Sell" the value.

 

I could be wrong; but that is how it has been explained to me. Buyer Beware.

 

We bought one piece on our first cruise ... I told the story on the "best memories" thread. We bough the piece because of the memory associated with it; not because we felt the piece had any value.

 

Also most of the pieces come with VERY cheap framing; which generally needs to be re-framed. You'll find the re-framing will cost you almost as much as you paid for the art.

[SailinC2C]

We only buy stuff we really like. And you're right about the framing. We have a store near us at home where we get really good frame prices. but they can't come close to the price of buying the piece already framed.

[howard6933]

If you really want to get the lowdown on art auctions aboard cruise ships, go to

http://www.cruisemates.com and when the home page comes up, scroll down and click on the photo of Salvator Dali. You'll read about a few people who really got "taken" by Park West and how Royal Caribbean is throwing Park West off their ships. Anybody who really thinks that they're getting good deals on buying art on a ship may be having day dreams.

:rolleyes:

[NorbertsNiece]

Why? Many people enjoy the art auctions.

 

 

Just My Opinion.

 

When they're in the Centrum the noise follows me down the corridors....

 

I'm concerned that people are duped.

 

If you're interested in art or something to hang on your wall why would you buy it on a cruise ship?

 

I think the word 'Art' is a misnomer. A painting of Tigger is not art.

 

I could go on.

 

Oh.... and how dare they call it Champagne?

[jmraggs]

It makes sense that you don't get an auction on a 3 or 4 day cruise. They really need the sea days to draw in the crowd. It would be too expensive to carry the inventory for just one auction a cruise.

 

They always have had auctions on their 3 and 4 night cruises (at least Majesty) until now I guess. I thought it was due to the fact that the contracts with PW are expiring differently on each ship since other ships still have the auctions and they aren't renewing them.

[wingnutphl]

There were no art auctions on the Serenade a few weeks ago.

[traveling1969]

Just off the 09/05/10 7-night sailing of the Liberty. No art auction.

[yogimax]

It's not like you are buying originals - they are almost all limitted edittion prints of some kind. If a printing house does a run of 500 prints, each are numbered. When those 500 or 5000 prints sell out ... a new run is done.

 

That's simply not true. A limited edition of 500 is precisely that, 500. They do not do new runs.

[yogimax]

A painting of Tigger is not art.

 

 

Tell that to Walt Disney (which I admit is difficult)!

 

Seriously, animation art is indeed an accepted art fom.

[negc]

They always have had auctions on their 3 and 4 night cruises (at least Majesty) until now I guess. I thought it was due to the fact that the contracts with PW are expiring differently on each ship since other ships still have the auctions and they aren't renewing them.

 

That is the reason that they have disappeared from different ships at different times. RCI and other lines apparently decided that the profits they may have received by allowing Park West to operate on their ships wasn't worth the legal problems that arose and could have involved them. Whether or not the "limited"offerings really were limited to a specific number or were just reprinted as necessary may have been one of the bases for the lawsuits. In any case, they are, or shortly will be, gone from RCI's ships and the resulting silence will be welcome to many of us, who found the auctoneer's spiels much more intrusive than the frequent bingo announcements which seem to have diminished in recent times.:)

[Darkwolfe]

I won't miss those at all. Park West was scamming so bad it was pathetic. You don't glue "originals" into their frames and "originals" don't have printer calibration marks in the corners. It's even more suspicious when the supposed "brush marks" don't even match whats "painted".

 

I saw that first hand on several pieces that PW was advertising as original on Serenade years back.

 

By good fortune, I was able to show the proof of the fakes to at least one family that was considering buying. They decided against it in a hurry.

 

No, Park West will not be missed. If they get real art auctions on, that's great, but I'll skewer them just as bad if I find fakery at work again.

[39august]

Glad to hear no auctions recently on Liberty. Thank goodness I won't be having to walk past those kitschy Kindcaids!

[arc918]

Good riddance Park West! I HATE those scam artists.

 

Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out...

[jmraggs]

How many people have watched the special from CNBC?

 

"CRUISE INC: BIG MONEY ON THE HIGH SEAS"

 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29780988/CNBC_Original_CRUISE_INC_BIG_MONEY_ON_THE_HIGH_SEAS_will_Premiere_on_March_24th

 

I can watch any cruise show over and over wishing I was onboard, but every time I watch this show I chuckle when it's covering the art auction and the Dr. (a passenger) that they are interviewing said that he had spent $20,000 on art that cruise. If it's worth it to him, that's all that matters.:D

[Queen of Oakville]

That's simply not true. A limited edition of 500 is precisely that, 500. They do not do new runs.

 

 

Here is the explanation I was looking from. This is copied from Wikipedia (granted - not the most reliable reference - but it is an easy explanation)

 

Edition sizes higher than about 500 are likely to be of print reproductions of paintings, of much less value, though some modern techniques blur this traditional distinction.

As in other fields, the use of the concept has become largely driven by marketing imperatives , and has been misused in parts of the market. In particular, lithographic, photogravure, rotogravure, and

giclee

reproductions of prints, derived from photographs of an original print, which are most unlikely to have any investment value, are often issued in limited editions implying that they will have such value.

These need to be distinguished from the original artist's print, carefully produced directly from his work and printed under the artist's supervision. In

UK

and

New Zealand

the

Fine Art Trade Guild

ensures the quality and verification of limited edition prints by employing a number of strictly administered regulations for all processes and aspects related to them.

If memory services, most of the PW prints are lithographs or giclees. So, somewhere an orignial exists (which I assume is procured by PW). They create a lithograph, and do a LE run of say 500. Then they do another lithograph and do another LE run. They can repeat this ad nauseam creating each LE run of a new lithograph. There are no limits to the number of lithographs that can be done of the same original; this they have no financial value.

[Annieeee]

Why? Many people enjoy the art auctions.

 

 

The auctions are very loud and intrusive. The noise goes all the way the atrium and does bother those that are wanting to sit quietly and enjoy the view.The auctions might be less disliked if they were held in a place like the theater, or maybe in the Colony Club on a Radiance Class ship, or in the Ixtapa Lounge in the Voyager class ships. Anywhere that the noise can be cntained by closing a door and not invading others quietude.

 

That is what I think.

 

Annieeee