Princess fine art no more !

[nnrd79a]

I'm really disappointed to hear that Princess has sold out their in-house Fine Art business to PW .

 

My Wife and I have purchased several Guyton and Derubeis originals from GFA.

 

We have never had any trouble with GFA, and have really enjoyed our art.

 

On the other hand, I will never give Park West one *#@(#$@ cent.

 

Sad, back to the (Non Park West) land galleries for us.

 

Our purchases are only a tiny, tiny portion of GFA's sales anyhow....

Park West and Princess will not miss our $2000 or so per cruse...

(Some passengers spend more than that on Booze)

I would be willing to bet that there are several thousand of similar small buyers out there who fill the same way.

 

Happy Sailing PW.

[jkadventures]

Ditto on that. The auctions are a major reason we love Princess and this past cruise was no exception. If this pans out to be true, we will not do any business with PW and our shipboard art collecting days will be over.

 

PS- Very jealous of your Guyton- he was onboard the Royal recently and we missed it by two weeks. Loved seeing his works and was very tempted to go way over our art budget!

[nnrd79a]

Ditto on that. The auctions are a major reason we love Princess and this past cruise was no exception. If this pans out to be true, we will not do any business with PW and our shipboard art collecting days will be over.

 

PS- Very jealous of your Guyton- he was onboard the Royal recently and we missed it by two weeks. Loved seeing his works and was very tempted to go way over our art budget!

 

Thanks!

I knew there had to be a few of us. I'm only a Lurker on these boards, but the GFA sale to PW pulled me out of the shadows.

 

Have a great one!

[sundance1406]

My understanding is that the new senior leadership at Carnival (of which Princess is a part) has determined that they want to have more uniform practices across their products. That apparently includes the fine arts program. Having had that occur in my own corporation -- it often is at the expense of many excellent processes and practices. This is probably one of them. We have purchased many pieces ourselves over the last several years and will be waiting to see what happens with the new program.:confused:

[Gunner22aa]

Probably like any other contract. This one was up, Princess put it out to tender and Park West came back with the sweetest deal for them. As Pam says... "follow the money". Implementation is probably over a period of time to give PW and Princess the time to change over inventory etc.

[Coral]

Probably like any other contract. This one was up, Princess put it out to tender and Park West came back with the sweetest deal for them. As Pam says... "follow the money". Implementation is probably over a period of time to give PW and Princess the time to change over inventory etc.

 

I don't think it is a contract that was up. Global Fine Arts was a subsidiary of Princess Cruises.

 

I think it is an action made at Carnival Corp to streamline things across all the lines. For most of the lines under Carnival Corp, they use the same Spa company, now the same Art auction. A lot of the purchasing is more streamlined such as the same chairs on Princess balconies are also on Carnival cruise lines, etc...

[Ethel5]

I find the "champagne" particularly effective at separating fools from their money. Probably equally effective at stripping paint from an outhouse. :D

 

The outhouse was offended that we tried to clean it with THAT champagne!

[Times Prince]

My understanding is that the new senior leadership at Carnival (of which Princess is a part) has determined that they want to have more uniform practices across their products. That apparently includes the fine arts program. Having had that occur in my own corporation -- it often is at the expense of many excellent processes and practices. This is probably one of them. ...

The companies I have worked for did the same thing. Penny wise and pound foolish.

 

I hope that Park West has significantly cleaned up their act, and their reputation is a thing of the past only.

[nnrd79a]

The companies I have worked for did the same thing. Penny wise and pound foolish.

 

I hope that Park West has significantly cleaned up their act, and their reputation is a thing of the past only.

 

I have a few friends that work on a couple different ships. (Nobody in the art department).

 

Anyhow, I just got a response from one of the employees.... They said their Art Director is disembarking at their next port, and he is done. Gone, fired, let go... whatever you want to call it.

 

It looks as if PW is moving the GFA art off, (perhaps to inventory?) Moving their stuff in and taking over.

 

I'm sailing again in Jan out of FL. Last time I attended a PW auction, a large part of their items were reprints on posterboard. I hope they do not pull the same type of nonsense on Princess. (This was about seven years ago). Who knows?

 

Anybody out there on a ship now witnessing the changeover?

[cibaygirls]

I just got off the Crown this weekend. While I did not purchase any art (on this particular cruise, I have purchased other small pieces), I attended the final auction. I can not recall the auctioneer's name but he was part of a husband/wife duo and he mentioned that he would be ending his time with Princess shortly (within the next month or so I believe). He did not mention why however.

[sundance1406]

I was on the Crown this past week as well; the art director's name is Hayne and his wife is Anya. He didn't mention during the auction what the reason was for the change, but did give us a 'highlight' version in private. I have subsequently done some sniffing around like others have.

[grizzy08]

What a pity! My husband and I always enjoyed the art auctions! We will be on the Golden in February so I wonder if Park West will be active by then? Gosh, I hope not!

Edited December 3, 2013 by grizzy08

[Redwing55]

I wonder if it will be a subsidiary of PW? Maybe that would keep things a bit separate? Princess had relationships with some artists. I would think those parties would like them to continue.

[caribill]

I wonder if it will be a subsidiary of PW?

 

Does not sound like it with the postings that current art staff is fired.

[BuckeyeAZCruiser]

I have a few friends that work on a couple different ships. (Nobody in the art department).

 

Anyhow, I just got a response from one of the employees.... They said their Art Director is disembarking at their next port, and he is done. Gone, fired, let go... whatever you want to call it.

 

It looks as if PW is moving the GFA art off, (perhaps to inventory?) Moving their stuff in and taking over.

 

I'm sailing again in Jan out of FL. Last time I attended a PW auction, a large part of their items were reprints on posterboard. I hope they do not pull the same type of nonsense on Princess. (This was about seven years ago). Who knows?

 

Anybody out there on a ship now witnessing the changeover?

 

Yes, we can attest that it is true. We are currently on board the Sapphire Princess on a 15 day Hawaiian cruise. I had a nice chat with Ricardo, an 11 year PW employee who is on board with four other PW art people (and very little art). He said this is the first ship with PW and they hope to roll out the PW to all Princess ships within a month (pretty optimistic if you ask me, but they didn't).

 

No more 15% buyer premium! no more reserved price, no more 3 bid max. Truly an auction, getting you to pay as much as possible. Plenty of opportunity to buy "off auction", just meet Ricardo in his office and strike a deal.

 

Shipping is $35 for a tube with up to 6 prints. If you have PW frame your print, shipping is included in the price.

 

Definitely many changes. He hopes to have two auctions on our return leg next week - I guess they are going to load some art here in Hawaii. I will go and see how well they work.

 

Looks like we've bought our last piece of art on a Princess cruise.

 

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll ask Ricardo.

[nnrd79a]

Yes, we can attest that it is true. We are currently on board the Sapphire Princess on a 15 day Hawaiian cruise. I had a nice chat with Ricardo, an 11 year PW employee who is on board with four other PW art people (and very little art). He said this is the first ship with PW and they hope to roll out the PW to all Princess ships within a month (pretty optimistic if you ask me, but they didn't).

 

No more 15% buyer premium! no more reserved price, no more 3 bid max. Truly an auction, getting you to pay as much as possible. Plenty of opportunity to buy "off auction", just meet Ricardo in his office and strike a deal.

 

Shipping is $35 for a tube with up to 6 prints. If you have PW frame your print, shipping is included in the price.

 

Definitely many changes. He hopes to have two auctions on our return leg next week - I guess they are going to load some art here in Hawaii. I will go and see how well they work.

 

Looks like we've bought our last piece of art on a Princess cruise.

 

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll ask Ricardo.

 

Thanks for the info. Now that it has been conformed, I think I feel a little sick.

 

Always some Suit somewhere, in some position, trying to grab a few more Stock Options or snag a larger bonus by slashing some part of the company. It almost always works short term, then the Suit cashes in, moves on to the the next sucker company, while the previous company runs around trying to "mend fences" etc.. etc... and repair what was knocked down. I've seen it over and over again... It's just Sad that it is happening to Princess.

 

In the past my Wife and I booked cruises on Princess for the specific purpose of picking up complimenting originals for some of our existing pieces. First thing on every cruise we would hook up with the Art Director and browse his/hers JPGs, to find what we wanted.

 

Our experiences were always fantastic. We started sailing with Princess exclusivity because of their in-house art department. I haven't sailed on another line in over 8 years.

 

So much for that. Another PW cookie cutter ship load of poster board and overpriced originals. Fantastic! Way to go Princess...

 

Best Quote from "Times Prince" on page #3

"Penny wise and pound foolish."

Edited December 5, 2013 by nnrd79a

[Loonbeam]

While I agree with you in principle its important to consider the numbers, We have no idea how much PFA was generating in profits (I would have to assume some).

 

If that number was not big enough to justify the return on space used (which is at a premium on most ships), then they are obligated as a business to try to get to that point regardless of whether we like it or not.

 

There's been no indication this change was due to changes in management (I'm not saying its not possible, just that we haven't seen anything to back it up).

 

Thanks for the info. Now that it has been conformed, I think I feel a little sick.

 

Always some Suit somewhere, in some position, trying to grab a few more Stock Options or snag a larger bonus by slashing some part of the company. It almost always works short term, then the Suit cashes in, moves on to the the next sucker company, while the previous company runs around trying to "mend fences" etc.. etc... and repair what was knocked down. I've seen it over and over again... It's just Sad that it is happening to Princess.

 

In the past my Wife and I booked cruises on Princess for the specific purpose of picking up complimenting originals for some of our existing pieces. First thing on every cruise we would hook up with the Art Director and browse his/hers JPGs, to find what we wanted.

 

Our experiences were always fantastic. We started sailing with Princess exclusivity because of their in-house art department. I haven't sailed on another line in over 8 years.

 

So much for that. Another PW cookie cutter ship load of poster board and overpriced originals. Fantastic! Way to go Princess...

 

Best Quote from "Times Prince" on page #3

"Penny wise and pound foolish."

[nnrd79a]

There's been no indication this change was due to changes in management (I'm not saying its not possible, just that we haven't seen anything to back it up).

 

You are absolutely correct. The entire changeover has been very subtle and quiet.

 

I have not seen or heard anything official. It’s highly doubtful that any of us will ever know the true answers.

 

The whispers on the street are that the Carnival executives are flexing their muscles trying to pull all of their subsidiaries into a somewhat homogenized offering.

 

True, not true? I don’t know, I’m just disappointed.

[nnrd79a]

Definitely many changes. He hopes to have two auctions on our return leg next week - I guess they are going to load some art here in Hawaii. I will go and see how well they work.

 

Buckeye:

If you have a chance to attend the first PW auction on your return voyage, and if you still have Satellite minutes...... Would you mind giving us the rundown of what you observed?

 

If you have the time, that would be fantastic!

Thanks for the post.

 

(FYI, Wife and I made that run on the Golden a few years ago. If you have the time, travel to the North Shore on Kauai. Absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!)

Edited December 5, 2013 by nnrd79a

[Coral]

This may be a silly question and may not be accurate.....

 

Didn't I read or hear that Global Fine Arts would buy your art back (at the price you paid) at anytime in the future if you are no longer satisfied with it?

 

If that was true, what happens if Global Fine Arts is being dissolved? Did I understand that correctly?

[Hula Hips]

All of the art auctions should be taken off all ships. Takes up to much room and most of it is ugly anyway.

 

 

we enjoy the art auctions !! You have to appreciate fine art to enjoy. Just may not be for you.

[Ethel5]

we enjoy the art auctions !! You have to appreciate fine art to enjoy. Just may not be for you.

 

Call me low brow, but I just don't see dancing olives or poker playing dogs fine art. I must have missed something in those art classes I took.:rolleyes:

[Times Prince]

This may be a silly question and may not be accurate.....

 

Didn't I read or hear that Global Fine Arts would buy your art back (at the price you paid) at anytime in the future if you are no longer satisfied with it?

 

If that was true, what happens if Global Fine Arts is being dissolved? Did I understand that correctly?

I've heard different responses on this over the years. At first it was as you stated, then about 2 years ago it added the clause (paraphrased) "GFA will buy your art valued at over $2,000 back...".

 

I do know the guarantee did not include reimbursement of the auctioneer's fee, but just the successful bid price of the artwork.

 

Who knows whether this guarantee is gone or not. With changing companies, I doubt it will transfer, and if Princess Global Fine Arts is dissolved, the same will happen with all their guarantees, especially if not in writing.

[BuckeyeAZCruiser]

Buckeye:

If you have a chance to attend the first PW auction on your return voyage, and if you still have Satellite minutes...... Would you mind giving us the rundown of what you observed?

 

If you have the time, that would be fantastic!

Thanks for the post.

 

(FYI, Wife and I made that run on the Golden a few years ago. If you have the time, travel to the North Shore on Kauai. Absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!)

 

I will definitely let everyone know. The first "education" talk was about Thomas Kincaid - apparently paw bought a ton of his paper lithos and that is the first thing they are trying to sell. You had to go to the gallery to buy them that night only. We stopped by, but no Kincaid's on display and all of the paw people were watching a video on an iPad - no attempt to try to help us.

 

Thanks for the advice. We are renting a car on Kauai. Planning on driving to the canyon.

 

We just came back from the Arizona - very impressive and sobering!

[BruceMuzz]

All of the art auctions should be taken off all ships. Takes up to much room and most of it is ugly anyway.

 

There is a very easy solution to this problem.

Art Auction on a ship the size of Ruby Princess generates about $300,000 in revenue every week.

The cruise line could just increase everyone's fare by $100 on every 7-day cruise to make up the difference and then nobody would have to suffer through the auctions.

 

Of course Princess would lose those customers who spend that $300,000 every week, as they would go to other cruise lines that still offer the art auctions.

So to make up for the lost fares and other revenues paid by those people, Princess could tack on another $100 per person per week.

 

This way everybody wins.

Princess makes the same amount of money as before, and you only have to spend an additional $200 per person per week to avoid those nasty art auctions.

 

Let's send a petition to Princess and demand they follow up.

Is everybody with me???????