Winter Garden Refit

[KenC]

From memory and what I have read, I believe the champagne bar was an afterthought and introduced in some sort of deal with V-C. I believe it does not have even the most basic services such as water and drainage. So if a coffee bar is envisaged then it will require a large amount of work to equip the area - you can pop to a nearby bar for another bottle of bubbly or more glasses but not to make half a dozen coffees every few minutes !!!!

[CGT]

It also shows the Champagne Bar which I believe was mentioned on here as becoming a coffee bar.

 

 

Great.

 

So the space goes from something special to something utterly mundane, common, ordinary and boring.

 

A coffee bar.

 

Wonderful. NOT.

[CGT]

I agree with wripro; wandering around with a full tray trying to find a place to sit was a major headache(along with trying to find where they kept the teaspoons).

 

I may be a minority of one, but I liked the Winter Garden and its decor. The waterfall, the mural, the comfortable seating, the piano music at times, and the fact that it was underused, so there were never alot of people around: all were pluses in my opinion.

 

Clear this up. Host Doug says the wicker was plastic. I find that hard to believe. Was it?

 

I have not been in the Winter Garden, I have only seen it in photographs, but from what I saw in the photos, I like Winter Garden too, mural and all.

[CGT]

what about the Champaign Bar? I think its one of the prettiest rooms with those black and white paintings and lalique like light fixtures, please don't tell me Princess is going to turn it into a Seattle Best Coffe shop! They can hardly decorate their own ships (the most boring afloat)

 

Aren't they black and white photographs and not paintings?

[avalon1025]

No they are paintings, black and white photo realistic paintings of famous black and white photos.

[dougnewmanatsea]

what about the Champaign Bar? I think its one of the prettiest rooms with those black and white paintings and lalique like light fixtures, please don't tell me Princess is going to turn it into a Seattle Best Coffe shop!

Well, Seattle's Best is RCI... In fact I don't know if Princess coffee shops are "branded" at all (I doubt it - Princess are the undisputed champions of awful seagoing coffee).

 

I do agree with you that the Champagne Bar is a lovely space. Unfortunately I find the Veuve Cliquot branding to be quite tacky indeed - just as bad as the branded coffee shops in fact, though at least (unlike Seattle's Best coffee on RCI), the don't serve the champagne in paper cups ;) .

 

I also agree that they should not let any Princess interior designers near Cunard ships. That would be an absolute disaster.

 

So the space goes from something special to something utterly mundane, common, ordinary and boring.

Well, at the moment, as pretty as the space itself is, if you ask me it is utterly ruined by all the very prominent, very tacky V-C branding. It's so bad that I'd almost rather not have the space at all than have it ruined by huge V-C logos all over the place and whatnot.

 

Clear this up. Host Doug says the wicker was plastic. I find that hard to believe. Was it?

It sure looked like plastic to me, and indeed I think it would have to be as real wicker would probably be quite illegal.

 

Admittedly, much worse than the (I think) plastic wicker was the profusion of (definitely) plastic greenery. Including some in front of that parrot mural that looked so fake, I'm still not sure whether they actually were trying to make it look real or not. I certainly hope not, since it was probably the least convincing artificial vegetation I've ever seen. I think they only thing they could have done to make it less real, would have been to change the color of the leaves to hot pink or something ;) !

 

As much as I like QM2, and I really do like her, this one room is a decorative travesty - and frankly I think it looks much worse in real life than it does in photos. In fact, while I did not expect to like it, I didn't expect it to be anywhere near as awful as it actually is - I think my jaw must have dropped as I walked into the room. The sheer awfulness of this space was, quite honestly, beyond my imagination. It left me simply scratching my head and wondering how they could possibly have screwed up so badly.

 

That is not to say that there are not some salvageable - even attractive - elements of the design, but those are easily overwhelmed by those that are poorly executed, tacky, or just plain ugly.

[CGT]

Well, at the moment, as pretty as the space itself is, if you ask me it is utterly ruined by all the very prominent, very tacky V-C branding. It's so bad that I'd almost rather not have the space at all than have it ruined by huge V-C logos all over the place and whatnot.

 

So then just keep it as is - as a champagne bar - but get rid of the VC sponsorship.

 

As far as the wicker chairs go...blah, damn SOLAS laws! (if you are correct).

[elaine61]

So then just keep it as is - as a champagne bar - but get rid of the VC sponsorship.

 

A champagne bar with a variety of champagne to choose from would be nice. Like I have said before can't stand coffee but love champagne!!

 

Do they serve champagne cocktails (Bellini, Kir Royal, Bucks Fizz etc) and caviar in the VC bar??

 

Elaine

[mufi]

[

I could go on and on about Silvsersea. It's an exquisite product truly deserving of a 5-star rating. In regards to QM2, there is no denying that she is an amazing and stunning ship, but I don't think the luxury category applies except maybe to the highest priced accommodations. Even then, you have to share the rest of the ship with 2600 new friends. ;) Service onboard QM2 was certainly no better (or distinct) than any other mass-market line I have sailed (Carnival, RCI, NCL, HAL, Celebrity, etc.). This is not to say there is anything wrong with it, and in fact it was quite good .... just not up to Silversea levels and it never will be.

 

Ernie

 

The problem is though, that if you want to take a crossing on a genuine liner you have no other option to QM2. I have crossed on other ships and only QE2 comes near. And as for crossing on Caronia size cruise ships, the experience is often less than comfortable. If we are to compare one ship v another surely price has to be taken into account. A Rolls is a superior product to a Ford KA, it is pointless to compare them.

 

David.

[eroller]

 

 

The problem is though, that if you want to take a crossing on a genuine liner you have no other option to QM2. I have crossed on other ships and only QE2 comes near. And as for crossing on Caronia size cruise ships, the experience is often less than comfortable. If we are to compare one ship v another surely price has to be taken into account. A Rolls is a superior product to a Ford KA, it is pointless to compare them.

 

David.

 

 

I don't think it's pointless to compare Cunard and Silversea, simply because Cunard places (and prices and markets itself) in the "luxury" ship category just like Silversea and the rest of the luxury brands. If this is where Cunard wants to market itself, then these luxury lines are it's peers and thus they can and should be compared. Sure the hardware is vastly different, but the software (food and service) should be on par if Cunard wants to be in this league of cruise lines. Unfortunately the food and service on Cunard (in my experience) doesn't come close to Silversea .... unless maybe you are booked in Queen's Grill and even then I have my doubts.

 

As I stated earlier, I think Cunard belongs more in the "premium" category with lines such as Celebrity, Oceania, and Holland America.

 

Ernie

[pompey1]

I was looking at the 2006 brochure and it shows the Winter Garden. Could it be they decided to keep the area and not expand Kings Court? If they do I hope they get rid of the parrots mural.

 

Has anyone heard any recent refit details?

 

It also states you will have a fantastic view of the sky line as you sail up the Hudson River in to Manhattan....Need to change that to Red Hook:mad: