Art Illuminated
Massive cruise ship chandeliers do more than just light the way.
AS YOU WANDER YOUR WAY AROUND A CRUISE
ship, often it pays to look up. Strategically placed chandeliers provide more than just brightness. The light not only creates mood, but the often-immense fixtures are often themselves objects of artistic beauty.
Land vs. Sea
Designing lighting for cruise ships is no easy task. The chandeliers need to be able to function on moving ships under harsh sea conditions. Chandeliers that swing, for instance, would be a problem.
“Things that you really take for granted on land you have to think about carefully at sea,” said Adam D. Tihany, the famed New York–based interior designer whose work can be seen on ships including Holland America Line’s new Koningsdam and Seabourn’s
Seabourn Encore, which debuts in December. On the musically themed Koningsdam, for example, dramatic chandeliers with strings of tri-color hand-blown glass bulbs catch your eye in the bright, modern, harp-inspired din- ing room, which has a golden glass wine tower as its centerpiece.
Lighting companies that specialize in maritime outfitting take on the task of turning designer creations into reality on ships. The Czech company Preciosa Lighting, for instance, is known for its hand-blown Bohemian glass and has created stunning chandeliers for Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, and Norwegian Cruise Line, among others.
Preciosa uses a four-step safety test for maritime fixtures that involves re-creating conditions on computer software, tests for vibration, seeing how materials react in a humid salt chamber, and seeing how the chandeliers perform during a ship’s sea trials.
Creating the fixtures involves collaboration between the cruise ship designers and the lighting company, said Blanka Adámková, head of Preciosa’s maritime program.
“We don’t want to limit our partners, but rather let them design what they feel is the right lighting/sculpture and then we add our technological knowledge,” said Adámková.
Modern Masterpieces _ These massive creations can get quite extravagant. In the atrium on Disney Dream is a cascading, 13-foot, 24-karat gold-plated art deco chandelier with 88,680 crystal beads. Sister ship Disney Fantasy’s atrium chandelier is Art Nouveau–inspired, cascades down from a massive, illuminated flourish inspired by peacock feathers, and boasts more than 60,000 Swarovski crystal beads.
A fantastical chandelier with free-formed shapes in vibrant colors by world-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly lights the atrium of
Disney Wonder (a Chihuly on Disney Magic was replaced during a 2013 ship redo with a more subtle, art deco creation).
Chihuly fans can also view his works on two Celebrity Cruises ships: a red and yellow glass chandelier outside a lounge on Celebrity Con
stellation and a subtler frosted white chandelier in a quiet stairwell mid-ship on Celebrity Infinity.
Other designers of note have had a hand in shipboard light creations. Ralph Lauren, for instance, designed the chandeliers in the 2,000-square-foot Owner’s Suites on Oceania Cruises’ Marina. The chandeliers were manufactured in Italy by the Miami-based MediaLight-Quantum, which specializes in Murano glass and works with a number of cruise brands. For Oceania’s Riviera, MediaLight- Quantum custom-crafted pieces including the stunning chandelier with 380 crystal spheres above the two-story Lalique staircase in the atrium as well as the impressive 22-foot-diameter fixture with 2,500 LED bulbs in the ship’s main dining room. On Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas
Explorer, which debut sin July, Media LightQuantum created chandeliers for stateroom corridors and suites, among other spaces. MediaLight- Quantum CEO, Eros Viola, said the lights are as extravagant as one would expect on the “world’s most luxurious ship.” In fact, the cruise line says that the light fixture above the dining room table in the ship’s over-the-top $5,000 per person, per night Regent Suite is “decadent golden.” Cascading chandeliers light the ship’s lobby and Compass Rose dining room as well.
Elegant crystal chandeliers accent spaces including the Queens Room ballroom on Cunard Line’s three ships. In the Grand Lobby of Queen Elizabeth is a stunning art deco chandelier from the era of the first ship with that name.
On Holland American Line ships, a focal point is the atrium chandelier, which on the Vista- class ships take on a sculptural form. On four of the ships, the Waterford crystal creations were handcrafted in Ireland and designed by Billy Canning of Canning Lighting Design. They change color and rotate — no small feat on a cruise ship. Each sculpture took about a year to design, build, and install and each weighs about 3.3 tons. On
Oosterdam, for instance, guests can look up at a giant, lighted Planet Earth. On Zuiderdam, a seahorse is featured. The stunning atrium chandelier on Nieuw
Amsterdam was created by Gilbert LeBigre and Corinne Roger, a husband-and- wife team known for their theatrical flare — the eye- catching sculpture shows the New York skyline hanging upside down.
Chandeliers on Carnival Cruise Line ships, much like the rest of the décor, are often over the top such as the multi-armed, colorchanging creation on Carnival Liberty and the multideck centerpiece aboard Carnival Vista that boasts LED screens and changing visuals. On Costa Cruises’ Costa Fascinosa, the Felliniesque atrium has diamond-shaped chandeliers, which adds to the theatrical atmosphere.
Norwegian claims some of the largest chandeliers of their kind in the world on its latest ships. At Le Bistro on the Miami-based
Norwegian Escape, for instance, guests can book an “al fresco” atrium table beneath a giant, multistory color-changing ribbon chandelier.
Lights can add a touch of whimsy — such as the upside-down chandeliers in the quirky Qsine restaurant on select Celebrity ships. They can also take on futuristic dimensions such as on Royal Caribbean’s high- tech
Anthem of the Seas, where artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s chandelier/installation “Pulse Spiral,” is actually interactive. The 200 lights twinkle to your heartbeat when you put your hands on a smart pad.
On some river ships, chandeliers bring a touch of history. Above the Grand Staircase on American Queen Steamboat Company’s American
Queen, for example, is a leaf-patterned chandelier that once decorated the family barn of the Busch family — as in Anheuser-Busch. On Uniworld’s
S.S. Antoinette, the antiques collection includes a Baccarat chandelier that once graced New York’s famed Tavern on the Green.
So the next time you’re exploring your cruise ship, be sure to look left, right — and then up — to
art.• find some of cruising’s most glorious works of