Cruise & Ferry Interiors 2020

1 4 2 meet with and work for chairman Micky Arison – initially during the briefings for the P&O Azura and P&O Ventura projects and then later for Cunard’s Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. More recently, I’ve been delighted to work on the development of Silversea’s latest newbuilds and refit projects, following a similar design process to the one I used in the 1970s. The design programme started with a briefing discussion in an old-fashioned, face- to-face meeting with the company’s chairman Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio and his senior management team. Thereafter, we had meetings to evaluate designs, seek comments, explore alternative solutions and participate in more discussions, before making final decisions. And then, when everyone was happy, we began to implement our ideas. I achieved another important career milestone when Virgin Voyages asked me to manage the architectural coordination for its three new ships. During this project I had the great pleasure of working with senior vice president of design and customer experience Dee Cooper and CEO Tom McAlpin. Amazing memories At the end of 1970s, Sitmar awarded the contract for the construction of a new ship to French shipyard CNIM and I was one of five architects chosen to work on the vessel, which was named Fairsky. The others included Lennon, Lindquist, Barbora Dorn (Joszi Meskan) and Nordio. Fairsky, which was the passenger ship powered by a steam turbine, was presented in 1984 in Los Angeles, California. Sitmar then enhanced its newbuild programme by ordering one vessel from Chantiers de l’Atlantique (then STX France) and two from Fincantieri. I was appointed as the designer for the passenger cabins on all three ships and also served as the coordinating architect and designer for some of the public areas on the two ships being built at Fincantieri’s yard. The top decks and livery were assigned to Renzo Piano and all the other areas to the H. Chambers Company in Baltimore under the responsibility of Teresa Anderson. At this time, Anderson created the Princess Cruises brand image and she was its custodian for the whole fleet until the delivery of the Regal Princess in 2014. I remember our relationship with great fondness, but we were both strong characters, so our professional DES IGN LEGEND Architectural ceiling shapes and lines reveal Mortola’s professional background