Does Shutters REALLY do what they say they will do??

[hanscarlet]

I purchased the package ahead of time so I got the discount in 2015 and I was overall happy enough to spend $250 for a 5 night cruise (Wonder), I ended up with 67 photos and many of which I was really happy with. Considering how expensive professional photos are, I thought that this was a good deal. I also found it less stressful than worrying about my camera.

For the 2016 April experience I purchased the package again at a discount for $299 for a 7 night (Magic) and I ended up with 45 photos. I was very disappointed with not only the quantity but also the quality of photos, they were bad shots from the photographers and my Canon Rebel caught better shots in some cases than the ones Shutters took. I also found on the 7 night cruise, with more formal and semi formal nights, there is an activity that goes on where many cruisers lend their cameras to the party behind them so that they can get their own shots without being forced to get a shot from the Shutters Crew. This usually ticks off the Shutters folks but whatever.

Next time we will not be purchasing a photo package and instead just bringing our own camera - I found I was taking my own shots each shoot anyways because I don't like being in photos and only on the family photo evenings did I need help with photos and plenty cruisers are happy to help take a photo.

 

[JenMarie82]

We purchased the photo package (digital & prints) for our Alaskan cruise on the Wonder in August and were very happy with the way most of the photos turned out. We ended up with just shy of 200 photos on a 7 day cruise, but that is partly because our kids are into meeting the characters and also did the Princess meet & greet which accounted for a portion of those photos. We did get some very nice family shots though before dinners. For us, it was definitely worth what we paid since we haven't had professional family photos taken in 2 years.

What spurred me to write this response though was the package my mail person just delivered. I had noticed when we got home that we didn't have hard copies of all the photos on the CD, but it wasn't a huge deal to me. However, we just received the hard copies in the mail of the missing photos. I thought this was very kind of them considering I hadn't said anything and they could have just disposed of them like all of the others that people didn't purchase. I for sure feel like they were willing to go above and beyond in that regard.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We purchased the photo package (digital & prints) for our Alaskan cruise on the Wonder in August and were very happy with the way most of the photos turned out. We ended up with just shy of 200 photos on a 7 day cruise, but that is partly because our kids are into meeting the characters and also did the Princess meet & greet which accounted for a portion of those photos. We did get some very nice family shots though before dinners. For us, it was definitely worth what we paid since we haven't had professional family photos taken in 2 years.

What spurred me to write this response though was the package my mail person just delivered. I had noticed when we got home that we didn't have hard copies of all the photos on the CD, but it wasn't a huge deal to me. However, we just received the hard copies in the mail of the missing photos. I thought this was very kind of them considering I hadn't said anything and they could have just disposed of them like all of the others that people didn't purchase. I for sure feel like they were willing to go above and beyond in that regard.

It's specified that the "prints" option applies to whatever prints have actually already been made up in your onboard folder. But I have read that people, like yourself, were able to get the "missing" prints after the fact.

From the terms & conditions:
“All” photos means all the photos in your photo kiosk account and/or all the photo prints that YOU collect while adhering to these terms.

 

[ahain]

If I can piggyback - on the shutters website, where you can preorder, it says that the digital packages you get a disc. I've heard other places it's a USB stick. Can anyone confirm? I have no doc drive on my computer so a disc does me no good.

My plan is to preorder, I guess, because from what I understand it can be refunded for any reason, right.

I received a USB drive on the Fantasy in April, but just received a CD on the Wonder last week.

 

[JenMarie82]

It's specified that the "prints" option applies to whatever prints have actually already been made up in your onboard folder. But I have read that people, like yourself, were able to get the "missing" prints after the fact.

From the terms & conditions:
“All” photos means all the photos in your photo kiosk account and/or all the photo prints that YOU collect while adhering to these terms.

They had put some back behind the counter for me because our photo book in the wall was overflowing with too many pictures. However, I was too busy with other things on the last night to ensure I had them all when they handed me 4 photo folders full already. I did not ever call and ask because too me it wasn't a big deal since I had plenty and had received the CD as well.

 

[msmama]

Seems like mixed with USB vs CD. Just want to confirm that if I prepurchase, I can get my money back for any reason, right?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Seems like mixed with USB vs CD. Just want to confirm that if I prepurchase, I can get my money back for any reason, right?

As long as you ask for a refund by the night of the last full day onboard, they will credit back the charge to your onboard account. As to whether you can get a refund after the fact, it varies.

 

[CM Dad]

Seems like mixed with USB vs CD. Just want to confirm that if I prepurchase, I can get my money back for any reason, right?

I think the USB vs CD depends on the ship. Did a cruise on the Magic this summer, ad the Shutter person told me that the ship had not converted to USBs yet. Don't know when they will switch.

 

[m3owbox]

Do they ever get off of the boat and take pictures in port?

 

[cheermom2four]

We just got back from our 7 night Western and had bought the all digital and print package. I was more concerned about digital and I had to open a ticket when I got back as all of my castaway cay pictures were not on the usb and I was constantly looking in the digital shutters section kiosks in the missing pic section. Quite a few from our fb group had issues and had to open tickets. Most though had them resolved. I'm still waiting for my ticket to be resolved and its been a week since I submitted one. I'll let you know. Otherwise, I absolutely love our pics. We wont buy the package again as I felt I was constantly in line just because I bought the package.

 

[nearlyfallinstar]

Here are examples with an image that I took with my travel camera and the picture that Shutters took. At least with the pictures on the ship, their ability to balance light is much better than I could have achieved without a better camera. Since I seem to lose/ruin cameras while on vacation, I won't bring my DSLR with me.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Do they ever get off of the boat and take pictures in port?

Sometimes. On our Med cruise in 2010 there were photographers on some of the excursions we took. And they are on Castaway Cay. Mostly, they might just be at the end of the gangway, but not so much out in the port/town.

 

[cheermom2four]

On our Med cruise in 2010 there were photographers on some of the excursions we took

Oh wow! I didnt know they were possibly on DCL provided excursions. This may be a game changer then if they are. Was there a way to find out ahead of time?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Oh wow! I didnt know they were possibly on DCL provided excursions. This may be a game changer then if they are. Was there a way to find out ahead of time?

Maybe you could contact Shutters directly and ask. But I'm not sure they would know for sure until the actual cruise date, whether there were enough photographers/time to do it.

I've not seen photographers on "regular" cruises on exccursions. Only on the longer, special itineraries (Europe/Alaska/Hawaii/Panama Canal). Doesn't mean they aren't, just that they haven't been on the excursions we took.

 

[2-pointdoe]

We did the full digital and print package and could not have been happier with them. We were on the Wonder and we got a CD. We came home with 500 prints of which all most all of them were good. I loved the varied poses that the photographers did and most of the dinner shots were really good also.

 

[truck1]

Something else to consider, is that you may not see the photographer out and about, but there there. Ive seen several on the trams at CC and several times have seen them at the beach or in the water at CC. Have seen a ton of pics printed out on the boards each night, of island shots, off the wall locations on the ships, or excursions of different families. Found at least 2 pictures of my family I didn't even know they took at CC. So I would check the printed board daily just to be sure your not missing something.

Also, They are in the dining rooms on specific nights, so if you don't see them make there way to your table, ask at Shutters. Weve had to do that before since we somehow got missed.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Here are examples with an image that I took with my travel camera and the picture that Shutters took. At least with the pictures on the ship, their ability to balance light is much better than I could have achieved without a better camera. Since I seem to lose/ruin cameras while on vacation, I won't bring my DSLR with me.

Wow! This photo comparison says it all, to me.

We did the digital unlimited package on our 7 night Fantasy trip for $300 (Ordered before the cruise gave us a $50 discount). We had two staterooms, so we were able to get the second stateroom for half of the on board price ($350/2 = $175). Not possible to pre-order the second stateroom, thus cost $25 more than it might have.

We got about 100 pictures from each stateroom, but some were two shots of the same pose, so may 100 photos in all that we actually wanted for a total of $475. $5 per picture can sound like a lot, unless you compare it to the individual price of $20 each. We were happy overall with the quality and quantity of the pictures. It was a nice "worry free" feature too. Plus it made it easier to justify standing in a few posing lines. (A couple people in our group don't like stand for pictures, but we could motivate them with, "Hey we already paid for these, might as well use it," as a way to get them to agree. Without the picture packages we would have had all of our pictures missing a couple of members!)

They came to our dinner table more than half the nights (4 times I think, hint: Change up who you sit next to at dinner each night, or you will get the same pairs each night. We figured this out and started alternating who sat next to whom so we could get more variety in our pictures!) and we did get pictures from them *IN* the water at Castaway Cay. And of course the various wait-in-line for poses. We had no luck getting Aqua Duck photos. We were told the Aqua Duck camera was down the Day-At-Sea that we rode it most, and just had trouble searching for our pictures the other days we rode it. And of course, no chance to look for pictures the final day and half of the cruise as shutters gets TOO busy then.

Couple other things, we got a USB (two actually, one for each room), but we were told during the cruise that the USB's would be delivered to our room on the final day, only to find out that in fact, we needed to go to Shutters and "run the gauntlet" to pick them up. That took over 1/2 an hour. At least we had already paid by that time, so once we got to the front of the line all we had to do was say our room numbers and get our envelope with the USB's in them.