First time cruiser on Dream with photo questions:)

[sammysmom]

Cruising on the Dream in September and was wondering how many photo opportunities there are to see if the photo package is worth it. Are you able to take as many professional photos as you want? Any Dream cruise experts out there please help!!

 

[xQuizx]

There are a lot of opportunities to take pictures on the Dream.

On our last cruise we were on a 4 night on the Dream and we took 240 pictures. We received a CD of all our pictures, now I hear you get a USB drive which I think is better.

The pictures ranged from character meetings where they normally take 2 pictures, group photos, background family photos and wandering camera folks at Castaway Cay.

What made it worth it for me was I was able to be in the photos and not worry about taking pictures of the kids with the characters. Plus the photos came out very well. Shutters has all the lighting and flash setup for their cameras. There will also be cruise staff who can take photos using your camera at character meetings. Most of the time I would have the cruise staff just take a video of us while we were taking pictures.

Again it comes down to how many photos you plan on taking/buying.

You can always decide to buy or cancel your purchase during the cruise.

Cheers!

 

[Vicki106]

We cruised on the Dream for Spring Break in 2016. We pre-purchased the package with all digital photos and figured that if we didn't like or want all the photos we could cancel and get all of our money back before the final night of the cruise. It was myself, DH, DD 15, DD12, DS8 and my mother (I guess we'd call her DGM). I like to get lots of vacation pictures, so my kids are ready and willing to pose whenever. (Lots of years getting my money's worth with the MM/Photopass at the parks.) My DS wanted to meet every character - except Sophia - and we got multiple photos with all those characters. Some have just DS and characters, some have DH, some just have DDs and some have all of us. In addition, photographers came around to our table in the MDR on a couple of the nights. and took individual photos of everyone on one night and group photos another night. We also went and had family photos taken on the stairs in the atrium a couple of the nights. There was a short line to wait our turn, but it went pretty quickly. We did the photos between the show and our late seating for dinner one night and once before we went to the show. On pirate night my kids got photos taken of the 3 of them in front of some backdrops in the atrium. We had photos taken by one of the photographers on Castaway Cay when DH and DS were wading in the water and on the beach. DDs ran the CC5K and there was photographer at the finish line to get photos of them with their medals. We found lots of photo opportunities and no limit to the number of photos that you can take (remembering that others are waiting for their turns as well.)

Overall, we ended up with about 150 photos (on a 4 night cruise) and we were happy with them. The photos did have the sometimes annoying frames and logos on them, but overall they came out beautifully. We also ended up buying the printed copies (it was $75 additional for all of the photos - most of them were 8x10s. DGM wanted the print copies for her album.) I don't think that the prints are still available, but I could be wrong on that. I also took photos with my camera of some of the same shots that the photographers took and I really could tell the difference in the lighting on those pics. The professional photos came out so much better. (I just used a point and shoot camera as well as the camera on my phone, so YMMV - especially if you use a better camera than I did. I just don't want to have to carry a big camera with me everywhere.)

With one DCL cruise under my belt and another planned in August, I am not by any means an expert, but for us the photo package was money well spent and I am planning to order all the digital photos again on our upcoming cruise on the Fantasy.

Hope this helps and have fun on your cruise!

 

[dismom2011]

How much is the photo pass on board? Does it vary by length of cruise or ship?

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

How much is the photo pass on board? Does it vary by length of cruise or ship?

It varies by the length of cruise. I don't have the numbers handy but I'm sure someone will be along shortly that can post them.

 

[TDR32]

https://www.mycruisephotos.com/DCL/Portal.aspx

That is the company that does the photography on the ships. There are additional savings if you buy before you cruise.

 

[LSUfan4444]

if the photo package is worth it.

I don't think so.

My experience is that people who get it will say it's worth it and people who don't will say it's not.

We take a ton of pictures but we're not really interested in the pictures with the backdrops. We like the character photos, always take one in the stairwell, random shots around the cruise, alot in port and it's easy enough to get pictures of us at dinner that we just don't see the value. Here is a video I made from our trip last month and the whole middle portion is from our cruise and every one of them is taken either with an iPhone or a GoPro.

 

[sefowler1]

It really depends on your style. If you want pose and smile pics, then you should get the package. You will not be disappointed.

If you prefer more candid shots, then just plan on doing those yourself or asking another guest to snap one of you.

I do not like the pictures they take but I'm a former professional photographer. The staff tries to take their time and pose families but the technical quality of their shots is poor. Slightly blurry, over or under exposed, odd positioning of people. All things that most lithe people wouldn't notice.