Formal night photos

[FigmentSpark]

How early do you go down to start getting photos on formal night? Can you be late for your seating, if you're in line for photos?

Also, if you're late seating, do you have to get dressed for the photos at 5:30 or will there be another round of photos before your seating? In short, is the whole ship in line for photos at the same time or are there two sessions, one for each seating?

 

[disneyfaninaz]

You can go down as early as before main seating to get photos.

 

[dtrain]

DW made sure I was wearing a matching ensemble to Dapper Mickey on formal night. I was slightly opposed, but #1. Happy wife happy life, #2. The picture came out awesome!

 

[Mitura]

We have the late seating so we go at the time between meals. We do try to be 30 minutes early but with early dinner coming out and late dinners showing up early it is very crowded. So much so that showing up 30 minutes early for late dinner and doing about 3 of the 4 stations makes us 5 minutes late for dinner.

For us (at least for Mom) this is the highlight of the cruise. She loves formal night pictures. It embodies the whole cruise idea. Even last night, 3 months out from our last cruise, she brought out all of the cruise photos and reminisced on how good we looked all dressed up.

And then this leads into the discussion of 'should you get dressed up for dinner' since we looked so nice and if we were dressed down we would never look so good......

 

[FigmentSpark]

We actually have main seating, but I wondered if they were doing the whole ship at the same time or if there was a second session of photos for late seating. It was so crowded last year. We only did two stations and didn't get the main staircase, as that was the longest line. We would have been late for dinner otherwise, which I was worried would mess up the dinner service, but maybe the servers and MDRs expect it? Anyway, this year, I'd like to get more photos, so I wondered how early we should go.

 

[xQuizx]

On our upcoming cruise I made a note on my itinerary to show up at least 15 minutes before picture time. There were a lot of people on our Fantasy cruise taking photos. We were on a Merry Time cruise and we didn't get the stairwell picture because the lines were so long.

 

[Mr. Drauer]

How early do you go down to start getting photos on formal night? Can you be late for your seating, if you're in line for photos?

Also, if you're late seating, do you have to get dressed for the photos at 5:30 or will there be another round of photos before your seating? In short, is the whole ship in line for photos at the same time or are there two sessions, one for each seating?

We have late seating, but go down to get at least one if not two photo stops in around 5:30 before heading to the show, and then do another after the show before dinner. There is not any set schedule that says you have to go at one time or another, though the photo stations do close during the dinner period and reopen at like 7:00 i think. With being late for dinner, there seems to always be a delay getting in to the MDR's, and it takes at least 10 - 15 minutes for most to get fully seated and situated, so I would not "worry" about being late. You can also tell your servers the night before that you are planning on taking pictures so you might be a few minutes later.

 

[FigmentSpark]

On our upcoming cruise I made a note on my itinerary to show up at least 15 minutes before picture time. There were a lot of people on our Fantasy cruise taking photos. We were on a Merry Time cruise and we didn't get the stairwell picture because the lines were so long.

You mean you showed up 15 minutes early and there were already line ups? Wow. How do I convince my family (who hate having pictures taken) that we have to be even earlier?

We have late seating, but go down to get at least one if not two photo stops in around 5:30 before heading to the show, and then do another after the show before dinner. There is not any set schedule that says you have to go at one time or another, though the photo stations do close during the dinner period and reopen at like 7:00 i think. With being late for dinner, there seems to always be a delay getting in to the MDR's, and it takes at least 10 - 15 minutes for most to get fully seated and situated, so I would not "worry" about being late. You can also tell your servers the night before that you are planning on taking pictures so you might be a few minutes later.

Good point about notifying the servers the night before. Then they'll know what to expect.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

We have late seating, but go down to get at least one if not two photo stops in around 5:30 before heading to the show, and then do another after the show before dinner. There is not any set schedule that says you have to go at one time or another, though the photo stations do close during the dinner period and reopen at like 7:00 i think. With being late for dinner, there seems to always be a delay getting in to the MDR's, and it takes at least 10 - 15 minutes for most to get fully seated and situated, so I would not "worry" about being late. You can also tell your servers the night before that you are planning on taking pictures so you might be a few minutes later.

You mean you showed up 15 minutes early and there were already line ups? Wow. How do I convince my family (who hate having pictures taken) that we have to be even earlier?

Good point about notifying the servers the night before. Then they'll know what to expect.

I think @Mr. Drauer has the right idea. If you want a bunch of formal pictures (and they really are great) you'll need to wait in a bunch of lines, and probably do some before and some after dinner. (Does anyone know if they have a third session after the late seating?)

As long as you aren't more than 15 minutes late to dinner, I don't think it will be a problem, especially if you give them a heads up. You won't be the only one late to dinner that night, and as said above, pictures close during dinner, so its not like you can be very late anyway.

As for convincing your family, I suggest a multi-pronged approach. With our group 9, we told the kids (teenagers) that they didn't have to wait IN the line, as long as they stayed nearby and came when we got close to the front so as not to keep anyone waiting. They hung out by one of the portholes mostly and did whatever teens do (for younger kids maybe some activity books or something). For my brother-in-law, we pointed out that he had already paid his portion of the unlimited pictures, so this was the best way to get his money's worth. For me, my wife told me it was something that was VERY important to her. Nuff said. (She wanted a "Cinderella" shot with her on the upper part of the staircase in only one shoe, and me at the bottom of the staircase, on one knee, holding the other. It came out great.)

Oh, and they do come around at dinner too, so you will get pictures in your formals then also. When we saw them coming to our table, we took a moment to stand up together before the camera arrived so that we didn't have formal pictures with dinner plates.

Have a great time!

 

[FigmentSpark]

I think @Mr. Drauer has the right idea. If you want a bunch of formal pictures (and they really are great) you'll need to wait in a bunch of lines, and probably do some before and some after dinner. (Does anyone know if they have a third session after the late seating?)

As long as you aren't more than 15 minutes late to dinner, I don't think it will be a problem, especially if you give them a heads up. You won't be the only one late to dinner that night, and as said above, pictures close during dinner, so its not like you can be very late anyway.

As for convincing your family, I suggest a multi-pronged approach. With our group 9, we told the kids (teenagers) that they didn't have to wait IN the line, as long as they stayed nearby and came when we got close to the front so as not to keep anyone waiting. They hung out by one of the portholes mostly and did whatever teens do (for younger kids maybe some activity books or something). For my brother-in-law, we pointed out that he had already paid his portion of the unlimited pictures, so this was the best way to get his money's worth. For me, my wife told me it was something that was VERY important to her. Nuff said. (She wanted a "Cinderella" shot with her on the upper part of the staircase in only one shoe, and me at the bottom of the staircase, on one knee, holding the other. It came out great.)

Oh, and they do come around at dinner too, so you will get pictures in your formals then also. When we saw them coming to our table, we took a moment to stand up together before the camera arrived so that we didn't have formal pictures with dinner plates.

Have a great time!

Great ideas... and I like how your wife thinks.