is it worth $200 for photo package?

[Chi35364]

Hi all,

1st time cruiser. going through the onboard activities, I saw the unlimited photos package. Wanted to know what thoughts were on this, and where I can actually use the photo packages.

 

[MomOTwins]

This question gets asked a lot so if you search this forum you can find a lot of first -hand accounts. They take photos at character meet and greets, on the island at castaway cay, in the MDR and a couple other places but it is mostly the characters. I personally have not been very impressed by the quality of the photos and find I get better photos with my phone camera for free. They also put a decorative border on the photos that I don’t care for. Other people love it though. Value is so subjective.

 

[rainbowredpanda]

This question gets asked a lot so if you search this forum you can find a lot of first -hand accounts. They take photos at character meet and greets, on the island at castaway cay, in the MDR and a couple other places but it is mostly the characters. I personally have not been very impressed by the quality of the photos and find I get better photos with my phone camera for free. They also put a decorative border on the photos that I don’t care for. Other people love it though. Value is so subjective.

This is really subjective. We usually do the photo package and for us, it's worth it. But we take every single photo opportunity. If there is a photographer, we do photos. We also do every single character meet & greet so we usually end up with hundreds if not thousands of photos on longer cruises. They will also use your camera to take photos but they won't have the borders or magic moments.

 

[AZMermaid]

Yes it is! But we are opting for the 10 photo package this time. I know I’m gonna have a hard time narrowing it down…. so I may upgrade later… but trying to save a bit. I always love them but really only use a handful!

 

[Kidguile]

During our last cruise, we had about 600 photos taken so we loved it

 

[DisneyConvert]

This is really subjective. We usually do the photo package and for us, it's worth it. But we take every single photo opportunity. If there is a photographer, we do photos. We also do every single character meet & greet so we usually end up with hundreds if not thousands of photos on longer cruises. They will also use your camera to take photos but they won't have the borders or magic moments.

Exactly. $200 is a lot of money (but of course, what isn't these days?). But for a) longer cruise, with b) perhaps multiple households (aunts, grand-parents, another family in the sailing party), it may be a very good deal IF one does what rainbowredpanda, and my DW & I have done.

Every night between Dinner/Show we are stopping at every photo booth, lots of shots in the mornings, yes, with characters. Also most suppers,, and yes, at the D-Lounge activities, etc. etc. It started to feel like work, but we ended up with dozens and dozens of fantastic images. It might have been more but we don't do many DCL excursions . . . and photo's on those would make the package even more "worth it."

We actually believe the professional photographers, who know how to use their equipment quite well, do a MUCH better job than me/wife or "some guy" can. They have special backgrounds and great lighting. We've used their images for work headshots as well.

Plus, with the unlimited package, they will give you a CD or thumb-drive and you own those images . . . for coffee mugs, holiday cards, etc. . . . perpetually. The $$$'s can be steep, but the memories/images can be priceless.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Plus, with the unlimited package, they will give you a CD or thumb-drive and you own those images . . . for coffee mugs, holiday cards, etc. . . . perpetually. The $$$'s can be steep, but the memories/images can be priceless.

I don't know if this is still the case. We bought the unlimited package a few weeks ago on the Dream and only got downloads.

 

[tj48103]

Hi all,

1st time cruiser. going through the onboard activities, I saw the unlimited photos package. Wanted to know what thoughts were on this, and where I can actually use the photo packages.

For me it is usually worth it. I treasure all the great family photos I have with all of us dressed up. On our last cruise though (we were in Alaska) we were so busy exploring we rarely made it to pose for pictures. When I looked at what we had on the last night I decided to cancel the unlimited package. I was able to do that at the photo desk and I got a full refund. My advice is buy it in advance at the discounted rate and then if you decide you aren't getting enough out of it, cancel it.

 

[Lillebelle]

+1 it just depends on how much you plan to take advantage of their photo opportunities. They're usually in the lobby every evening with different backdrops, and I've had those range from really cute to meh depending on the photographer and how cooperative my kids were being. They often go around at dinner but I've found those to generally be pretty hideous haha. I always get the unlimited photo package if we're traveling with the kids though since I want all the memories of them I can get.

 

[greensombrero]

We’ve always loved it but again it is a subjective thing. We really value having the photos and not having to take them ourselves or find someone to take one so we are all in them. In general we’ve really liked the quality and we do enough of the opportunities we always have the quantity to make it worth it.

One thing to note is you can prepay for it and cancel onboard if you haven’t downloaded any of the photos yet and you do so before the last night. So that is an option if you want to try and see.

 

[princesscinderella]

I think if you are on a 7 day fantasy cruise it’s worth it but I wouldn’t buy it for a shorter cruise.

 

[nikem3]

It really depends on you and your plans. We went on a cruise with our 1 year old on a less crowded ship. We had over 200 photos with characters greetings while he was playing with the characters. We also had several "photo shoots" with some of the photographers where he would be playing by himself and they would take pictures. It ended up being absolutely worth it for us. If the ship is more crowded or you don't plan on doing a lot of photos, then certainly not.

 

[lanejudy]

$200 is a lot of money (but of course, what isn't these days?). But for a) longer cruise, with b) perhaps multiple households (aunts, grand-parents, another family in the sailing party), it may be a very good deal

Just to point out about the bolded above... a large party with multiple households would need each stateroom to purchase the photo package. One package doesn't extend across multiple staterooms except for a situation like a minor child booked into grandma's room.

 

[1lilspark]

Pondering what package to get for my upcoming wish 4 night… past cruises we didn’t get packages and just purchased a few pics ala carte end of trip however I’m concerned about handlers not using personal cell phones for photos and probably going to character meets solo and not wanting to rely on the stranger behind me in line

 

[Doberge]

(1) Are the packages the same price on board? Or is it like WDW discounted to pre-purchase and expensive later?

(2) And can you decide to purchase unlimited later in the cruise if liking how the photos are turning out?

 

[MomOTwins]

(1) Are the packages the same price on board? Or is it like WDW discounted to pre-purchase and expensive later?

(2) And can you decide to purchase unlimited later in the cruise if liking how the photos are turning out?

1) It is discounted if you pre-purchase
2) Yes. They will take the photos regardless of whether you have purchased the package, and will use your room number to track it. Then you can go look at your photos at the kiosk. The package refers to how many photos you purchase to keep once you leave the ship, not how many photos they take.

 

[Doberge]

1) It is discounted if you pre-purchase
2) Yes. They will take the photos regardless of whether you have purchased the package, and will use your room number to track it. Then you can go look at your photos at the kiosk. The package refers to how many photos you purchase to keep once you leave the ship, not how many photos they take.

Than you!

 

[Aimeedyan]

Just buy it in advance with the discount and cancel if you don't see the value.

We did that last month; only had 22 photos total and I only liked 1-2. The CM took pictures with my phone, too, at all character meets and they were same quality (if not better...). I ended up canceling the package and buying 1 single picture for $20.

Lines for photos were looooooooooong and my toddler just wasn't having it. We did quite a few character ones but skipped a lot of the others for the sake of our sanity.

 

[Scalemaster34]

One note... it is per stateroom.

Traveling with a large family in multiple staterooms will require a package for each. Use to be ways around this, but they have gotten pretty good with facial detection. As long as one person in your cabin is in the photo, and you used your KTW Card to scan, it should be fine.

Family photos can be priceless... and over the years we have done the package a number of times. But we also skip it a lot of the time as well as it can eat up a lot of time before dinner trying to get photos are each of the backdrops they have setup. But between boarding photos, the before dinner sessions, the "meet and greet" and random waling on deck or out on Castaway.... there are lots of opportunities if you want them.

 

[Gzub1003]

Just buy it in advance with the discount and cancel if you don't see the value.

We did that last month; only had 22 photos total and I only liked 1-2. The CM took pictures with my phone, too, at all character meets and they were same quality (if not better...). I ended up canceling the package and buying 1 single picture for $20.

Lines for photos were looooooooooong and my toddler just wasn't having it. We did quite a few character ones but skipped a lot of the others for the sake of our sanity.

So you can cancel even after your on the ship?