Is the my cruise photo worth the price

[dyson0715]

So, we doing a Dream 4 night cruise on the Dream on April 11. I really like the look of the photo book that mycruisephoto sell, but $149 is crazy. I was originally going to get a book from one of the other online providers, for like 20 bucks, I have many and am always happy. So the question is, for a 4 night cruise will I really get enough good professional photos to justify the price?

Thanks

 

[MunFam]

We were on a 14 nighter, we were in line for every formal backdrop they had set up AND did almost every character meeting at least once. We came home with just shy of 400 pictures and I was out to get my money's worth! DH and I would fight about how often we were in line for some picture...

I think for that photo book you need something like 35 pictures? Now, if you want to build your own album for $20, you either need to buy a photo package, or pray that the photos the cast members take of you turn out okay lighting-wise. I have a Nikon DSLR and even after I set up the camera manually, the lighting was still just awful, so we threw in the towel all together and relied on Disney since they have extra flashes and stuff.

 

[anricat]

This comes up a lot around here and you'll see a lot of varied opinions. For me and my family, it's worth it for us because we use the opportunity to take our nice clothes and pose for family portraits that we can give to various family members. We try to pose every night in as many backdrops as possible.

My advice is really to just buy it in advance and take advantage of the discount. If you don't like what you get, just cancel the last night of the cruise. You get a full refund. If you do like it and you didn't purchase in advance, then you're kicking yourself for not getting the discount. So there's really nothing to lose.

If you do all the characters and pose for all the backdrops, you can get some great photos, come home and make your own book on a service like Shutterfly. They give you a pretty good price on prints, too, which I think are better than the prices from Shutters for the print package (plus those prints are prints are primarily 8x10 and I can't fathom what anyone would do with a ton of 8x10 vacation photos).

My one big beef with Shutters is the borders. They tend to stick a bunch of stupid borders on all the photos. It's totally irritating to try and crop them. Thankfully on the semi-formal and formal posed photos, they tend to lay off a bit.

 

[LizGirl]

This comes up a lot around here and you'll see a lot of varied opinions. For me and my family, it's worth it for us because we use the opportunity to take our nice clothes and pose for family portraits that we can give to various family members. We try to pose every night in as many backdrops as possible.

My advice is really to just buy it in advance and take advantage of the discount. If you don't like what you get, just cancel the last night of the cruise. You get a full refund. If you do like it and you didn't purchase in advance, then you're kicking yourself for not getting the discount. So there's really nothing to lose.

If you do all the characters and pose for all the backdrops, you can get some great photos, come home and make your own book on a service like Shutterfly. They give you a pretty good price on prints, too, which I think are better than the prices from Shutters for the print package (plus those prints are prints are primarily 8x10 and I can't fathom what anyone would do with a ton of 8x10 vacation photos).

My one big beef with Shutters is the borders. They tend to stick a bunch of stupid borders on all the photos. It's totally irritating to try and crop them. Thankfully on the semi-formal and formal posed photos, they tend to lay off a bit.

I had no idea you could cancel the photo package if you don't like the photos. Thanks for the tip!

 

[phinz]

Shutters was a disaster on our most recent cruise. People got blank USBs. Our pictures never even showed up at all. The line outside the kiosk area was ludicrous. There were a *lot* of unhappy people in our cruise group and some are *still* fighting trying to get their pictures over a month later.

 

[Divslp]

Shutters was a disaster on our most recent cruise. People got blank USBs. Our pictures never even showed up at all. The line outside the kiosk area was ludicrous. There were a *lot* of unhappy people in our cruise group and some are *still* fighting trying to get their pictures over a month later.

Which ship?

 

[Claire Gregory]

I have a Nikon DSLR and even after I set up the camera manually

 

[phinz]

Which ship?

Fantasy.

 

[dyson0715]

Fantasy.

Doesn't sound like a fantasy.

Can we use our cell phones to take photos at meet and greets or no. I know sometimes you are not aloud to use personal cameras.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Doesn't sound like a fantasy.

Can we use our cell phones to take photos at meet and greets or no. I know sometimes you are not aloud to use personal cameras.

AFAIK, you can use your personal camera. Can't do a whole tripod/lights set up, just hand-held.

I've never been told I couldn't use my camera at any photo location. But, you can't use cameras (still or video, even phones) during the production shows in the WDT.

 

[dyson0715]

AFAIK, you can use your personal camera. Can't do a whole tripod/lights set up, just hand-held.

I've never been told I couldn't use my camera at any photo location. But, you can't use cameras (still or video, even phones) during the production shows in the WDT.

Thank you for the information. No worries about the tripod light set up...I don't even own a "real" camera. Just a cell phone.

 

[dyson0715]

Oh and what does AFAIK stand for. ..I wanted to act cool and pretend to know but I have no idea. .

 

[phinz]

Oh and what does AFAIK stand for. ..I wanted to act cool and pretend to know but I have no idea. .

As Far As I Know.

 

[dyson0715]

Oh, thanks, lol...I'm actually sorta young, so I should know text abbreviation.

 

[JimGA]

Has anyone purchased "take home all of your prints" ?

I know we came home with 4 prints, for $70 ish. For $300 , I can take home all of them, sounds like a bargain, especially for 7 nights, plus we are on a Star Wars cruise. It almost sounds too good to be true.

 

[Divslp]

Is there a way we can test the USBs on the ship?

 

[phinz]

Is there a way we can test the USBs on the ship?

Perhaps if you go back to your room, install everything on your computer and try it. Or just sit down somewhere around there and do the same.

 

[CesD]

It depends on if u don't mind standing in line for photos so u can get as many pics as possible. On our last cruise we didn't stand in any of the photo lines until the last night so the photo pkg isn't for people like us.

 

[PHamrick]

We did the 4 night on the Dream two years ago and came home with over 70 pictures. I didn't feel as if we stood in line a lot. But my kids also liked meeting the characters. I plan on buying it again for our upcoming 7 night. Does anyone know how far in advance it goes on sale? I cruise in August, but haven't seen it for purchase for my cruise yet.

Thanks!

 

[anricat]

We did the 4 night on the Dream two years ago and came home with over 70 pictures. I didn't feel as if we stood in line a lot. But my kids also liked meeting the characters. I plan on buying it again for our upcoming 7 night. Does anyone know how far in advance it goes on sale? I cruise in August, but haven't seen it for purchase for my cruise yet.

Thanks!

It's usually a couple of months in advance. I remember purchasing mine last time around the same time I did my online check in.