Photo CDs

[SteamboatWillie1021]

We did get the CD. We traveled with a bunch of other people (all family) so we all split the CD. They are just the raw photos...no backgrounds. Sometimes they scan your card on the boat and other times not but they use facial recognition so most of the pictures make it onto everyones key to the world card. What they suggested for us to do was to check each day at the computer terminals to make sure the photos we want made it on and at the end if any didn't they would give you the hard copy. We love the CD and felt it was worth it because you can print up as many as you want once you have the cd, use them as backgrounds on the computer etc. Once we decided to buy it though we went to as many photo ops as possible. Probably pretty pricey for just one family but well worth it for our group.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We did get the CD. We traveled with a bunch of other people (all family) so we all split the CD. They are just the raw photos...no backgrounds. Sometimes they scan your card on the boat and other times not but they use facial recognition so most of the pictures make it onto everyones key to the world card. What they suggested for us to do was to check each day at the computer terminals to make sure the photos we want made it on and at the end if any didn't they would give you the hard copy. We love the CD and felt it was worth it because you can print up as many as you want once you have the cd, use them as backgrounds on the computer etc. Once we decided to buy it though we went to as many photo ops as possible. Probably pretty pricey for just one family but well worth it for our group.

So they did let you split it between cabins? I understand two adults and kids spread out among two cabins, but if they let any groups whose cabins are linked, that's great news!

 

[slk]

Wow!!! $400 -even $300 is just waaay too much! I do think
the pictures are very nice but $100 or $150 is about it for me. I think it is
a good idea but it definately needs some tweaking. Like 50 (ex.)pictures
for x dollars or the next step up 25 more pictures for x dollars. Not, we
take as many pictures as we can in x amount of days (days you are on
the cruise) and you take all of them. What if you don't like all of them?
It would be better if you could just pick what you want. DCL are you
listening???? Just throwing that out there, good idea though.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Well, it's a step in the right direction and while I'm sure this is a great deal for some people.. for us $400 is still very high. If we were to pay that- we'd be constantly getting our photos taken to make it worth it and I'm not sure we want to go that route with our vacation (trying to get a picture at every moment possible). Generally the majority of our photos are taken with our own camera and we don't usually spend anywhere near $400.. so I'm not sure if we'd be willing to spend that much just to get EVERY photo instead of hand picked ones.

but it is a step in the right direction... probably worth it to those that usually pay the high prices for lots of photos anyway. I hope they go down on the price some though- I mean that's kinda high, especially without borders and then you still have to go print those photos yourself afterwards.. so it would cost even more than the $400. I personally would rather take home a CD and print them out myself rather than delicately taking home very expensive photos after the trip.. but that's too rich for my blood for the amount of photos we get taken.

 

[disneynewbee]

Without the borders and extras I won't be going the cd route. You figure for 400 they would be included.

 

[SteamboatWillie1021]

So they did let you split it between cabins? I understand two adults and kids spread out among two cabins, but if they let any groups whose cabins are linked, that's great news!

Yep, they let us. We just made sure that all of the pictures were tied to my parents room. You only get one CD but you can put it on everyones computer and make copies. You own the rights to the CD once you buy it. They even had some photog's doing photo's with out a dis theme at all so it was awesome to get formal portraits of the family.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Yep, they let us. We just made sure that all of the pictures were tied to my parents room. You only get one CD but you can put it on everyones computer and make copies. You own the rights to the CD once you buy it. They even had some photog's doing photo's with out a dis theme at all so it was awesome to get formal portraits of the family.

That's great! Thanks!

 

[Cruise]

I'm wondering where they came up with the $400 price tag. You would think business sense would mean that they'd find out what the average person spends on photos then tack on maybe 10% (?) more for the convenience factor and go with that price. But I find it hard to believe that most people on the cruise are spending upwards of $350-$400 on photos. We never spend more than $50 max at Shutters and usually only around $30.

The high price surprises me as well considering that the labor involved can't really be that much more since they obviously have some sort of organizational software already which allows them to find photos for people.

I do agree it's a step in the right direction toward allowing people to get their photos without having to drag home the actual prints, but I can't imagine they're actually going to sell very many of them at that price.

 

[SteamboatWillie1021]

That's great! Thanks!

We had 4 cabins total...FYI. I think my SIL really wanted some with the borders so she got a few at 1/2 off with them. I personally don't like the borders so it didn't bother me at all.

 

[lbgraves]

We had 4 cabins total...FYI. I think my SIL really wanted some with the borders so she got a few at 1/2 off with them. I personally don't like the borders so it didn't bother me at all.

I don't like the borders either. We have three staterooms linked for our WBTA and all have kids and all take lots of the pictures so that will be a great deal for us! They have lots of time to work out the kinks too! Just another reason to take the laptop with us. I can make them copies before we leave WDW to go home.

 

[ibela]

I wonder why on earth a CD at WDW is ~$100 but on the ship is 4x that. Yes Shutters is run by different management but you'd think they'd use the WDW CD price for a sanity check. At $150 I'd get the CD but not at $400 . . .

 

[disney1990]

$400 is out of reach for me.

Hopefully, they are playing around with a cost and it will be tweeked again.

 

[LoriS]

I wonder why on earth a CD at WDW is ~$100 but on the ship is 4x that. Yes Shutters is run by different management but you'd think they'd use the WDW CD price for a sanity check. At $150 I'd get the CD but not at $400 . . .

The CD at WDW is nor $150, But the prices at Shutters have always been hirer then WDW, so they are following suit with the CD pricing.

 

[lbgraves]

Plus look at how many people have been asking for it. It is a matter of supply and demand.

 

[Melcatfish]

So is the price of the CD $400 on the MAgic but $300 on the Wonder?

Mel
x

 

[kritter]

I hope they allow us to combine families. On my next cruise we have three families all linked together. With the three of us and six kids total it would be something nice to have!!

 

[J&K'sPrincessMommy]

$400 is too much- we buy a lot but not $400 worth- and we were on the 10 night Southern in 2005- and we bought a ton on board. I would consider $300 for a 7 night... maybe. But certainly not $400.

 

[ilovecraigandcooper]

i guess im just way cheaper than most people because i find $400 ridiculous...i mean thats close to what some people pay for WEDDING pictures i love to have great pics but for $400 i'll save my money or maybe splurge on a new camera for myself right before the cruise!

 

[tampabrat22]

I'm so excited to hear Disney is taking a step in this direction with their photos and I hope other cruise lines will soon follow!

The price may seem steep, but you have to consider that once they give you a cd of images they lose the ability to make any more profit. $400 may seem high to some of us, but others are willing to drop that & more on printed images and would do it in a heart beat to have access to all of their digital images.

Sure it only costs pennies to print a photo, but as a photography business how do you (collectively) expect they recoup their overhead fees? They still have to pay the photographers, buy all the very expensive camera equipment, backdrops, props, lighting, paper, processing machines & chemicals! My point is that photo studios & photographers charge what they charge based on all of the above (plus time & talent of the artist when using a pro), not the simple fact that you can print a picture for $.10.

Shutters is a business, they have to make a profit, that wont happen if they give away tons of images for next to nothing (and once cruisers decide to buy the CD, just imagine how many pictures they will be posing for). Sorry for the rant, as a photographer I tend to be a bit biased and I'm just saying...

 

[Cruise]

Sure it only costs pennies to print a photo, but as a photography business how do you (collectively) expect they recoup their overhead fees? They still have to pay the photographers, buy all the very expensive camera equipment, backdrops, props, lighting, paper, processing machines & chemicals! My point is that photo studios & photographers charge what they charge based on all of the above (plus time & talent of the artist when using a pro), not the simple fact that you can print a picture for $.10.

Shutters is a business, they have to make a profit, that wont happen if they give away tons of images for next to nothing (and once cruisers decide to buy the CD, just imagine how many pictures they will be posing for). Sorry for the rant, as a photographer I tend to be a bit biased and I'm just saying...

I agree that Shutters is in the business of making a profit, but they also have to be realistic in finding that fine line of supply vs demand. At $400 per CD, they might cover their overhead much quicker, but common sense should also tell them that they'd make more per cruise by selling 200 CDs for $100 each than they would selling 25 at $400 each. I think at $400, they're looking at very few sales - granted, they will get some, but not nearly as many as if they lowered the price.

As far as more work for the photographers once people decide to buy the pictures, I don't see that as a problem. Every time I've seen the photographers set up, they're at a certain point for a certain amount of time and then they leave. If there are still people in the line, then tough luck. What I can see is that Shutters will get more complaints regarding these end times, but all they'll do is deflect it back to Disney as Disney is usually the one that calls and end to character appearances and such.