Photo package question

[Lovewinnie]

We are taking our first cruise in December which is a 4 night on the Dream. Will we take enough photos to justify the cost of $270? Or is it better to just purchase a few on ship if we like them? I usually buy memory maker in the parks but have to stop my family for photo ops to get photos that make it worth it. TIA

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are taking our first cruise in December which is a 4 night on the Dream. Will we take enough photos to justify the cost of $270? Or is it better to just purchase a few on ship if we like them? I usually buy memory maker in the parks but have to stop my family for photo ops to get photos that make it worth it. TIA

Really, only you can decide if you're going to get enough photos taken to justify the cost. Individual pictures cost $20 each. If you feel you will take enough to justify purchasing the whole package, certainly it's worth it.

I'll just point out you can go ahead and purchase the photo package pre-cruise (with a discount), and, if it looks like you're not going to get enough photos to justify the cost, you can cancel the package for full credit back. You need to cancel the package by the last full day of the cruise.

 

[Lovewinnie]

Really, only you can decide if you're going to get enough photos taken to justify the cost. Individual pictures cost $20 each. If you feel you will take enough to justify purchasing the whole package, certainly it's worth it.

I'll just point out you can go ahead and purchase the photo package pre-cruise (with a discount), and, if it looks like you're not going to get enough photos to justify the cost, you can cancel the package for full credit back. You need to cancel the package by the last full day of the cruise.

This is our first cruise so I guess my question should also be how available are the photographers? Will we need to be on alert or are they readily available around the ship?

 

[Msidescooter]

This is our first cruise so I guess my question should also be how available are the photographers? Will we need to be on alert or are they readily available around the ship?

They have character meets throughout the day (with photographers) and photographers with backgrounds in the atrium before and between dinners.

I will say from personal experience that buying the photo package before the cruise made our cruise more stressful as we felt obligated to go to every meet possible. We have since stopped buying the package and take it easy. So I would say it's something to think about before you buy the package, if your family wants relaxing the package may not lead to the most relaxing vacation (unless you're the type that thinks waiting in line is relaxing).

 

[sefowler1]

I agree. It makes it more stressful to try to get your moneys worth of photos. You have to be willing to stand in line at every character meet or staged setting at night to get enough photos.

 

[over50visits]

Msidescooter - great perspective. It's like buying the Disney Dining Plan then ordering the most expensive thing on the menu so you can say you saved money! Although I think that spending hundreds of dollars for a CD of photos appeals to some, we have a TON of pictures we've taken over the years with our own camera, including plenty with characters that a CM graciously and happily took for us. If you find yourself in line for a character photo just to help justify the huge expense for photos, then maybe it really wasn't the right choice.

 

[Wachsdds]

My family likes the photo package. My wife and I have 5 kids and this is a great opportunity to get great family pictures on the different nights. As the photographer for my family, I rarely get in the pictures, It is nice having somebody else take the pictures for a change!

 

[havaneselover]

We got over 100 on our four night. For us it was well worth it. But lines for photo ops can be long on shorter cruises so it depends how much time you are willing to spend to get photos.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

If you take time from your WDW vacation to stand in line for characters in the parks because those pictures are important to you probably won't mind taking up time on your cruise to wait in line for pictures. We've had a hard and fast rule to NEVER take away from our vacation for those pictures.

That said we get the memory maker in the parks because we use one or more of those pictures for our Christmas Card. The lines for the in park photographers are never outrageously long except for right in front of the castle.

I did purchase the photo package on the cruise one trip but the DD's didn't want to get their picture taken and didn't want to wait in line so I had to resort to bribery. I would give them $20 for each photograph with a character. My 8yr old went right out and got one taken so I asked to see it and she said the professional photographer didn't take it and she didn't have a camera on her so she asked the guy in line behind her to take her picture. Yep, some stranger has my daughter's photo on his camera. I can't even imagine what he was thinking! That was the last package we purchased on the cruise.

 

[GeneralTso]

This is a no-brainer for us. We love photos, especially character shots. We bought for both rooms, so paid half price for the 2nd room.
It's a personal preference thing. Some families only take a few pictures and would lose money on the package. Us, it's the only way to go.

 

[DisneyConvert]

This is a no-brainer for us. We love photos, especially character shots. We bought for both rooms, so paid half price for the 2nd room.
It's a personal preference thing. Some families only take a few pictures and would lose money on the package. Us, it's the only way to go.

My wife loves more/many/lots of pictures, the professional photographers are really good, and we consider it part of the cost of fully enjoying the vacation. So we usually purchase.

We usually miss out on the pictures taken on the Disney excursions, because we don't do those. Still, my wife feels like she gets her money's worth as we usually get 2-3 shots good enough for our Holiday Cards.

 

[PlutoIsHerFav]

As others have said, it really depends on your family. We did not pre-purchase the package on our first cruise, and ended up buying it onboard. So, this trip we pre-purchased with the knowledge we could get a refund - we were glad we purchased. However, our kids are 5 and 1. The 1 year old does whatever, but our 5 year old is still very much into characters. It's the highlight of her trip and what we spent a large portion of our trip doing, regardless of whether or not we pre-purchased the package. We just got off the 5 night on the Dream and had 207 digital images! For me it was totally worth just picking up the USB and not sorting through each image. When they get older, I am sure they won't care much about the characters an the package won't make sense, but for now that's where our family is at!

 

[Oh Henry]

For those that pre-purchase, do you actually have to print out the receipt and redeem it at Shutters on board? Will all members of the party have to be there when the photo package is redeemed so they can do the facial recognition or whatever?

From my receipt:

Thank you for your order! Please print this receipt and bring it with you on board.
To redeem your purchase please visit Shutters located on Deck 4, Aft and speak to a Shutters photographer. Al prepaid purchases will be available for pick up on the last morning of the cruise from a designated counter in Shutters.

 

[AZMermaid]

From my receipt:

Thank you for your order! Please print this receipt and bring it with you on board.
To redeem your purchase please visit Shutters located on Deck 4, Aft and speak to a Shutters photographer. Al prepaid purchases will be available for pick up on the last morning of the cruise from a designated counter in Shutters.

Is it only pick up the last morning or could we do it the last night, assuming all our pics have loaded?

 

[starvenger]

You might be able to do it on the last night, but on every cruise I've been on (across three cruise lines) the last night at the photo area has been pretty packed. If you're insistent on getting your photos that night I'd ask about it before then.

 

[tanya0369]

We bought the cd and glad we did. We had so many great ones. We also took photos with our phones of characters and the lighting can be pretty bad, and they didn't turn out that great.

 

[AZMermaid]

You might be able to do it on the last night, but on every cruise I've been on (across three cruise lines) the last night at the photo area has been pretty packed. If you're insistent on getting your photos that night I'd ask about it before then.

Thanks. I had remembered the photo place being a zoo in the morning as well, but if it is just as bad... I may as well do as instructed and wait.

 

[basketlacey]

We usually buy 2-4 of the best pics. I don’t have room to display more than that and even in my scrapbook, this is plenty. And I spend tons less than the full package costs.

 

[annacali]

Are you sure it's that much? We just got off a 4 day on the Wonder last month and I paid less than 200 for the package (I think it was $176?). The advantage to prepaying was that, once I knew I didn't want a refund I was able to log in to the photo website and download all my photos on my phone (using free onboard wifi same as the navigator app) while on board. It also took me less than 5 min to pic up my USB at debarkation.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I think the package WITH prints is $270, but if you just want the USB and no prints, a 4 day on the Dream should be $195, if you buy before boarding. ($150 for 10 prints, if you want to compare)