Picture Package Worth It?

[Karin1984]

I hadn't planned to buy it on my transatlantic. I had planned to mainly use my own camera for characters and just pick out 10 pictures made by the photographers.

There were too many good pictures to just stick to 10. So, I bought the package on board.

For my next cruise I bought the package on forehand to get the discount.

 

[WebsterDisneyMom]

We're doing our first Disney Cruise in July (Alaska). Just trying to get a sense of exactly how the photos work. Can we purchase the package of 10 digital downloads on the ship for the same cost? Could we sign up for the unlimited but then change our mind, cancel, and then just go with the 10 downloads? Can you buy just one or two digital downloads at the end of the trip or is 10 the minimum? We love photos and characters but girls are now 10 and 12 -- not sure if I need the unlimited... Just trying to figure out options Thanks everyone!

 

[lilsonicfan]

We're doing our first Disney Cruise in July (Alaska). Just trying to get a sense of exactly how the photos work. Can we purchase the package of 10 digital downloads on the ship for the same cost? Could we sign up for the unlimited but then change our mind, cancel, and then just go with the 10 downloads? Can you buy just one or two digital downloads at the end of the trip or is 10 the minimum? We love photos and characters but girls are now 10 and 12 -- not sure if I need the unlimited... Just trying to figure out options Thanks everyone!

If I remember correctly, the 10-photo or 20-photo package isn't discounted if you buy it in advance, so no real advantage to buying it early. Yes, you can buy the package ahead of time and cancel once you are onboard, as long as you cancel before the last day, AND you have not yet downloaded any of the pictures (which you can now do onboard!) The unlimited package is discounted in advance but not on board.

If you love photos and characters, I highly recommend the unlimited package. Especially for Alaska, I"m thinking you'll get some cute characters-in-Alaskan-outfits pics!

 

[WebsterDisneyMom]

If I remember correctly, the 10-photo or 20-photo package isn't discounted if you buy it in advance, so no real advantage to buying it early. Yes, you can buy the package ahead of time and cancel once you are onboard, as long as you cancel before the last day, AND you have not yet downloaded any of the pictures (which you can now do onboard!) The unlimited package is discounted in advance but not on board.

If you love photos and characters, I highly recommend the unlimited package. Especially for Alaska, I"m thinking you'll get some cute characters-in-Alaskan-outfits pics!

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate your help!

 

[squirk]

Honestly, I rarely see any photos taken by DCL (or whoever) photographers that I prefer over the candids that I take with my phone.

The professional photos are fine, but I don’t cherish them the same way I cherish the candids. I guess I’m just not one for staged photos.

So I personally don’t think the package is worth it.

 

[WebsterDisneyMom]

Honestly, I rarely see any photos taken by DCL (or whoever) photographers that I prefer over the candids that I take with my phone.

The professional photos are fine, but I don’t cherish them the same way I cherish the candids. I guess I’m just not one for staged photos.

So I personally don’t think the package is worth it.

Thanks for your thoughts! It's nice that you can cancel the package as long as you don't download any photos, so I think we'll go that route and see what we think Thanks for sharing!

 

[squirk]

Thanks for your thoughts! It's nice that you can cancel the package as long as you don't download any photos, so I think we'll go that route and see what we think Thanks for sharing!

For our first few cruises, we stopped by Shutters periodically to see what pictures were waiting for us. None of them knocked our socks off.

The few we liked, we bought a la carte. So we would have wasted money on a package.

I use our candids all the time for wallpaper on my phone, my iPad, my PCs. I post the candids on social media, use them on Xmas cards, etc. I don’t think I’ve ever done any of that with the handful of professional photos we bought.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I like the staged photos - since I get to be in them!

 

[Husker Mike]

I like the staged photos - since I get to be in them!

That's the key thing. I can take pictures of my kids, and my wife and I can take pictures of each other with the kids, but the nice photos of the entire family...well, they either have to be done selfie style with my arm completely outstretched or they depend on somebody else who doesn't know how to zoom or focus my phone.

At DisneyWorld, the ride photos are a reason to buy the photo package along with the posed family shots. The framed and "pixie-dusted" photos with Disney characters are too lame for use; they are cute to see exactly once, and they are hardly worth saving. Not sure there's an equivalent to it with DCL; I suspect not, until the MagicBand...er DisneyBand gets fully implemented.

 

[Mommb]

The framed and "pixie-dusted" photos with Disney characters are too lame for use; they are cute to see exactly once, and they are hardly worth saving. Not sure there's an equivalent to it with DCL; I suspect not, until the MagicBand...er DisneyBand gets fully implemented.

There are “Magic shots” that can be done by some onboard photographers. I didn’t buy the ones taken with my daughter on our last cruise, because I bought just 3 or 4 individual pictures of my family. If you’re interested in that sort of shot, though, it can be included in a photo package.

 

[lilsonicfan]

At DisneyWorld, the ride photos are a reason to buy the photo package along with the posed family shots. The framed and "pixie-dusted" photos with Disney characters are too lame for use; they are cute to see exactly once, and they are hardly worth saving. Not sure there's an equivalent to it with DCL; I suspect not, until the MagicBand...er DisneyBand gets fully implemented.

There are pixie dusted pics on DCL too, on our WBPC cruise in 2022 we had these for the first time. Super cheesy, but also kind of cute. I'm not blowing them up for a portrait over my fireplace, but I still enjoy them.

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

As the person in our family who almost always takes the pictures, I think it’s worth it because it means I actually get to be IN the pictures. I also find that it means that I really relax and let myself enjoy the character interactions and my kids’ enjoyment of them, rather than trying to catch it all on my camera. To me, that permission to just be in the moment with my family is worth the price.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I'm confused over the comments about being in the pictures - the CM will take your picture with your phone Matter of fact, every single CM on our last two cruises took multiple photos of the entire meet, not just the posed ones. The official photographers took very few of our interactions and mostly just the official smile and pose.

That said, I ended up keeping the package on our TA last week. Even with 13 nights, only had about 80 pictures but there were enough to justify the expense. Got a refund on the shorter cruise in the fall. I STILL had the CM use my phone for pictures so I got a great collection in the end.

 

[mlayton14]

Honestly, I rarely see any photos taken by DCL (or whoever) photographers that I prefer over the candids that I take with my phone.

The professional photos are fine, but I don’t cherish them the same way I cherish the candids. I guess I’m just not one for staged photos.

So I personally don’t think the package is worth it.

Any idea how much the professional photos cost? I reserved a slot for our cruise , and I know it’s not part of the photo package , thank you

 

[Disturbia]

We just went on our second cruise in April. We had paid for the photo book and received a discount. We didn’t realize we should have gone to shutters and worked on our photo book ($180?) throughout the cruise. When my spouse went the night before disembarkation the manager said he could not select any photos with his ID. We couldn’t go back because it was really late and they were shutting down (we were in second seating and with kids allergies dinner took over 2 hours).

It was a 7 night cruise and they take photos at dinner and in the water at Castaway Cay (look for the photographer). There are also photo opportunities on deck 4 throughout the day (magic shots) and even before boarding the cruise.

We ended up buying all the photos for $350? (and the last day I spoke to the CM at shutters again and they refunded the photo book.

Caution: Do arrive one night before the cruise. We had a 6+ hr delay and stroller took another hour at baggage claim. We should have arrived at 9:15 pm but checked into Hyatt at 4:30 am. Our room was given to someone else (didn’t realize we needed to check in online; I had paid for the room and they had our flight details so didn’t think they would give it away) but we got upgraded but only 1 bed for 5 people.

For a PAT of 11:30 am using Mears form Hyatt the latest boarding call was 9:40 am (bus promptly leaves at 10 am). You need to be out of your room by 8 am and have the bags tagged in your room (breakfast was rushed and stressful and had a 45 min wait - put your name on the sit down breakfast first and then go check in for the bus).

https://www.disboards.com/threads/anyone-recently-do-the-hyatt-to-port-transfer.3875631/

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

Any idea how much the professional photos cost? I reserved a slot for our cruise , and I know it’s not part of the photo package , thank you

Can you clarify what you mean by reserving a slot? Is this for a specific event on the ship?

And I only ask because DCL is weird about photo packages in that regard because...

They have time slots for their packages, but they still count for the entire cruise.

Ex: For my cruise last April, I went to buy a photo package prior to its start and it said it was sold out for embarkation day. But I was able to buy it on a time slot of the second day. Still good for the entire cruise.

 

[Disturbia]

Also, with the early PAT, we were able to select the Royal gathering after checking in (plenty of times available and this was a Spring break sold out cruise). We did try to line up after dinner but most of the time the photographers were shutting down by the time we got to the atrium (10:15 pm).

We had around 180 photos (you can only select around 30? for the photobook-we just didn’t have time to do that on the last night) and still thought it was worth it (many retakes because there were 5 of us)m, but you could get away with just the photobook and selecting just a few favorites per day).

 

[squirk]

Any idea how much the professional photos cost? I reserved a slot for our cruise , and I know it’s not part of the photo package , thank you

You mean, the private session? I’ve never looked because it never interested me. Just ran a quick search, and it looks like it’s $550 per session.

 

[mlayton14]

Can you clarify what you mean by reserving a slot? Is this for a specific event on the ship?

And I only ask because DCL is weird about photo packages in that regard because...

They have time slots for their packages, but they still count for the entire cruise.

Ex: For my cruise last April, I went to buy a photo package prior to its start and it said it was sold out for embarkation day. But I was able to buy it on a time slot of the second day. Still good for the entire cruise.

Certainly - for our cruise I booked a “shutters portrait studio session” for a specific time on formal night (approx 90 days in advance similar to booking port adventures). There is no additional cost to book the session , but there will be a cost to purchase the picture or pictures from this session and would not be included in the photo package. There are no prices listed , and I assume no lines to wait in. I am also assuming it’s going to be expensive but the way I see it if we don’t think the pictures are worth it we just won’t buy them. Would love more info as to whether anyone else has done this , the costs , and whether they thought it was worth it. It’s not often we have professional photos done so this seems like an easy way to do it

 

[mlayton14]

You mean, the private session? I’ve never looked because it never interested me. Just ran a quick search, and it looks like it’s $550 per session.

If $550 is the case I will certainly be canceling LOL