Tell me about Shutters -$$ worth it? - Pro's and Con's

[MomForFrozenAddicts]

I just spoke to their customer service, if you pre-purchase the all image CD only, you can add the prints when you're aboard. The print add-on is the same price pre-purchase or onboard.

 

[Starwind]

We did not use Shutters at all for our first cruise (4 night) (well, except for the coming on board picture, but we did not buy it), mostly because we didn't really know about it.

We DID use it for our 7 day cruise. We took advantage of photography opportunities and character meets. We also did most of the "professional photography" settings they set up around dinner. We got a lot of excellent photos and some good photos and only one or two bad ones (eyes closed problems).

We felt it was worthwhile because it helped us document the trip, allowed us BOTH to be in pictures, and we got some good professional photos of both of us that would have cost a not-small price to have done at home. All of that combined made us feel it is worth it.

We are debating whether we will do it for one or both or none parts of our upcoming B2b (3/4 night) cruises. We are leaning towards yes, but may decide not to. A big part will be how much time do we want to spend in character meet lines The jury is still out.

We did purchase it online before the cruise, but for the $50 savings I wouldn't consider that "value". The value came from the pictures themselves.

-SW

 

[saraheli]

We preordered the CD on our last cruise, which was 7 nights, and we got about 75 pictures taken total. Most of these were of our daughters with various characters. I'm really torn about doing this again on our next cruise. On one hand, I felt like I wanted more non character pictures but I didn't see many photographers just strolling around the boat offering to take pictures. On the other hand, we did get a few amazing family pictures on Castaway Cay which I probably wouldn't have gotten if I didn't prepay for the CD since I felt forced to wait on the line to get my moneys worth. The quality of the pictures is great, so I probably will bite the bullet and do it again but I wish they would take more candid shots around the boat.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

We have found that, along with a very few individual photos, the PhotoBook is a nice way to go. You select photos from throughout your cruise, put them on the pages you want, and pick up a finished album right before you disembark. Much cheaper than building an album after the fact and we have something to share immediately.

Do you mind sharing a pic or pics of your photo book? I Would love to see the quality of the book and the layout. I will understand if you don't want to post pics of yourself/family online. So, I won't be offended, if you don't want to post it.

Also, I heard there's a "princess page". I have a DS and I prefer to take pics with Mickey and friends, rather than with princesses. Can the princess page be substituted with a "Mickey and Friends" page?

 

[plutos1fan]

Hi,

The photo packages (especially the one with the disk and all the print photos are worth it!) The nice thing about the package where you get all the photos on the disk and you get the hard copy photos is you do not have to sit in Shutters and have to pick the best pictures out of your whole vacation. We have done the disk and and all the print photos package before a few times. It is expensive, but to our family it is worth the money!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

If we purchase the 10 photos for $149 does anyone know if they have to all be people from the same stateroom? We're a group of 13 spread over 4 staterooms and I can see that we'll want a total of 10 photos but not 10 photos per family.

I know that the package with the disk and all of the photos won't work for us (because I'm not buying 3 of them) but I am hoping that I can buy a package of 10 pictures and buy pictures of all of us.

 

[JavaHound]

Do you mind sharing a pic or pics of your photo book? I Would love to see the quality of the book and the layout. I will understand if you don't want to post pics of yourself/family online. So, I won't be offended, if you don't want to post it.

Also, I heard there's a "princess page". I have a DS and I prefer to take pics with Mickey and friends, rather than with princesses. Can the princess page be substituted with a "Mickey and Friends" page?

Hi,
Here's one page (with faces removed) that can give you an idea. While I don't believe you can change any of the pages, they do a good job of making them generic enough that you can work your favorite photos in on most any page.

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

Hi,
Here's one page (with faces removed) that can give you an idea. While I don't believe you can change any of the pages, they do a good job of making them generic enough that you can work your favorite photos in on most any page.

View attachment 91713

Thank you so much for sharing!!!

 

[jsp32605]

I have a question, also. Is photo selection something that has to be done on board, or is it like when you go to the park and given the card to go online and order photos? I know it's a different company that does it, but we aren't planning to buy photos on the boat, but might want to after we've had time to look when it's not an impulse buy.

 

[JavaHound]

I have a question, also. Is photo selection something that has to be done on board, or is it like when you go to the park and given the card to go online and order photos? I know it's a different company that does it, but we aren't planning to buy photos on the boat, but might want to after we've had time to look when it's not an impulse buy.

For the photo books, you do this all on board, before 10pm (I think) on the last night of the cruise. You'll go to a kiosk, swipe your KKTW card, select the photos you want where, and pick up the book on the last morning around 7:00am.

For other photos, I believe they too have to be ordered while on the ship.

 

[mevelandry]

I am in the final stage of planning, even started the packing list and I have a box started with stuff to take.

We are doing a 7 night for our anniversary, just the 2 of us. So I was wondering if I should go ahead and spring for a shutters package. If I do how do I really get my moneys worth? Suggestions

If I don't what's it gonna cost me on board.

Thanks in advance.

Each 8X10 picture cost 20$ when purchased separately. DH and I ended up liking only 3 pictures out of the dozen that were taken. We were glad we did not buy in advance. We finally bought only 1 picture.

 

[ciniminis]

Scroll way down on the linked page for screen preview shots of every Fantasy photobook page template from Shutters:
https://www.smallworldvacations.com/blog/post.cfm/shutters-photography-on-a-disney-cruise

Looking like there are pages designated for each MDR which could be difficult to find enough suitable shots for. On our 7-night cruise the photographers only came to take pictures of us at the dinner table a couple of times (I think formal night and pirate night).

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

Scroll way down on the linked page for screen preview shots of every Fantasy photobook page template from Shutters:
https://www.smallworldvacations.com/blog/post.cfm/shutters-photography-on-a-disney-cruise

Looking like there are pages designated for each MDR which could be difficult to find enough suitable shots for. On our 7-night cruise the photographers only came to take pictures of us at the dinner table a couple of times (I think formal night and pirate night).

This is awesome, thank you!

 

[Seamama]

I think it's ridiculous to pay $20/pic (8x10) and equally ridiculous to pay $300/disc (7 nt cruise). That being said, it the one splurge I'm willing to do. Here's why:

(1) I am the one in the family who always takes the pics. If I ask DH, he'll gladly take pics of me, but he's a terrible photographer, lol.

(2) DH and DS aren't really into being in pics but if I tell them "Hey, we paid for this and it's important to me- now smile!" they're more likely to do it than if I am just constantly snapping pics of them all cruise long.

(3) DD is secretly a princess and is more-than-happy to pose for pics as often as she's given the opportunity. Just based on her willingness alone, I KNOW we'll get our money's worth ;-)

(4) I might be wrong, but here's what I noticed when doing a lot of the character pics: My kid would stand there and the character would do a cute pose while the Shutters person snapped it. Then I would have a turn to take a pic (which was no problem) but right before I look it, the character would change poses... I'm probably imagining it, but I felt like the pose they did for my personal camera was note as cute as the one they did w/ the Shutters person.

(5) Every other day or so, I would go to Shutters and compare the pics on the kiosk to the ones on my camera. If I thought my own were "good enough" then I didn't plan to buy theirs. This was a hassle and I felt like I was wasting precious time. At times it was even heart-wrenching, cause they'd have ones that were slightly better than mine but I was trying really hard not to buy more than a total of 3 or 4 from them (to keep costs down). And the last night was the worst! Shutters was crawling w/ people, and I hated that I was in there to last few days' of pics instead of partying w/ my family in the Atrium. In that moment, I said to myself, "$300 is totally worth it just to get the whole disc and sort thru it all at home!"

(6) I'm a little OCD, and it just drives me crazy not to have "a complete set" of every. single. picture. that was taken.

So yes, this will be our splurge. One thing I WILL do, though, is regularly monitor what's going to be on our disc. I found last time that pics of people that weren't us did end up in our file, and also it made me worry that ones we were expecting to be there could be missing. It's MUCH EASIER to deal w/ this while still onboard. So I will be keeping a little list of what I think should be there and comparing to what is there (there's that OCD thing creeping in again, lol!) Yes, that's still a hassle, but at least I won't be scrolling thru my camera trying to compare them and then having to make decisions on the spot (also a pet-peeve of mine).

 

[IAMASTITCHER]

Overall I agree with many of the comments posted here about purchasing of pictures to ensure both of you are in the shot, but keep in mind, in most cases you can use one of the shutter photographers to take your picture and have them take one with your camera. We found that for two people on our last few cruises, the only pictures that we purchased were the couple taken at the dinner table, all others we dismissed. In many cases, the pictures that their photographers took with our camera were better Go figure.

 

[xlxo]

For me... I wished Princess Cruises offer a photo package. A 2 night reposition had me spending far more than what I would pay for a DCL photo package.

You need to think whether or not your family with be "stalking" characters and their photographers throughout the trip. Like collecting cards or trivial, photo stalking is a great activity to keep the kids entertained as they try to get more photos than the other kids. Want more fun? Have the kids in costome when the pictures are taken. I couldn't believe how many princesses where in the atrium. I notice some adults appeared in Cosplay.

To get them started early, don't forget the bonus photo opportunity in the cruise terminal waiting area.

 

[disneyairforceguy]

What is the recommendation for a 3 night cruise? I was thinking of getting the 10 photo package, but it's the same price as the photo book. We are a family of 5 in two staterooms. I was told that I could get extra KTTWC, so could they all be in the photo book? 20 photos seems like a lot in 3 days.

 

[Nanny oly]

My 1st cruise we only had about 33 photos and like a crazy person I paid for it cause I couldnt decide! The other family at our table had over 300 prints and pics .......in that moment i decided i was approaching it all wrong.....second cruise we stopped at all set ups and every characther (my hubby wasnt there it was just me and the kids) WELL worth it the second time around.....I ended up with over 350 prints and the CD.....cost per pic was less than 1.00 and we were all in them and I didnt have to worry about dragging my big camera around......
it was well worth it!!!

 

[ellemenohpee]

We just came back from a 3 night cruise. DH was not thrilled with me pushing for the pre-purchase of the CD of unlimited digital images, but I promised him we would save money in the long run. We paid just under $200, and the price would have been 20% more on board. There were a lot of photo opps we missed, but also a ton that we got - my CD had over 50 pics and they are all awesome. It's one thing that was very easily worth it for me, and I would do it again.

 

[ciniminis]

One great thing about getting the all digital package is that you'll have those imperfect/duplicate shots that you would never pick if you were selecting a limited number. I find that in more than one situation a rare photo op would have been ruined by for example somebody having eyes closed in the first shot and somebody else making a face in the second shot - but with software I can combine the two less-than-ideal shots taken consecutively (which is relatively easy and looks natural as they have the same lighting/mood/etc.) to recreate the perfect, frame-worthy shot.