1 week cruise-- anyone regret NOT getting photo usb

We always buy either the 10 or 20 photo package. The photos they take are always good (we have a hard time narrowing it down to only 10 or 20). I've never seen any discount offered so you can wait until the end of your cruise to decide. If you go with the 10 or 20 you don't have to choose which ones until you get home. One thing I would highly recommend doing is checking the computers a couple of times during the trip. On our last cruise almost ALL of our photos were NOT there! One guy in the photo shop was so helpful getting it all sorted out and by the last morning I had my USB with all my photos.
 
We always bring my "good " Canon and have the CMs also take the same character pics. We only end up purchasing 3 or 4 pics on board so we buy the prints separately. If there was a PhotoPass idea where they magically appear on your phone, maybe then we'd buy more, i don't know. I guess the logistics of being on the ship make it impossible. We've always made our own photo books as a PP says and have been very satisfied with the combo of our own photos plus the few purchased on board (normally the first one where we are boarding makes the cover ) .
 
We did the EBTA in May and purchased 3 photos. We found the quality to be horrible. There were no photos from the dining rooms that did not have severe shadows behind us. We found the photographers to be very inexperienced and were putting people in what we thought were horrible poses. We had several with the white and black backgrounds where they cut off parts of our upper body. I had better photos with my canon DSLR.
 
we always buy the package, pre-paid ahead of time for the discount. We usually get about 100 photos or so, and the quality is always excellent, expecially with the unique borders they put on them. There are kiosks that you can view the photos on so you can see them as the cruise progresses. With the books, which I think may have been replaced on all the ships now, they print the photos and place them in there to view. Be aware that not all of your photos make it in, and you might have to go to the desk in Shutters to inquire. They use facial recognition, so its not perfect. We always end up with someone elses photos in our book, and are typically missing photos.
 


I'm going to resurrect this thread since it isn't so old and is along the exact lines I'm questioning.

On our last 4-night Bahama cruise, we only had 7 or 8 pictures in our folder at the end of the week. None from any dinners, none at Castaway Cay (didn't even see any photographers there!), no candids, only character meet and greets. I didn't even see the photo from us getting on the ship! What did we miss/do wrong?? I am SUCH a picture person.

We will be going on the 7-night Western Caribbean next November and I was contemplating purchasing a digital package, will I be able to view all available photos before the disembarkation day? If there aren't enough photos for me to justify the package, can I cancel and just buy individuals or a smaller package?

I hope this makes sense!!


This was my experience exactly. Is there supposed to be a family picture when you board the ship? I never saw photographers at the MDRs or Castaway Cay either.
 
I'm going to resurrect this thread since it isn't so old and is along the exact lines I'm questioning.

On our last 4-night Bahama cruise, we only had 7 or 8 pictures in our folder at the end of the week. None from any dinners, none at Castaway Cay (didn't even see any photographers there!), no candids, only character meet and greets. I didn't even see the photo from us getting on the ship! What did we miss/do wrong?? I am SUCH a picture person.

We will be going on the 7-night Western Caribbean next November and I was contemplating purchasing a digital package, will I be able to view all available photos before the disembarkation day? If there aren't enough photos for me to justify the package, can I cancel and just buy individuals or a smaller package?

I hope this makes sense!!

I can answer that. You can DEFINITELY downgrade to a smaller package (or individual photos, or cancel) any time before Debarkation day. They may not want to talk about it, but you can do it, no penalty. One thing to note is that on some ships they aren't doing prints anymore apparently, everything is digital. So I don't know if you were talking about just getting a few prints or a few digital copies. The digital copies come with full rights so you can have any company print them out once you get home.

I'm not sure how you ended up with only 8 pictures LOL. We got Goofy in the Terminal, the Sail Away picture as we boarded (a bit of a line there), The formal night pictures (three locations: stairs are the best, but line is the longest), pictures at dinner 3 or 4 nights (you can ask to stand away from the table if you don't want dinner plates in the pictures; I loved the different pairings they got at dinner, so make sure not to always sit in the same order), the picture with the ship when you get off at CC, pictures in the water at CC, the 2 Sets of Meet and Greet Photos (Frozen and each of the 4 Princesses), and several with individual characters at other times. So in all we got like 90 pics in 7 days.

I will confess that I am fortunate that my sons are "Drama kids" meaning that they are in the school plays and thus have no issues being in front of a camera or being "silly." They got into "hanging out" with the characters, becoming part of the fantasy.

One last thing, between the whole family we took about 4000 pictures during the week, and of the 40+ pics that I chose to display at my desk at work, 40% of them are from the picture package. That to me, means it was worth it.
 
We ran into a similar problem at Disneyland in February. Prepurchased the photo package and never ran into a single photographer. Just there one full day. They even somehow missed us on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Didn't think to ask about a refund.
 


Have been on 2 cruises and no, I don't regret not getting the photos. We have a few great casual shots of us with characters we happened to find around the ship. That was good enough for us.

I did surprise myself and get the photos when we were at WDW last spring. The pics from the rides were fun and not something I'd ever be able to get on my own. I don't see anything they do on the ship as comparable to that.
 
I have been on 2 cruises and have bought the photo package with both digital and prints. I am so glad I did because our pictures from it were phenomenal. We made it a priority to get them taken.
 
We always bring my "good " Canon and have the CMs also take the same character pics. We only end up purchasing 3 or 4 pics on board so we buy the prints separately. If there was a PhotoPass idea where they magically appear on your phone, maybe then we'd buy more, i don't know. I guess the logistics of being on the ship make it impossible. We've always made our own photo books as a PP says and have been very satisfied with the combo of our own photos plus the few purchased on board (normally the first one where we are boarding makes the cover ) .
I was given a code to d/l my photos (we had bought the pre-packaged usb), but the problem is you have to sign on to the internet to get them. I wasn't using any of my free 50 to get those photos, when I could just walk down to their shop and see them on the screen.
 
I was given a code to d/l my photos (we had bought the pre-packaged usb), but the problem is you have to sign on to the internet to get them. I wasn't using any of my free 50 to get those photos, when I could just walk down to their shop and see them on the screen.

I'm imagining the limitations of bare bones WiFi at sea is what is stopping them. Completely different than in the Parks. Also, in the Parks, you don't have to pay anything ahead of time to see the photos on your phone (not sure if DCL is the same way).
 
Are the pictures w/ the characters included in the photo pkg? This next cruise will be DS's high school graduation celebration.
 
Are the pictures w/ the characters included in the photo pkg? This next cruise will be DS's high school graduation celebration.

Yes, they are. All the character photos, dining room photos, and photos taken on CC.
 
For anyone who had photos missing...we did as well. I checked with a crew member at Shutters and he "found" all my photos. That is why I recommend checking your photos at the kiosk a couple of times during your cruise.
 
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I am wondering the same thing. I think you can just buy individual but not sure. Maybe someone will know...

I know they can be purchased individually, I'm just curious as to how people are claiming to get hundreds of photos when I received less than 10 you know? I'd love to have more available to choose from at the least. They are SO expensive individually from what I remember (like $20 each!)
 
I can answer that. You can DEFINITELY downgrade to a smaller package (or individual photos, or cancel) any time before Debarkation day. They may not want to talk about it, but you can do it, no penalty. One thing to note is that on some ships they aren't doing prints anymore apparently, everything is digital. So I don't know if you were talking about just getting a few prints or a few digital copies. The digital copies come with full rights so you can have any company print them out once you get home.

I'm not sure how you ended up with only 8 pictures LOL. We got Goofy in the Terminal, the Sail Away picture as we boarded (a bit of a line there), The formal night pictures (three locations: stairs are the best, but line is the longest), pictures at dinner 3 or 4 nights (you can ask to stand away from the table if you don't want dinner plates in the pictures; I loved the different pairings they got at dinner, so make sure not to always sit in the same order), the picture with the ship when you get off at CC, pictures in the water at CC, the 2 Sets of Meet and Greet Photos (Frozen and each of the 4 Princesses), and several with individual characters at other times. So in all we got like 90 pics in 7 days.

I will confess that I am fortunate that my sons are "Drama kids" meaning that they are in the school plays and thus have no issues being in front of a camera or being "silly." They got into "hanging out" with the characters, becoming part of the fantasy.

One last thing, between the whole family we took about 4000 pictures during the week, and of the 40+ pics that I chose to display at my desk at work, 40% of them are from the picture package. That to me, means it was worth it.

Maybe I just never noticed any photographers anywhere. I literally so no photographers on CC or at dinners or wandering the ship. Maybe I just wasn't looking good enough, LOL
 
Maybe I just never noticed any photographers anywhere. I literally so no photographers on CC or at dinners or wandering the ship. Maybe I just wasn't looking good enough, LOL

They are by the post office (with a character or two) when you first get off the ship at CC. Then there are some near the back of the ship on CC. There are more on CC - the info is usually in the Navigator. There aren't a lot in the dining rooms - definitely there on formal night. They are mostly with the characters/princesses around the ship.
 
I know they can be purchased individually, I'm just curious as to how people are claiming to get hundreds of photos when I received less than 10 you know? I'd love to have more available to choose from at the least. They are SO expensive individually from what I remember (like $20 each!)
We got about 60. I only posed with Goofy on CC. But we were on a Star Wars cruise, so we had meets with all those characters, too. Then there was formal night photos, then the MDR photos for formal night and Star Wars night. Then I bumped into a few photographers later in the night and had a few taken by myself. They all added up.
 
Maybe I just never noticed any photographers anywhere. I literally so no photographers on CC or at dinners or wandering the ship. Maybe I just wasn't looking good enough, LOL

Thanks everyone, I'll be definitely watching next time!!

Maybe it is partially the difference between a 4 day and a 7 day. We didn't have to look for them on CC in the water or in the dining rooms, they came to us. Next time you'll be on the look out, as you said, so that should help. We had one member of our group (my brother-in-law) who wasn't into photographs, but because we had prepaid, even he was motivated to wait in some lines or pose for pictures in the MDRs when they came by to "get our money's worth." It was great because we have more photos of him in this trip than in all previous combined. So that was a nice bonus.
 

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