"Dreams Studio" info.. on the Legend

I was looking over a previous "Fun Times" and I saw a blurb about a "Dreams Studio" sign up.. it seems it's basically a private photo shoot.. has anyone done this?

If so..

-Do you get to choose the location? Are there multiple locations?

-Are their multiple time slots available? How flexible are the times?

-Is there a fee for the sitting?

-Do you review/purchase pictures in the same format as other photos?

-Do they offer any specials for purchasing a "package" of portraits?

Overall experience? Better/Same as Formal Night portraits? Worth the time?

Thanks for your insight!

May wanna look at this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1454515&highlight=photo+session

We looked into it, and I almost got sick when I found out how much they wanted for the session and photos! Maybe if I was getting married or having a vow renewal ceremony onboard I'd spring for the photos. Just waaaaaay too expensive!

May wanna look at this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1454515&highlight=photo+session

I was thinking the same thing. :D

wow... thanks for pointing me to that thread.. it seems my "searching" skills need to be improved!!

I was kinda thinking it was like the "photo shoot" that Disney offers at their resorts... and I was prepared for "Disney" pricing.. but... wow... this is really over the top!

We will be skipping this "free" opportunity... while we were willing to pay the "standard" 8x10 or 5x7 price for photos.. the "all or nothing" is more than we are interested in... we'll be sticking to the Formal Night portraits.

Thanks again for the direction!

If you price professional photography sessions (I mean, artistic, gorgeous "Professional"...not Sears Portrait studio) this is very reasonable. I paid $300 for a one hour family session and DVD of the images....no prints, no book. WELL worth it! I feel amazing pictures are priceless, irreplaceable and alot of people think nothing about spending more than that on their alcohol bill on the cruise.

These photographers are spending private time with you that they are not being paid for and not doing for "everyone" on the ship. They have extensive training, expensive equipment expenses, etc., so a 10 page album for $499 is not a bad price at all. That is only $50/print if there are 10 prints in the book or $25/print if there were 20 pictures (1 on the front and 1 on the back) on those 10 pages. If they charged the same price (21.99) as those stupid fake cruise ship backgrouds everywhere...than the entire 3700 passengers on the ship would want a personal shoot, which is impossible. Of course they have to charge alot more. It's private, professional and MUCH better photography. Sorry to rant...I just know the difference between spending a couple of hundred on amazing family pictures on the wall that make people's jaws drop and get many compliments vs. spending $19.99 at Walmart. No comparison and well worth the money

From my experience, years later, people never regret the money spent on professional photography.

completely agree...it is a moment in time, that you will never get back

completely agree...it is a moment in time, that you will never get back

Especially when the kids are younger, and changing so much year to year....

Just got off the Carnival Dream and absolutely love my Dream Studio package.

No offense but many times I have cruised and stood inline, then spent time looking and paying for photos with pirates and towel animals or painted backdrops.

Anyone who has ever paid for a professional photographer will not think this is over priced. We have done it twice now. Once in Dec 2016 on the Vista (Don). And in Feb 2017 on Dream (Jessica Rosslee).

The kids liked doing it. This last time we had 6 of us.

While on Vista we saw large family reunions who did as they had family members who had come from active duty to do cruise.

It's very nice. I hope more people will check it out.

I am very happy we did as a family.

There were 6 of us that did it on the sunshine in September 2015. My wife and I and my brother's family of 4 spent about an hour with the photographer doing a few different scenes. He was excellent shooting his small kids too. We made an appointment the next day to review them all with no obligation to buy them. We had planned on not even buying any but they were so good we settled on buying 12 (10 plus 2 extra instead of a poster sized print) of them. While the book was nice, we did not want to pay that much. You obviously can't buy 1 or 2 photos but they do offer a couple different packages. We split the 12 pics and I was able to scan them all at a high resolution to make prints at WalGreens using the Carnival picture release.

You could buy one print but I think it was a metal print. I forgot to mention we received a $100 coupon if booked on Valentine's Day - this basically paid for USB drive which is cute Carnival ship. There are different sized books. With different number of pages.

I liked the satin prints and asked if I could check quality and contrast. As looking at a back lit computer or tv screen is different from a reflective photograph. They obliged me.

The Vista was about 20 mins. The Dream was more as it was very windy on deck the first day. So we did a second shoot in Cozumel.

They were very accommodating.

I asked to get final book prior to dinner last night so I could be certain there were no problems.

I have been trying to understand the pricing for the Dreams Studio - does anyone have how much the sitting fee is + how much prints are? Can you just get digital versions?

We got totally screwed. We received a CD of the portraits only but were told the full size ones would come in the mail and our address was verified. We have received nothing but paid $649! When calling Carnival, they say the policy is to pick up pictures before you leave the ship. We were never told this!!!!

We got totally screwed. We received a CD of the portraits only but were told the full size ones would come in the mail and our address was verified. We have received nothing but paid $649! When calling Carnival, they say the policy is to pick up pictures before you leave the ship. We were never told this!!!!

Oh no! When we did it we had an assigned time after the shoot to meet with the photographer to pick our prints. They were ready the next day and we definitely took them off the ship with us. I sure hope you can still get yours! [emoji33]

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We got totally screwed. We received a CD of the portraits only but were told the full size ones would come in the mail and our address was verified. We have received nothing but paid $649! When calling Carnival, they say the policy is to pick up pictures before you leave the ship. We were never told this!!!!

Update: we did receive our portraits after I posted this and they were beautiful! They are pricey but in my opinion worth it!

Just did this on the last Legends cruise of the season in Alaska. Same price as above. They delivered the photos on the last sea day night. We had ours taken in Glacier Bay, by the Johns Hopkins Glacier.

Insanely overpriced, although pics are nicer than the traditional pics you can take onboard they really weren't that much better. Cheapest package I was offered was (3) 8X10 prints for $499!!!! No thank you...... I don't even know how the photographer could keep a strait face while rattling off the insane prices. He also could not give me a price list of available packages.

My fiancee and I did 3 nighter back in March, we went to pick up our "boarding day photo" and one of the photographers was all "oh hey would you like a FREE photo shoot at sunset tomorrow night?" I asked how much "free free its all free!" "so we don't have to pay a cent? Nothing at all for the photos? how does that even work??" "no ma'am you do not have to pay at all, the whole experience is free" so we did it.. went to pick up the photos and was handed with the crazy prices of $600-$1200.. I said to him "well here's the situation: you said it was FREE, you never once mentioned a fee at all when I questioned you about it... I have $60 left on my cruise card.. if you want to make a sale right now what can we get for our $60?" he allowed me to choose three 8x10 print outs of our pics.

In the survey they sent me I made a good mention of all of this to carnival and said if you get told something is free even after enquiring about it then get told oh no you have to pay for it then there is something seriously wrong with that staff members customer service skills. The photographer was great and I love the pics we got but he lead us to believe it was all free then threw the outrageous prices at us AFTER we had seen all the gorgeous pictures.