Onboard Experiences DVD

I finally got chance to sit down and watch the dvd we purchased from our cruise. I bought it as it was showing in the stateroom and the photo gallery and had my kids in it quite a bit - they had filmed the Christmas concert where they were onstage in the theatre, carol singing where they were in the piazza, and The Night Before Christmas reading. The dvd I saw advertised looked really nice. Unfortunately, when I got home and watched it all of the above events had been cut out - I am so disappointed as this was the only reason I bought it. Instead I have a dvd of martini demonstration and fruit and veg carving with a few clips of dancing! Is this normal - advertise one thing onboard and sell something completely different?

No surprise. They usually just throw in a bunch of video's shot during your trip with most of the DVD repeats of many different voyages.

Still they can sell many of them since most people think their getting a personalized DVD from their trip only.:(

It's not really false advertising but sort of deceptive.

Sometimes you really need to search through the separate "chapters" of the DVD. We bought one a couple of years ago of our Hawaii cruise and did not find the last sea day Ukulele and Hula show (which we participated in) when we just choose the option to "play all". We had to manually shuffle through to find everything. For some reason the DVD just never automatically played everything. YMMV.

Sometimes you really need to search through the separate "chapters" of the DVD. We bought one a couple of years ago of our Hawaii cruise and did not find the last sea day Ukulele and Hula show (which we participated in) when we just choose the option to "play all". We had to manually shuffle through to find everything. For some reason the DVD just never automatically played everything. YMMV.

Really? Thanks for the tip - I will try that later. I really hope that they do have the events that they were showing onboard when promoting the dvd as otherwise I bought it for nothing! Even more frustrating is the fact that the videographers specifically told me that I should order it since my kids featured in it so much!

No surprise. They usually just throw in a bunch of video's shot during your trip with most of the DVD repeats of many different voyages.

Still they can sell many of them since most people think their getting a personalized DVD from their trip only.:(

It's not really false advertising but sort of deceptive.

The other annoying portion was that they had interviews with the cruise directpr,,,,,but it wasn't even the one from our sailing! At least this will be a lesson learned - never purchase the dvd again!

The other annoying portion was that they had interviews with the cruise directpr,,,,,but it wasn't even the one from our sailing! At least this will be a lesson learned - never purchase the dvd again!

Actually if you knew anyone on any sailing/same ship of that itinerary you could get a copy to show you just about everything you received on your DVD except for the few scenes they insert here & there.

Why do you think they don't distribute them till the last day? ;);)

Actually if you knew anyone on any sailing/same ship of that itinerary you could get a copy to show you just about everything you received on your DVD except for the few scenes they insert here & there.

Why do you think they don't distribute them till the last day? ;);)

Yeah - pretty disappointing!

I actually was impressed by all the footage they were showing to promote it - they obviously filmed it all, just didn't bother including it! GAH!

Same thing happened to me this past October on our Hawaii cruise. We participated in all of the hula activities and the production show at the end. We were assured by the videographers that all of the hula performances were on that particular DVD. Got home to find only one dance on the entire DVD.

It would not break my heart if the photography department was discontinued. We to have gotten ripped off by misrepresentation of what we expected to see on the dvd we purchased. And we are really tired of all the traffic jams the photographers cause on the gangways, elevator lobby, and deck 7. (So glad the Royal class ships moved the photo area out of the deck 7 passageway.) If I could have back all the time spent delayed because of photographers, I would have time for another cruise.

Another point of contention regarding these DVDs is the video quality. How many people really watch standard definition any more? I know it's the lowest common denominator but really? All the video is recorded in high definition and has to be reduced in quality to make it standard definition. Surely a Blu-Ray could be made available ...

Sometimes you really need to search through the separate "chapters" of the DVD. We bought one a couple of years ago of our Hawaii cruise and did not find the last sea day Ukulele and Hula show (which we participated in) when we just choose the option to "play all". We had to manually shuffle through to find everything. For some reason the DVD just never automatically played everything. YMMV.

Sadly this is not the case for me! :( I just tried going through chapter by chapter but unable to find the precious scenes I wanted. I am so sad not to have the footage of my kids that I had expected....

Sadly this is not the case for me! :( I just tried going through chapter by chapter but unable to find the precious scenes I wanted. I am so sad not to have the footage of my kids that I had expected....

I would call Customer Relations and explain why you are so disappointed with your purchase. They may offer a refund or some OBC for the next cruise you take. If you don't tell them how disappointed you are they won't know what they are doing wrong and will think everyone is happy.

I would call Customer Relations and explain why you are so disappointed with your purchase. They may offer a refund or some OBC for the next cruise you take. If you don't tell them how disappointed you are they won't know what they are doing wrong and will think everyone is happy.

Good luck with that refund or credit.

Let us know how & if it works out.

I'm guessing Princess was showing all the raw footage taken by the ship photographers to get them to buy the DVD - I'm also guessing that the final version is almost all canned footage with a few current cruise edited in.:cool:

Our Alaska Reflection DVD had an awesome time lapse of the actual sailing route shot from the bridge (I think). It was amazing and worth the cost of admission imho. It also came autographed by Capt. Tuvo! :hearteyes::hearteyes:

I also had issues with the DVD not properly playing through all the chapters without manually selecting the individual chapters on the DVD player. I'm using a cheap cheap dvd player so ymmv though.

They did a demo screening in one of the theaters on the second to last day, and it was a good representation of what I was included on the dvd.

I'm guessing Princess was showing all the raw footage taken by the ship photographers to get them to buy the DVD - I'm also guessing that the final version is almost all canned footage with a few current cruise edited in.:cool:

That's not a guess. They do that on every cruise.

Taking the time to only include video only from that cruise would consume to much time & wouldn't be profitable.

Besides that, people are already off the ship before they actually find out the truth.

Do I sound bitter.....:confused:

not really since I didn't pay for the copies I acquired. :)

I would write to customerrelations@princesscruises.com and let them know exactly how you feel about the Reflections DVD experience.

I'm guessing Princess was showing all the raw footage taken by the ship photographers to get them to buy the DVD - I'm also guessing that the final version is almost all canned footage with a few current cruise edited in.:cool:

Your guess is 100% spot on!

Our Alaska Reflection DVD had an awesome time lapse of the actual sailing route shot from the bridge (I think). It was amazing and worth the cost of admission imho. It also came autographed by Capt. Tuvo! :hearteyes::hearteyes:

 

I also had issues with the DVD not properly playing through all the chapters without manually selecting the individual chapters on the DVD player. I'm using a cheap cheap dvd player so ymmv though.

 

They did a demo screening in one of the theaters on the second to last day, and it was a good representation of what I was included on the dvd.

Good to know there are at least some good experiences! It amazes me that we had so many great, unique events on our sailing (it was over both Christmas AND New Year) and they chose to include the lame, generic ones - really, who wants to sit at home and watch martini demos and fruit and veg carving? The Christmas show in the theatre was fantastic, as was the hula dancing, the pop choir, the carol singing, and the New Year British party - all filmed, all cut! Such a shame!

I have only purchased the DVD two times over the decades I have cruised on Princess, but both times it did have the scenes that had been shown on the cabin TV and on the monitors in the Photo Gallery area.

Yes, there were some portions that were obviously from a previous cruise, but these were activities that occurred the last day or two of the cruise when it was too late to include them in the completed current DVD.

It has been two years since my last purchase, so it is possible Princess (or the ship you were on) has changed how they actually put it together.

I agree with the others who suggested you contact Princess and make them aware of your disappointment with this purchase.

I have only purchased the DVD two times over the decades I have cruised on Princess, but both times it did have the scenes that had been shown on the cabin TV and on the monitors in the Photo Gallery area.

 

Yes, there were some portions that were obviously from a previous cruise, but these were activities that occurred the last day or two of the cruise when it was too late to include them in the completed current DVD.

 

It has been two years since my last purchase, so it is possible Princess (or the ship you were on) has changed how they actually put it together.

 

I agree with the others who suggested you contact Princess and make them aware of your disappointment with this purchase.

I have emailed - not to ask for any kind of reimbursement or refund but simply to ask that they listen to and pass along feedback about,what I felt, was false misrepresentation of their product. I would never have purchased it if I had known the activities that were in the final cut. I understand that some portions would be generic, but not to even have the current cruise director from the sailing is just laziness in my opinion - having some random cruise director narrating what was meant to be "my vacation" just added the icing to the cake! I will keep you posted as to whether I get a response...

I just received the following response to my email to customer relations:

"Thank you for contacting Princess Cruises Photo department. We sincerely appreciate another opportunity to deliver the highest quality service to you.

We endeavor to respond to all customers within 3-4 business days, however, this may fluctuate during peak cruise seasons, weekends and holidays. In addition, cases may require further investigation so please be aware that some matters may take longer and your patience and cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Per your below inquiry, the ship has been contacted to urgently assist and they have advised that the basic Reflections disk was purchased as the events you are referring to below are only featured on the "Onboard Performance disc" which was part of the "Ultimate package".

the ship extends their sincere apologies for this inconvenience."

I did not ask for or expect any kind of refund or reimbursement, I simply wanted my feedback passed along - which it was. However, I am a little frustrated by the response from the photography department since I SPECIFICALLY asked which DVD I needed to purchase for the footage of the events I was interested in and was told that it was on the Reflections DVD. So while I give kudos to customer relations for responding so quickly, I have learned a valuable lesson regarding the photography department and will never be tempted to purchase the DVD again!

I just received the following response to my email to customer relations:

 

"Thank you for contacting Princess Cruises Photo department. We sincerely appreciate another opportunity to deliver the highest quality service to you.

We endeavor to respond to all customers within 3-4 business days, however, this may fluctuate during peak cruise seasons, weekends and holidays. In addition, cases may require further investigation so please be aware that some matters may take longer and your patience and cooperation is greatly appreciated.

 

Per your below inquiry, the ship has been contacted to urgently assist and they have advised that the basic Reflections disk was purchased as the events you are referring to below are only featured on the "Onboard Performance disc" which was part of the "Ultimate package".

 

the ship extends their sincere apologies for this inconvenience."

 

 

 

 

I did not ask for or expect any kind of refund or reimbursement, I simply wanted my feedback passed along - which it was. However, I am a little frustrated by the response from the photography department since I SPECIFICALLY asked which DVD I needed to purchase for the footage of the events I was interested in and was told that it was on the Reflections DVD. So while I give kudos to customer relations for responding so quickly, I have learned a valuable lesson regarding the photography department and will never be tempted to purchase the DVD again!

I suggest responding to Princess with the information in red above.

I suggest responding to Princess with the information in red above.

I second that although I would have requested a refund because I did not receive what I thought I bought.

I just wanted to come back and provide an update!

I exchanged a few emails with Lisa from Princess Photography - Video Customer Relations Department. She really went above and beyond, contacting the ship and asking the questions I had brought to her. When the ship came back to say that the footage I wanted was on a different DVD (even though I specifically asked when purchasing which DVD I should buy for the footage I wanted) I asked Lisa if it would still be possible to purchase the other DVD. It was never about the cost or getting a refund, I just wanted the footage of my kids in the holiday show and if that meant buying the $50 package then so be it! Lisa never gave up and today I came home to find a package from Princess containing the DVD with all the footage I wanted! I was so impressed with the way this was handled and really felt that, in this case at least, Princess really cared about the feedback and wanted to make things right! :D