warning about "free" photo session on dream

[cruiselife8]

I for one am glad you posted this. I've always loved buying photos on my cruises and hesitated because I figured there has to be a "trick". Thank you, thank you, thank you. I always think that people would get more business if they would divulge exactly what people would pay up front. Not scheming them.

 

I dont know if its ok to put this on here or not however, i am soooooo angry. we had a photo taken at one of the ordinary photo backdrops after dinner on the ship. the photographer then tells us they can do a photo session with us (myself, dh and our 4kids) for free. that we can make an appointment and they will go around the ship with us or on shore with us and take pics. sounds great right. well im thinking ok how much is this ....she says its free and you just pick out the ones you like if there arent any no harm done. well we did our shoot on the elegant night. we got a reminder in our room the morning of our shoot saying if we cancel it will cost us $90.00. this is not what she had told us but i had no intrest in canceling so thought went further. we did our shoot had a great time. looking so forward to seeing the pics we made our appoinment to see them. we are taken into a quiet empty bar and he returns with a book and the photos. the book is a great little book of the pics they put together and then also about 40 pages of pics. great loved them all!!! they were fantastic! then he hands us a little flyer with the pricing I about died. $499. for 10 pages. $1000. for the book and the next package was $1049. dont remember what that covered. We had no idea it come to that I figured it would be high but not that high. oh and also you had to buy a package to get any of the photos. one of our kids didnt go on the cruise so we didnt even have us all in them. I had a very hard time not buying them but im not spending over $1000 for photos. just a warning for anyone else out there that may get caught up im a moment had I been told a price before hand we would not have taken the pics at all.

[cruiselife8]

What was the killer for us was the 10 photo minimum. That was the part that I took issue with not being forewarned on.

 

That would make me unsettled as well. I would be happy with 1-3 photos. Wow.

[Neotericisis]

Just realized this post came back from the dead from 2011 so I am deleting my comment.

[Drazil65]

Sounds like the misleading part is that you're required to buy a package.

 

Not sure the OP even asked for a price list or if you could get individual pix, not sure this was misleading if she didn't ask. Like most sales people you never get the whole deal unless you ask the right questions up front.

 

There have been several discussions in the past here regarding this dream photo shoot and many people have mentioned the cost. Have heard from many that have made at least some purchase because of the quality of the pix. $500 seems pretty reasonable depending on how many pix you receive. We always purchase at least 3-4 pix during our Christmas cruise to use as our updated (annual) family photo, if we went to a pro to do the same shots it would cost more than what the ship charges.

[nhsails]

What was free was actually "sitting fee waived". Pricing is about right. The cancellation fee was to pay photographers set up time for shoot, again not unreasonable. Just did business shoot for new ad material. 1/2 day shoot, 30 shots taken to come up with 3-4. Cost $8500 and I got a 15% professional courtesy discount.

Dee

[frayedend]

I agree. Those prices seem to be pretty much in line with what a professional photographer would charge for similar work on land. In fact, compared with what we were charged for our wedding pictures and for a photo shoot of our first son, this sounds like a bargain.

 

The photographer didn't lie. The photo shoot was free. I don't see anything outrageous or anything to be "warned about" here...

 

Because it's basically a scam. Granted the photographer is taking a chance by not telling you the cost of spending the time to do a photo shoot. They hope the hard sell and outrageous picture prices will be bought because the cruiser feels obligated to buy something after having the personal photographer. Then they don't allow you to buy less. The cancellation fee is because they didn't have time to rope some other unsuspecting victim into the scam. At least at a wedding or regular photo shoot you know the prices and options up front. Really the take home message is that regardless of the "free" part, always ask what the prices are if you choose to buy something. If they won't tell you then don't do it.

[frayedend]

What was free was actually "sitting fee waived". Pricing is about right. The cancellation fee was to pay photographers set up time for shoot, again not unreasonable. Just did business shoot for new ad material. 1/2 day shoot, 30 shots taken to come up with 3-4. Cost $8500 and I got a 15% professional courtesy discount.

Dee

 

Sorry but if you don't tell people costs up front then it's not "about right". I don't feel bad for photographers that are secretive about costs and then lose time/money.

[ryano]

Photos are the biggest ripoff on the ship and most of the photographers suck and arent professionals at all. Ive taken better pics with my freakin Samsung phone camera.

[Jkodko]

My daughter got engaged during a private photo shoot on the this past December as a surprise. We did not expect the price. I have to say the book was 8x10s and it was gorgeous. For just over $1000 we received​ the book ( dated and enscribed) and every print she took, about 60 and a USB with photos. Now we are planning a wedding and the photographer for that with pics is going to be way more!

 

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[salvagegirl]

We were recently onboard of the dream for a family wedding. The photos were just amazing. We went together as a family and bought the whole package so out niece could have all of the pictures. It was over 200 pictures some 8x10 and some smaller, a big book of pictures and 2 16x20 on canvas. It started out at 3700 but we ended up paying 2200. They also gave us every picture on a jump drive and the copyrights to them.

[7leagueboots]

I dont know if its ok to put this on here or not however, i am soooooo angry. we had a photo taken at one of the ordinary photo backdrops after dinner on the ship. the photographer then tells us they can do a photo session with us (myself, dh and our 4kids) for free. that we can make an appointment and they will go around the ship with us or on shore with us and take pics. sounds great right. well im thinking ok how much is this ....she says its free and you just pick out the ones you like if there arent any no harm done. well we did our shoot on the elegant night. we got a reminder in our room the morning of our shoot saying if we cancel it will cost us $90.00. this is not what she had told us but i had no intrest in canceling so thought went further. we did our shoot had a great time. looking so forward to seeing the pics we made our appoinment to see them. we are taken into a quiet empty bar and he returns with a book and the photos. the book is a great little book of the pics they put together and then also about 40 pages of pics. great loved them all!!! they were fantastic! then he hands us a little flyer with the pricing I about died. $499. for 10 pages. $1000. for the book and the next package was $1049. dont remember what that covered. We had no idea it come to that I figured it would be high but not that high. oh and also you had to buy a package to get any of the photos. one of our kids didnt go on the cruise so we didnt even have us all in them. I had a very hard time not buying them but im not spending over $1000 for photos. just a warning for anyone else out there that may get caught up im a moment had I been told a price before hand we would not have taken the pics at all.

 

I have never heard of anything like this.

[sanger727]

I think at the very least, Carnival should provide pricing for the photos taken during this "free" session so the person can decide in advance if it's worth their time to have the pics taken in the first place. If you know in advance that the pictures are too expensive for you to buy any, why would anyone waste their time taking them? And the cancellation fee should have definitely been mentioned at the time of booking the session.

 

For sure the cancellation fee should be mentioned but there's a reason they don't provide photo pricing ahead of time. Outside of weddings/engagements/bucket list trips; who on a cruise is planning to spend hundreds to over $1,000 for photos? If they listed the pricing no one would bother. They are taking advantage of the fact that it's easy to talk people into a "free" photo session and then they will love the pictures enough to buy the package.

 

I've never done professional photos and find those prices crazy. We got 2 of the 8x10's on our last cruise for $20 each and that was hard to swallow. We've never had trouble saying no to the "free" photo shoots because I assume they will be too expensive and turns out that was right.

[9876]

My father retired a few years back and started his own photography business , to which he has become quite wellknown for. I said to him he should advertise for the low price of paying for his cruise , he should become someones personal photographer.He would take unobtrusive pics at dinner around the ship and even on excursions...provided they were paid for by the customer. At the end of the cruise he would put together an album as well as give the customer all digital copies of pics he had taken. Now for the person who grabs a few 8x10s this isn't a great idea but for the group or family that is traveling together this could offer up some savings....he thinks I'm nuts,I say I'm thinking outside the box.

 

I went on a group cruise and one of the cruiser's hobby was photography. He had his camera out at every turn. They eventually even stopped coming by our dining tables to try and take pictures. At the end of the trip I got a CD with so many pictures. It was great.

[nhsails]

Sorry but if you don't tell people costs up front then it's not "about right". I don't feel bad for photographers that are secretive about costs and then lose time/money.

Was no cost to her at all. Zero. Was opportunity, OP chose not to buy. OP did not see value for cost. That's all.

Dee

[nhsails]

For sure the cancellation fee should be mentioned but there's a reason they don't provide photo pricing ahead of time. Outside of weddings/engagements/bucket list trips; who on a cruise is planning to spend hundreds to over $1,000 for photos? If they listed the pricing no one would bother. They are taking advantage of the fact that it's easy to talk people into a "free" photo session and then they will love the pictures enough to buy the package.

 

I've never done professional photos and find those prices crazy. We got 2 of the 8x10's on our last cruise for $20 each and that was hard to swallow. We've never had trouble saying no to the "free" photo shoots because I assume they will be too expensive and turns out that was right.

Well we've done them on Celebrity several times for our family cruises. One of my employees was on Magic last week and they did the photo shoot and loved it. Pictures came out great. See, it truly is just value vs cost to each person. Look at it another way: my husband doesn't drink, I'll have an occasional wine or bloody Mary, for us to buy 2 Cheers packages would be insane. Yet, many on here do, so value for the cost for them, for me, Hell no. Happy journeys.

Dee

[psk2347]

Have you priced pictures at home? Have you bought pictures for a recent HS grad? The prices are in line with what you pay on shore, so you should not be shocked.

They aren't even close.....

 

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[nhsails]

They aren't even close.....

 

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They are where we live. Mid size pack for senior pictures was $1250.

[Kathy Loves Cats]

You really should tell John Heald on his Facebook page about this. It is something he should know and will help you with.

[momonthego17]

Our last cruise over Thanksgiving 2016, we did a dream photo shoot. We loved all of the pics but I said I couldn't buy a $900 package. The photographer eventually said we could pick 7 photos for $200. If we could do something like that next cruise, I would. Totally worth it to me.

[2013CruiseBride]

Photos are the biggest ripoff on the ship and most of the photographers suck and arent professionals at all. Ive taken better pics with my freakin Samsung phone camera.

 

I had the most amazing photos of my life taken on Carnival. Granted, I had my wedding aboard the ship, but the photographer was personable, professional and fun! He took candid photos of the wedding and reception and then took us around the ship for more pictures. The next day we sat down with him to go over the photos and decide which to purchase (similar to the OP's photo shoot experience), I was NOT disappointed with either the price or the photos. The price was much less than what I would have paid for a wedding photographer on land, and the quality of his photos were OUTSTANDING. I still use them once in a while as social media profile pictures and everytime I do I get told how amazing they are. I can understand not wanting to pay a large amount for regular vacation photos, but for our wedding it was perfect.

[frayedend]

Was no cost to her at all. Zero. Was opportunity, OP chose not to buy. OP did not see value for cost. That's all.

Dee

 

I disagree. It was an intrusion on their time to make a sales pitch for something so ridiculously overpriced that most people can't afford it. Getting photos taken is a pain in the butt. I'm sure the OP put up with it for the opportunity to buy some of the pictures. But I'm sure the OP was not expecting it to be a ripoff scam. That's all it is. It's a scam. The only error by the OP was not asking up front pricing. But you wouldn't expect thieves to be working for the cruise line.

[les37b]

I disagree. It was an intrusion on their time to make a sales pitch for something so ridiculously overpriced that most people can't afford it. Getting photos taken is a pain in the butt. I'm sure the OP put up with it for the opportunity to buy some of the pictures. But I'm sure the OP was not expecting it to be a ripoff scam. That's all it is. It's a scam. The only error by the OP was not asking up front pricing. But you wouldn't expect thieves to be working for the cruise line.

 

 

 

Completely agree. The problem is, fools and their money can be easily parted. Maybe because they feel obliged or genuinely think it's a good deal, who knows.

 

I expect if they got hooked into one of these timeshare scams giving a free resort stay, they'd probably buy into that too. It's why these schemes exist. If they didn't, then they would stop doing it.

 

 

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[KevInPitt]

I disagree. It was an intrusion on their time to make a sales pitch for something so ridiculously overpriced that most people can't afford it. Getting photos taken is a pain in the butt. I'm sure the OP put up with it for the opportunity to buy some of the pictures. But I'm sure the OP was not expecting it to be a ripoff scam. That's all it is. It's a scam. The only error by the OP was not asking up front pricing. But you wouldn't expect thieves to be working for the cruise line.

 

It is neither a scam nor of ripoff (or even thievery).

 

A scam involves taking someone's money and giving nothing in return.

 

A ripoff is taking someone's money and giving something of little or no value in return.

 

Thievery is taking something that doesn't belong to you to keep it without permission of the owner.

 

Stop throwing around terms you don't understand to make the situation sound more dramatic.

 

Just because something is thought to be overpriced to one person doesn't mean that it is to others.

 

There's no need to have more than a few braincells to predict the outcome of an hours-long photo shoot in a captive situation. Thinking there would be a $5 8x10 waiting at the end is foolish and unrealistic.

 

As you said, the only error made - by anyone in this situation for any reason you can dredge up - is by the OP for not asking for a price list prior to the engagement. No one else did anything wrong and calling them names won't change that fact.