Talk to me about the photo package

[Minuet888]

Sailing on Symphony to the Bahamas in May and we were thinking about getting the photo package.  DO they just randomly follow you around?  How do they get shots of you on the trip?  Is it digital only or do they print out photos for you (and is that an extra cost).  It just seems very pricey for only downloads.

Can anyone help?

Please and thank you

[SquishTheWhale]

Do you mean the photo package where you buy 10/20 etc photos? As opposed to booking some kind of special photo shoot.

If just talking about the normal package, you don't get a special photographer who follows you around. Photo stations are set up most nights in various places and you go queue to get a photo. The photos are allocated to your cabin number.

On previous cruises I've done they also have photographers stationed outside the ship in port but not sure if they still do this. Also roaming photographers in the dining rooms.

 

If you book a dedicated photo shoot then I'm not sure how this works but I imagine you arrange a specific time and place with the photo team on board.

Edited April 10 by SquishTheWhale

[Minuet888]

It's not the dedicated photo shoot.  It says like choose 100 photos.  From ports, to rides etc.  SO when do they do things on the "rides" it is just a little confusing.  Also is it just digital downloads?  Any printed photos or is that extra too!  It is already over $200 for just that.

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, Minuet888 said:

Also is it just digital downloads? 

Usually, yes.

[Cruise a holic]

We typically take the photo package and will again on Symphony this summer as we are sailing with a grandchild and son and his spouse.  We will take the 100 pics and we get electronically and download at home.  The package is good for all guests in stateroom .  However since our son and his family are in another stateroom, we will purchase for their stateroom.  The reason is that one person from the paid stateroom must be in the picture.  We want to take pics with our grandchild and with our son and spouse- so this works as we might take pics with our granddaughter only.  Since our last cruise, we now have to pay for restaurant pics as they aren't included in the package. Ridiculous, another money grab.  What is included, unless it changes, are any pics taken in the evening at various photo sites, boarding pics, and pics taken when you leave the ship at each port.  On our last cruise, they took a photo and the same photo was used for multiple backgrounds. They also included photos when photographers wandered around the ship or a coco Cay.  Who knows if those are no longer included.

 

Royal  previously had an "unlimited" photo package- but we will now take 100 and want the digital versions.

[T-2]

I love the photo package deals and have bought it in many sizes over the years. Sometimes they will offer it in 'digital or prints', but you must go to the photo dept desk on departure day and tell them if you prefer to get prints if your purchase has that option. That lets them know how many they might be printing that last night at sea. We just did this on 2 different ships over spring break and they came out Gorgeous. The best price might be the Black Friday deal but if your sailing is before that time that doesn't help. You can also purchase it now, and if they offer it for a lower price you can purchase it again, then cancel your first purchase.

Most people prefer the digital downloads but I'm old school and Love the photo prints of my grandchild and family. When you make the purchase you list the stateroom and person- I list the grandchild.

RCCL has some of the most talented photographers I have ever encountered, we've had incredible shots on CoCo Cay and Labadee over the years, as well as around the ship- sometimes they are at the zip line, ship pool areas, flowrider, some of the backdrops now have props, props or characters in costume (like a pirate) when you are leaving the ship at port, various unique spots around the ship besides just the staircases.

The first time I ever went for 100 was on the Icon and the opportunities were amazing, the talented staff on the Wonder and Odyssey also blew me away. On the Icon you can see them on your phone now, usually within 10 minutes, so you have an idea of how they turned out. We used to pay $20 to $25 for a single picture, their package deal is unbelievable but I think most people are more into social media so the more popular choice is digital. 

[CSHS1979]

Serenade is doing $69 per leg for all digital and up to 100 prints. That price is good if you commit to at least 9 of the 17 legs. 

[royal3]

On our January cruise, MDR photos were included, just not specialty restaurants. 

[Minuet888]

Ok wow thats a lot of info thanks, so I have to go "find " these photographers?  

Also it said photos of "rides" I assume they mean the slide thing and zip line?

[DennysDad]

39 minutes ago, Minuet888 said:

Ok wow thats a lot of info thanks, so I have to go "find " these photographers?  

Also it said photos of "rides" I assume they mean the slide thing and zip line?

They are not hard to find. They are set up in main common areas (especially in the evening). Sometimes a line of people are waiting. It's literally impossible to miss them. And others roam around all day with big cameras in their hands. Again, impossible to miss.

[T-2]

The 'rides' vary with what is offered on each ship, some have zip lines, flow riders, dry slide, some have the bumper cars and iFly and North Star, they were out on the Ovation in Alaska capturing any of those ride moments that people wanted, sometimes its a photo spot you might not even think of using- onshore or onship- you're not committed to anything, you pick which ones you want and can attach 'Likes' on the ones you want to most keep in mind, and then chose 'favorites' to more quickly track, you turn in your order on the last evening... it's an amazing process and a lot of fun. We didn't do any at the table because we like the 'activity ones' more than dining- but we had heard that the specialty restaurants are not included but that the main dining is - but we didn't actually have any like that taken so thankfully others were more experienced. We also quickly spotted the most talented photographers and watched for them about the ship, portside and ashore CoCo Cay, if we get Labadee again some of our best photos are from there. 

[SquishTheWhale]

1 hour ago, T-2 said:

The 'rides' vary with what is offered on each ship, some have zip lines, flow riders, dry slide, some have the bumper cars and iFly and North Star, they were out on the Ovation in Alaska capturing any of those ride moments that people wanted, sometimes its a photo spot you might not even think of using- onshore or onship- you're not committed to anything, you pick which ones you want and can attach 'Likes' on the ones you want to most keep in mind, and then chose 'favorites' to more quickly track, you turn in your order on the last evening... it's an amazing process and a lot of fun. We didn't do any at the table because we like the 'activity ones' more than dining- but we had heard that the specialty restaurants are not included but that the main dining is - but we didn't actually have any like that taken so thankfully others were more experienced. We also quickly spotted the most talented photographers and watched for them about the ship, portside and ashore CoCo Cay, if we get Labadee again some of our best photos are from there. 

If you have purchased a photo package will the app automatically recognise this when you select photos?

[ShellRigg]

If you have people in 2 rooms, but only buy the package for 1 room, will you be able to add pictures from both rooms as long as someone from the room you purchased the package for is in the picture?

[T-2]

In our case we had 2 cabins linked (for dining/excursions/boarding), so it asked which passenger we wanted the photo pkg for, since the grandkid was the main focus and always in the pictures, he's the one we listed, rather than a cabin number, it asks if you have linked cabins. So as long as he was in the picture, it could be any picture he was in, including either cabin.

[T-2]

i'm not real app savvy, we've never had any problems with ordering the pictures from either the kiosk or the app, on the Icon it actually showed how many more pictures we could still select, you can still change any of your 'favorites' right up to submitting your final order. I think some people even buy a 2nd pkg or increase the size of their first one while onboard but preordering is by far the best deal. I just can't speak for every ship in the fleet, but I've been blown away by the ships we have sailed on. In the old days, the backdrops were pretty much the same for every ship and sailing, now its exploded into amazing new options. And the skill of the photographers in making everyone look great has eclipsed as well. I was really impressed and we had a lot of fun.

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, ShellRigg said:

If you have people in 2 rooms, but only buy the package for 1 room, will you be able to add pictures from both rooms as long as someone from the room you purchased the package for is in the picture?

Welcome to CC.

 

Yes.

[missyprincess]

stupid question.. do they scan ur pass before taking ur photo? how do they recognize your appearance to link it to ur stateroom and auto load the photos to ur app? Secondly, with the 10/20/100 package, can you select the ones you like via app and download them after the trip ended or on the last day of ur trip, while onboard? 

 

Sorry for all the questions, the last time we purchased photos was by searching through the million panels of printed photos each night  lol 

[Cruise a holic]

21 hours ago, ShellRigg said:

If you have people in 2 rooms, but only buy the package for 1 room, will you be able to add pictures from both rooms as long as someone from the room you purchased the package for is in the picture?

Yes- explained post #5 above.

[T-2]

They've made selecting your final choices much easier than the old days of sorting through walls of prints to find your pictures (does this ever say how long we've loved sailing RCCL). Now when you have one taken you can give them your stateroom number, we do try to make a mental note of the approx time we've done pictures (like right after dinner or dockside time, because there is still the very small chance of error). Cabin numbers are often now 4 or 5 digits, we knew we had one backdrop taken that didn't show up- so they looked up the backdrop and approx time and found ours right away- the photographer had swapped 2 of the numbers in reverse, instantly our images were in our app. Or on our kiosk screen depending on the age of the ship.

One of our packages included both digital and prints- so I checked the download size- they are all between 1.2 and 1.8mb   They look stunning even on my computer screen but I wouldn't make a wall print with them. The digital is perfect for most everyone, nothing to carry, But some packages still give us the option for prints, for those who go that route- I've made incredible photo books of memories this way- but I know I am in the minority- have fun whichever works best!

PS- for photos taken when they don't get to ask your name like the bumper cars or the slides, they use facial recognition. The ones we got digital I believe we had the option to download them to our phone after they were paid for (without the watermarks) and then you get an email link so that you can download them to your computer about 48 hours after you leave the ship.

[missyprincess]

4 hours ago, T-2 said:

They've made selecting your final choices much easier than the old days of sorting through walls of prints to find your pictures (does this ever say how long we've loved sailing RCCL).

ah ha! Technology is great nowadays! For those who did not get a package, would the photos automatically loaded to ur app as well? 

[Cruise a holic]

57 minutes ago, missyprincess said:

ah ha! Technology is great nowadays! For those who did not get a package, would the photos automatically loaded to ur app as well? 

Nope

[Minuet888]

The packages don't say anything about both digital and printing out?

I just need to make sure because if it is just digital I don't think I want to spend the money and all digital, I want to have some printed (not all just some) but don't want to have to pay MORE money for it.

[T-2]

I think there are going to be some variables here, depending on the ships size and age. As well as the packages themselves varying. We were on b2b but different ships, and the prices/option for prints were different even though I bought both on the same sale day. Depending on how soon you sail, the offers may also vary with different sales. It doesn't hurt to keep an eye out and watch to see if it says in smaller print- an option to chose prints instead of digital as long as you let them know the day you board, but I think all of ours have said in bigger print right at the top about the choice between digital or prints. I'm not sure if all ships are able to let you see the photos right on your app, hopefully others will chime in, we were able to see and select them right on our phone, prior to these last cruises we had to go to the photo kiosk screens to view them. The kiosks always had to be closed when the ship was in port so this was an exciting upgrade being able to see them right on the app.