Photo package yes or no?

[DMLAINI]

We're going on our first Disney Cruise (5 Night Halloween on the High Seas). Should we get the photo package? Pros & cons? What types of pictures to you get? Any advice would be much appreciated. We always get Memory Maker when we go to WDW.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We're going on our first Disney Cruise (5 Night Halloween on the High Seas). Should we get the photo package? Pros & cons? What types of pictures to you get? Any advice would be much appreciated. We always get Memory Maker when we go to WDW.

Depends on whether you want pictures, and how many. There are photo ops with the characters, photo set-ups around the ship, roving photographers in the dining rooms and at Castaway Cay.

We bought a small package (10 or 20 photos) on our early cruises. Now we just buy one photo (if we find one we like).

 

[Marc D]

It depends if you are willing to take the time to pose for pictures. There are plenty of opportunities to take family pictures in the atrium, with characters, in the dining room, on embarkation and on Castaway Cay. BUT it requires you to wait in line.

For us, we take just enough pictures to fill the photo book so we order that. It makes a nice souvenir.

Some complain that the digital pictures all have borders, which limit the uses of the pictures.

If you think you might be interested, you can buy it online before the cruise with a discount. If you do not want to keep it, they'll refund the cost onboard.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I say do it! You can cancel on your last night and it gives you and your family an excuse to take some amazing photos together!!!

 

[deliela999]

The phone I had at the time took good pictures, but the lighting was weird in all mine on the ship. We never take family pictures and got some great ones on the cruise, that alone was probably worth it. We love the ones with my daughter and all the characters. They do print weird with the borders. We had an autograph book with a spot for a picture by each page and my daughter enjoyed picking which pictures to print and putting them in the book.

 

[isabellea]

The mandatory borders stops me from buying the package. Planning on just buying 1 or 2.

 

[scrapbookjulie]

I'm a scrapbooker, so the photos are always my souvenir for the trip! The con would be that the borders can't be removed. They don't bother me too much, but I'd prefer the photos without them. Pros are that the quality is pretty good and you will have a TON of photos if you take the opportunities available! We do many of the character photos on the ship and on Castaway Cay. We take as many family photos as we can before and after dinner each night and on Castaway Cay. There are many different backdrops.

We just looked through our 4 cruise scrapbooks a few days ago since we're excited about our upcoming cruise this summer. Some of my favorite photos of DD are the pirate night ones we took on the white backdrop when she was a little girl. The photographer put Tink on her fingertip and in her palm for a couple photos. Not sure if they still do that, but those sure did turn out cute!

 

[FigmentSpark]

You have to decide if you'll buy enough to make it worthwhile. If you think you only want 10 photos, only buy those. If you think you'll love them all and won't be able to decide (that's me, by the way), then get the unlimited package beforehand. You can, mid-cruise, decide you'd rather just have the package of 10, or none and get a refund, if you're not going to want those photos, although they'll give you a hard sell before a refund.

My thought is if you decide on the cruise that you want them all and you didn't get the package, then you'll be paying an extra $50 for them.

But again, if you're not doing a bunch of poses and just want, maybe a formal night one and a few others, the package of 10 might be for you.

 

[eds04]

A few pointers if you do buy the package (I have taken 4 DCs, make photo books and have book the pics each time)

1- Buy early to save (there is a discount)
2- Shutters (the store for pics) usually has a raffle on the first night of the cruise as well
3- If you go on any port excursions through Disney, a Disney photographer may go as well - this is a unique way to get extra pictures
4- For those pictures taken on an excursion, remove your tour group number (I usually put it on a backpack) you do not want that great family photo to have "Tour #46" in the middle...
5- For the cruises I have taken (nothing in the Caribbean) the characters are dressed in different attire. You may have to wait in some lines on occasion but it you like characters this is a good opportunity
6- I agree that there are borders - if you are good with photoshop products you can likely zoom/remove - but ask the Photographers if they can remove before you buy

Good luck and have fun!

 

[88golf88]

We bought the package for our 4 night on the Dream...ended up with 140+ pictures, some really good shots. The borders around every picture make it really hard to crop sizes that aren’t 8x10...not sure we would buy it again.

 

[o&smom]

The mandatory borders stops me from buying the package. Planning on just buying 1 or 2.

I find that with many of the photos it is very easy to just crop out the borders.

 

[o&smom]

We always buy the usb before we cruise to save a little. We still get quite a few photos. As our kids get older they so get fewer, but we know we can change our order to a smaller package if we need to. Miss the good old days when you got all the printed photos along with digital. They sure did not lower the prices when that change happened!

 

[MonaMN]

We don’t do other professional photos at home, so we usually get the package at WDW and also on our last cruise. Our kid loves to meet characters so we end up with lots of pictures. There are many opportunities to get photos done on the ship - you just have to be willing to stop and do it!

 

[DMLAINI]

Thanks everyone!

 

[lilmc]

We like the borders. Easy in Shutterfly photo books to keep the ratio intact so the borders don’t get messed up and we think adds a nice touch instead of just a standard snapshot.

 

[aliciamakino]

I am also a scrapbooker and appreciate all the pictures they take on the cruises. Especially since the lightening is weird (on all cameras/phones I have tried) to take your own shots. However, I think it's going to be a hard sale on my upcoming 7 day trip. $300 seems like a lot. And not sure it would be worth it. Following this to help decide.

 

[Tasmen]

We always get the package. They take way more pictures than you think they will onboard. Even with the borders on some of the pictures, I've been satisfied with what I've gotten out of the package.

 

[scrapbookjulie]

I am also a scrapbooker and appreciate all the pictures they take on the cruises. Especially since the lightening is weird (on all cameras/phones I have tried) to take your own shots. However, I think it's going to be a hard sale on my upcoming 7 day trip. $300 seems like a lot. And not sure it would be worth it. Following this to help decide.

I counted up the photos I used in my scrapbook from our 7 day cruise. We got a couple hundred photos on the disk. I used 45 of those in the album. Hope that helps!

 

[aliciamakino]

I counted up the photos I used in my scrapbook from our 7 day cruise. We got a couple hundred photos on the disk. I used 45 of those in the album. Hope that helps!

good call! I'll look back through my 2017 scrapbook to see how many I used. Outside of the character pics with my DD, I don't think I used many.

 

[xQuizx]

We always buy the photo package. We average around 40 pictures a day.

After the cruise we take the photos and make a photo book through shutterfly.

I tell the photographers that we have the package so they take lots of photos for us with the characters. My favorite photos are the impromptu ones with the characters and kids. Which is a hug or when they start dancing.

We also do the family photos without characters before dinner. It's pretty much the same cost as going to a studio.

In the end it's entirely what you feel is worth it.

Cheers!