Photo Packages

[James G]

I'm taking a 5 night Baja trip in April and my family of 5 is looking into possibly getting a photo package. Has anyone ever purchased one, if so did you feel it was a great value or would you rather have gone with a different package or no photo package all together.

Thanks,

J

 

[cisobe]

We bought the full photo package on our last 3 cruises. We took a ton of photos so it was worth it for us. It was even more worth it because they printed the photos and included the digitals on CD. I think on our last cruise, we took over 150 photos, and my wife made a conscious effort to go take photos. Our kids are also young so they loved the character meet and greets, and a lot of photos are from that.

If you're not planning on doing a lot of character meets, and stand in line to take photos, then the full package might not be worth it. I believe there are smaller packages, where you can buy one, or a few photos.

 

[nickp7186]

We cruised on the Dream back in January and we purchased the photo package including USB. I think if I did it all over again I probably wouldn’t buy the package, although next time we cruise I will buy it again. Our kids were young (3 and 2) this time and I don’t feel we got our money’s worth of their pictures and that’s the only reason why I wouldn’t have bought it looking back. However, my wife and I had some very nice pictures the night we went to Palo and those make the package almost worth it. Overall I think our kids were too young to really take advantage of the package this time, but I think we’ll have much more success next cruise.

 

[greensombrero]

We loved it on our recent cruise but we did make a point of getting photos at the stations before dinner and where ever we saw roaming photographers. We also did a bunch of character meets. If you make the effort to get the pictures taken I think it is well worth it and we loved the quality. Given the price though if you don’t plan to get the photos taken it may not be worth it. My understanding is you can prepay and get the discount but cancel onboard before the last night if you don’t like the photos. I haven’t done that but have seen it mentioned by others here so you have some options.

 

[lilsonicfan]

You definitely have to make an effort to take pics. Not just character ones, because with those you can ask the character handler to take a pic with your phone, but the more formal background ones too. For the 5 night price, $211 I think? Not bad but you really want to end up with something like 50+ pics to feel like you got your money’s worth.

 

[Cloe Colton]

Are the CMs on the cruise as willing to take pictures on your own camera/phone as much as in the parks?

 

[starvenger]

If you get a photo package, you'll definitely try to take more pics. If you see a photographer just standing around, you're more likely to approach them to do some semi-candids. The character meets wouldn't even factor in for me since you could take those yourself, but it's nice to get that extra set, just in case.

 

[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.

Cheers!

 

[Dizney73]

We bought the photo package over the summer and we made an effort to get family photos taken every night. We did my favorite backgrounds a few times. The kids would go have photos taken with friends and the with characters together while we enjoyed a drink and music in the atrium waiting for dinner. We even had our photos taken in the dining room! I loved all of our pictures! I had some made into large portraits to hang in our family room. I made a photo book , Christmas ornaments, and holiday cards! I had the photos put on pillows, blankets and notepads for grandparent gifts! We definitely got our monies worth and honestly we could have taken lots more! I definitely am planning to get it again for our upcoming Alaska cruise!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Are the CMs on the cruise as willing to take pictures on your own camera/phone as much as in the parks?

The character handlers, and photographer's assistants, yes. Photographers - no.

 

[JoeFromSeoul]

I may have missed this in previous replies, but buying the digital package before sailing is very low risk. If by the last night of the cruise you decide that you are not happy with the quality or quantity of the photos, you can cancel and get a full refund. Just be sure to check on your photos occasionally during the cruise so you don't get caught up in last minute items and forget to cancel. I've prepaid for photo packages on 4 cruises, I only cancelled once on a 3-night cruise.