Smilin'Wave

The Nikon D3200 is considered a consumer level camera which is very capable of taking excellent images. That being said, my husband & I visited Tulum last year with a tour group organized through the cruise line. We took 2 camera bodies (D90 & D7000) & several lenses & had no issues.

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Have you checked out Sigma? They make two supertelephoto lenses, the 50-500mm & 150-500mm. I personally use the 150-500mm.

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I don't bother with taking a laptop. I have quite a few memory cards that I use. They're much lighter & easier to store than a laptop. I also don't want to have something else to lug around. I can't really see myself editing while on vacation either, I usually do that when we return.

As far as remembering what/where/when/etc, I carry a little notepad and pen to jog the memory when I get home to document my trip. I also use a simple technique used by crime scene photographers, which entails taking photos of signs and such so I can remember, "Oh yeah...the tour stopped by Just Juan More Cantina for rum punch." If there's no signage, I'll write down the essential info on the note pad and take a shot of it.

This is something that I do as well. But I also keep a trip diary/journal that I can always refer to if I happen to forget (although for some reason I tend to remember where my photos were taken). Something else that I do when I get home is organize my photos in such a way that will indicate where the photo was taken. For instance, I will place photos taken in a specific city all in one folder.

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I'm going to agree with the others, take you DSLR with your current lenses. I too would suggest a super telephoto if you can. You may find that your longest telephoto may not be long enough for some bird & wildlife shots. I found my 70-300mm too short of a reach for bird photography so I purchased a Sigma 150-500mm.

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My husband & I do a lot of landscape & waterscape photography so at least one polarizer is always with us during our outings. I believe I own 3 of them. I have used them on a wide angle lens, but it can be tricky though. As already suggested, you can purchase a bigger filter & then use an adapter for your other lenses. But if you do opt for this, just remember that your lens hood may not fit with the oversize filter & you will need a new lens cap unless you plan on removing the filter when you would normally put the camera down & put the cap on during a break from shooting.

We own Hoya & Marumi filters. Personally, I find the Marumi filters as good as or better than my Hoya. The Marumis are also more affordable. The Marumi filters also receive very good reviews online.

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I just saw that this sale was going on and now my husband & I are seriously considering booking a balcony on the Breakaway to Bermuda. We did this cruise last year at the same time and absolutely loved it (even though there was a horrible downpour). We are in Toronto, Canada so would drive down to NYC but would have to fly to Miami for the "free" cruise. Wouldn't be so bad as we would use it as a quick getaway from our cold winter for a week.

I do have a question though. If both my husband and I book on an eligible sail date to Bermuda on the Breakaway, do we each receive a free 3/4 night Bahamas cruise voucher?

The D800 & D610 are full frame cameras whereas the D7000 & D7100 are crop sensor cameras. They are all great cameras & have received very good reviews. The D7100 is the replacement to the D7000.

Full frame cameras tend to perform better in low light situations where you require higher ISO. Also, if you are going full frame, especially the two mentioned here, it is important to know that you will need very good lenses to make use of the cameras resolution & these lenses are quite expensive.

I currently own the D7000 & find it to be a great camera for my needs. I think it has good dynamic range. I'm planning to pick up a D7100 soon too.

If you can afford the D800 & the lenses required for full frame, you won't be disappointed. The D610 is also a good camera, a bit smaller & more affordable than the D800. Also, it is Nikon's response to the sensor splatter that the D600 suffers from.

If cost is a factor, I think the D7100 is a great option. It has also received very good reviews. Rumor has it that a replacement I set to be announced this year which will drive the price of the D7100 down.

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Personally, I use the fastest I can buy Class 10 UHS-1 cards. I tend to stick to Sandisk & Lexar. Also, because I will shoot RAW + JPEG depending on the shoot, I also purchase at least 16gb cards for my DSLRs. I like to have cards in the camera plus several spares in a card case. My husband & I both shoot so we have two DSLRs. We also have an advanced point & shoot so need a card for that one too. We don't take our laptop or storage device with us on trips so I need the extra cards.

If you are going to use your camera for video, I would suggest a higher capacity Class 10 at the minimum. Video will zap up memory pretty quickly, much more than photos will. I would be looking at at least a 16gb. They are quite affordable now and there are sales on them all the time.

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I have this lens as well, only prob is that it won't auto focus with the OP's camera. They would have to get the 1.8G model for it to have the focus motor in the lens.

Oops, you are correct, thank you for noticing that as I overlooked that the OP had the D3200. The 50mm 1.8G lens is a fantastic lens.

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I agree with the others on the 50mm. I own the Nikkor 50mm f1.8D and absolutely love this lens for portraits. For the price, it can't be beat.

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We are about to take our second Carnival cruise & we just received an upgrade call (about 3 days before embarkation). We didn't take it as they wanted $300 to upgrade from oceanview to jr suite on the paradise for 2 people.

An 85mm lens for Nikon can be as cheap as $400, but to get one with an AF motor (to work on an entry-level motorless camera) is $1400.

Sorry but this is actually incorrect. This may be so for the Nikon af-s 85mm 1.4g lens, but the af-s 85mm 1.8g is approx $500 & has a built in autofocus motor so will work on all Nikon bodies.

I'm not going to make this Canon vs Nikon as I believe both are incredible systems & you can't go wrong with either. Both make great lenses.

I think it all depends on what it is you'd be using it for. If you are wanting to take macro shots of skittish insects, 60mm may be too short a focal length as you will be right on top of your subject scaring them away. Also, with a really short focal length macro, you run the risk of casting a shadow on your subject. Personally, I would recommend a longer focal length for macro work, somewhere around the 90mm or longer if you can. I'm a Nikon shooter, but I know Canon makes a 100mm macro & there's always Sigma & Tamron who also make really good macro lenses. Hope that helps.

When shooting wildlife or birds in flight, I use continuous autofocus & burst mode. It's also very important to have the eyes in focus. Also, you want high shutter speeds. Because a polarizer will cut up to 2 stops of light, be very careful in using one unless you have really good lighting and/or a fast lens. If the lighting is just not that great (brightness wise) you will have to bump your ISO up to make up the loss of light that the polarizer will cause in order to get high enough shutter speeds. This will introduce noise. Don't get me wrong, I love my polarizer, I use mine a lot. They are great for cutting reflections in water & are great for skies, but they will slow your shutter down. I would suggest a telephoto lens along with a standard zoom. A wide angle is aways nice to have too & can offer an interesting perspective. You just never know how close or far the dolphins will be. As suggested before, if you have the opportunity to practice before you go you'll be able to play with different settings. If you can't get to a zoo, how about a dog running around at a park? They can be great practice subjects as they love to run around & play. You can practice focus, panning & burst techniques.

Perfect! Thank you :)

I've only ever been on 2 cruises before & am about to go on my third very soon. My first cruise was to Bahamas & my second was to Bermuda.

On our (fast approaching) upcoming cruise we are going to Cozumel & Grand Cayman. We have decided to go to Tulum when we stop in Cozumel. We were wondering about the currency at these places. Will we need local currency or will US dollars be accepted?

We don't plan on spending much at the ports but would like to be able to buy some food & drinks.

I had to open each document, choose "File, Save As" and save it as a .pdf. Then I opened the pdf by double-clicking. It opened in my pdf reader and I was able to print just fine. I suspect the Carnival website or perhaps Firefox, as I was using a Mac.

Thank you for the suggestion. I tried again this evening & was able to finally save the PDF on my computer & print the documents properly. I had to use Explorer as they were still not working properly with Firefox.

I've never had this much trouble before with cruise documents or online checkin. We cruised on NCL a few months ago & everything worked perfectly. We cruised on Carnival 2 years ago & also had no issues. Not sure what they did this time to make things so difficult!

Thanks everyone for all your help. We completed our online checkin yesterday using Firefox & we managed to complete it. Unfortunately, we are now unable to print our documents! When we try to print them, the PDF looks funny, the words are cut off at the bottom and only the top of the words are showing. Not sure what's going on with that.

If weight is an issue, I would seriously consider a mirrorless system. They are smaller & lighter than the entry level DSLRs. I'm a Nikon shooter & currently am using a D7000 & D90 & am very happy with them. Also, if you are considering another DSLR, you may want to consider an external flash unit & some fast lenses since you are shooting in low light situations. Kit lenses are pretty much the same regardless of manufacturer. The on camera flash isn't the greatest, it gets the job done but an external unit is much better & can be tilted & swiveled for bounce flash. Cranking up the ISO will eventually introduce noise at some point regardless of camera system. Although the newer cameras handle high ISO better, they still have their limits.

Also, the camera straps that are provided with the cameras tend to be extremely uncomfortable when worn for long periods of time. If you feel it's hurting your neck, consider purchasing a better strap. There are many available that are quite comfortable. I'm currently using a sling strap from Op/Tech & find it quite comfortable even on day long hikes with my heaviest lens attached to my camera.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. We did delete our temporary files & cookies but that didn't seem to work. We were using Explorer. We are going to try again using a different browser. Hopefully that works. Unfortunately we only have the one computer & can't use another at the moment.

My husband & I are going on a 5 day cruise out of Tampa in a few weeks. We thought today would be a good day to do our online checkin as with the holidays coming up we are going to be pretty busy. And besides, it's currently snowing here & we thought this would make for a good task to complete on a snow day :) Unfortunately when we tried to complete our checkin, it kept telling us there was an error & we can't complete the online checkin. We can't get past the first part of the checkin process. Not sure what's going on or why this is happening. When I called Carnival they told me their system seemed to be working & walked us through some basic stuff on our computer but still we ran into issues. We are going to try again, maybe tomorrow. Anyone else experience something similar? Any ideas on what could be the problem? I can't try another computer this weekend as we only have the one.

I am just off the Pride. I am red level, so no past guest party invitation for me. But I was happy to find a coupon on my bed for a free drink at breakfast, lunch, or brunch in the dining room for being a past guest.

My husband & I are both red level. I guess this means we are not invited to the past guest party at our upcoming cruise :(

Are the drink coupons provided the day of embarkation & do we each receive one? Also, what kind of drink can we use them for?

Interesting article. I personally believe that there are times when burst mode comes in handy. I use it for bird photography, specifically birds in flight, & for wildlife photography. I only use it when necessary & for short bursts. Otherwise, taking your time to frame & setup the shot is the best way & also a fun part of photography.

So I broke down this year and purchased the NikonAF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR. (new one) and immediately the color and sharpness was immediate. Best telephoto lens at that focal length that I have ever used.

That is the telephoto lens that I would love to own. But at $2500, it just isn't within my price range.

Here is another idea for NIKON shooters, that works great. Purchase the 70-200mm F2.8 VR ED lens and the 1.7X Tele-convertor, this will provide you a maximum reach of 340mm with 2 f stops, but the lens itself is such a high quality

I considered this set up but I already own the 70-300mm & find that I need more reach at times, especially for bird photography.

The new Tamron lens is looking promising, especially considering the rumored price point. I can't wait to read the reviews.

3rd party lens manufacturers have come a long way in recent years. Many of their products are receiving excellent reviews.

I'm a Nikon shooter & always look to the Nikon lenses first, but I will not hesitate to research lenses from 3rd party manufacturers if they are offering what I need.

I very recently purchased my very first 3rd party lens, a Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS. So far I'm extremely happy with it. I'm now considering purchasing a super telephoto zoom for my wildlife photography and am looking at 3rd party lenses as Nikon's 80-400mm VR is just way over my budget. I'm eagerly awaiting Tamron's recently announced 150-600mm to become available and will seriously consider that one.