Platinum Studio Review

Pros: Photography that can make anyone beautiful and captures your spirit. No sitting fee. Private photo shoot. Large variety of package options.

Cons: Pricey but comparable to premium land-based photo studios. Review process is time consuming while on cruise. Not able to review or purchase over the internet.

My husband and I were on a Sapphire Princess Getaway cruise a few weeks ago and experienced Princess' Platinum Studio photography. Princess doesn’t have much info online so I thought a review might be informative.

Platinum Studio is a premium black and white portrait studio similar to Holland America's Black Label. The photographers are seasoned and talented professional artists. All the photography is black and white which tends to be much more beautiful and emotional than color photography. Platinum Studio photos are transferred to Princess’ headquarters and professionally retouched to beautify the subjects and printed photo-chemically on quality print paper. The products you order are then artfully packaged and expressed to your home within six to eight weeks.

We made an appointment for the half-hour sitting with the Photo Services desk. When we arrived at the Platinum Studio on deck 16, a skilled professional photographer from New Zealand, named Rachel Leatham, warmly met us. She seated us on a comfortable couch in a pleasant den and offered complimentary wine and water. We spent about fifteen minutes chatting and she elaborated on her background.

Rachel then opened a curtain and escorted us into a small all-black studio. Over the next twenty minutes, Rachel captured over one hundred photos of us individually, as a couple and at the end, slow dancing as we stared lovingly into each other’s eyes. Rachel was very good at instructing us in natural poses and kept us smiling and laughing. I suggest wearing casual, non-patterned, dark clothing to emphasize your face. We then scheduled a time to review the photos.

The next day, we returned to the den. Rachel had positioned a large iMac on the coffee table to review our photos. She had selected the best fifty photos and presented them as a stunning slideshow set to beautiful music. The slideshow moved us to tears. It was so beautiful and moving that we wanted all the photos!

Rachel then showed us a bound catalog of packages and prices to choose from. The packages ranged in price from $175 for a 8x10 print to $3,750 for four 8x10’s, two 11x14’s, two 16x20’s, two 20x24’s, the DVD Slideshow, and twelve digital negatives. Somewhat pricey, but very similar to prices for land-based premium photography.

We didn’t feel pressured to buy anything but we decided our best option would be to purchase as many of the digital negatives as we could afford, and ended up selecting a dozen photos at a cost of $1,800. We were told that the photographer has some leeway to negotiate prices, but we aren’t inclined to haggle. Rachel did add a complimentary 8x10 print of our favorite photo for booking early.

We were happily surprised to receive the prints and CD of photos within two weeks. The products were well packaged in premium black boxes. The CD was in a leather-bound CD case and the print even came with gloves to prevent fingerprints. The photos were professionally retouched to remove blemishes and wrinkles and we both looked years younger.

Overall, we are very satisfied with the Platinum Studio products and experience. We really wanted to have the DVD Slideshow, but another $500 was out of our budget. We would probably buy more products if they were offered for sale online like many land-based studios. I recommend trying the Platinum Studio, especially for families. The photos really are special, the shoot is fun, and there’s no obligation to purchase.

Thank you for the review! I've wondered about the Platinum Studio but was always too afraid to ask questions on board. :o

Great info.

Thank you so much for the information! I've wanted to have some pics done in the Plat. Studio but was worried about the pricing. Thanks so much for including that part in your review. Now I know I won't be doing that but can appreciate the beauty in them. Thanks - lovely pictures!

What would the price be for a single digital file? Or do they only offer those in packages?

this is a great review - I have always been curious about the Platinum Studio and cost. Thanks for sharing

What would the price be for a single digital file? Or do they only offer those in packages?

Hi Giselleacttwo,

Princess does offer digital packages: 1-2: $300 each with several tiers up to 24 or more are $95 each. Apparently the photographers have some leeway in offering discounts. Hope this helps!

Kelly

I would like to add an enthusiastic +1 to the reviewer's comments. Our experience last March was very much the same. Our photographer was from Ireland, and she did an exceptionally fine job. Frankly, I hate having my picture taken, and smiling on command has never been easy for me. But she was very patient, and eventually found ways to get me comfortable in front of the camera.

When we previewed the pictures the next day, it was even a bit emotional. The photos (which included our son) were just extraordinary, the best I've ever seen. The prints now occupy a special place in our home, and I am sure that they will be a special keepsake one day for our son.

I was curious about this service and I appreciate your description. Is it on all Princess ships?

My husband wanted to do this. He spoke to photographer Rachel at great lengths on a cruise in Dec. We went back for three day cruise in January , brought clothes for the photos. My husband neglected to tell me the price. Once he did, I said no. If we had our family, kids, or grand kids with us, wouldn't have hesitated . But for just us, felt not necessary. We had just had professional photos of us with our family done in October and that included all kids and grand kids, spouses etc.

If the cost was a bit less, would have probably. The black and whites displayed on the ship are stunning.

Thanks for the information on the digital costs! I'm still not sure if I will spring for it, but it's nice to know. And the pictures I've seen have turned out beautifully.

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You're right about wearing dark colors, you look gorgeous in the photo!

I was always curious about this studio since they seemed to add it to most of their ships soon after we started sailing Princess. The review is very much appreciated!

We did a session back in September on the trans-Atlantic on Emerald Princess. The photographer we had was David Priddy, I think he was from Wales. Very professional and we had a great time picking out the very best photos. We've taken many photos over the past 22 cruises, but these were the very Best and we will finally hang them up on her "MY" wall, along with her grand kids.

You're right about wearing dark colors, you look gorgeous in the photo!

 

I was always curious about this studio since they seemed to add it to most of their ships soon after we started sailing Princess. The review is very much appreciated!

Hi Todd,

Thank you for the compliment, and so glad you liked the review! It's amazing what a professional photographer, great lighting, and professional re-touch can do. :)

I think that this professional photography really sets Princess apart; it really is a high-level service they provide for no sitting fee and no obligation to purchase.

Such a helpful review! Your photo is so beautiful! We are probably going to try this on our upcoming cruise. Thanks so much!

My husband and I sailed on the Caribbean Princess last February for our 10th anniversary and partook in the Platinum Studio experience. Our photographer was a gentleman from Thailand (his name escapes me) and he was wonderful. You could tell he truly enjoyed what he was doing. He captured some lovely images which we did purchase. The photos came in and they are wonderful and to us, well worth what we spent. :):)

My sister and I also did the Photo Shoot, we were on the Sapphire that sailed to Hawaii over Christmas and New Year. Our Photographer was Mark Emery, he was from England. The original review is right on the money, and they also made sure you were very comfortable.

Thank you for a wonderful review! I've always admired the Platinum photos on display but found the few studios I've visited somewhat intimidating. Now I think Hubby and I must book a session!

We did the platinum sitting for our last cruise with our then 9 month old. The photographer was very pleasant but completely unaware of how to shoot babies and had no appropriate tools. She asked us if he would smile on command (9 months lol, he barely knows where his feet are.) I guess this can be expected from a non-Disney line.

Certainly no pic's came out well enough to justify the (IMO) exorbitant prices.

Warning to everyone: do NOT buy any photos from the Platinum Studio on Princess Cruises. One photo ($450 usd just for that one photo) never delivered to us. The others were delivered but the quality was poor and did not look like the photo previews they had shown us in person and gave us print-outs of. We contacted Princess and Platinum Studio and they completely ignored us. After a second follow-up, they gave us a generic reply saying they will get back to us- after almost 2 months, no reply at all! Our missing photo was still never delivered to us! Definitely not the kind of service you would expect from a $1,800 usd order on premium quality photos!

STAY AWAY from Princess Platinum Studio! To be honest, I think I will reconsider even going on another Princess Cruise. My family are at Platinum level with Princess, but we are seriously going to reconsider after this awful experience. Their customer service seems to be quite awful in general (irresponsible and unprofessional) - we found bug-like thingy in our cabin just this past trip and the way they dealt with it was totally unacceptable (and there were balls of dust lying on the cabin floor - will try to update this with photos if I can find them)

So yes, in summary - totally avoid princess platinum studio (don’t even go for that free shooting - you will feel pressured to purchase like we did! The photos are beautiful but in hindsight not worth all the $$. Customer service is next to none if your order arrived incomplete) and just reconsider Princess Cruises in general (their rooms are dirty and customer service is bad)

Hope this helps others avoid the mistakes we made!

Warning to everyone: do NOT buy any photos from the Platinum Studio on Princess Cruises. One photo ($450 usd just for that one photo) never delivered to us. The others were delivered but the quality was poor and did not look like the photo previews they had shown us in person and gave us print-outs of. We contacted Princess and Platinum Studio and they completely ignored us. After a second follow-up, they gave us a generic reply saying they will get back to us- after almost 2 months, no reply at all! Our missing photo was still never delivered to us! Definitely not the kind of service you would expect from a $1,800 usd order on premium quality photos!

STAY AWAY from Princess Platinum Studio! To be honest, I think I will reconsider even going on another Princess Cruise. My family are at Platinum level with Princess, but we are seriously going to reconsider after this awful experience. Their customer service seems to be quite awful in general (irresponsible and unprofessional) - we found bug-like thingy in our cabin just this past trip and the way they dealt with it was totally unacceptable (and there were balls of dust lying on the cabin floor - will try to update this with photos if I can find them)

So yes, in summary - totally avoid princess platinum studio (don’t even go for that free shooting - you will feel pressured to purchase like we did! The photos are beautiful but in hindsight not worth all the $$. Customer service is next to none if your order arrived incomplete) and just reconsider Princess Cruises in general (their rooms are dirty and customer service is bad)

 

Hope this helps others avoid the mistakes we made!

That sounds like a terrible experience.

Warning to everyone: do NOT buy any photos from the Platinum Studio on Princess Cruises. One photo ($450 usd just for that one photo) never delivered to us. The others were delivered but the quality was poor and did not look like the photo previews they had shown us in person and gave us print-outs of. We contacted Princess and Platinum Studio and they completely ignored us. After a second follow-up, they gave us a generic reply saying they will get back to us- after almost 2 months, no reply at all! Our missing photo was still never delivered to us! Definitely not the kind of service you would expect from a $1,800 usd order on premium quality photos!

Sorry you had that experience. Interesting that you're so chapped about it that you chose or changed your CC handle just to focus on that...we've had great experiences and our photos are hanging on our wall because they're good.

Add us to the list of those who are highly satisfied with the Platinum Studio experience and product and echo all of the other positive comments.

We had our sitting on the Star Princess Hawaii Cruise in Sept/Oct this year and received our prints within 3 weeks of returning from cruise.

Our photographer also showed us a slide show of our photos before the selection process. Wishing now we had bought the digital images and I could use PowerPoint or ProShow Gold to make my own slide show.

Speaking of the selection process - I found it very interesting and. The photographer grouped the shots he took into like-poses (Individual Gayle, Individual Me, together smiling, together tender, etc. etc.) - maybe 20 different groups with 5 or 6 shots each. We then went through a process where he would show 2-3 at a time and we would eliminate one. It took a while but eventually we narrowed it down to the picture we liked best in several poses that made up our final package.

I found the pricing process confusing. Basically each 8" x 10" "area" was one "point" and the cost per point varied depending on the total number of points you bought. There was nowhere that showed a price list in dollars so I think the photographer has complete latitude to make up the final price for your package. I was not familiar with the cost of professional photography sittings. We had not planned on doing this. So I felt at a complete disadvantage. Had the final product we received at home not been so awesome and brought us back to the fun we had during the sitting and the emotions we had on first seeing the results, I would have "a bad taste in my mouth" from the pricing.

Thanks for this review! I had been curious about this and now with having children, thought it'd be a good experience for nice family photos. My DH would think I was nuts for spending $3,000 + on pictures so I don't think it'll happen for us.

I did buy the photo package for $299 and thought that was a good deal. It includes any pictures taken during the cruise but does not include any platinum studio pictures.

We were on Carbbean Princess 5-18-for our 30th anniversary. Did Platinum studio on first formal night, dressed up. Only words we can use are “spectacular” and “stunning”. Never had such beautiful, artistic pictures taken before. Wedding pics weren’t this good. Wife looks like a movie star or angel!

we’ve NEVER had to choose from pictures that NONE were bad and easy to exclude. We literally could have chosen them all (except for price). 

We’re Platinum on Princess and have had many photos taken—both on formal and casual nights. We usually end up buying one or two per cruise that are just “ok”.

But these Platinum pics were so good we Really had a hard time choosing—even with the price being so substantial. 

We ended up with six pics we paid for, and then found a coupon for a free 11 x 14 in a coupon book in the cabin. So, 7 wonderful pics for around $800-$900. Not cheap, but in this situation, we really felt that you got what you paid for. Didn’t even remotely compare to regular photography services on ship—which were nice enough for what they are.

FYI, The people after us came on the cruise specifically for their daughter to have her senior high school pics taken in Platinum studio onboard. Just happened to see a few of them on their slideshow and they were stunning, too.

pics arrived just as promised, about three weeks post cruise, packaged impeccably. Wife cried at seeing final product.

All in all, a wonderful experience and the best pictures we’ve ever had taken. Don’t regret it in the least.