Disney cruise photo book

[startraveler]

Similar to what my wife and I got from Oasis of the Seas in 2010, Disney Dream is offering a book in which one can customize and include all one's photos. Since my wife and I like the photos, we figured we could get at least 8 individual photos to make it worth it (the book is $149 and pix are $20 a pop), even though we were on a 3-day cruise.

 

We did so, with only two duplicate photos (same pose.) Here's a list of photos in our book:

 

page 1 - Embarkation - customized two different ones (one with in-laws, other with wife and I)

page 2 and 3 - Four stock photos. These I don't think were customizable. I know they were testing the AquaDuck camera, so despite the flash going off when you're on the ride, that wasn't a photo option (the third pic is a stock AquaDuck photos.)

page 4 and 5 - Four customized photos, all professional with different backgrounds

page 6 and 7 - Four customized photos. We chose all the characters: Mickey in one of the lounges; Aladdin; Minnie; Pluto

page 8 and 9 - Three customized photos from dinner. One is a stock photo. Since the other slots were customizable had there been another dinner pic - or if one was on a longer cruise, then one could place a photo in that space .

pages 10 and 11 - Four customizable slots. Another character page. Goofy; Mickey at the terminal (we didn't get ours done with Minnie, though she was there); Donald; and a dupe of Aladdin.

pages 12 and 13 - Four customizable slots. We have two stock photos and two more professional photos, different poses.

pages 14 and 15 - Four customizable slots, from Castaway Cay. Three of which were filled with our pics, one stock photo.

pages 16 and 17 - Four customizable slots. Three stock pics. Other pic is a dupe of Mickey in one of the lounges. This is where the AquaDuck photo, when operational, would go, I assume, since the stock pics are of the pool deck.

pages 18 and 19 - Four customizable slots. Four stock pics. This is where the Princess character photos would go.

page 20 - Three customizable slots. Three stock photos.

 

My assessment? Again, if you have only eight photos, consider yourself ahead of the game. By my count, less the duplicate photos, we would have bought 21 pictures otherwise - so this book is a great savings.

 

However, there were a lot more slots than could hold photos, so while we did enjoy the book, this is really more ideally suited for a longer cruise, or if you have kids (or "older kids" like us) and they have to make EVERY character greeting. (We didn't make it a priority, but if we were in the area, we went to it.)

 

Minor nits: No port of call pics from Nassau. None were taken. (And there's no slot for them in the book.) The Castaway Cay port pics were taken a few feet apart - would have been nice to have a different background. And maybe one of the stock pics could have been the captain of one's voyage?

 

As well, not every meet and greet had a professional photographer at it. While we were able to make it up by showing up at character appearances that did - sorry, Chip and Dale, you're on our memory card but not in the book. (Oh, and the photos will also use your camera in addition to taking a professional shot, which was nice. Try bringing your own camera to a photo with Santa and see what I mean.)

 

One other nit which I mentioned in another thread is that one must pay for the book with the same KTTW card as your organized it. Now, when the photographers take your pic, they'll either 1)not ask for either a card or room number, relying on the faces to properly place photos into a folio; 2)ask for a KTTW card or 3)ask for a room number.

 

We organized our book using my card, and my wife paid for it with hers. Imagine our surprise when on disembarkation day the book isn't how we laid it out!

 

We were told that the book as we wanted it - they have a kiosk open on disembarkation day for any problems - would arrive in 6 to 8 weeks. It arrived in 2 to 3, which was really nice.

[FM]

Wow ... will check it out this Disney Cruise Book option when we get onboard the Fantasy this fall.

 

Realized that it has been a VERY long time since I put a photo album together of any our trips ... or even taken a lot of photos anymore even though I have a Digital compact and DSLR camera ... mainly just load them up on my iPad or MacBook Air. On our last cruise in December aboard the Silhouette, never had our photos taken by any of the staff photographers or even bothered to glance at any of the photos posted in the photo department.

 

I expect that it will be different with Disney ... who doesn't want a photo with a Disney character :D