Do you find the ship's photographers pesky?

[RoofingPrincess]

I just got off the CB as well. No problem at embarkation - just walked around. No problem at ports - just said "No thanks" and kept walking. They did come through on two separate nights at dinner, which I found a bit annoying since I don't like dinner photos, but my mom ended up buying one of those (it had the two of us) as a souvenir, so I guess it turned out OK - especially since the photographer got it over with quickly.

What did bother me was the sheer number of sites the photographers took over on the ship for their little studio setups, especially on formal nights. CB is, IMO, not the best laid-out ship, and the photographer stations actually impeded the flow of traffic on the ship. One was set up on a balcony-like area overlooking the atrium - which was also an elevator lobby! For another, they actually closed off two of the three sets of doors leading from the central shops/atrium area to the theatre! It seemed like everywhere you turned on formal night, there was another photo setup.

[Viajera7]

What bothers me is when they insist that you move or be in a different position that you don't want but you are the one that is going to pay for the photo, so I insist on the position that I want.

[tip]

I always tell them we are on another ship. If we are sailing a RCCL ship, I tell them we are from the HAL ship which is tied up at the same dock. It does make them stop and think for a second or two!

[concour]

Some of my funniest pictures I have taken have been of the photographers on the docks. Sometimes their expression is of disbelief but most of the time they seem to enjoy it. Most of the time they forget to take our picture. Once the picture on display was a picture of me taking a picture of them.

[mamabeac]

We certainly don't mind taking a few seconds or minutes out of our vacation time to allow the photographers to take a picture. It certainly doesn't mean we have to buy them and they are fun to look at. Often we end up buying because they are fun memories of our vacation. I like to do scrapbooks of our trips and the posed pictures are nice additions.

 

On the negative side -- the only unwelcome picture we have had taken was recently on the Coral Princess when we had finished eating our dinner. There was no way to exit the dining room without posing with the pirates for a picture. Neither of us are into the whole pirate theme so we weren't interested in this one. However, we obliged and allowed them to take the picture and then moved on. We didn't even look at that one later.

[forensic]

I am not a very attractive person - so the chances of having a picture of me turn out are 1 one in a million - so I let them take all that they want. We try to purchase one photo per cruise as a souvenir. So if they take lots one MIGHT be tolerable.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

A ship's photographer on Labadee confessed to us in an univited but interesting conversation that the photographers are contracted through a vendor and are not actually employees of Royal caribbean. As such they do not receive all the benifits of an RCI employee, including the fact that they must pay their own air fare to the ship and, if I recall, they must purchase their own uniformstoo.

 

In addition, he told us that they are paid for each photo they take or perhaps it is each photo they take that is sold, so their total pay is based in part on how many photos they sell.

 

If this is true, no wonder the photographers are so aggressive. They probably think the more photos they take, the greater their chances are of selling a photo.

 

He also told us that they are under great competition now because virtually eveyone has their own camera or video camera and even a printer, so they do not feel they need photos from the ship at all.

 

Last thing, he said Royal is paying the vendor less now, so the vendor in turn is taking away benifits or increasing expectations and quotas for the photographers. Whether this part is true or just a ploy for compassion and to get us to be sure to buy RCI phtoos, I do not know.

[cruiselover57]

When photos WERE reasonably priced, I would buy a lot of them but at $8-$10 each for the 5 x 7s and $20 for the 8 x 10s, forget it! Now I'll usually buy maybe one or two and they have to be decent photos! I know they sometimes try to rush you through the coming on board photos, but we will usually take our time to set our stuff aside (carry-on, jackets, etc.) and then take a nice photo! As for the "pesky" type, as everyone mentioned, we just say no thank you or keep on walking. The photos I dislike the most are when you're getting off in port, the sun is shining in your eyes and everyone is either wearing sunglasses or squinting! That makes no sense to me and those pictures are horrible. On one cruise last year, I remember the photo staff using the wrong picture frame from a different cruise! Can you believe it? We were on for Xmas and I think they used one from a totally different itinerary and I pointed that out and the photographer said "that's all we had" so I told him I wasn't going to buy that photo if he couldn't change the frame. Why would I want to buy a picture (even if it was good) of places we didn't travel to? LOL I also don't like it when they take individual photos in the dining room - so I can buy 2 photos instead of 1 and they make more money? I often insist they take a picture of either 2 or 3 of us and if they say "we're only doing individual photos tonight." I respond by saying "well then, forget it. Either take the 2 of us or nothing at all." I usually win that argument! LOL

 

Laurie

[grandmato4]

;)

I'm sure some people love lots of pictures of themselves on their cruise, but we're not so crazy about them and we might only buy one - the one WE CHOOSE to pose for on the formal night. How do you handle those photographers who want to take your pictures every time you turn around? Yes, I'm exaggerating, but sometimes it feels like that. I beg you not to flame this post. I fully realize some people love having their pictures taken, and others will say 'if you don't like it you don't have to buy it', etc. etc. I'm just curious about everyone's thoughts on the matter. We haven't cruised since 1999, so I'm wondering if the photographers are as present now as they were then. It seemed like every little event had a photographer lurking about. If you don't want your picture taken, does the photographer try to talk you into it after you politely say no? How have you handled this situation? Remember... friendly discussion! ;)

 

If we don't want our picture taken we simply say no thank you and keep walking. Most photographers don't try to continue to talk us into it but for the few that do we simply ignor them. They can't irritate us if we don't let them ;)

 

For a change and something entirely different then we normally do on our last cruise we allowed them to take pictures anytime they asked. And on formal night we even chose to go find all the different photographers and have our pictures taken many times. We still only bought one, but had fun checking out all the different ones we had taken before we made our decision. I'm sure that on the next cruise we'll be back to only having a couple taken and likely purchasing one photo as usual.

[AmoMondo]

I find a great deal of difference between people asking if I would like a picture taken – face to face – and people making cold calls to my house trying to sell me something. I am under no obligation to buy from the photographers on board and they do not pressure me to do so. Further, my experience is that if I tell them no thank you, they go away - unlike telemarketers.

 

I happen to think they provide a great service and I have taken advantage of the fact they have offered to take pictures many times. I have pictures that I cherish of myself and friends taken by cruise line photographers - some embarkation photos and some while on the gangplank in port. I also happen to think that the photographers are human beings and they are trying to do their job as prescribed by the cruise line – being rude to the photographers because someone feels inconvenienced serves no purpose.

 

I'm not sure I understand your point , so f you have one to make, please do so.

Totally agree with you. I've never found them pushy on the cruises I've been on, quite the reverse. i often go on my own and it's lovely to have some professional photos taken especially on the nights that I get to dress up in my best evening wear. Maybe I've just been lucky with the cruise line I use, but their photographers are charming and freindly. Some of the best photos that I have, have been taken my ship's photographers - they seem to have the knack of making me relax. A few of them, I've got to know from one cruise to another and spent many a fun hour in a bar with them, swapping stories and just generally having a laugh. They are just doing a job, just like I do when I'm at home.

 

I have no problem saying "no thanks" if i really don't want to, but most times I'm happy to let them- what's a minute of my time when I'm on holiday anyway.

[Kudos2Fly]

What bothers me is when they insist that you move or be in a different position that you don't want but you are the one that is going to pay for the photo, so I insist on the position that I want.

 

:rolleyes: Do you know anything about posing people for photos? Because the photographer does. If he/she is a good photographer he/she will not be putting you in a bad pose. There are current ways that will make a person either look good or bad.. Just a word of advice. By the way some times it takes many pictures to just get a good one.. I know photographers (professional) that will take 1000 photos to just get those 2 or 3 "GOOD" photos.

 

As for the photographers on the ships. I have ever had a problem with them being "pushy". I also sail Carnival a lot. And some of the best formal photos of my hushbad and I have come from the ship photographers.. We also have used their back drops and have gotten some great photos..

 

Regardless on how they get paid. There is not reason to be rude. Maybe I feel that way because I have had them be rude to me..

[forensic]

They don't ask. They order you into position and start clicking and flashing just about immediately. Then they stick the product on public display and, astonishingly, try to sell it to you. There are reasons I don't wish to share why that would be excrutiatingly embarrassing for my beloved. They also hold up the line, keeping me from my Gin and Tonic, a crime that almost defies description.

 

This is something you would not accept in any other context, and it cannot be excused by some daft argument that "they are just doing their job". If they shove a camara in my partner's face, that is assault, and I will shove it right back in theirs. That is self-defence.

 

This is cheap, tacky, pushy commercialism of the worst kind, and in any other context you wouldThey don't ask. They order you into position accept that. Don't try and excuse it out of misplaced loyalty to the line. You can love Princess and hate the few obnoxious elements of it.

 

Anyway, I think they're listening, because it does seem to have calmed down. If it flares up again, I will be happy to explore the possibilities of inserting a square camara in a round hole. And I don't mean the one on their face.

 

 

"They don't ask. They order you into position"

 

Would you also "drink the Kool-Aid" if they told you? Don't let people tell you to do something you do not want to do!

 

SAY NO THANK YOU AND KEEP WALKING! gollie - get a backbone - no one should make you take a lousy picture if you do not want to.

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL's old photographers were very pesky - constantly wanting to get pictures of you everywhere and some of them just wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

 

The new company that HAL has - so far they don't seem to be as bad.

[momofmeg]

I'm sure some people love lots of pictures of themselves on their cruise, but we're not so crazy about them and we might only buy one - the one WE CHOOSE to pose for on the formal night. How do you handle those photographers who want to take your pictures every time you turn around? Yes, I'm exaggerating, but sometimes it feels like that. I beg you not to flame this post. I fully realize some people love having their pictures taken, and others will say 'if you don't like it you don't have to buy it', etc. etc. I'm just curious about everyone's thoughts on the matter. We haven't cruised since 1999, so I'm wondering if the photographers are as present now as they were then. It seemed like every little event had a photographer lurking about. If you don't want your picture taken, does the photographer try to talk you into it after you politely say no? How have you handled this situation? Remember... friendly discussion! ;)

 

Never had that problem. I do hate those silly pirate pictures at diiner-but I just let them snap away andthen I do not even look at them as I alread know I am not interested.

 

I say let them snap away-it does not mean I will buy the picture if I am not interested.

[cruiser2101]

I too hate those pirate pictures. But for the others, I say go ahead and snap away. Hey, I don't have to buy them and a few may actually turn out pretty good. I've purchased a few 8x10's and made different sizes on the computer. That makes it a good deal. Plus a couple of them have made it onto our Christmas card.

[suezyq50]

We keep on walking or say no thanks. We usually get one picture.

[Deaf Dude]

Take photographs of them. Freaks them out.

 

On the NCL spirit, I made her pose for me before I would pose for her. here is the pic. do you think she would have paid me $20 for a 8X10? :)