Photos taken by Princess lines

[ocicat]

Taking my very first cruise on the Island Princess in Nov. Saw in the web site that there are photographers on the ship taking random pics that you can purchase.

 

Can anyone tell me about how much one of these photos would cost?

Are there packages?

How is it done?

Do the photographers go on the excursions?

Do they print them on the ship or mail them to your home?

 

Thanks!

[eandersen]

Hi there. I'm trying to remember, but I think they're like $20-$30 a sheet. They're not cheap, but sometimes it's hard to not buy them as the photographers often get some great shots. The photos are generally posed (i.e. not candid), so they'll take ones of you embarking the ship, on formal nights at your table, at formal nights with certain backdrops (if you choose to stand in line to do so), disembarking the ship with various costumed people at ports, etc. The photographers sometimes appear on excursions, but rarely. You would be more apt to see the Princess videographers on an excursion (you can also buy a video of your cruise). They post the photos up on large boards soon after they take them, so as you stroll through the ship you can take a look and either buy them as they appear, or wait until the last couple of days of the cruise and buy a bunch then. You can also buy a CD of your prints. Quite expensive, but again, sometimes it's hard to pass up a formal portrait of all of you in your nice duds... Have a wonderful time.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

The posed shots on formal nights are cost equivelent to the photos that we bought from our wedding albums. Expensive, yes, but comparable to the land based counterparts of a professional photographer and processor.

 

As PP said - 8x10 about $25.

[paul929207]

I think a 4x6 is 5.95. They go up from there. THey have packages, but I am not familiar with the details.

[Toto2Kansas]

I think a 4x6 is 5.95. They go up from there. THey have packages, but I am not familiar with the details.

 

Paul, I haven't seen a picture for sale of a passenger for $5.95 in MANY years. What ship did you see them for this price on? ;) I think the least expensive ones I have seen lately are somewhere in the vicinity of $20, for the smaller size. Ut Oh, I think I just made us both feel really old as I am remembering way back when. :o :o

[vickie_bernie]

You will find the photographers everywhere! The first shot will be at the gangway with a backdrop! Of course everyone looks exhausted in this shot but happy to be getting on board.

 

Mainly you will see photographers at the gangway in every port for the first few hours, you see them on the private island, you will see them at the sail away on deck taking random shots, they will be there on formal night taking shots of your table, and oh don't forget the champagne waterfall, if you go up to pour the champagne they will take your pic.

 

Then every night (at least it appears like it is every night) they will have stations set up throughout the atrium and promenade with different backdrops. Some are more formal, some are casual, some are sitting, some are stading... some are on the stairs.

 

Pose away, usually they take about 4 to 6 different shots at each station, by yourself, and with couple or family.

 

Usually by the next day you will find the final pictures displayed along the promenade (don't be caught saying "how do I know which one is mine?" :D ) You then can go thru them and pick which ones you like.

 

there is usually a box around that you can throw the ones you definately don't want into. We often group our pictures together, and come back to them later on in the cruise.

 

The price varies depending on the size but truely for a nice picture in your Sunday bests... it is reasonalbe. Much better than the KMART shots I use to get as a kid.

 

Of course we always come home with one or two and they go in an album, or they are given to Mom/Dad for a present.

[Dietemann]

If you find a picture during the cruise which you like, but are not sure about at that time, you can take it to the photo shop and ask the attendant to start and hold an envelope for you. Then you can add to it any other pics you like, and before the end of the cruise decide which photos you want to buy. You are not obliged to buy any at all at this time.

[caribill]

Vickie did a good job of covering many of the opportunities for pictures and the process for viewing and purchasing.

 

Pricing varies according to picture size and the occasion. A 5x7 of a casual occasion may go for about $15. A picture on formal night for around $25.

 

Some of the photos will include a border with appropriate content. For example, the picture taken just before you board may include a map of the cruise; A picture taken as you leave for a shore excursion may have the port name and scenes from that area.

 

You are under no obligation to purchase any of them. (But you will want to.)

[tvaud]

I think a 4x6 is 5.95. They go up from there. THey have packages, but I am not familiar with the details.

 

Vickie did a good job of covering many of the opportunities for pictures and the process for viewing and purchasing.

 

Pricing varies according to picture size and the occasion. A 5x7 of a casual occasion may go for about $15. A picture on formal night for around $25.

 

Some of the photos will include a border with appropriate content. For example, the picture taken just before you board may include a map of the cruise; A picture taken as you leave for a shore excursion may have the port name and scenes from that area.

 

You are under no obligation to purchase any of them. (But you will want to.)

 

Paul, I haven't seen a picture for sale of a passenger for $5.95 in MANY years. What ship did you see them for this price on? ;) I think the least expensive ones I have seen lately are somewhere in the vicinity of $20, for the smaller size. Ut Oh, I think I just made us both feel really old as I am remembering way back when. :o :o

 

I have to agree with Toto. I haven't seen a 5X7 in years, not to mention one under $10. The Princess photographers only seem to know one size...8X10 for $25. This drives me nuts. Who wants all 8X10 photos of their cruise??? In the old days, most of the photos were 5X7 and $5 a piece, but that was back in the 80s. We're not likely to see that ever again. Maybe there wouldn't be so much waste if the bulk of the photos were smaller, and costing a bit less. I know I'd buy them all...the good, the bad and the ugly.;)

Look for a coupon in the coupon book they give you at the beginning of the cruise. I think they offer a free photo album if you buy so many photos with the coupon. Put some money aside just for photos, as I'm sure you will want to get them as a momento of your first cruise. At $25 a pop though, it can really add up.:cool:

[DanJ]

You can also ask them to reprint one picture with a different border. We did this last time with a different embarkation border. On the Sapphire, we had a picture in Cabo with the ship in the background, and we had that one re-done with our embarkation border.

 

I didn't realize you could take the photos up to the desk and have them start a file for you. That would certainly make things easier on the last day when we usually go get all our pictures off the wall, and stand in line to go through the boxes, so we can spread them out and decide which to get. My in-laws said when they went on RCI a couple years ago, all the pictures were online instead of printed out, and you went through them and checked off which ones you wanted, and they would be delivered to your cabin. Sounds like a good idea, but I bet they lose a ton of impulse sales that way.

[Daniel1313]

They waste a lot of paper printing pictures that people will never buy. If they offered the pictures at a much cheaper price I would think they would sell more....

[rcacace]

Like others have said the days of the $5.95 photo are long gone. We always bought at least the embarkation photo as a nice remembrance of our cruise but when they began charging $20 bucks for a photo with all sorts of embellishments around the edges we just stopped buying them altogether. Yes they do a great job most of the time with the quality but they're pricing themselves out of the market trying to sell overpriced photo's to repeat cruisers.

[mizLORInj]

We put ours together and view them toward the end of the cruise. By then they are offering 6 8x10s for the price of 5 or some other kind of special. I think it was $20 or $25 per sheet, but of course all have to be formal shots or not mixed with dining room, etc. They do take some nice photos and if you want more of one particular one they'll print another for you. I do wish they cost less and agree more ppl would buy them if the price was more reasonable. I think the cheapest photo we got (dining room?) was $9.95.

ENJOY

[Old Rocker]

Several years back I was on the Coral and bought the video and picture package. If I remember correctly, the video and 6 to 8 pictures of various sizes cost about $120.

[DanJ]

I'm sure the company doing the photos has studied their pricing enough to know whether they are losing by charging what they do. Obviously they have come to the conclusion they wouldn't sell twice as many photos if they were half the price.

 

I had to laugh at a guy who was trying to get into heavy negotiations with one of the photo clerks. "Come on, your just going to throw them in the garbage. I'll give you 20 bucks for the stack. It's 20 bucks you wouldn't have had before" "Well, sir, if we started having a fire sale on the last day of the cruise, nobody would pay regular price, they would just wait" He really thought it was stupid that they would rather throw the pics out than sell them to him at a reduced price, and couldn't grasp the concept.

 

It sure didn't look like they were hurting for sales anyway.

[caribill]

Several years back I was on the Coral and bought the video and picture package. If I remember correctly, the video and 6 to 8 pictures of various sizes cost about $120.

 

 

I think they occasionally experiment with packages. Never saw that one, but once saw a package that included every picture they took of you (and companion) for about $250.

 

Never saw that package again either.

[ocicat]

Thanks! Great post Vickie! It really helped.

 

The prices seem a bit spendy to me, so it's going to have to be a darn good photo to drop the $$$ for it. Except formal night for our anniversary portrait, $20 and up is a bit much for a casual pic. Especially in this age of "here's my digi camera - please take our pic and I'll take yours with your camera!".

[vickie_bernie]

Thanks! Great post Vickie! It really helped.

 

The prices seem a bit spendy to me, so it's going to have to be a darn good photo to drop the $$$ for it. Except formal night for our anniversary portrait, $20 and up is a bit much for a casual pic. Especially in this age of "here's my digi camera - please take our pic and I'll take yours with your camera!".

 

you are welcome - there are many people who pose throughout the ship and take the similar photo with their own camera.

[rcacace]

You'd be amassed what can be done with Photoshop if you have a shot of the right background. :rolleyes:

[Woodmnky]

$25 for a photo is expensive, but they are not copyrighted. You can take them to the photo makers that you see in most stores and have copies made. Sometimes the store will request a letter from Princess Ok'ing this, but that is easy to get by calling the 800 #.

 

I bought one formal photo on our cruise for $25 and had reprints made at home.

 

I ended up w/ around 20 photos for under $40.

[grape farmer]

We bought several photos when we were on the Crown. They had a great package the first night if I recall where if we bought two 8x10's from the boarding (different borders of the itinerary) we got the Crown photo album for free which had a picture of the ship on it. We also had them take a lot of shots on the formal nights. We don't ever get to have our pictures taken all dressed up, and some of the photographers did an exceptional job. It doesn't cost to have them taken; only if you purchase them, and at best there was maybe a 10 minute wait at some of the spots. At many there was no wait. That way you can at least see if you think they're worthwhile or not. We thought it was a lot of fun; when we did have to wait it was enjoyable just chatting with others. Have a great cruise!

[shining gem]

I used to wonder if they offered the pics for less would people buy more too. The reason for no price drop is that they gather all the photos up on the last day and re-process the paper and use it again. Apparently they have the technology to wash off the chemicals and use the same paper over and over. I was told this by one of the photographers on our last trip. I guess it must be true. I can't see them shredding them, can you?

[vickie_bernie]

I used to wonder if they offered the pics for less would people buy more too. The reason for no price drop is that they gather all the photos up on the last day and re-process the paper and use it again. Apparently they have the technology to wash off the chemicals and use the same paper over and over. I was told this by one of the photographers on our last trip. I guess it must be true. I can't see them shredding them, can you?

 

sounds great, last year our passengers services director mentioned that they don;t put them on a computer because they just don't sell as much than if you can physically look at them and touch them and compare them

[rcacace]

I read somewhere that one cruise line is experimenting with scanning you card when the picture is taken & you can use their terminal to view all you photos for the complete cruise & only print the ones you want.

[tvaud]

I read somewhere that one cruise line is experimenting with scanning you card when the picture is taken & you can use their terminal to view all you photos for the complete cruise & only print the ones you want.

 

How would the terminal know which photos were of you? Is there a face scanning software in it? What if you have a twin? When the photographer takes your picture, how would the information get in the camera...to be downloaded into the system terminal?