1Cruiser1

Just out of curiosity, how often do people get upgraded with a GTY room?

On 11/25/2019 at 3:59 PM, twangster said:

That's hard for me to articulate because there are many different photo scenarios on a ship. 

For sunset or sunrise stopping down a few stops will create a more round appearing sun then you can adjust the lighting later in software to brighten the image.  Most cameras overexpose the sun at sunset resulting in an irregular blob like or washed out sun.  While it may still be a beautiful sunset by stopping down a few steps in takes it up a level.  

By default the camera wants to overexpose the sun based on the rest of the scene:

By stopping down a few stops the sun isn't so washed out and it's a better overall photo.

For action scenes where people or objects are moving you need a higher shutter speed.  If you camera is capable of high ISO with decent noise performance a higher shutter speed will yield sharp images with motion present in challenging lighting like night or indoors.  When shooting in the theater again stopping down a few stops will correct for the camera over exposing the image based on the dark periphery of a stage.

It's generally better to underexpose slightly rather than overexpose.  Once a picture is overexposed there is no getting that lost detail back.  A slightly underexposed picture can usually be brightened later. 

A big improvement you can make to photography is going through your photos one by one and making fine adjustments to each one.  It's time consuming but once you get used to it your workflow will become more efficient and less time consuming.  To this end shooting RAW gives substantially more room to correct mistakes when shooting but requires more card space since files are a lot bigger.  You also need to plan to work on your photos in software later.  Few cameras will produce ideal JPEGs in all scenarios but shooting in RAW is more work.

Composition makes all the difference in photography.  To this end explore the concept of the "rule of thirds".  While not required for all photos it's a safe fall back when in doubt.  Search YouTube for a tutorial.

Lastly learn how to manipulate depth of field.  When you have subjects like people standing at a railing on a ship a slight blur of the background will cause your subjects to pop out of the picture.  Too much blur and you lose the idea of where they are.  Practice makes perfect.

I not not going to show people because I don't have any who have given permission to share so I'll use a beer.  Clearly the beer is the subject but it's somewhat lost in the clutter of the background:  

By leveraging the concept of depth of field to blur the background you still know it's a bar but the beer stands out as the subject of the photo. 

Put it all together and a mundane photo of a beer in bar can become more interesting. By taking some time to compose this I managed to get the reflection of the sign symmetrical with the sign but keeping the glass of beer as the focus of the picture by blurring the background.

Learning to move beyond the automatic modes of a camera will help to raise your photography to the next level.  However it takes time and lots of wasted pictures to figure out what works best.  The more you play around the more comfortable you'll become taking manual control when you need it at that perfect moment.  

Hi - What camera is this? Looks incredible!!!

This may sound stupid - but will these offers still be available on Friday? (Pay day for me!)

Just checked mine for Allure in January, its still priced at £49.

Hoping this comes down on black friday!

Hi all,

Just looking for a few tips on dining.

We are sailing on Allure Of The Seas in January. Just wondering what time the restaurants open etc.

Is there always somewhere to get food whatever the time (mainly thinking of jet lag). 

When we go to the Dining Room for our evening meal, can we request a table for 2 or do we have to dine with other people?

Thanks in advance 

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice.

I want a drinks package for our cruise in January, over the past week the prices rose to £49.94 ($64.34) per person per day. Today after I checked I seen that it has dropped to its original price of £46.36 ($59.73) per person per day.

Would you pay this or wait till black Friday? I believe the price will only stay like this until Tuesday? 

Thanks all

Thanks for the help.

We are due to check in at 11am. Is it an easy enough process? We’ve done the online check in.

On 11/6/2019 at 11:53 PM, KristiZ said:

If you are asking if Royal will removed the automatic gratuity from your account and let you tip only in cash, the answer is no. You can pay your SeaPass account balance with cash rather than a credit card, yes, but the gratuity charges will be processed through your SeaPass account. 

Hope that makes sense!

That’s great info.

Is it possible to remove gratuity from my account? Do I just speak to guest relations on board? I prefer to tip as I go so it’s easier to manage my money. Thanks for your help.

31 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

NextCruise (the on-ship venue for making new bookings) doesn't really give discounts.  They use the same pricing anyone can pull up on Royal's site and all of the current sales are whatever is being offered.  The benefit with NextCruise is that you can sometimes get a little bit of onboard credit when you make a booking through them. They used to offer reduced deposits as well but that is becoming more and more rare.  

http://www.royalonboardsales.com/#seeoffer  is where you can check the current offer before you sail, along with all the tiny print with the terms and conditions.  If you do use them, just make sure you fully understand what you are booking and have it clarified whether it's refundable or non-refundable, etc. 

Thanks that's great information.

When it comes to gratuity we have declined the use of our card.

We would much rather pay in cash rather than on an account - is this possible to do?

How good is the discount if you re-book on board?

At the time of booking we managed to secure $1000 off due to an online sale.

Cant wait to read all about it Hayley.

I'm looking forward to visiting Costa Maya!!

Thank you for all the replies.

We are so excited.

Will it be warm enough to snorkel?

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I are going on our first ever cruise at the end of January.

We are on Allure of the seas sailing to Perfect Day, Bahamas, Cozumel & Costa Maya.

We are lucky enough to have the drinks package along with a balcony room.

Hoping the weather is warm mid 20’s or higher as we are based in the UK and it’s Baltic!

Thanks

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