Liv Posted September 2, 2019 Report Share Posted September 2, 2019 My fiancé and I booked our first cruise together for this December on the Oasis of the Seas (yay!). We were eyeballing the photo package on cruise planner but we're not exactly sure how often there will be picture opportunities? I know formal night, but are photographers all over the ship? Is there usually a long wait to get your picture taken? Is the all-included digital photo package at $234.99 even worth it? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottL Posted September 2, 2019 Report Share Posted September 2, 2019 I haven't been on a Royal Caribbean Cruise yet but in January when we cruised with Carnival it was actually pretty slick. Every night they have different backdrops stationed all over the ship and whenever you passed one that you liked you could just jump in and get your pictures taken. The photographers were really good and gave you 3-4 different poses for each backdrop. There were never any lines and at most only 1 person in front of you so it was always very quick. I'm usually allergic to cameras so wife is always on me about taking pictures with her and this was the perfect opportunity to have some made. They turned out well and it was well worth the money. I keep going back and forth on the Royal Caribbean photo package for our cruise next week.....It's about $100 more expensive than Carnival's was and while I'd like to have a bunch of pictures taken on this cruise I'm not sure the price is worth it. (At least on Carnival their digital photo package also included 3 extra large canvas prints that are now hanging on our wall, which I don't think is included in the RC photo package). p.s. I'd say every night there were at least 10+ different photo ops throughout the ship, and it also included "natural" photos of us doing our daily stuff an things on the ship, like disembarking at a port, sitting on the lido deck, playing trivia, etc. There were a lot of cool photos in the package. Liv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liv Posted September 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2019 6 minutes ago, ScottL said: I haven't been on a Royal Caribbean Cruise yet but in January when we cruised with Carnival it was actually pretty slick. Every night they have different backdrops stationed all over the ship and whenever you passed one that you liked you could just jump in and get your pictures taken. The photographers were really good and gave you 3-4 different poses for each backdrop. There were never any lines and at most only 1 person in front of you so it was always very quick. I'm usually allergic to cameras so wife is always on me about taking pictures with her and this was the perfect opportunity to have some made. They turned out well and it was well worth the money. I keep going back and forth on the Royal Caribbean photo package for our cruise next week.....It's about $100 more expensive than Carnival's was and while I'd like to have a bunch of pictures taken on this cruise I'm not sure the price is worth it. (At least on Carnival their digital photo package also included 3 extra large canvas prints that are now hanging on our wall, which I don't think is included in the RC photo package). p.s. I'd say every night there were at least 10+ different photo ops throughout the ship, and it also included "natural" photos of us doing our daily stuff an things on the ship, like disembarking at a port, sitting on the lido deck, playing trivia, etc. There were a lot of cool photos in the package. Thank you, this was extremely helpful! I am a little disappointed that the package doesn't include ANY prints, but it sounds like there's a lot more professional/ candid photo opportunities than I was anticipating. Might still be worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokx2 Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 On Oasis there will be lots of photo ops on the ship especially during formal nights. There will be different options of backdrops at the Royal Promenade area, as well as a spot on the grand stairs. There is also a photo op at the classic car in the Royal Promenade. There are photographers who go around dinner time and take photos of your tables. There is also a couple of photo ops in Central Park, however, I do not remember if there is any photo ops at the Boardwalk. At embarkation/checkin, there are a couple of photo ops before entering the ship. Photographers will be around during some of the other activities on the ship as well. Back when there were Dreamworks Characters on board there were also photo ops with the characters such as Po and Tigress from Kungfu Panda, Trolls, Madagascar and Penguins, etc. There are also photo ops at all the ports by the gangways during arrival and sail away. We are planning to get the digital photo package for our cruise in November. One of the tips given was to take a few minutes every night to check the photos that were taken either that day or the day before - since sometimes what you may remember that a photo was taken, it may not show up or someone else's photo shows up in your gallery. One of the technologies they use is face recognition which is not always reliable-hence the missing and additional photos. Let the crew at the photo center know right away that there is a photo of people not in your party or if there was a photo you expected to see but its not there. If you are super intentional, you should be able to get at least 150 digital photos for the week as a couple which is worth it vs paying the prices for prints on board. ChessE4 and Liv 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liv Posted September 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 4 minutes ago, bokx2 said: On Oasis there will be lots of photo ops on the ship especially during formal nights. There will be different options of backdrops at the Royal Promenade area, as well as a spot on the grand stairs. There is also a photo op at the classic car in the Royal Promenade. There are photographers who go around dinner time and take photos of your tables. There is also a couple of photo ops in Central Park, however, I do not remember if there is any photo ops at the Boardwalk. At embarkation/checkin, there are a couple of photo ops before entering the ship. Photographers will be around during some of the other activities on the ship as well. Back when there were Dreamworks Characters on board there were also photo ops with the characters such as Po and Tigress from Kungfu Panda, Trolls, Madagascar and Penguins, etc. There are also photo ops at all the ports by the gangways during arrival and sail away. We are planning to get the digital photo package for our cruise in November. One of the tips given was to take a few minutes every night to check the photos that were taken either that day or the day before - since sometimes what you may remember that a photo was taken, it may not show up or someone else's photo shows up in your gallery. One of the technologies they use is face recognition which is not always reliable-hence the missing and additional photos. Let the crew at the photo center know right away that there is a photo of people not in your party or if there was a photo you expected to see but its not there. If you are super intentional, you should be able to get at least 150 digital photos for the week as a couple which is worth it vs paying the prices for prints on board. Thank you SO much! That will be nice to get pictures all around the ship and not just the Royal Promenade. And I would have never even thought of checking the photos each night, thanks for the tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgestang Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 There is another option.....we just schedule a true professional photo shoot while we were on board....not one of the walk up and take 4-5 posses in front of a screen..we went to his 'studio' he specialized in B@W candid style shots. It certainly wasn't a $249 package....it was like $500 for all copies of photos digitally (70-80 shots...all of them run through retouch filter and also manually tweaked the ones we selected as needed....for example one of them we had mirrored so it could balance our layout) and then if you wanted prints and stuff there is a price....we got these out of it (large on canvas photo prints): Conversely on our previous cruises we went with a walk up and take a photo that we then bought the print from the ship for like $20 that we also have framed and liked 12thman, Liv and Matt 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fonemanbob Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 Do not be discouraged if there is a long line at some of the photo stations. If it is a backdrop that appeals to you get in line. They move fast. Take lots of pictures. We have gotten some great casual pictures over the years as well as formal,etc. The photos at the dinner table we wave them off a lot. Yes the package costs a little bit BUT just 1 photo can be PRICELESS. Watch for the photo package to go on sale. Welcome to the board. Enjoy the cruise. And congratulations. Liv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottL Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 Whoa! So this thread talked me into purchasing the photo package for my wife and I (both staying in the same stateroom). When I went to purchase it on the Royal Caribbean website I added it to the cart, selected my wife and I and it is charging us twice. I thought the package was per stateroom, not per guest...am I missing something here? Liv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liv Posted September 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 @ScottL Looking at the package deal, I was confused by this at first as well. But after rereading the description it states "one package covers all guests in the stateroom." So just mark one of you and you should be good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottL Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 ok, Thank you. I was getting a little worried there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabarwolf Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 We purchased a 6 photo digital package while aboard our recent sailing on Allure. All told, I think it was $110, but we got 6 digital photos, 3 prints, and a very nice folio. (And we picked the 6 best of the 20+ pictures we had taken over the course of the sailing.) It's a matter of do you want all of the pictures taken or the ones you think are the best, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatsFanBrian Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 I posted in another thread that I think the photo prices are highly inflated. But we still get our photos taken on the off chance that there will be one that is so good that we can't resist getting it (has happened a couple of times). We have never considered purchasing a package prior to the cruise. We ask people to take photos with our own camera and usually get great ones. We also have often purchased photos from excursions which are usually much cheaper and more representative of our cruise experience. To your original question, you have many answers. Also, at every port stop, RCL photographers will be on the dock to take pictures as well as photographers in the dining halls and certain events. The suggestion to check the photos every night is a great one. Besides getting a good sense of how the photos are coming out, you may find that some photos you know were taken are missing and likely put in someone else's folio or into a miscellaneous category because the facial recognition could not properly identify you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerry Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 5 hours ago, ScottL said: Whoa! So this thread talked me into purchasing the photo package for my wife and I (both staying in the same stateroom). When I went to purchase it on the Royal Caribbean website I added it to the cart, selected my wife and I and it is charging us twice. I thought the package was per stateroom, not per guest...am I missing something here? If it charged your card, you can call Customer Support and they'll have it removed in about 3 seconds. Same thing happened for us with the internet. I chose 2 devices, selected both my boyfriend and me, and went on my way... noticing about a month later that I paid for 2 packages - 4 devices total. Yikes! They were really helpful and had it taken care of in no time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNA Jacksonville Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 We purchased the Photo Package during our June 2019 adventure on Mariner of the Seas. We came home with 115 digital photos - superior quality too. Photographers are typically in position at the dining rooms each evening and at various locations throughout the ship. And of course, they are there to snap you on embarkation and on the pier at Nassau & Coco Cay. As for the pics being exclusively digital. We simply downloaded the ones we liked best and had them printed at Walmart for less than 25 cents each. Liv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brobbins246 Posted September 3, 2019 Report Share Posted September 3, 2019 Try some funny and casual poses to mix things up so they're not all serious, dressy and posed. Also, the digital download is great for creating a photo book online, which you can add your own camera shots to. You can't add your own pics to the photo book RC sells on the ship. We came home from our Allure cruise with about 80 (great) professional shots and 1400 of our own shots (6 of us taking pictures). It took some time, but I narrowed that down to about 300 pictures in a bound photo book I created online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth Davis Posted September 4, 2019 Report Share Posted September 4, 2019 Hi All, My family and I are sailing March 02, 2020. First time on RC, second cruise. First was Disney, and I did not buy the photo package ahead of time and then paid the price when I bought the package onboard. Anyhoo, the photo package is not showing up as an option for me to purchase ahead of time. Any idea how far in advance it becomes available? Also, off topic, but I read somewhere that you need to get tickets for the RC shows, is that accurate? Thanks! B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted September 4, 2019 Report Share Posted September 4, 2019 2 minutes ago, Beth Davis said: you need to get tickets for the RC shows, is that accurate? There are no "tickets" for shows. On some ships you can make reservations for shows, but it is first come, first served and there are no reserved seats, per se. What ship are you sailing ? Only the Quantum class and Oasis class ships have show reservations. For all the rest of the ships it is first come, first served with no reservations at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth Davis Posted September 4, 2019 Report Share Posted September 4, 2019 We are sailing on the Mariner. That’s good to know, thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo2slick Posted September 4, 2019 Report Share Posted September 4, 2019 My wife loves photography and is always taking pictures. We had several pictures taken and she checked them daily. We ended up not purchasing any because we had taken so many with our camera and video with our GoPro that the 250 dollar price tag was just too much. And by day 4 having a photographer asking me to get up from eating dinner for a picture was getting old so we started waving off a lot of pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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