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Photo Packages


Pro24

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Hello all,

Been learning allot from you all for our first cruise this December.

 

One item I have not seen much discussion about is the Photo's. I have seen the link on the blog but still have questions because some things I have read contradict what the website says.

 

1. First, on my planner, it shows a discounted "All Digital -Photo Package" for $187.49 on a five day cruise. My question is, what is the actual price? Is it worth it?

2. Is this price 187.49 "per person", or does just one person in the party pay for it?

     I have read its only the head of the party while the website says per person? Very confused.

3. What comes with this package offered? We are newbies and have no clue! Should we take advantage or wait til we get on the boat for a better deal? IDK???

4. Finally, are the phot packages even worth it?

 

Thanks, looking forward to some input.

 

 

 

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From what I know, the All-Digital Photo Package is per stateroom.  You get all the pictures taken by the ship photographers.  I did not pay much attention to it, but there is a sign in the photo gallery that says you can download the pictures directly to your device.

They offer discounts for pre-cruise purchases so it would be best to order it before your sailing.  The worth of the package depends on how much you value pictures.

One word of advice, since you're getting a digital package, you may want to print them when you get home.  Make sure to secure a Release Form for the pictures.  Some companies/stores like Sam's, Costco, and Kinko's may ask for it when you print the pictures.

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2 hours ago, Pro24 said:

Hello all,

Been learning allot from you all for our first cruise this December.

 

One item I have not seen much discussion about is the Photo's. I have seen the link on the blog but still have questions because some things I have read contradict what the website says.

 

1. First, on my planner, it shows a discounted "All Digital -Photo Package" for $187.49 on a five day cruise. My question is, what is the actual price? Is it worth it?

2. Is this price 187.49 "per person", or does just one person in the party pay for it?

     I have read its only the head of the party while the website says per person? Very confused.

3. What comes with this package offered? We are newbies and have no clue! Should we take advantage or wait til we get on the boat for a better deal? IDK???

4. Finally, are the phot packages even worth it?

 

Thanks, looking forward to some input.

 

 

 

We don't buy photo packages and use our phone for a key picture here and there.  If you were having a wedding or a family reunion, you might want more professional pictures.  There are other things you could consider, like excursions or dining out.

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We purchased the All Digital Photo Package for our sailing earlier this month. It was a 7 day sailing, and listed originally at $249. The sale price just before the cruise was $235. We had pictures made in the terminal twice (two different backdrops) before ever setting foot on the ship, once at sail away, 3 nights during dinner, both formal nights outside of the dinning room, and both times we got off at port stops. We wound up with 105 total photos, and we could have also had additional photos taken at the one port where we did not leave the ship, other nights outside of the dinning room, and at other locations around the ship.

Were all of them good? No, of course not, but there are at least 15 really good ones that I will share with family and have prints made of. It was worth the $235 to me because that's cheaper than it would cost to have photos made where I live. I went down to the photo area the last night and asked how I would receive my photos. I was told I would be emailed a link or I could download them right then. I HAD TO HAVE INTERNET to download the photos right then. I didn't think this was the case, and the guy helping me thought it was odd too. Fortunately about half way through our sailing we bought internet for the remainder of our cruise. I downloaded all 105 photos to my phone and then was able to easily transfer them to my laptop when we got home. I also received the email link a few days after we got back.

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We purchased individual photos of the grand kids at dinner and on formal night (oops sorry Wear Your Best Night ?) for the parents when we took the wee ones on their first cruise (age 5 right of passage). Other than that we use the cell phone for photos as the quality of their photos is remarkable now and it is stored on the device without upload. The one photo package we did purchase early on is still sitting on the thumb drive. Spent way too much.

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7 hours ago, Pro24 said:

Hello all,

Been learning allot from you all for our first cruise this December.

 

One item I have not seen much discussion about is the Photo's. I have seen the link on the blog but still have questions because some things I have read contradict what the website says.

 

1. First, on my planner, it shows a discounted "All Digital -Photo Package" for $187.49 on a five day cruise. My question is, what is the actual price? Is it worth it?

2. Is this price 187.49 "per person", or does just one person in the party pay for it?

     I have read its only the head of the party while the website says per person? Very confused.

3. What comes with this package offered? We are newbies and have no clue! Should we take advantage or wait til we get on the boat for a better deal? IDK???

4. Finally, are the phot packages even worth it?

 

Thanks, looking forward to some input.

 

 

 

To answer your questions:

1.  The price on board is usually around $60-$80 more if purchased onboard. 

2.  The price is per cabin so in cruise planner, you just need select one person in your cabin.  It doesn't matter who as there is no "head" person

3.  You get all pictures (either digital, printed, or both depending on what you choose) taken of the people in the stateroom and any children of yours under the age of 21; even if they are staying in separate cabins.     

4.  Totally worth it if you can take as many pictures a possible.  Individual pictures run $20 each.

I managed to get 97 pictures in our short 4 day voyage.  It would have been more but we were already rushed because of Dorian with the crew trying to squeeze in shows and everything else in that short time.  We were like non stop from 3:00pm-Midnight pretty much everyday.

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Thank you all! Answered the questions and then some. We have already purchased other items on sale to answer some responses. Just didn't understand the photo layout. We  will more than likely get a package, maybe wait for the cruise? We will be on Indy for Christmas week. So pics will be plentiful, formal & informal I'm sure. @Mr. Candyman thank you for the listed explanations.

 

 

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18 hours ago, Pro24 said:

Hello all,

Been learning allot from you all for our first cruise this December.

 

One item I have not seen much discussion about is the Photo's. I have seen the link on the blog but still have questions because some things I have read contradict what the website says.

 

1. First, on my planner, it shows a discounted "All Digital -Photo Package" for $187.49 on a five day cruise. My question is, what is the actual price? Is it worth it?

2. Is this price 187.49 "per person", or does just one person in the party pay for it?

     I have read its only the head of the party while the website says per person? Very confused.

3. What comes with this package offered? We are newbies and have no clue! Should we take advantage or wait til we get on the boat for a better deal? IDK???

4. Finally, are the phot packages even worth it?

 

Thanks, looking forward to some input.

 

 

 

I got this package on our 7-day cruise and it was great.  At least one person from your cabin has to be in the pictures.  You can get your pictures taken any time they have a photographer around.  We got 135 pictures taken.  We got them on a CD with the release to print them ourselves.  We wanted new family pictures so it was well worth the price and quality.

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24 minutes ago, Danish vikings said:

Sorry about being a bit slow on this, my kids are staying in a separate cabin. If I buy the package under my cabin number, I can’t take any pictures with my kids only in the picture?

As long as one of the kids in that separate cabin is one of your minor kids, they can be included in your single room photo package.  Just go the "photo gallery" desk once on the ship, and give them the room number of your minor child, and they will happily like their room to yours for the photo package.  I've done this three times without issue on my prior cruises, as I always put my kids in a separate nearby/adjacent room.  Do this as soon as you can once onboard, so pictures begin to be linked to your package from the beginning.  Also instruct your kids to give the photographer YOUR room number, not the kids' room to help make sure pictures are linked to you properly.

One other bit of advice is to check your photos for your portfolio once a day or so (and definitely the last night) to make sure 1)  that you aren't missing photos you were expecting (our embarkation photos were missing from ours until they I told them and they were able to add them in), and 2)  that the pictures in your portfolio are all of your group.  We frequently would get another family's pictures mixed into ours.  It was a very simple task to delete specific photos from your portfolio.

We always purchased the photo package (all-digital) BEFORE the cruise using the cruise planner.  I always checked package pricing they advertised on board, and have never seen it cheaper that pre-cruise pricing.  After the cruise (it was only 2-3 days), I got a link via email to login and download all of my photos in one big ZIP file. I downloaded over 150 pictures from our last cruise, all in one big file (it was 200MB+ if I recall)!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bringing this thread back from the recent dead....

 

...is there an option onboard to purchase single digital photos?  I would prefer the digital download to a print, but don't think we will get the value of the photo package.  Its been a while since we've ventured into the photo area (before they switched to the kiosk) and I cant recall if its only prints that are available for purchase onboard.

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We were on Serenade a couple of weeks ago and had the same question.  There were a couple of photos that we really liked, but the only option for single photo purchases was the print, no digital.  Also, just as annoying, if you get one of the packages other than the most expensive, you have to choose either the print or digital.  Makes no sense when they're just going to throw away the print if you choose the digital.  I really can't understand why you can't get both (and we were not the only ones questioning the policy while we were on-board).

RC's photo policies have always confounded me.

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1 minute ago, PatsFanBrian said:

We were on Serenade a couple of weeks ago and had the same question.  There were a couple of photos that we really liked, but the only option for single photo purchases was the print, no digital.  Also, just as annoying, if you get one of the packages other than the most expensive, you have to choose either the print or digital.  Makes no sense when they're just going to throw away the print if you choose the digital.  I really can't understand why you can't get both (and we were not the only ones questioning the policy while we were on-board).

RC's photo policies have always confounded me.

@PatsFanBrian UGH! That's what I remembered the last time we looked into it.  At that time, everything was printed and on display.  I was hoping they changed to a digital option when switching over to the kiosk.  Guess not!  Thanks for the reply!

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6 hours ago, hsweat22 said:

Bringing this thread back from the recent dead....

 

...is there an option onboard to purchase single digital photos?  I would prefer the digital download to a print, but don't think we will get the value of the photo package.  Its been a while since we've ventured into the photo area (before they switched to the kiosk) and I cant recall if its only prints that are available for purchase onboard.

Our most recent cruise we did the all inclusive digital package but the one before that we somehow bought only one photo and it was digital! Its shocking to hear that's not offered anymore. That was January 2018.

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14 hours ago, Pinnacle Dreams said:

Our most recent cruise we did the all inclusive digital package but the one before that we somehow bought only one photo and it was digital! Its shocking to hear that's not offered anymore. That was January 2018.

@Pinnacle Dreams I guess we may be able to file it under the ever so consistent Royal policies? lol.  Thanks for the info!

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If you are like most people, the majority of your photos lie in rest on your computer or in a box at the back of a closet. Do you want to shell out $200 to add to that collection?

If you are at Diamond level, you get a couple free photos. You can have your photo taken almost any time you get on or off the ship, at scheduled photo ops on formal nights and most likely on a couple of occasions while you have dinner.

You can see these photos at the photo shop and decide if you like them or not. Sometimes they do a great job, other times, not so much. You can always purchase one or two if you really like them and most times that is souvenir enough.

Would I pay $200 for a 'package'? Probably not unless like some have said, it was a special occasion like a wedding, family reunion and so on.

 

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14 hours ago, Cub said:

This is what I got

Photo packages probably aren't available for pre-purchase on your sailing yet.  I see it's an Alaska cruise, so you likely aren't sailing until the middle of next year, so keep checking!  My June 2020 Alaska cruise doesn't have it as an option yet either.  In fact, I checked all my upcoming cruise and the only one that has picture package for purchase right now is my Thanksgiving one for this year (under 50 days out).  Even my NYE one (under 90 days out) doesn't have the photo package yet. 

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We bought the Photo Package on our two Mariner cruises this year and really liked it.  On the first cruise we took home (digitally) over 100 pictures and on the recent three night adventure 90 photos.  We made a point of stopping at each and every photo opportunity.  We thought the quality of the pictures was very good to excellent.  Usually you can see the pictures within an hour on board through the link they share with you and just the other day RCCL sent me a zip file with all of the pictures from this month's cruise.  I usually send the ones we like best to Walmart for printing and to put in a small memento photo album.  And the digital pics can be shared easily on social media and shared with family and friends.

Discounts are always available on embarkation and the first day or two of the cruise.  And when you get the package you also recieve some accessories.  In our case we got a small album and a 5x7 RCCL frame.

50-17219118.jpg

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On 10/9/2019 at 7:12 AM, AshleyDillo said:

Photo packages probably aren't available for pre-purchase on your sailing yet.  I see it's an Alaska cruise, so you likely aren't sailing until the middle of next year, so keep checking!  My June 2020 Alaska cruise doesn't have it as an option yet either.  In fact, I checked all my upcoming cruise and the only one that has picture package for purchase right now is my Thanksgiving one for this year (under 50 days out).  Even my NYE one (under 90 days out) doesn't have the photo package yet. 

We sail out of Vancouver in June on Serenade.  I will keep looking for it!  Thanks for the help

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On 10/8/2019 at 9:52 AM, hsweat22 said:

Bringing this thread back from the recent dead....

 

...is there an option onboard to purchase single digital photos?  I would prefer the digital download to a print, but don't think we will get the value of the photo package.  Its been a while since we've ventured into the photo area (before they switched to the kiosk) and I cant recall if its only prints that are available for purchase onboard.

  I didn't see this as an option and don't think that they would offer it. Good question though.

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On 10/8/2019 at 10:15 AM, hsweat22 said:

@PatsFanBrian UGH! That's what I remembered the last time we looked into it.  At that time, everything was printed and on display.  I was hoping they changed to a digital option when switching over to the kiosk.  Guess not!  Thanks for the reply!

 You have to remember it's a 3rd party company not Royal. With that being said on our last sailing, I was told photos will be printed on demand only.

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4 hours ago, Mr. Candyman said:

 You have to remember it's a 3rd party company not Royal. With that being said on our last sailing, I was told photos will be printed on demand only.

is it really?!? I didn't know that!  I thought it was all Royal employees that handled the photos.  

 

I could see the print on demand only....has to be WAY less waste.  I really wish they offered individual digital.  Oh well!

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7 hours ago, hsweat22 said:

is it really?!? I didn't know that!  I thought it was all Royal employees that handled the photos.  

 

I could see the print on demand only....has to be WAY less waste.  I really wish they offered individual digital.  Oh well!

The photographers are probably contracted through Royal just like the designer shops but the company in charge of it all is called The Image Group   

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