All Inclusive Photo Package -- Worth It?

I've only been on 1 cruise before, a Disney Cruise. We bought the all-inclusive photo package before boarding and were glad we did. But there are tons of character opportunities on board and Disney events that we were thankful to have the on-board photographer for.

I'm wondering whether we'd get the same value on a Princess Cruise.

Can people tell me what photo opportunities this would include, other than the All Aboard photos at the beginning? Is this package worth it? Does it include any of the land portion of an Alaska cruise tour?

If it makes a difference, we're on board Coral Princess.

We are interested only on a portrait shot on a formal night. Not worth for us.

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If they have the $99 special it is.

It depends on how many photos you will buy. We never buy any so it is a waste for us.

Photographers will be at the bottom of the gangway for each port snapping away. Most evenings, they will be set up to take pictures outside the dining room. One evening they will be in the dining rooms taking individual pictures, another couples.

We just came off an Alaska cruise tour, and pre-purchased the all-inclusive photo package for $99. For us it was more than worth it.

It does not include the land portion, and there were not any staff photographers taking pictures on the land portion that we saw.

We ended up with 16 photos, some 8x10 and some 6x8. They included embarkation, single shots on the first formal night, a couple shot on the 2nd formal night, both in the dining room, several formal night portraits from the various backgrounds set up around the ship, the various port disembarkation shots, and a couple of shots taken out on deck at Glacier Bay.

At $24.99 for an 8x10 we never would have spent $99 for 4 pictures normally, but we liked the freedom to take home all 16 photos, even though some were not the best shots.

Also, we would have taken more shots on the 2nd formal night but my wife got sick and wasn't up for it.

So you can get quite a value from the package,especially if you can get the $99 pre-purchase deal.

I haven't seen details yet on photo packages, so is 16 photos for 99$ about the norm ? We are a party of 9, would we be able to choose who is in which photo if we want smaller group pictures ?

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I would buy it for $99 for our upcoming cruise in July but its $249 and only on sale for $199 - I buy the packages on occasion but also take a lot of pics so still feel like I am wasting $99 when I get the package- I have got hundreds of pictures on some cruises with the packages- the benefit to buying in advance you know you want the pics so you can make an effort to make sure you take advantage of all photo ops and not waste time belaboring which pics you want- you just get them all

I haven't seen details yet on photo packages, so is 16 photos for 99$ about the norm ? We are a party of 9, would we be able to choose who is in which photo if we want smaller group pictures ?

 

 

With the Princess photo package you get a print of every photo that you or your cabinmate is in. So as long as one of you two is in the picture, it does not matter how many others are in it with you.

Some people come home with over 100 photos with the package. It is up to you how many photos will be taken.

Also included is a memory stick with a digital image of all the printed photos. People has posted that the digital image is not at a very high resolution.

If they have the $99 special it is.

I agree the $99.00 special is a good deal.

Tony

With the Princess photo package you get a print of every photo that you or your cabinmate is in. So as long as one of you two is in the picture, it does not matter how many others are in it with you.

 

Some people come home with over 100 photos with the package. It is up to you how many photos will be taken.

 

Also included is a memory stick with a digital image of all the printed photos. People has posted that the digital image is not at a very high resolution.

We sailed with 17 people in 5 cabins over Spring Break. 4 of the cabins purchased the package for $99. My wife and her friends all did a bunch of pictures with just the girls and had the kids take some of the casual shots as well. We all did the formal night pictures as individual families and as a large group shot on the stairs.

We came home with 117 pictures in both hard copies and on a thumb drive. Each cabin in our group had about the same. The package is worth it if you get your picture taken. If you avoid the photographers on your way to the show, it probably is still worth it.

At $99, you break even after 4 pictures. Even at the on board price of $250, you break even after 10 pictures.

IT DEPENDS....do you like to have photos taken or, do you consider the photographers a pain in the 'you know where'. If you like to have pictures taken, go with the package, we started to signed up for a photo package, a few years back to have photos taken. All the pictures, hard copy, plus images on disk. Well worth it. Without a 'package' at about $25 a pop for an 8x10 can get you a hefty bill.

I just checked the Princess website and for my upcoming November cruise, the package is $199. Does anyone know if there's a chance the price will go down to the $99? I've never looked into this and have no idea if the price ever changes.

This package is for all photos the staff take of you during the cruise?

Thanks!

We sail next week and got the email today offering all inclusive photo package for $199 advertised on board price is $250.

We are traveling with my sister and her hubby so thinking if one of us gets it we can share, as we will be together in most all instances

We sail next week and got the email today offering all inclusive photo package for $199 advertised on board price is $250.

 

We are traveling with my sister and her hubby so thinking if one of us gets it we can share, as we will be together in most all instances

Who ever purchases package ; anyone from that cabin that is in a picture you will get that picture.

This will include formal nights ( about 5-6 backgrounds) casual photos on some nights. Embarkation and ports.

We did this package on a recent cruise with our daughter, She was in a different cabin. We both bought the packages as she wanted single shots of herself. We came home with 100 plus photos and thumb drive. Port photos have date and port location in the photo ( good way to remember )

We developed great relationship with the staff and this made for an awesome experience. would do it again.

We bought the $99 special for our 15 day Hawaiian in April. There were 3 of us in our room. Formal nights there's 6 photo opportunities, with each photographer taking 6-8 shots, so that's 30+ pictures on each of the 3 formal nights. Plus every night had at least 1 casual photo opportunity, where the photographers are more than willing to take as many pictures as you'd like as long as there's no one else waiting, we got at least 10 from those nights. Then there's every port disembarkment picture, random photos in the dining rooms, just because a photographer is wandering pictures etc, I figure we got about 450 pictures, possibly more (I was aiming for 500! Grins). For us it was worth just picking up the entire packet, handing them off at the photo desk. We looked at them after the trip.

Our next cruise is only a 7 day, but there will be 4 of us in our suite. Even if we do the $199 package, I'm sure we'll get some great memories. Still hoping for the $99 price again though!

No not the same, bring your camera.

out of nearly 30 cruises I have bought the photo package on about 40-50% of the time. usually if its a special occasion or we have friends or family with us. when I do purchase I make sure to get our $$ worth and my kids are absolutely sick of taking pictures be end of cruise but we have hundreds. We typically know the photography staff well by the end of the 1-2 weeks.

This cruise I have promised kids no photo package, no standing in lines for formal night, we don't have to bring tuxedos and we will dress up but low key. When I asked them after booking what shore excursions they wanted their first request was no pictures LOL!!!

I am going to be in a terrible bind if they put the package on sale for $99 as I will likely buy it but I have promised the kids no pics! :D;p

If you don't take photos often and are going to buy a few I think the package is worth it even at $199 single pics are pricey

I just checked the Princess website and for my upcoming November cruise, the package is $199. Does anyone know if there's a chance the price will go down to the $99? I've never looked into this and have no idea if the price ever changes.

 

This package is for all photos the staff take of you during the cruise?

 

Thanks!

There are a few exceptions:

Photos taken if you have the Ultimate Balcony Dinner

Photos taken if you have a wedding or wedding renewal vows

Photos taken if you take the Ultimate Ship Tour (get the photos, but not the digital copy)

@$99 its a no-brainer, @ $149 its a a no-brainer. @ $199 Its still a no-brainer. But ultimately its your choice, everyone is different. Enjoy:)

There are a few exceptions:

Photos taken if you have the Ultimate Balcony Dinner

Photos taken if you have a wedding or wedding renewal vows

Photos taken if you take the Ultimate Ship Tour (get the photos, but not the digital copy)

I don't think we're going to do any of those things so glad to hear that all the package excludes!

Just re-read an earlier post where you mentioned the memory stick was included...that answered another question I had!

Thank you to all who have responded. As with pretty much everything, it seems to be a subjectively personal choice, but your information has helped me consider my options. I had resolved that I didn't need this, but I'll probably end up purchasing just because I hate the idea of missing some fantastic photo ops between 2 families plus grandparents, and if I just rely on personal photos, it will likely mean I'm either I'm behind the camera and not in the shot, or someone took a crappy photo of me.:p

We sail next week and got the email today offering all inclusive photo package for $199 advertised on board price is $250.

 

We are traveling with my sister and her hubby so thinking if one of us gets it we can share, as we will be together in most all instances

They had a $99 special, but that ended a couple months ago.

If they have the $99 special it is.

When/How often do they have the $99 special? My August cruise is still like $225.00

They had a $99 special, but that ended a couple months ago.

We're booked for 28 days in October and, for a very brief time the $99 package was offered. A few people jumped on it before Princess realized they don't normally offer that package on a cruise of that length. Those who paid for it right away got the package and anybody else was locked out. While we wouldn't have purchased it anyway some were quite disappointed to not get the package and the few who booked it right away are doing the happy dance.

Back in February we got the $99 for a 15 day canal cruise. Normally we buy one or two pictures on a cruise, so they still made money on us. But we got 61 prints and a ship-shaped memory stick with digital copies. Note that most of these were under 1M - not high resolution images. We could probably do better scanning the prints. Wouldn't do this for $200+, but worked for us. On ships that don't have an updated photo center you have to keep picking prints off the wall and bringing them to the desk with your memory stick every few days since the walls run out of space for new pictures. Gangway shots, green screens, champagne fountain, canal shots, normal black and white included. Did not include Platinum Studio, obviously. Also got to know the photo staff pretty well.