Photographers on Princess

In addition, given the technology, they can reduce the photo gallery size by having all pictures stored on digital and ordered through cabin TV - other lines do that. Time for Princess to forget their medallion and be environmentally friendly and avoid the multitude of unsold pictures that adorn the gallery walls during disembarkation.

I wonder how many photos they sell when displayed on cabin TV or a kiosk vs. when there are prints in the photo center.

It takes a dedicated effort to use a TV or kiosk to locate and look at your photos and I suspect many passengers will just not do this. On the other hand, passengers will stop by the photo gallery if passing through and look for the printed photos of themselves.

It is my understanding that the Majestic only uses TV/kiosks and does not have printed photos to look at. Can someone who has sailed on the Majestic confirm this?

I wonder how many photos they sell when displayed on cabin TV or a kiosk vs. when there are prints in the photo center.

 

It takes a dedicated effort to use a TV or kiosk to locate and look at your photos and I suspect many passengers will just not do this. On the other hand, passengers will stop by the photo gallery if passing through and look for the printed photos of themselves.

 

It is my understanding that the Majestic only uses TV/kiosks and does not have printed photos to look at. Can someone who has sailed on the Majestic confirm this?

I've been on ships on which your cruise card is the direct link to your photos. Your card is scanned when a picture is taken - seems a bit much, but it works. A few clicks of the cabin remote, and your entire sequence is displayed. Click purchase and the photo is delivered the same day. Very easy to do...any time. The ship's photo gallery is not always open, so pictures are closed from view, thus limiting access to search and purchase, then stand in line while other passengers are asking about photo packages, making a purchase, setting up a time for portraits, etc. I would love to see part of the photo gallery set up for the "studio" pictures rather than trying to get around the photographers and their equipment that takes over main public access areas. Seeing all those unsold pictures at the end of a cruise makes me wonder how much paper and chemical gets tossed.

I'm sure the cruise lines are looking at ways to save money and increase revenue while maximizing use of space. Effective us of technology will drive any photo gallery/kiosk/interactive TV decision.

Darcy

Personally I hate the waste of all those photos that people don't buy. All that paper and ink! And the prices are ridiculous. Anyway, hubby and I haven't purchased an official photo in quite a few years so we walk by whenever it is politely possible. On our last cruise there were actually two lines to board the ship - one stopped for the photographers and the other bypassed them.

We did get a Formal Night one several cruises ago and it wasn't bad. We tend to stand where they want us to but we don't do the stupid poses and they turn out OK.

My mom and aunt are both the type of people where if you didn’t take a photo of it, it didn’t happen. I’m more the type to take a photo here and there for Instagram, but I enjoy experiencing the item more than posing for a photo. That being said, we did purchase the photo package which ended up being a great deal...because those two walked away with 107 pictures. I’m not kidding.

 

I took a few too, but my issue is with the photographers and the posing. Every place we went they told us how to pose - clasping hands, back to back, hand on hips, folding arms back to back...if I posted these anywhere on reddit or Facebook we would become a meme. They’re AWFUL, it looks like a bad JCPenneys advertisement from 1992. Is this on all the ships or were our photogs just overzealous? The non posed photos were greatand casual, but its these posed portraits that are just dreadful. My aunt literally has one of her making a “thoughtful” pose with her fist balled up under her chin looking into the distance.

Simply tell them you want to pose the way you want! If not, tell them to move on. We seldom take pics any more. Maybe some once we hit the pier as they're not "posed". We'll only do a pic if it's on a new island or a new ship. We did love the fact that there were NO photographers on our Oceania cruise back in Jan.

I can see you haven't experienced that many photographers. :rolleyes:

All they do is jam up the walkways & slow down the people trying to get off the ship at times.

Unfortunately, like the garbage art sales & "sidewalk" sales, they are a necessary evil. How else do you think the prices of cruises have barely budged over the past 20 years? True, the food quality has diminished greatly, but they have to find other revenue streams, or be ready to start paying quite a bit more for your cruise. Or sail on Oceania & find out what $7k actually will get you for 14 days!

Unfortunately, like the garbage art sales & "sidewalk" sales, they are a necessary evil. How else do you think the prices of cruises have barely budged over the past 20 years? True, the food quality has diminished greatly, but they have to find other revenue streams, or be ready to start paying quite a bit more for your cruise. Or sail on Oceania & find out what $7k actually will get you for 14 days!

I really don't mind them offering the photo's for sale but when they cause backups on the ship I get annoyed. If they would simply have a location to go and have your photo taken it would solve the problem.

I guess they just don't see it as a major problem.

Any of you people ever have portraits taken by the professional photography studio on board? I think they’re quality black and white portraits.

Enjoy your cruise.

King

You could have said you were both there on an extramarital affair and you do not want evidence left for your family. That would have been hilarious and well worth it for their reaction.

I once was on a Princess cruise looking through the photos posted in the photo gallery when I noticed a photo of my neighbor in an amorous pose with a young lady about 20-30 years his junior. And she was not his daughter or his wife. ;)

Enjoy your cruise.

King

Any of you people ever have portraits taken by the professional photography studio on board? I think they’re quality black and white portraits.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

King

We tried that. Prices were high & they still tried to "pose" us. We were not impressed.

We had a photographer corner us once as we were coming down the staircase. So I thought, ‘ok if it looks cool we’ll buy it”.

When I discussed with my partner how we wanted it to look, the photographer was PUT ... OFF ... that were weren’t listening to a thing he was saying.

I finally had to say, “look, it doesn’t matter to me whether we take this or not but if we do I’m going to stand and face how I want. It’s up to you. Yes? No?”

He finally just huffed and shut his mouth.

There definately is some kind of control culture with the photographers on cruise ships. I wouldn’t mind so much if their work warranted it. But mostly they’re moderately talented shooters who probably came there from an ad agency or something where the shot is supposed to be generic and devoid of too much personality.

You paid a lot of money for this trip. Take the photos how in the hell you want.

We had a photographer corner us once as we were coming down the staircase. So I thought, ‘ok if it looks cool we’ll buy it”.

 

When I discussed with my partner how we wanted it to look, the photographer was PUT ... OFF ... that were weren’t listening to a thing he was saying.

 

I finally had to say, “look, it doesn’t matter to me whether we take this or not but if we do I’m going to stand and face how I want. It’s up to you. Yes? No?”

 

He finally just huffed and shut his mouth.

 

There definately is some kind of control culture with the photographers on cruise ships. I wouldn’t mind so much if their work warranted it. But mostly they’re moderately talented shooters who probably came there from an ad agency or something where the shot is supposed to be generic and devoid of too much personality.

 

You paid a lot of money for this trip. Take the photos how in the hell you want.

That's what we didn't like. They tried too hard to "pose" you. It's the only cruise where we didn't buy a single pic.

Could someone who does not like to be "posed" for a photo please post a photo they knew was being taken and they like in which they are not posed?

Just trying to understand what a non-candid, un-posed photo looks like.

Sadly it's not just Princess. EVERY cruise line has their photographers stuck in the 70's and 80's "portrait studio" poses. It's really not worth posing for any of the posed photos onboard when they come up with all those awful positions. If we purchase any photos, we buy them individually and they're usually the ones of us on the dock when we're exiting the ship as a candid. Those costumes and bad props at each stop are pretty bad too. Again, this is not a Princess thing, it's an every cruise line thing.