Did you buy photo book on board... how'd it look?

[Solara]

Mark, The book looks fantastic! Glad to hear it came out great. I'm definitely checking it out when we cruise next month.

[markstudy]

TQuestion for you...do they have any choices of backgrounds or all of the pages basically the same background?.

 

Thanks to everyone who liked the book :)

 

You can change the color of the background pages. You can change each page to a different color if you want. I even saw someone download a big photo of a wave to use as their background page, and then paste small photos over the top of it (looked good)

 

You can remove the water-marks on the page, I thought they looked cool on most pages, but got in the way on other pages.

 

You can also select different design books- Travel book, wedding book, family book...and so on. They also have a few different covers you can pick from...I just did a simple dust jacket.

[Drews_Cruise]

Its very impressive. Thanks for sharing your experience with this service. I will definately do this next month.

[happytrails42]

Yeah, it would be great if they sold a "super ultra deluxe" photo book package that would include all ships photos from the week... but they don't. I'd gladly pay $120 for such a package.SirWired

 

I'd pay for the "super ultra deluxe" model as well :D Not sure if it would move things forward but perhaps folks should contact their cruise line of choice -- if the cruise line has the photo book -- and make the suggestion. If they hear it enough, you never know -- it may eventually become something they offer.;)

 

Markstudy -- the book looks fantastic -- you did a wonderful job! I can't wait to do ours :)

[DRMizzou]

We just received our cruise photo book from Panraven and it turned out great. I checked out this thread a few times but decided to wait until we received our book to comment. We purchased the book while on the Sapphire in February for $59.95. The Panraven site is very user friendly. We purchased one photo that was taken on the ship and it was available to place in the book as we wished. We then uploaded our own photos and added commentary. It turned out great. A very nice remembrance of a great vacation. We highly recommend it!!

[never2late]

We just received our book in the mail. We are very happy with the results. If you want to see it here is the web address:

 

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=156442

 

We were married aboard the Star Princess and it is definitely a keepsake for us. Yes, it took time and editing and re-editing, but we are more than pleased with the results. I will also mention that when I had a few glitches and e-mailed them, the rep at Panraven got right back to me and was so very helpful. I highly recommend creating a book of your cruise. :)

[markstudy]

We just received our book in the mail. We are very happy with the results. We were married aboard the Star Princess and it is definitely a keepsake for us.

 

Great book! :) Lots of interesting and beautiful photos.

 

Congratulations on your Star Princess wedding!

[Ms. Alpha]

The books look great online. We just returned from the Panama Canal and I haven't started ours yet! Now that it is a long weekend I might get a chance.

 

I haven't seen it mentioned on this thread, but if you live outside the US it costs an extra $25 for the shipping. I figured it was still worth it. I planned to do a book from our last cruse, but never mangaged to get around to it. Now I will have to because I have already paid for it!!

[lizmit]

I have a link to my book on-line.

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=154975

 

Thanks for sharing your awesome pictures - professional photographer? What a beautiful romantic photo album --- I'm sold!

~ Liz

[markstudy]

I have a link to my book on-line.

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=154975

 

Thanks for sharing your awesome pictures - professional photographer? What a beautiful romantic photo album --- I'm sold!

~ Liz

 

I'm glad you liked it. And thanks for the complement...but I'm not a photographer. My camera was on "automatic" setting 99% of the time. The basic digital camera's have just gotten so "smart" that they take great photos. And the photo book makes the presentation look polished. I was as surprised as anyone else, at how good these books come-out:o

 

My only skill, is that I take 3 photos of the more important shots, and one of them is bound to come-out looking good:D

[happytrails42]

We just received our book in the mail. We are very happy with the results. If you want to see it here is the web address:

 

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=156442

 

We were married aboard the Star Princess and it is definitely a keepsake for us. Yes, it took time and editing and re-editing, but we are more than pleased with the results. I will also mention that when I had a few glitches and e-mailed them, the rep at Panraven got right back to me and was so very helpful. I highly recommend creating a book of your cruise. :)

 

Beautiful album!! I'm definitely sold :D Best wishes for a life time of happiness.

[NHsnowpup]

The

problem with the accessory pack is it came with a few other straps and

color plates that I didn't need but had to pay for :(.

;)

 

Mark, awesome job with your photos, the book and explaining to everybody!! Thanks so much. PanRaven should refund your cost for all the business you have undoubtedly sent their way.

 

Just got the DH a D10 for his birthday, waiting for it to arrive. Alaska land and cruise this July. We also whitewater kayak a lot. Thinking of the accessory pack. What other straps came with it, besides the one you showed/used? Do they all have the little knob connectors on the ends? Would you be interested in discussing a new home for the parts you ended up not needing?

 

Thanks!

Deb

[Caribensun]

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=157427

 

Loved everyones books, thanks for sharing, waiting to get ours back, thought we would share too. We wrote all of our own words and used nearly all of our own photos. It was difficult at first-especially the first page being different than the cover and then trying to make it different.

We will definately do this again on our next Princess cruise next year.

We purchased an Olympus waterproof camera for this trip and it did not take very good photos, but had to put them in anyway. We did use photo magic and are curious to see how it will make the photos look once we get our book.

Enjoy! Seadeck2

[markstudy]

Mark, awesome job with your photos, the book and explaining to everybody!! Thanks so much.

 

Thinking of the accessory pack. What other straps came with it, besides the one you showed/used? Do they all have the little knob connectors on the ends? Would you be interested in discussing a new home for the parts you ended up not needing?

 

Thanks for the kind words Deb :)

 

I love the little knob connectors they really work well for the different straps you can connect to the camera for different outdoor activities.

 

I got 3 straps in the accessory kit-

 

1) adjustable hip strap - for rock climbing

2) hip strap - for kayaking so you don't drop your camera and lose it.

I think you could get the same result with a clip, just clipping the wrist strap to your life vest.

3) neck strap - I used if for snorkeling and liked it! Because I like to swim not just float around. If you are not an active swimmer, you could hold the camera and just float around. Or just buy a clip and hook it to your snorkle life vest.

 

I'm going to go on a trip to Northern Georgia later this year... so I think I'm going to be able to use the other two straps (that I originally thought were useless)... I liked the accessory pack, but you could save the money and rig something very simple yourself. I think the straps are over priced.

[markstudy]

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=157427

 

Loved everyones books, thanks for sharing, waiting to get ours back, thought we would share too.

 

Cool book, thanks for posting. I loved the photo on the last page...with the sunset between the two of you :)

 

I also liked the fishing photos on Bonaire. The pic on page 28 was my favorite and the photo on page 34 was also neat... gives me a look at some of the island that I didn't get to see on my snorkeling trips, so I appreciate it.

 

I can't believe you did Disney's parks all in one day :eek:. Sounds like a great trip!...we also love Rock&Roll Roller Coaster and finishing up at California Grill for Wishes is one of our favoirtes Disney experiances.

[NHsnowpup]

 

I love the little knob connectors they really work well for the different straps you can connect to the camera for different outdoor activities.

 

I got 3 straps in the accessory kit-.. I think I'm going to be able to use the other two straps (that I originally thought were useless)... I liked the accessory pack, but you could save the money and rig something very simple yourself. I think the straps are over priced.

 

Thanks for describing how the three could be used. The best I had gotten was a tiny little picture of the straps and was trying to figure out how they were really different from each other. I'll be trying out some configurations with all the different parts in my spare straps bin to see what will work for us. Snow board leashes I think will work well. You're right that they are overpriced. Thanks again.

[Caribensun]

Markstudy, what shore excursion and who through on Dominica? Loved it!

You had a great camera, we are now looking for a better one if you have a recommendation let us know. Had to get on as many rides in one day and see the parks because lots of cheerleaders hogging the rides in Disneyworld. It was nice to go back through the next day. Unfortunately, the photos of the flamingos did not turn out and we were much closer to them than showed and I had to keep changing the camera settings and use zoom. Titou Gorge looked alot like some of your photos, ours not so much. You will have to continue to share your adventures.

[lookin4moresun]

I purchased from Island Princess, finished it 100 pages, ordered three copies. Other than my poor typing it is wonderful. I am so happy with the books. I may never scrap the old way again. It so good as there were 3 different family groups in our family group. I combined to make it one vacation and just ordered 3 copies.

 

Looking forward to my Alaska pics this summer.

[markstudy]

Other than my poor typing it is wonderful....and just ordered 3 copies

 

I got lucky... after I ordered the 1st book, my dad asked for a copy, so I fixed a few things (that I missed) and then ordered the 2nd copy. My dad will never notice the few things I didn't get right in the first copy, but they stood-out like Big Red Flag to me :D... so in the future, if you want multiple books, order them one at a time. (you might catch a typing mistake, or I even found a few photos in my wife's camera that I forgot to include in the first draft):rolleyes:

[markstudy]

Markstudy, what shore excursion and who through on Dominica? Loved it!

 

We booked the tour with the friendly folks at the Cocoa Cottage... its a unique Bed & Breakfast located in the middle of Dominica's beautiful rainforest. They offered our tour as - the Canyoning Tour. First class people! First class equipment! 20 minute ride from the ship. http://www.cocoacottages.com/

[kymbakitty]

For every cruise and land vacation, I have put together a photo album. Some are quite elaborate and we always take at least two weeks--whereever we vacation.

 

The last couple of years, I've been using kodakgallery.com and have been having terrific results.

 

This last cruise (14 night caribbean), I saw the offer for the $59.97 option where you can upload 100 of your own pages, in addition to all of the pictures that they had of your specific ports of call--I thought, wow...how cool is that. The reason? Well, many of the ports we had visited and we didn't do any organized tours. So for the ports that we have very little information/photos on, Princess will be filling in the blanks! I thought it was very, very cool.

 

The one thing that I will not be able to do, which I will miss, is to send my kodakgallery.com photo album electronically. I believe I have 90 days to get this together and I highly doubt I'll be able to send the album via email like I have done w/kodakgalllery.com.

 

The only other thing I wish it didn't have was that jacket cover. For the past few years, I've chosen a nice book cover (really cool options), and there is a cut out on the cover with a piece of opaque parchment paper underneath so you can see the picture through the cutout on the front. I'm not a fan of dust covers....but this appears to be a very small price to pay.

 

We just got home tonight, so I'm not even sure if my photos are online yet...but I will be checking this weekend after we unpack! Had a long 19 hour day yesterday but it was worth it to sleep in our own bed!

 

:)

[markstudy]

 

The one thing that I will not be able to do, which I will miss, is to send my kodakgallery.com photo album electronically. e to send the album via email like I have done w/kodakgalllery.com.

 

I believe I have 90 days

 

The only other thing I wish it didn't have was that jacket cover. :)

 

I'm not sure what you mean by send it electronically?

They do give you a link if you want your friends to be able to see it and it stays active even after the 90 days. You can go back and order prints, T-shirts other stuff with your photos printed on it.

 

I think you're right, its 90 days to finish the book, after you buy it.

 

PanRaven had 3 covers to pick from...

- dust jacket cover

- cut-out front

- cover photo printed directly on the surface of the book.

[CALMOM]

We just received our book in the mail. We are very happy with the results. If you want to see it here is the web address:

 

http://www.panraven.com/visitor/VisitorViewStory.epage?sp=Sview&sp=156442

 

We were married aboard the Star Princess and it is definitely a keepsake for us. Yes, it took time and editing and re-editing, but we are more than pleased with the results. I will also mention that when I had a few glitches and e-mailed them, the rep at Panraven got right back to me and was so very helpful. I highly recommend creating a book of your cruise. :)

 

Absolutely beautiful, thank you for sharing. Congratulations on your marriage.

[kymbakitty]

I'm not sure what you mean by send it electronically?

They do give you a link if you want your friends to be able to see it and it stays active even after the 90 days. You can go back and order prints, T-shirts other stuff with your photos printed on it.

 

I think you're right, its 90 days to finish the book, after you buy it.

 

PanRaven had 3 covers to pick from...

- dust jacket cover

- cut-out front

- cover photo printed directly on the surface of the book.

 

Good to know....I didn't think the link would stay active after I finished the book. Great news.

 

As far as the jacket is concerned, I'm really glad to hear that I can change it. But I'm a little bit surprised. The folks that I purchased the book from said that was the only one available to me as the more expensive ones are, well, more expensive and the package I was getting was already reduced by half. But I will definitely try to change the cover when I get that far along in editing.

 

It looks like this may be easier if I upload my photos to picasa or the other option, because if I don't, it looks like I'll just need to go to my photos on my hard drive and chose them one at a time. I've already uploaded all of my pictures to kodakgallery (just because I've been using it for YEARS)...but that does not seem to be useful in this situation. Maybe I'll just (re)upload to one of the two options shown so adding pictures from my own collection will be much easier than uploading one picture at a time.

 

Thanks...

 

Dawn

[kymbakitty]

As I purchased various portraits taken by the ship photographers (Chef's Table/Lobster Balcony Dinner/various port pictures), they were put into a "file" on their computer. I was informed that these would be saved into the album so I would have access to them when I went to work on my album online.

 

I know I'm early into the process...but I can't seem to locate the professional ones. Does anyone know where I can locate these photos?

 

Thanks!!!!

 

Dawn