Cruise DVD--utter rubbish!

[photomuggle]

This is a much belated review of the Cruise DVD from the Western Caribbean cruise we took aboard the Voyager of the Seas in early February.

 

Well, it was our first cruise, and we made our share of newbie mistakes, including the purchase of the cruise DVD.

 

My disappointment is on two counts:

 

1. Hardly any actual footage from our cruise. The vast majority of the footage appeared to be stock.

 

However, that was not the biggest disappointment:-

 

2. The picture quality was awful! On our HDTV, some parts were heavily pixelated. It didn't even seem to be DVD quality--maybe VCD? Maybe not even. A $100 point-n-shoot these days would have shot better quality movie.

 

We had an absolute blast with our first cruise vacation. What a shame the cruise DVD quality didn't live up to the rest of the cruise experience.

[Oscar_the_Grouch's_Sis]

They never do! :p

 

You hit the nail on the head ... "newbie mistake" It's ok! Live and learn ;) We have all been there!! (It will probably become a great family inside joke one day LOL)

 

Glad to hear you had a great time. That is the important thing ... and thanks for posting! This will help future "newbies"

[traveling1969]

They do their best to stick the camera in as many faces as possible throughout the cruise (sales booster?). For many folks it's their 5 seconds of fame.

[sg1phileshipper]

Bought it too when I took my first cruise, but it will be my only time. If I want a cruise DVD, I'll film myself, quality will be much better :D

 

Cindy

[cruzkitty]

Oh, My-I made this mistake, too on either my 1st or 2nd cruise. You're so right-the DVD (probably a VCR back then:eek:) was awful. It was like an "Advertisement" for cruising. Very disappointing. Live and Learn-make that Cruise and Learn!

[LoisGriffin1]

Yep I made that mistake. It was because my cruise before was NCL and people said how good the dvd was so I really regretted not getting it.

 

The RCL one was awful. Lesson learnt and I will not be buying another one. There was very little of the actual cruise, it went on far too long and was extremely dull. The clips I took from my camera were much better and that was just a normal point and click digital camera (not known for their great video clips).

[cruiseguy1016]

We bought the Cruise in Review DVD on our cruise last March. We knew what to expect. The reason we bought it this time was that there were several times that we were featured in the video. This was not intentional on our part, we were just in the right place at the right time I guess. This cruise was to celebrate DW's birthday and DD's graduation. It will be a good keepsake for both of them.

[The_Big_M]

Count me in as well!

 

Mine was actually on Celebrity but same deal. Stock footage in all but one or two ports. There were only a couple of recordings on the ship (so not many pax even got shown). The worst was the bad music terribly dubbed so loudly over their tour/bridge narrative so you couldn't even hear the engineer speaking!

 

I can understand some time constraints but equally there was some simple stuff that could have been so much better. It's like they don't want return purchases.

[Happy ks]

The first time I saw one advertised (on the cruise TV) during the cruise I happened to be on, I knew it was mostly dubbed in. Why? because they were showing a man at the midnight buffet getting into trouble...and there was not a midnight buffet. Plus, the CD was different from the one on the cruise. It was not only obvious, it was very poorly done.

 

Just another way for the cruise line to make money :rolleyes: I think all min stream cruise lines do it.

[Oscar_the_Grouch's_Sis]

The first time I saw one advertised (on the cruise TV) during the cruise I happened to be on, I knew it was mostly dubbed in. Why? because they were showing a man at the midnight buffet getting into trouble...and there was not a midnight buffet. Plus, the CD was different from the one on the cruise. It was not only obvious, it was very poorly done.

 

Just another way for the cruise line to make money :rolleyes: I think all min stream cruise lines do it.

 

:D Thank you!!! I needed a good LAUGH this morning!!!! Ha!Ha!!!

[foxesden1]

Yep crap, never again. :p:rolleyes: I also bought it on our first cruise!

[Sequim88]

we were just in the right place at the right time I guess.

 

Let me guess... you did a lot of activities that involved the Cruise Director? :rolleyes: I've noticed on the two DVDs we have that the camera person tends to concentrate on those who participate with the CD.

 

We knew better but had to get the last one becasuse my parents were did the Love & Marriage thing for their 60th anniversary (and won).

 

I think part of the quality issue is the pre-HD video editing software they use. They probably also have a stock template for an itinerary with positions marked day 1, day 2, etc... for inserting video clips each day. I'm curious how our next cruise with 15 days will be handled - especially the first stretch of seven sea days in a row.

[kycruiser72]

We were on the Jewel back in April and I remember commenting to my wife that the DVD seemed to be a much lower quality that I remembered. I have thought about purchasing the DVD a time or two but after seeing the "finished product" I thought "NO!" I agree, it does seem that they used a lot of stock footage but maybe it had to do with a smaller ship and less resources/staff in the RCTV department. I dunno. All I know is that our cruise was a blast and the pictures videos we shot ourselves were MUCHO better.

 

The ramblings of a cruise-maniac.

[klingoncruiser]

Been there, done that. Newbie's are such easy marks. Oh well, we get much better at this with practice. LOTS of practice. :D

[Mark_K]

The only reason I would even consider buying it would be if I knew I, or my family, was included in it and I wanted to show it to people.

[KansCocoa]

Our very first cruise was to the Southern Caribbean back in 2005...and we purchased the DVD so we'd have a souvenir of our trip.

 

Our constant companion on this cruise was rain. Lots of rain. We were being "chased" by Hurricane Wilma in the gulf/Atlantic, and we had lots of gloomy, cloudy, rainy days - I don't think we saw the sun for even a second on this cruise.

 

Imagine my confusion when watching the DVD when we returned home, and all of the footage was of bright, sunny, delightful days.

 

"Imagine that," I remarked to my Hubby. "That video camera is so magical that it managed to turn rain clouds into sunshine."

 

Lesson learned - a lot of what you see on the DVD is stock. With that said, I managed to always be in front of the camera on our 2nd cruise, (not on purpose, I swear!) and so we purchased that one, as well. Provided a good laugh for the kids.

[HTML5]

I wish I'd seen this thread before wasting money on the utter crap "Cruise in Review" DVD we purchased on or recent cruise. It's not even a review of the actual cruise. It's a promotional video RCI obviously hopes you'll show to your family and friends.

 

Stock footage and terrible video quality mark this as a straight up ripoff. Won't get fooled again!

[Daghis]

I generally get the Cruise in Review DVD and am generally satisfied with it being a memento of the cruise. One of the things I noticed on our last cruise (on the Allure of the Seas) was that what I thought was stock footage (due to the voiceover) was actual footage from our cruise. I was surprised to see my younger son show up during the segment where they were talking about the teen programs.

[johneeo]

This is a much belated review of the Cruise DVD from the Western Caribbean cruise we took aboard the Voyager of the Seas in early February.

 

Well, it was our first cruise, and we made our share of newbie mistakes, including the purchase of the cruise DVD.

 

 

Did you buy the welcome aboard drink with the umbrella?:p

[The Big Booper]

We only buy the CIR DVD when we are in it, such as the Love & Marriage game show or the Quest.

[Stags14]

We got hosed on this deal as well. Only it wasn't our first crusie, it was our 4th together and my 10th or so. HOWEVER, this one was our honeymoon so we wanted to get something to remind us of our week.

 

OOPS! lol.

[sg1phileshipper]

This is a much belated review of the Cruise DVD from the Western Caribbean cruise we took aboard the Voyager of the Seas in early February.

 

Well, it was our first cruise, and we made our share of newbie mistakes, including the purchase of the cruise DVD.

 

My disappointment is on two counts:

 

1. Hardly any actual footage from our cruise. The vast majority of the footage appeared to be stock.

 

However, that was not the biggest disappointment:-

 

2. The picture quality was awful! On our HDTV, some parts were heavily pixelated. It didn't even seem to be DVD quality--maybe VCD? Maybe not even. A $100 point-n-shoot these days would have shot better quality movie.

 

We had an absolute blast with our first cruise vacation. What a shame the cruise DVD quality didn't live up to the rest of the cruise experience.

 

 

I made the same mistake on my first cruise too. It is indeed a newbie mistake, but the good thing is that my mom was on the DVD :D. When they try to sell them now, I don't even look back :) And yes, even my small cam will shoot better pictures...

 

Cinidy

[deltatango]

Oh my, I have paid for this DVD on my cruise below, can I cancel it and get my money back ? BTW it does not show up on cruise items when logged in, think its from a outside source rather than RCI

 

Just been on mycriusephoto.com to cancel, I have my own camera with video so will do it my self, thanks for post

[bigque]

Never considered buying it. I made my own DVD from my last cruise but have not been able to figure out how to post if here!

[PeaPod1946]

It's funny you should post this - we finally watched the DVD last weekend from the April cruise, and I agree - it was just a sales pitch for the ship, and quality was horrible!

 

However I don't think it's a newbie mistake - bought the DVDs from Holland and Celebrity cruises and they were wonderful! The Holland one had clips from the actual port stops - I know because my aunts & uncles were in 2 clips, and it is really nice to have since uncle passed.

 

I won't buy RCI's again though.