Making Sense of Expensive Photos

[bucsat1]

I would venture a guess that the cruise lines sell less than 10% of the photos they develop for display and sale. Perhaps this has something to do with the ridiculous pricing. Most ships now charge $19.95 per photo memory! We tend to buy no more than two per cruise, but usually just one. The photo crew ends up shredding thousands of photographs and it does seem like such a waste. If they were priced at $9.95, we would buy the entire collection, and I have to feel I'm not alone in this thinking. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell 30% of the photos at $9.95, than 10% at $19.95?

 

OBTW, I fell the same when I go to Outback Steakhouse and ponder purchasing a Blooming Onion. My wife and I know we will only consume at most half of the onion. We often end up not ordering one because we don't want to spend $7.95 (guessing on the price) for a whole one. Too bad they don't offer half an onion at 60-70% the price they now charge for a whole one. Bet they'd sell more onions, I know I'd buy more.

[medolee]

Did you ask about a package deal? I do not know which ship you sailed, but I have always done a package--even on the high priced Disney cruise where there is always a mouse in your pocket!!

 

And I do have to agree with the Bloomin Onion, seems like they could save the small ones for this purpose and reduce the cost--but likely not gonna happen!:)

[dyanna72]

I would guess that this puts me in a small number of people who do buy the photos. Last cruise on Carnivals Fascination we had many photos taken. They all turned out extremely well. Needless to say...we spent $400 on ship taken photos. (They threw in a free photo album to store all the photos we bought) There were many we did turn down. We figured what the heck. It's not that often we get our photos taken together. Now people come over to the house & look thru the album & comment on how wonderful the photos look. Each time somone comments about the cruise it brings back many happy memories. You only live once!

[truffles2]

I asked someone in the photo dept. on one cruise how many pictures they took per week and how many they sold. I was astounded by the number they took and really astounded at the % sold. You would be surprised!

NOW, if they would just use softer light and maybe a filter now and then, I'll bet they would sell zillions.

[Travelgrrl]

I spend very little onboard (well, a few drinks) but I also budget for a photo or two. I have an entire wall on a stairwell landing with cruise photos in similar frames. My daughter looked at it and said "It's a boy and a girl, growing up!" (From their changing visages in the pics.)

 

When you consider how much you would pay on land for a proper sitting and then the prints, the prices are actually fairly reasonable. Also, you can legally get copies later, so if I travel with a friend and we pose together, we split the cost and get a second copy later.

[LisaGoeke]

When you consider how much you would pay on land for a proper sitting and then the prints, the prices are actually fairly reasonable. Also, you can legally get copies later, so if I travel with a friend and we pose together, we split the cost and get a second copy later.

 

How do you legally get a copy later? Do you have to have them sign some sort of release form before you leave the ship?

[dyanna72]

Go to http://www.image.com & they have a release form you can fill out.

[Travelgrrl]

An RCI photo shop employee originally gave me the URL (above). It has worked fine at Walgreens, Sam's Club, and other places that have the Picturemaker type photo reprinters.

[setcarp]

We spent $40 for 2 pictures and one of them got scratched before we left the ship. See my post here.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=162644

[ugacruisers]

I guess we too are also in the small percentage of those who actually purchase pictures onboard! My husband and I just got off the Mariner of the Seas on Sunday (4/10/05) and we purchased 11 pictures! We had a hard time even narrowing the choices down to those 11! We received a free 5x7 picture of the ship and a free leather album for one picture (8x10) of us and the other of the ship (8x10); which was free!

[jmarch]

We were told on our March cruise that the Jewel was getting ready to switch all digital photos and you would view the pictures on computer screens and print only the ones you wanted. We asked if that meant the price was going to be reduced and they didn't comment.:confused:

 

Hello Truffles:D

[Travelgrrl]

Setcarp,

 

Why didn't you just ask them to print you another one? I'm sure they would have, no charge.

 

Travelgrrl

[MrsPete]

I'm surprised they don't go to a digital system -- plenty of land-based photographers do just this type of thing. They take a million pictures at a sporting event, a dance, etc.; they give out business cards to the people at the event, leading them to a website. People log on and see all the pictures that were made. They can choose any size or number of pictures -- even color or B&W. The photographer prints up JUST what people want to buy. It's efficient and low-cost.

 

Taking it a step further, a cruise ship could really increase its sales by having the pictures available AFTER the cruise. People could log on later to see the pictures and they could be mailed.

 

They're really "missing the boat" by not going to such a system.

[FlyingPhotog]

I own a 6.2 megapixel digital SLR camera, cost about $1000 just for the body. Takes pics up to 20x30"

 

I've taken about 6,000 pictures in 11 months with it. That equals 250 rolls of 24 exposure film.

 

If each roll of film cost about $4, I would have spent $1,000.

 

If you add developing at $7-10 per roll, it would be another $1,750 to $2,500.

 

So we have $1,000 versus about $3,000. Digital is the way to go. :cool:

[jmarch]

I'm surprised they don't go to a digital system -- plenty of land-based photographers do just this type of thing. They take a million pictures at a sporting event, a dance, etc.; they give out business cards to the people at the event, leading them to a website. People log on and see all the pictures that were made. They can choose any size or number of pictures -- even color or B&W. The photographer prints up JUST what people want to buy. It's efficient and low-cost.

 

Taking it a step further, a cruise ship could really increase its sales by having the pictures available AFTER the cruise. People could log on later to see the pictures and they could be mailed.

 

They're really "missing the boat" by not going to such a system.

 

Very True, the only question was how many monitors was going to be available to view with. Just like now you can see the photos because everyone is there doing the same thing. I would bet they would do something on the TV system to view them, so all of us husbands can have something to do when DW is getting ready for dinner..

 

 

By the way isn't it "missing the SHIP":rolleyes:

[jdfloyd]

I worked as a photographer in a portrait studio. Our 8 x 10's, 1-5 x 7 & 4 wallets were $19.95 each..(same as ships price) We did have package deals but still the cost of portraits were about $12.00 per sheet. PLUS we had a sitting fee of $9.95 per person...for a family of 4 it was pretty costly just for the sitting fee. I took on average 8-10 different poses.

 

So basically the cost of photo's on the ship is still cheaper than an upscale portrait studio (not Penney's or Sears etc) and the quality is equal.

[cmason]

They are digital now, at least the cameras they use are. On our Novemeber cruise they used digital camera backs. There was not a "viewing station" to look at pics first, they had them printed out and on display, but I do believe that you could have them find a picture from a previous day for you in the computer.

[dna1990]

Of course the real trick will be if they can send just my photos to preview/purchase - to my stateroom over the TV. Facial recognition perhaps? RF signals from SeaPass cards?

 

But as said above, won't this be the end of an interesting tradition...often just the right time-filler in between activities. Huddled around terminals won't be the same.

 

I do look forward to sheet-based packages. Where something other than 5x7 or 8x10 can be efficiently offered / mixed.

 

Oh, and thanks SWA above, I hope to use your math to "save" enough to buy the new Canon RebelXT. Keep Love flying.

[epdion]

On a recent family cruise, our family portrait came out pretty well and my FIL graciously offered to buy one for them and one for us. Turned out it was part of a 2 picture package: one bordereless print (which we wanted), one with all sorts of RCCL stuff around the edges (which we did not want). FIL took them to the counter and told the guy that he wanted two of the borderless prints. He was told, no, it was part of the package of 2 for $19.95. He was welcome to order 2 packages. Staff refused to quote a price for just one of the photos and lost the entire sale. (He could easily have said $15 per photo and made $30)

[DEERINH2O]

I too am in the minority, I buy the photos. I budget for each cruise, photos are included in the budget. We always buy the first one that they take when we board. If it is only 2 of us, we don't spend as much, but when the kids go, well I spend :confused: . Its vacation and its always fun to have memories.

 

I know Princess allowed us to look at our pics online for a few weeks after the cruise, don't know if that is normal. We didnt buy anymore when we got home, the fun of spending on vacation was over.

 

kathy

[Nancyquilts]

We used to buy the pictures, but the ones in recent years show us as a couple with lots of wrinkles. I think the film must have been better 20-30 years ago, because that couple looked much younger. Nancy

[NYDee]

If we like the photo we buy it. Since we do get a coupon in our Platinum coupon book we usually end up getting at least one. I am sure they get the paper and ink at a very good price. When a person has the photo in hand I think they may be more likely to buy it than if they view it in thier room. But I do think they would sell a lot more if they lowered the price.

[erin_cruisers]

We could not believe the number of pics that were taken during our cruise. I mean every time we turned around they were snapping pics. Some people said no, but what's the point, there was never any pressure to buy.

So, yes it seems like a lot of waste doesn't it. Maybe the digital version viewed on your TV monitor makes more sense (ecologically).

I won't be as much fun, however standing in the hall looking for your pictures, (and at others too)! :p

 

That said, as it was our first cruise, we bought around $250. of pics, and got several freebies, and 4 leather jacketed albums. Also because I bought a "romance" package, we received a free pic and a nice silver frame.

 

SETCARP:

Sorry to hear about your scratched pics. I was really surprised to hear about that happening, since we were VERY impressed with how they handled and wrapped out pics when we bought them. When we got them back to our cabin we wrapped them again in towels and burried them in the centre of our suitcases and they made it home no problem.

 

I also scanned them to my computer and burned them onto a CD, so I can save and print them in the event of a disaster. ;)

[jdfloyd]

Does RCI offer package deals? If so what are they and how much??

[setcarp]

Why didn't you just ask them to print you another one? I'm sure they would have, no charge.

We noticed it when we were packing our carry-ons in the morning. We waited until the last night to buy the pics and brought some cardboard to keep them from getting them bent in a backpack. Not sure if we could have gotten a new one that morning. I was just so pissed at the moment it never crossed my mind.