Making Sense of Expensive Photos

[bucsat1]

Making Sense of Expensive Photos

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.

[LLM]

I don't know about selling half an onion, but I completely agree on the pictures.

 

Lisa

[Downwind]

As of February, Holland America's photographers were still using film. As a consequence of the huge volume of pictures, they push the development process to the limit. The results are very contrasty, blocky pictures of relative low quality. If you try to scan one. the digital result is hardly worth printing. Digital cameras and processing would be a lot faster, produce superior pictures and would save them a ton of money.

 

Does anyone know if any of the other major lines have switched to digital?

[Suzieb]

Our recent trip on the Paradise I belive they were useing digital cameras. Some of the pictures we got had a bit of pixalation <sp> in them and the paper said is was digital paper

Much cheaper for a ship to be shotting digital shots and faster.

[Charisse4]

I agree with you about the photos, we paid $74.95 for 3-8x10's and we got a fourth one "free". Some were pretty good and I probably would have bought more if they weren't so expensive. The rest they threw away. What a shame to waste them all.

 

Charisse

[hvsteve1]

Disney has recently figured it out. Those of you who have been to WDW or DL have probably been approached by the photographers near the entrance who want to take your picture. You can see it and decide to buy on your way out. The new system involves digital cameras and swipe cards. The first photographer gives you the card which you can use throughout your visit. Every time your pic is taken they swipe the card. You can view your photos on line after you get home and share it with your family and decide which ones you want to order. I think most theme parks have been using digital cameras for a while,but the swipe card is new.

[mountainhouse]

As many years as I've done photography, there's still something magic about freezing time.

 

On our recent cruise, on the Grand Princess, the photographers were really quite good. Though the absolute cost of $20 each limited my buying, I did not take issue with the value of the photos. BTW, the Grand was all digital using good professional gear.

 

If I got poor photos from the ship's photographer, I'd certainly let the cruise line know. NO excuse for that.

[Bombmom39]

They had an offer last summer on the Norweigan Crown that for $149 up front you could have all the photos taken on the (7 day) cruise. I'm going on the same cruise soon~Is this a good deal???

[mountainhouse]

Could be. 2 thoughts come to mind... It would be nice to see the quality of their work before you paid. Some ship's photographers are better than others. 2nd, are you fairly outgoing? I ask because lots of the shots are taken at special events. If you attend a lot of them, you'd get more photos.