Get the Picture...disappointing experience

[tarahumphrey]

Just off Liberty. Great Ship. Wonderful cruise. Irritating photo experiences.

 

We preordered our CD for 179, several weeks prior to the cruise and made a point of seeking out ship photographers. As the popularity of this service grows, so do the lines for the photographers. We found much longer lines with the photographers than we did on any of out three previous cruises but we still managed to get a decent number of photos taken.

 

We first looked at the Images to be included on the CD on night three and realized specifically that our photo with the captain wasn't on it so we searched the walls of photos and found it and then went to the desk to ask for it to be included. No problem...they took the photo, filled out a form and told us it would be included. The next time we looked, it was included.

 

Afternoon 4. We look agin...no Labadee photos. Find photos on wall, go to desk, request they be included. "uh, check it again later". Um, okay. So we check it later..still no photos from Labadee. Go to desk on day 5 and ask again. This time a woman grabbed the same form they had previously filled out and fills it out for us. Upon our arrival onto the ship we had received a confirmation form confirming our CD preorder and letting us know we needed to order it on the shipboard photograph computers (by 3PM on day 4) so the woman who was helping us did it with us at that time. On the screen it showed that we would be charged $199 but the woman said that we shouldn't worry about it and we wouldn't be charged it. We were told to review the photos and make sure they were all on there and we did. We said to the woman that everything was on there except the ones she was holding in her hands and she assured us they would be included. We were told that we could pick up the CD that evening so we did. Last thing we did before going to bed was to check our onboard account and make sure it was okay. It was fine at that point...maybe 11:30PM.

 

Next morning we check the computer printout on our door...charged $199 for our prepaid CD. Off to guest relations...the LAST place I wanted to visit on departure morning. Fortunately we only waited 20 or so minutes to get to a person only to have them tell us we needed to go to the photo area. They walked us down to the photo area where we needed to wait for the manager to arrive. He arrived within 15 or so minutes and removed the charge. He couldn't reprint our statement for us and by that time the guest relations line was triple the length it had been so we took the receipt he had provided showing the refund and left.

 

I popped in our CD a little while ago (after much frustration fighting the software)...no Labadee photos! Grrrrr! Called the customer service number for Get the Picture immediately but, alas, no one hours today.

 

This was not an enjoyable service at all!

[cruiseinfoseeker]

This sounds very disappointing and I can understand your frustration. Thank you for posting this experience as it makes me wonder if I will get the photo cd on our next cruise as well as will make me more aggressive about confirming picture inclusion if I do.

 

:)

[Sparky74]

We purchased the "Get the Picture" package on our 11 night Queensland (Australia) cruise on Rhapsody last November. The photographers could not have been more amiable. We took every opportunity to get our photo taken so they got to know us. Every day or two we'd scour the walls for our photos & the staff happily filed them away for us. On the last full day we double checked that they were all on our account. We were offered all our prints (nearly 200 of them) for an extra $50 so we took them. (DW is a scrapbooker & a photo freak).

 

We were back on Rhapsody last month (February). The photographers treated us like old friends & the fact that we weren't buying lots of photos this cruise didn't seem to bother them. DW wanted gangway phtotos. On the last night we sorted through the photos & picked out 4 small photos & one large one. As Platinum C&A members we had 2 "buy one, get one for 50%" vouchers so it came to $49.79. The photography manager asked if we wanted the rest for another $50. We said no but he gave them to us anyway for free :D so we ended up with another 5 large & 10 small photos! 20 photos in all.

[outtoseacruise]

We did the All Digital & All Prints for $349 on Allure last month. Purchased it 3 days prior to the cruise and everything went ok. We only had 3 or 4 pics out of about 100 that didn't post to our folder. When we brought the pics to them they went in and updated it for us.

I also went and confirmed that they had received our order and was instructed to also order from the Photo Kiosk and they verified they payment I made a few days earlier. No double charge and everything went the way it should.

[lori450]

I'm sorry so much of your cruise was spent checking on their work and doing their job. This is the kind of thing that really gets to me. So, I won't opt for this program in the future. I have a camera and it just isn't worth the aggravation or the potential for aggravation. I'm cruising to relax, not check up on the photo dept. Thanks for the info.

[setsail]

http://www.image.com/html/contact.html

[Sh1035]

Welcome to cruise 101.....never ever buy the ships pictures you can do so much better on your own. Sometimes they get one right and you have to have it but that's rare

[LBumb]

sounds very frustrating

[A2Mich]

To me it sounds like the really frustrating part would be trying to justify paying $350 for a cruise ship photo package! Olan Mills can do much nice r photos for quite a bit less!

[Pushka]

We were on a Cunard ship this month and I wanted a nice photo with my mother. We stood in line for 10 mins and the line was growing steadily longer while the photographer faffed about with just one couple taking maybe 10 shots. They would probably only buy one. Meantime everyone in the queue gave up so they lost perhaps 20 groups of people. Stupid business plan.

 

This is why I don't pre buy photo plans as I can't be bothered waiting.

 

It is such a pain for you that everything got messed up. Hope you get it sorted.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kleo30]

I'm sorry you had such disappointing service.

 

I purchased that package for our Explorer cruise last November. I printed out the receipt to take with me, didn't have to reorder on board, and all of my pictures (all 140 of them) were included without my having to tell them any were missing.

 

Our only disappointment was not being able to get the print photos, too...even at an additional cost of $100 as we've read others doing. Otherwise, we were very happy.

[tarahumphrey]

We had purchased the CD of all of our photos onboard Oasis in April 2011 and didn't have any issues with photos not being included on the CD. At that time we were a family of 6 sailing rather than 2 so I guess there was more chance for the facial recognition software to recognize someone's face. At that time nearly every photographer scanned our sea pass card before they started taking photos. This time, very few did that.

 

I don't fault anyone for being willing to pay the price for their images. People enjoy different things. Some people buy $300 worth of photos and some buy $300 worth of drinks...to each their own.

 

We wanted the ship photos because it was the best way to get photos of the two of us together...we have lots of photos of each of us alone but only one of the two of us together that a stranger took for us.

 

The confirmation we received upon arrival on the ship says, "please note that Get the Picture per-purchases must be finalized through the photo kiosks by 3:00PM Friday. Simply insert your onboard charge card and select your prepaid item. Go to My Cart>Check Out>Room Numberband finalize the purchase. You will NOT be charged the price displayed on the screen.".

As I mentioned in my OP, it was one of the people working in the photo center who actually ordered the CD for us with us standing there. Customer Service opens at 9:00. I don't see how it could be possible, but I'm hoping like crazy that they can find those Labadee photos and email them to me. That's all I'm really looking for.