2 comments about onboard photos

[RoofingPrincess]

As far as I know it is also not allowed to take 'the purchased' photos and have copies made of them after 'you' return home ...... unless 'you' have a waiver from the cruise line ( easy to get).

The photos are the property of the photo dept. from that cruise line.

 

But people are, who / what they are, and they do / what they do .....even if it is wrong.

 

Wes

The copyright of each picture is owned by the firm that takes the picture (most if not all cruiselines have outsourced their photo dep't). However, getting the waiver to copy it is very easy online once one returns home (at least it was for the firm that Royal Caribbean uses, and they had a number of other cruiselines listed on their website). If they're that willing to give me a waiver, I have no problem taking that picture down to the local WalMart and having it copied. The copy is not as good as the original, but it's good enough for sharing! I paid the $20 for the 8x10 of my DS and his GF on formal night, then copied it so she could have a copy.

$20 is a lot of money for an 8x10 -- but it's still cheap compared to the cost of sending them to a local studio for a portrait!

[Aprille]

There was a similar thread back in August and "Philip 217" posted an interesting posts from the insider's point of view. Start with post #3.

 

Philip works in the cruise industry on one of the cruise ships, I do not know what is his professional position on that ship but based on his posts, I guess he could be a hotel manager. I like to read the posts of some of the insider's - there seems to be a lot of 'true' information.

 

Here is the link for those that want to learn more:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=604727

 

Interesting read. Thanks for the link.

[RevSmith]

You have got to be really stupid to take something from a ship that is in international waters:eek:

[cot427]

My personal opinion is that the pictures are not cheap, rather on the expensive side, but just taking them is wrong. It is rather easy just to take them out, but I don't think many people would do that. If you don't want to pay the price of the picture, then take your own pictures on your own camera. It's as simple as that.

[iheartbda]

The pictures might seem expensive but if you were to go to a regular photographer you would pay a sitting fee in addition to the cost of the photos. Granted, they may not be the quality of a professional but in price comparison what you get for $20 can't be beat. We have some very nice formal as well as casual pictures that we would not otherwise have. Think about it, how many of you would actually take the time to go to a professional photographer?

[dachshunddoglover]

My opinion is that if they would price the photo's just a little bit more reasonable, they would sell tons more of them and still come out way ahead profit wise and make more passengers happy to be able to take those memories home. jmho. I also buy lots of pictures but would buy more if they were a little less.

 

8 by 10 (now $19.95), I would like to see $14.95

All other sizes (now $9.99 - 16.99), I would like to see a flat $10.00

 

I bet they would increase their profit tons if they did that. :D

 

E-Beth

[SusieV]

My opinion is that if they would price the photo's just a little bit more reasonable, they would sell tons more of them and still come out way ahead profit wise and make more passengers happy to be able to take those memories home. jmho. I also buy lots of pictures but would buy more if they were a little less.

 

8 by 10 (now $19.95), I would like to see $14.95

All other sizes (now $9.99 - 16.99), I would like to see a flat $10.00

 

I bet they would increase their profit tons if they did that. :D

 

E-Beth

 

I agree, or else have a multi purchase buy or something like that. Maybe a photo card? :D Buy five get one free?

[MindyM]

We just went to a professional studio (two weeks after we got back from the cruise). It was $150 just for an 8x10. We decided that $20 to have a family picture done without a sitting fee is much better. Now we have another excuse to take a cruise every year:)

[sagiv666]

OK. I'm almost afraid to post this, but, it's been on my mind. When we were on board last week, I was speaking with someone who seemed very normal and nice. What shocked me was in the middle of our conversation about how expensive the pictures are, she said she just took hers. Now, I KNOW THIS IS WRONG..... I WOULD NEVER DO IT.... but, I was wondering, is this common? Have you ever heard of anyone doing this, or actually seen someone doing it? I was shocked.....

 

Secondly, it seems like such an incredible waste of photo paper. There are THOUSANDS of photos that get thrown out every cruise. Wouldn't it make more sense to have computers to flip through the photos on, only print the ones people want to purchase, and charge way less?

 

I know the photos are an extra benefit, available if you want to spend the money, but, I just thought I would see what everyone else has to say.

 

I know how expensive onboard photos can be, but Ialso have never heard of people just taking the photos as they see them displayed. My wife and I have been very particular about the photos we have chosen. We take so many on our own -- including on formal nights -- that we like to pick and choose. My wife and I like to take advantage of the ship's photographer's experience and ability to take a photo which accents us, particularly those taken on formal nights

At the same time, in September, we took a cruise to Alaska aboard the Radiance. On the first formal night, we missed the opportunity to have the ship's photograph taken a picture of us with the Captain, so I brought my own camera and asked the Captain if he would take a picture with us. On a subsequent cruise to Canada and New England on board the Norwegian Spirit we did the same. Both photos caame out as good as what we might have gotten from the ship's photographer and we are happy with those we had taken instead of purchased.:)

[Lyncruiser]

We don't even bother with photos anymore. When we first started cruising some 15 years ago, they took time with the photos, had good lighting, etc. The last few cruises it seemed to us that if we waited in line for a family photo, we were thrown together quickly and the photographer didn't bother placing people so everyone could be seen. The placement of the people in the picture looked haphazard and messy instead of balanced. Additionally, the lighting was bad and half the time some people in the photo didn't even realize the photo was being snapped, so they were looking away, not smiling etc.

 

It seems to us, now, they simply a rush you in, rush you out with no care taken whatsoever. The photo quality reflects that. So, we certainly don't line up anymore for pictures -- and we always decline in the dining room, getting off in ports, etc. We have some beautiful photos from our earlier cruises that we treasure. But, the last few cruises with RCCL, the service has been poor and the photo quality unacceptable.

[Ula]

We find the price of photos high. We for sure do not steal them. But also we do not allow photos to be taken of us. If you know you are not going to purchase a photo, just say no to having it taken.

We can take pictures with our own camera if we desire. We have managed now two cruises with no pro photos taken. That is work. But it can be done.

[cruise_lover]

OK. I'm almost afraid to post this, but, it's been on my mind. When we were on board last week, I was speaking with someone who seemed very normal and nice. What shocked me was in the middle of our conversation about how expensive the pictures are, she said she just took hers. Now, I KNOW THIS IS WRONG..... I WOULD NEVER DO IT.... but, I was wondering, is this common? Have you ever heard of anyone doing this, or actually seen someone doing it? I was shocked.....

 

Secondly, it seems like such an incredible waste of photo paper. There are THOUSANDS of photos that get thrown out every cruise. Wouldn't it make more sense to have computers to flip through the photos on, only print the ones people want to purchase, and charge way less?

 

I know the photos are an extra benefit, available if you want to spend the money, but, I just thought I would see what everyone else has to say.

 

 

I have never seen this happen and if I do I can promise you I will point it out to someone who works for the ship. I report shoplifters and I as far as I am concerned this person is a shoplifter. If you take someone that has a price tag on it and do not pay for it you are nothing more than a COMMON THIEF. I can not imagine the kind of example that this person is setting for her children or grandchildren.

[alexkrn46]

Stealing is wrong. When we were on the Navigator they had the computer where you could preview the pictures. The preview did not do final justice to the printed product since the photographers do touch ups on the prints.

[Ryffian]

but how much are the photos? Are they really that expensive?

 

On our NCL Sun cruise the picture you bought was the one hanging up on the display. If you wanted to, say, get a 4x6 of a formal night picture, but the one hanging up was an 8x10, you had to buy the 8x10 and then they'd sell you any sized copy you wanted. Since they're all digital, it's too bad you can't just say "I want that picture in this size" without having to buy more than one picture.

[sagiv666]

When we cruise, we usually do not buy photos from the ship until the final days. Then, the ship likes to offer packages at a good price for the photos you buy.:)

[scopewest]

I'm married to someone who despises both taking pictures and standing still to have his picture taken, but he loves to have the cruise photographers take as many as they want, and he buys them all. When I questioned DH on this, he said the pros aim and shoot and leave, they don't stand there for ages trying to line up the shot. Uh, okay, guilty as charged!!

 

So thanks to you, cruise photographers, I've got some great photos of DH and he's smiling at the camera :)

[dachshunddoglover]

I've been on quite a few RCI cruises and I have never seen them offer a "package" deal on the last day or two. It might happen on another line, but I have not seen it on RCI. I wish they would do that! E-Beth

[Quampapetet]

They should do it like Disney World does with their PhotoPass system. You get a PhotoPass card (similar to a credit card/room key card) and everytime a photographer takes your photo, they swipe the card. When you get to a computer (usually at home, but you can see them in places at Disney, too), you can look at all the photos they took of you. You can buy individual prints, a CD of all the photos (if you buy at home you can edit the photos with borders/signatures and crop them different ways), a memory book (like a printed scrapbook), a DVD movie, etc.

 

My last Disney trip I got a CD of all my photos plus a memory book - they both weren't cheap ($125 for the CD and $80-something for the memory book [i added some pages to the included amount]), but I had to get them for memory's sake, plus there were some great photos in there and I always forget to use the camera that's hanging off my shoulder. (I did use some of my own photos in the memory book, too, in addition to the PhotoPass ones.)

 

I am pretty sure that Disney has found that more ppl are buying photos than before, when they'd print them out for you to see at a booth. It's a great system they have! Too bad RCCL doesn't have a similar system, as I'm sure I'd buy the CD for that, too, especially then I know my prints will be fabulous 'cause I can print them out better at home (professonial printer) than a ship/Disney/Wal-Mart/etc. can.

 

(And, yes, taking the photos without paying is stealing.)

[4 cruis'n]

But I actually like things the way they are. Digital images don't always look as good as actually looking at a well printed photo. I like holding them in my hands and deciding what to buy.

 

I also agree that it's human nature. You can delete a digital pic without thinking twice but you might be willing to buy it if you were holding it!

 

The paper's recycled anyway. Leave things the way they are!

 

Yes, I agree with this. We were undecided between pictures taken from each of the formal nights to have printed as our holiday card. The pictures taken each evening are available for immediate viewing at the kiosk but they are not crystal clear. I am glad we waited until the following day to see the actual photo before deciding on our holiday card photo because a few of the pictures taken were out of focus. That could not been seen on the kiosk screen.

[4 cruis'n]

When we cruise, we usually do not buy photos from the ship until the final days. Then, the ship likes to offer packages at a good price for the photos you buy.:)

 

Just sailed Mariner over Thanksgiving and didn't see this or hear anyone asking about a sale. They offered the usual buy 2 8X10's and get a memory frame for free deal all week. The only exception was one evening they offered a buy 2 8X10's and get 10 holiday cards for free. This came out to the same dollar amt savings as the first deal but you were given the choice on that evening only. The manager was nice enough to let us wait until the second formal night to make our decision on the holiday card photo as long as we paid for our 2 8X10 photos on the day of that deal. She just made a note on our reciept and was always in the photo area. Everyone in the photo area was very nice and helpful. Photographers were very patient. We picked up all our photos on the last night and didn't see any deals on photos other than the above mentioned.

[dutchess43]

I feel that it is terrible that people would stoop so low to have to steal their photo's. If you cannot afford to purchase them because they can be costly then do not have them taken there goes the temptation for stealing. People taking pictures of the photo's on display(never heard of this one) is another form of stealing.

[katerkat]

At my last race, the photographs were arranged by bib number, so all I had to do was search for my bib (and my friend's who ran with me) and all my pictures were arranged together. Far better than searching for the time I thought I passed a major milestone on my previous race - and I even wear bright pink running pants. :o

 

So, all they have to do is get everyone to wear a bib number. :D

[murphyis1]

I noticed on Carnival, each picture had a sticky bar code looking thing on the back. It was raised, and in order to leave the photo area, you had to walk past those same type of contraptions you see in the department stores.

 

I am sure they are a type of "inventory control" device.

 

 

On my only Carnival cruise, I accidently set off the "inventory control" device when I walked too close to it with my unpaid photos. I had no intention of stealing them, but I was very embarrassed when that alarm went off! :o

[iheartbda]

On my only Carnival cruise, I accidently set off the "inventory control" device when I walked too close to it with my unpaid photos. I had no intention of stealing them, but I was very embarrassed when that alarm went off! :o

 

Surefire way to discourage those people who happen to have something sticky on their fingers from eating dessert.:rolleyes: Too bad you had to encounter something meant for them.:(

[sagiv666]

Just sailed Mariner over Thanksgiving and didn't see this or hear anyone asking about a sale. They offered the usual buy 2 8X10's and get a memory frame for free deal all week. The only exception was one evening they offered a buy 2 8X10's and get 10 holiday cards for free. This came out to the same dollar amt savings as the first deal but you were given the choice on that evening only. The manager was nice enough to let us wait until the second formal night to make our decision on the holiday card photo as long as we paid for our 2 8X10 photos on the day of that deal. She just made a note on our reciept and was always in the photo area. Everyone in the photo area was very nice and helpful. Photographers were very patient. We picked up all our photos on the last night and didn't see any deals on photos other than the above mentioned.

 

We took advantage of package deals on our last cruise to Canada and New England last October aboard the Norwegian Spirit (NCL). We had cruised to Alaska in September on the Radiance but also had not seen packages; in fact, on the Spirit we were told by friends about the packages and we waited until the end of the cruise. Apparently, paackages are not sold on ships of Royal Caribbean, as we have all seen. Sorry!