Warning! DVD Ripoff

[seadays4me]

On our recent 9 night cruise on the Voyager of the Seas, we purchased "The Cruise in Review" DVD offered on board the last day. It was a little pricy for $30.00, but since we had such a great time, we thought it would be nice for the memories.

 

After being home for two weeks, we deceided to view the DVD. What we got were snipits of scenes from the trip, no dialogue, with cheesy background music. It also contained some canned generic scenes, I assume to add some minutes of which was about a 35 minute video. DVD's hold about 2 hours of video. I thought I was watching someones 8MM movies converted to DVD.

 

I expected a professional production with sound and more than just snipits. Those expensive video cameras they were using do record sound. They might have had a preview of the DVD availiable to review before purchase, but I didn't see it. If I saw it, I wouldn't have bought the DVD.

 

If I could return it I would. I wouldn't even try to sell it on EBAY. Just want to warn you all to think twice before making this purchase on your next cruise.

 

Ron

[dewayneg]

got a videofrom my voyage on Vision last year. I think it cost $25.

 

I wondered how they were able to edit all of the footage and get it out sof fast. Now I know, they don't.

[stretch]

It's a short video of the cruise, and it's also an advertising tool. RCI figures that for each video/dvd sold, 6-8 people or more will also see it and many will undoubtly say, wow that looks like fun, let's try a cruise next vacation. It's just what it's advertised to be, no more and no less. There is a lot of "canned" footage on it, the ship, ports of call, etc., why shoot the same thing over and over??? Are you sure you aren't just disappointed because you or your party weren't included in the footage?

Stretch

[Kami's pal]

"That's not what I paid for!" was my answer to the photographer when I went to assure myself that the Category 9 storm we'd just survived would be included in the footage. Her answer was, 'Oh, I don't think so. That wouldn't be such a good promotion for a cruise." Needless to say, within minutes all of us who were lined up were all assured that footage from OUR cruise would be included, so I bought it. It was a good product (RRCL), but I do think at least some was prerecorded with our cruise highlights added.

[bythehex]

Let's face it, while you're on the cruise they promote the video as YOUR cruise in review. Not "Generic Cruise in Review". And yes, there are a few scenes from that week on the video, but for the most part it's the same canned footage that's been on their videos for years. How do I know? Because when I sailed on the Explorer of The Seas in 2001 I bought the video, and when I sailed it again this August I bought the DVD. Some of the scenes are exactly the same in both - as a matter of fact, a great many.

 

Meanwhile, when I was on a Carnival cruise a few years ago and bought their video, there was actual footage from that week. It included interviews with people onboard, footage that they shot at some of the ports (as a matter of fact, we're in one part of the footage climbing Dunn's River Falls), and footage shot all over the ship. It even included a few scenes from the shows. They didn't have "canned" music either.

 

While I do prefer to cruise Royal Caribbean, in this case I think Carnival does videos better. Just my opinion!!!

 

Sharon H.

[Erie Dave]

Each trip I have been on has shown the cruise in review the last night of the cruise in the theater and on the TV. You do get to see it before you buy it.

[MonaCK]

I was going to say -- we were able to preview the video right where you buy the photos on the voyager in May/June. Hubby and I decided to buy it because we had participated in many activities (The Quest and The Love and Marriage Game Show being the most "memorable" of the activities...)

 

I don't know if I would have bought it otherwise, but it was neat to have some of the activities from the week spliced in.

[gfleischha]

That is truely sad, we purchased ours from the radiance cruise to alaska and it was great, was from the cruise we were on. We know because we were shocked when we saw ourselves in it.

[dad son team]

I too was disappointed with the cruise video. I was on the Mariner in April and saw what I thought was 15 minutes of bits and pieces of the video during the show on the final night. I saw my son in the "clips" from the kids program so I thought I would buy it. When I got home, I learned that what I thought was just a preview was actually the whole video minus the canned footage about the ports. Like I said, it was very disappointing.

[DannyS]

If you want to complain or ask for a refund, go to http://www.image.com/

 

They're the company that supplies the photographers and produces the videos. (After you return, you can also order a copy of your cruise's video from them, and get additional copies of photos taken on the ship.)

[madforcruising]

I too was disappointed with the cruise video. I was on the Mariner in April and saw what I thought was 15 minutes of bits and pieces of the video during the show on the final night. I saw my son in the "clips" from the kids program so I thought I would buy it. When I got home, I learned that what I thought was just a preview was actually the whole video minus the canned footage about the ports. Like I said, it was very disappointing.

That´s exactly the problem with the video.

People get to see it during the farewell show, but they don´t tell them that this is the whole video. Everybody thinks oh thant´s nice they got some things from the video together for the show, I´d like to see the whole thing.

It´s simply what it is, What they show IS the whole video.

 

However I purchased a few of the videos throughout the years and on my last but one cruise I got the DVD. I purchased it knowing what I will get and I didn´t buy it for the recording of the actual cruise, but for the addded behind the scenes tours. Of course it´s a question if $30 is worth the money for it, but I spent so much on other things, I don´t worry about this $30.

[Team76]

It was a rip off for what the content was.

Blah, won't buy again on future cruises.

:p :eek: :eek: :eek: :p

[hoogie]

In our case, we happened to be on the pool deck without camera when our son entered the sexy legs contest and won for the least hairy legs, only has about 3 seconds of him on it but in our minds it's priceless.

 

Same with the video from the glory last year, has our family together for formal night saying hello when we were all dressed up and then later our daughter and her friend, who recently moved away, wereon it while watching the hairy chest contest.

 

Rest of the videos are fairly useless but for the families who are on them it's a decent momento.

[Sea Island Lady]

I wouldn't even try to sell it on EBAY

You may want to try Ebay after all. You would not believe what people buy over there. Could probably get your money back...or close to it.

 

We bought the DVD of our Mariner cruise this summer - this being AFTER we viewed it at the theater. We thought it great! There were many scene of the week as well as footage of my DH,DD's,DS,nieces,my sister and BIL (twice) and myself. Seeing all the canned footage was wonderful as well because it reminded us of the places we had visited and of the beautiful ship.

 

We thought the $30 was a good investment for us. We split the cost with the rest of the family and pass it around occasionally. Priceless as Hoogie says.;)

[MysticRhythmCruiser]

On our recent 9 night cruise on the Voyager of the Seas, we purchased "The Cruise in Review" DVD offered on board the last day. It was a little pricy for $30.00, but since we had such a great time, we thought it would be nice for the memories.

 

After being home for two weeks, we deceided to view the DVD. What we got were snipits of scenes from the trip, no dialogue, with cheesy background music. It also contained some canned generic scenes, I assume to add some minutes of which was about a 35 minute video.

 

<snip>

 

If I could return it I would. I wouldn't even try to sell it on EBAY. Just want to warn you all to think twice before making this purchase on your next cruise.

 

Ron

Ron, wasn't the shot of me nearly exposing myself during Quest worth the $30?? :D

 

I agree with you totally though that it was NOT what I'd hoped insofar as a cruise-in-review video. Considering the time that went into producing the Love and Marriage game, Quest, Karaoke Idol, the least they could have done was dump it into the video -- we're talking maybe 3 hours, tops, of quality, interesting and memorable video if you included everything shot during the week. We're not talking about a huge effort to do this, especially with today's DVD recording technology.

 

Some might say that showing Quest or the Marriage game may "spoil it" for other cruisers, but most people show this to close friends and family and enjoy it for themselves once or twice. Besides, for those of us who have been on multiple cruises, it doesn't reduce our enjoyment to see the same activities each time.

 

That $30 should definitely have provided more of a document of that personalized experience. I also say that unless you participated in activities, there isn't going to be much on the video that's memorable.

 

Cheers,

Esther

[abridalmaven]

My sis bought one when we were in Alaska. She got it because we both had taken extensive videos and pictures during the trip, but it helped fill in the holes for areas of the ship we did not get.So when we did the Legend in Hawaii, I already knew what to expect and we bought it anyhow. Since we won the Quest and my DH & some friends were in the dance and hula contest, we did have videos of things we did not shoot. I agree if you do not know what to expect you may be disappointed, but I enjoy our copy, it has things from hawaii that we did not get to do, parts of show which we could not tape, so in my mind it was worth it. Goes to show you how people differ in their expectations.:rolleyes:

 

If you are a low key person you will not show up on the video. Besides, with all those people how can they expect all to be shown? there are just snippets from each activity, so much goes on it is impossible for them to get it all.

[joyceyw]

That´s exactly the problem with the video.

People get to see it during the farewell show, but they don´t tell them that this is the whole video. Everybody thinks oh thant´s nice they got some things from the video together for the show, I´d like to see the whole thing.

It´s simply what it is, What they show IS the whole video.

 

However I purchased a few of the videos throughout the years and on my last but one cruise I got the DVD. I purchased it knowing what I will get and I didn´t buy it for the recording of the actual cruise, but for the addded behind the scenes tours. Of course it´s a question if $30 is worth the money for it, but I spent so much on other things, I don´t worry about this $30.

I agree we saw the video at the last show and we were told that the version we were watching was an edited version and we would have to buy it to view the rest. We did buy it because we saw snippets of ourselves in it. Plus the had interviews of people, the survivor challenge, love and marriage show included. Once we got it home we too realized that we had been shown the entire video minus the generic stuff. We thought we would see new/additional footage from the week. The RCCL advertisement doesn't bother me so much as they could put more footage of the weeks activities in it to make it really special. And since technically in the final show they didn't lie about it being additional footage we didn't feel the need to complain. Plus we were in it so much we really didn't feel like we should complain as when we showed it to our friends they really thought we had the best time because we were all over the place enjoying different activities. We were disappointed in the finished product. But, like I stated we would have spent the 24.95 on it anyway because we saw ourselves in it.

[MonaCK]

Incidentallly -- don't know if you know but those who appear in the Love and Marriage game show receive a complimentary version of the video to bring home with them. I have to say -- we didn't watch it right away. The embarassment of having it on endless loop for 36 hours following the show was enough for us. *laughs*

 

So... it's not even necessarily worth it for -that- -- but it was worth it because there were other snippits.. and with it my mom found out that a long time client of hers (she's a travel agent) went and booked the cruise with a different agent. So it was worth it for that for her. ;)

[Sea Island Lady]

MonaCK - That's funny that your mom saw a client in the video!

 

If you are a low key person you will not show up on the video.

While I agree with this statement, my family is very low key and we did not participate in any of the games, yet several members of our family ended up in the video anyway.:) Also, the Quest show is on our DVD.

[MonaCK]

The Quest show, and the 50's dance that followed ended up featuring a lot of people in our video (we were on a 5 day to canada out of NJ on voyager in May).

[sealegs9]

We also purchased the DVD because we were the winning quest team and had a few pics of me there and at 70's dance. Also had one small pic of my son.

However, we got the DVD home and it's defective. It freezes at points- especially the ones I'm in (saw it on the screen the last show night).

 

I've not had a chance to call RCCL - was on 8/27 Voyager. Should I call RCCL or try to deal directly with image.com for a replacement?

 

I agree it's a ripoff, but it is a one in a cruise lifetime purchase. Need at least one DVD of a cruise!

[madforcruising]

I've not had a chance to call RCCL - was on 8/27 Voyager. Should I call RCCL or try to deal directly with image.com for a replacement?

I had this problem a few years ago with a VHS. Deal directly with image. It was not a big deal to get a replacement, but took some time as they had to contact the ship and go to the archive to create a copy and mail it out. However no big deal.

[wallie5446]

Maybe they do it different on The Rjapsody. We bought the one from our cruise and it was all from our sailing as there were shots of 20-25 of the people from our Meet n Mingle and CC group all thru the video. Now the behind the sceen's could have been from any time, ie; engine room, kitchen, bridge. We thought it was very good addition to our video.

[alexeliz]

I was on the Explorer cruise Oct. 10 Western, we had a great time, now trying to tell all of our friends about the cruise. The video does help put a picture in there heads.

We were really dissapointed that the love and marriage game wasn't on the video though.

 

By reading all the other posts it seems like it was forgotten this time.