Photography

Cruise Photography History

Since the beginning of the 20th century, photographers have been on board ships taking pictures of passengers and selling them. From the moment you walk on board ship at the gangway photographers will be there asking you to pose for a picture. These photos are usually ready for viewing the the photo gallery within hours. When they are put out on display, it is usually in some chronological order which can span great amounts of display cases. The trick is to remember when the photo was taken so that you may find the location of the photos taken within that period. Otherwise, you'll be looking for a while. As film as given way to digital, the quantity of opportunities for the photographers to take advantage of has increased, thus offering that many more pictures to make available to you to purchase.

On Board Photos

The general purchase price of any photo for sale is approximately $15.00 for the standard sizes and others are available upon request at the desk. As an intermediate photographer, I like to view what shots were taken and how they were taken so that I can imitate certain poses myself with my own camera either on that trip or on future trips.

During dinner hours, the ship's photographers will setup portable studios in the public areas of the ship and take portraits. These nights are usually on formal nights when guests are dressed to the 9's. Backdrops range from generic fun types to the more romantic types, thus the poses that that the photographer will put the subjects in will reflect the style of background. Photos taken at these sessions are usually available for purchase the next day.

Photo Services

Printing. The photo galleries now offer the service of printing your digital photos. The service is a little more expensive than you'll find at home, but it is available to you on board as a service, if you need. The cost to print photos in a 4 inch x6 inch format run about $.29 per print. Unless you absolutely have to, wait to print your pictures till you get back home where you can take advantage of the lower prices at the local drugstore lab.

Film Developing. Due to photography being almost digital nowadays, ships have discontinued printing traditional 35mm film. So, if you still use 35mm film, make sure you bring enough.

Enlargements and Gifts. The photo galleries generally offer specialty reprints and other mementos of your favorite on board photos. These items are ordered on board and processed by a facility on the mainland. Orders placed will be processed upon return and then shipped to you at home.

Supplies. Basic photography supplies are usually available on board ship. Most photo galleries have items such as all purpose 35mm film, memory cards, disposable cameras, and generic batteries. Depending on the ship and cruise line, they may even sell cameras at duty free pricing. As a precaution, it is always a good idea to bring sufficient batteries and film (35mm or digital) from home as you cannot be assured that the ship will carry what you need for your particular brand of camera and model.

Cruise DVD

There is now even another form of photography offered to remember your cruise by and that is the cruise DVD. Throughout the cruise, a videographer will be at all the major venues on ship taking shots. If you are so fortunate, you may end up in this video especially if it is an event that has a lot of action, say a belly flop contest or dance. These videos generally sell for around $39.95 or so and orders are taken at the photo gallery throughout the cruise.