For our New Year’s cruise we have two cabins booked. DH and I are booked in separate cabins each with one of the girls, not how we actually plan to split the cabins on the cruise.
I assume I can prebook the photo package for one cabin only and we should be covered as long as at least one person booked in that cabin is in each picture? We’re not big on pictures usually but we’re bringing some very nice outfits for this cruise and it will likely be our last big trip with the girls. But it’s not worth the money if we need to buy for both cabins.
When DH & I are in separate cabins we only have to buy one package for our 2 rooms but all our kids our minors. I believe they do not allow adult children, even if they live at your address, to get their photos (the ones without either of the primary guests in either cabin in it) without also purchasing a 2nd. But if you are doing all family photos where you or DH will be in them, then you should be just fine with one package.
So I’m actually in one cabin with DD18 and DH is booked in the other cabin with DD20. I’m assuming that if either DD18 or I are in each photo we should be okay. Does that sound right to you?
So opposite, kind of. Disney has cracked down on different generations of adults, even in the same cabin, and even adult kids that live at home from using the same photo package.
You and DH will be the ones to hold the package being the primary guests in the 2 cabins with the same address. Since both DDs are adults, Disney would require you to purchase a 2nd package for photos they are in without you and/or DH. But you can go to the photo studio the first day/night and have them ensure your cabins are linked and if they say you need a 2nd package at all, you can then see what photos you get by the end of it in the nice outfits and decide before the last night if it’s worth the package price or not for the photos you could get.
Yeah! It’s more a recent (last 2-3 years) crackdown from my understanding. But we were in Shutters making sure our cabins were linked and we only needed the one package and the family in front of us being helped, had 2 cabins and one adult child (18, just graduated or about to graduate high school). But the adult child, even living at home, couldn’t get their solo photos with the same package as Mom & Dad so they were quite frustrated. When we approached to ask a very similar question about the photo package you could tell how relieved the CM was that he could tell us a different more positive outcome. So yea, it’s bizarrely complicated.
Oh! One thing I remembered now that this got bumped again. If you’re in a situation where Disney is saying you need 2 packages to get all the photos for all the adults across your stateroom(s), they will give offer a discount on the 2nd package. I don’t remember exactly but maybe 30-40%? I definitely remember it being better than the discount from pre-booking when I read about it. So you wouldn’t need to pay double for all the photos if they say you need a 2nd package.
Either way, I would still pre-book the discounted price to lock that in, then confirm with Shutters the first day/night what pictures you would get with your party configuration. My understanding is that across two cabins where the primary guest in each are spouses at the same address and all other guests are MINOR children, they will all be included in one package. If there are any other adults, whether they are grandparents, kidult dependents who live at home part/fulltime or any other friends/family traveling with you, any photos they want without either of the primary guests in them, will require the purchase of a 2nd package. But definitely confirm at Shutters if you want separate groups photos (if you’re doing the whole group always they won’t mind so you can maybe skip going there if you’ll always be doing the entire group for photos).
And then the last full night of the cruise, if you feel that you didn’t get your worth on even just the one initial package, you can still cancel it at Shutters. But you have to do it before they close so check the Navigator that day if you’re not sure. And I think you can also decide to add that discounted 2nd package up until then as well. And the line gets long at Shutters the later in the day you go, so definitely something to prioritize if you need to make a visit.