I'm taking a cruise!!!??

[JTPhotography]

Will be on a Disney Cruise for about 4 days in November (Bahamas). I plan on taking all of my gear. I am thinking there will be some cool photo ops on the ship around deck, especially at night. First, has anyone ever taken their gear on a cruise? Was it worth it? Second, it is something the cruise ship prohibits? Any advice and info will be greatly appreciated.

PS: We will probably be doing an Alaska cruise in the next few years, I realize that is an entirely different ball game (in a good way).

 

[sm4him]

Took mine on my last cruise, no problems. I just made sure the camera bodies and lenses were all in the stuff I'd be carrying on to the ship myself. Your checked luggage is all piled up and taken to your cabin by the ship staff.

Never had any issues at all as far as anything the cruise line prohibited. On the other hand, I refrained from setting up a light and softbox at the bottom of the stairs and doing posed shots--I suspect they would have a problem with that, lol.

Generally, at each port of call I just decided what camera and lens I'd take off ship with me. Depending on the port, I sometimes put it in an old backpack that didn't really scream "hey there's a nice camera in here!." I also tended to take only one lens off the ship, so there wasn't really a lot of stuff to potentially set down and forget. The ONLY time I regretted that was in Nassau where I left my 150-500 on the ship, then ended up seeing some really cool birds in a park, and simply not enough reach to get shots of them. On the other hand, I also didn't have to lug that 150-500 around Nassau all day, so it was a fair trade.

The best thing I did: Make sure my insurance covered the region I was traveling to. It cost a little extra to make it a worldwide policy instead of just continental US, but the peace of mind it gave me was well worth it.

 

[JTPhotography]

Great info, thanks!!