Princess Cruises Photographer

Princess Cruises Photographers on duty

In the course of the contract, two of my managers have rotated, so the schedules and hours varied, depending on who was the boss.
As I mentioned at the beginning, first Menander was from Bulgaria, and it was his first contract as a manager, he has just been promoted from assistant.
Therefore, he had no strong authority in the head office, so the schedules were more difficult with him, that is, it was harder to work and the workload was greater.
He was my manager for half of my contract, I mostly had gangway duties, photographing passengers getting in and out of the ship. I had to wear costume at the gangway, dressing as pirates and sailors, I was animating passengers as a pirate in front of the restaurant too, dressing up in a Count Dracula for Halloween night, costuming in Santa Claus for a Christmas cruise.
During his first month, on formal night’s, I was taking pictures of guests in PSD restaurants, three and a half hours of instructing guests how to pose, interrupting them while they eat, moving bottles and glasses to make a perfect crop-in, achieve excellent image composition, capture the image well.
1st formal night I was taking individual pictures, the second formal night couples and groups, target was 500+ photos for headshots, 250+ for groups.
In principle, I had no problem achieving the desired number of photos, I used to put a smile on my face, make guests to do what I want, and no problem. Never question “would you like your picture to be taken?”, most will refuse.

The second month I was promoted to photographing in the Botticheli restaurant for formal nights, which is a bit more luxurious and larger than PSD restaurant. PSD restaurant was much easier, since the three of us worked for 1st and 2nd sitting, from 6:15 to 7 15 and from 8:30 to 9: 15h, and between seatings I covered the gallery from 5:00 to 11:30h.
Of course I was still a pirate and a sailor almost every cruise. After two and a half months, for the first time I took studio portraits, which meant progress in the business sense.
I learned a lot about of the studio lights, setting, measurements, posing..etc, only I did not photograph portraits for Formal Night, but casual, which is easier.

The third month; Beginning January 2012, for the first time I photographed studio portraits for formal night, which was near the end of New Year’s Cruise, which meant another promotion, but more work.
Since I was a level 1 photographer, I was not only photographing five hours and a half hours formal portraits, but also did the Botticelli restaurant. Photographers who are level 1 or level 2, have always been signed to photograph both events for formal night, which was the hardest, I realized later.

Description of how it looks: set up studio background 16:50h, install everything, open it up & start photographing portraits till 18:15h, and then close the background, roll it up, change the settings on the camera, memory cards, lens, flash … I then run to Botticelli restaurant at first sitting, photograph passengers while they are eating (groups or singles), back around 19:15h to the studio background, open it again, change lenses again, settings etc .. .and again photograph portraits between 19:15 to 20:15h, but was never able to close studio background in this period on time, because it was the busiest time then, the largest crowd.
You’re done with all the guests till 20:25h, and then again more of the same, run into the Botticelli restaurant for the second sitting.
I return again to set up studio background around 21:15h, change the lens, settings, and only then it gets easier. I take portraits till 10:30 Room in portraits, stay in gallery until 11.30 and then finally crew bar, beer, cigarettes and other f*****ing around.

Month four: with the arrival of a new manager, schedules have been much easier, but until the end of my contract I was photographing for Formal nights, as described a moment ago (portraits and restaurants), and until the end of the contract I was in costume every cruise, on the gangway, animating guest to pose for photo, as pirate and sailor. That was a reward for my good animation efforts. My senior colleagues said “you are very vocal and loud, full of energy, that why you’re always be pirate and sailor.”
Short time before the end of my contract I got sick of costuming. Another manager was Adam, an Englishman, and the best photo manager with the longest career in the Princess fleet (16 years). The man simply knows how to make money. It was easier with him because we could skip embarkation photography session, and didn’t have to disguise ourselves in the pirate in front of the restaurant. Each cruise we photographed only one gangway, but exceeded budget targets anyway, ending up almost every cruise with extra cash.
From Adam I learned a lot, and got a commendation, which eventually influenced the promotion, I got to level 2, with the possibility that at the half of my next contract I get level 3.
I forgot to say that each cruise we had a casual night, in silly shirts, when we were shooting 2-3 studio portraits and all the restaurants.

This is well known, but to note: salary for level 1 was $ 1,200, plus bonus money if we go over budget for 10 days from the sale of photographs and other Retail Sales.
In the Caribbean, it was veeery difficult to pass the budget, given that Cruise and guests were cheap, especially if you have been cruising for 10 days, as the Emerald did.
We never satisfied the budget demands with our first manager, except for Christmas and New Year cruise, who were also the toughest. Christmas cruise, each has earned about $300 over, New Year’s around $170 over.
With manager Adam, maybe two, three times we underperformed, which means that almost every 10 days we ended up with extra cash.
By the way, note that the average age of guests was between 55-65, with the exception of the Christmas cruise.
So you can imagine, we had old and cheap guests, pretty hard to work with.

During a New Year cruise, I was a D&P person, which means working in the lab with the machines and photo processing and printing photos.
Of course, I learned all of that on the fly, again with the huuuge help of older colleagues.
You get up first every morning, setting up machines, finishing last every night, breaking down machines. You need to watch not to screw up something, the concentration at the highest level, because the machines are very expensive.
Specifically, we had four photo processing machines; two Konica R2 and two Konica R1.
That cruise it was a little more difficult, but it was also great, because I learned things that I needed to know for the next contract.

Otherwise, the islands we visited were really beautiful. Some of them are a paradise on earth, the sand is white, the water translucent light blue.
There’s enough bars, places to fool around, exotic rums, happy music..etc.
I visited a lot of excursions in the second part of the contract, when I had more time, and I had someone to set me up on tour excursions that I wanted to go on …
The best ports for me: Aruba, Antigua (beach and relaxing), Dominica and Barbados (atmosphere and party), and St.Thomas for shopping.

All in all, it was a thrilling six months in the Caribbean.
Indeed, before the end of the contract I was just a little tired, annoying guests, the same questions, the same ports, the same job description. You get tired, you become nervous, avoid work, you just want to go home to rest.
When I turn around and look, I had only one day off for the whole contract.
But then again, towards the end of the contract you go to a beach, forget about work and all, behave just as if you’re a tourist.
In the end, you’re sorry to leave some colleagues and people you worked with.
So far, I am 15 days at home, enjoying every day, but again, I can’t wait to go back again, to see new destinations, and meet new people.

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