Taking a cruise. Advice from soemone whose been there?

Hi.

 

My wife and I are taking a relatively long (9 days) cruise at the

beginning of December. I'd like to take a lot of pictures, but it's

hard for a landscape/nature guy like me since we will not be arriving

in any port until at earliest 7am. This means that I'm going to be

taking a lot of my pictures during the harsh midday hours. I'm

thinking of taking along a bunch of Reala for daytime pics and a

couple of rolls of UC400 or NPH for evening pics when I need a little

more speed. Does this sound reasonable? I know that both Reala and

UC400 are relatively high in contrast. Does anyone have another

suggestion for film? Any experiences anyone would like to share?

 

Also, since I'm gonna be going a lot of the time, will it be worth my

while to bring a tripod at all?

 

Never been on a cruise before. Any other advice?

 

Thanks in advance!

Reala is by no means high contrast, and give your wife a break and leave the tripod at home, I reckon.

Matt,

 

You don't say where your cruise is going & what kind of itinerary, however, if its in the Caribbean, I've never found the combination of wife (especially carrying a tripod) & locale conducive to good landscapes. Usually, there is a limited time in port, and you may well be on planned excursions with limited or no photo opportunities.

 

I generally shoot film, but also have a Canon G-1 digital. That's the one I take on cruises, as I can just pop it into a belt pouch for daytime, and its available for the evening on board the ship.

 

In any case, assuming you go with film, I have no experience with the other two, however, am a recently converted fan of UC 400. If its too bright for daytime, certainly a polarizer & ND filter will help simplify what you carry. At least the polarizer IMO is a necessity in that region for any camera.

 

Have a great trip.

Harsh midday light gives you the most accurate color.

Sorry Rich, yeah, we are going to the southern Caribbean. Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, Antigua, and the BVI. I'd have a hard time convincing my wife to carry the tripod. Back when I started into photography, she dug the idea of being my "assistant", but now the novelty has worn off and she's much more obstinate about it. :)

Hi Matt

 

Don't completely discount those early mornings. Having been on a lot of cruise ships for various events you'll get some lovely seascapes and coastal shots early in the morning!

 

Sunsets at sea are also to die for.

 

Tripods are optional onboard as most ship builders kindly put guardrails all around the decks that double up as a handy camera steady!

 

Enjoy

 

Gavin

Guardrails keep your camera steady assuming the ship's ON LAND...

Matt, I am a definite non-fan of cruises for a bunch of reasons I won't bore anyone with, but I have standadized on Portra 160-VC as my travel print film, though I do carry a few rolls of the 800 just in case. I find that the colors are punchy enough without being poster-like, and the contrast is not so much that shooting in bright sunlight is a pain. I haven't tried the UC yet, so I can't say it's bad or good, but the 160VC is exactly what I happen to like.

 

I don't know the kind of camera equipment you have nor how well you can hand hold it. I shoot with Leicas nowadays, and find that the lenses are at their peak performance around f/4 to f/5.6 and I can hand hold the rangefinder type of camera about two speeds slower than I can do with a SLR. So even with the ISO 160 film I can hand hold most of my shots. I used to always carry a little mini-tripod and brace it against things, but with the new security regs I've stopped travelling with it.

 

As for shooting from the moving ship, my wife's Rebel with the 28-135mm Image Stabilizer lens got much sharper results than I could get with my Leicas.

Hi Matt,

 

I live in the BVI, bring the tripod and shoot at least some Velvia 100. I've been here since

99 and have never used 400 film, but, I haven't been taking holiday type shots. You will

thank me when you get the slides back, it has been a very wet wet season and the islands

that haven't been badly damaged are looking spectacular.

 

Budget for your own taxi, the shared taxi buses are a waste of time as they only stop at

the regular locations and won't stop when you see something you think is interesting.

Walk away from the cruise ship docks (the taxi buses have to pay a big fee to pickup there

and so cram people in) and find a regular taxi rank, it won't be cheap but is well worth it.

 

You will get a frustratingly short time on each island, the ships policy is to keep you on

board as long as possible so you buy drinks from them! They will leave without you!

Sunset down here will be around 6 o'clock, but you will probably have to back on board

before then. Most leave at 4 or 5. Cruise ship guests stand out like sore thumbs, very few

buisnesses or residents benifit from the up to 6000 arrivals on a busy day (the voting

population is around 7000), so you might encounter some less than positive atitudes. In

the BVI you are 100 % safe, you can carry as many valuables as you like you will not be

robbed. This is not true throughout the whole Caribbean (St Thomas is a nightmare).

Street photography of people here in the BVI is frowned upon, if you don't ask permission

locals can demand the film and the police will back them up, but if you ask there is no real

problem.

 

Hope this helps, I could go on for hours about the BVI specifically ,so if you want more

detailed info say so. Heck if I've got the day off I'll drive you round myself.

 

Take care, Scott.