Photography as a Passenger on a Cruise Ship

Should I Take My DSLR on a Cruise?

I recently took a cruise on the Crown Princess. This was my second cruise. My first was on the Pacific Princess from Vancouver Canada to Whittier Alaska. I used my camera a LOT in Alaska, shooting glaciers, wildlife, and landscapes/seascapes. But this trip was in the Mediterranean, and I wondered whether I'd see wildlife or good landscapes or cityscapes that I'd want to photograph.

Crown Princess

While packing for the trip, I researched the ports at which we were scheduled to dock. I researched cruise ship features in general. I checked blog posts made by other passengers on that specific ship. I read posts by photographer passengers on cruise ships in general. I wanted to have a good idea whether to bring my gear and what pieces to bring. Here's how it worked out.

First, I didn't buy the gear to leave it at home. Photography is my hobby, and I'm going to take advantage of any opportunity to enjoy it. The real question was, what should I bring?

I saw several threads debating this very topic. Some people said, leave the gear at home, the ship docks and leaves port at times when the light is poor. Implication: the photos will suck. And when ashore, it's always mid-day when the sun is blazing and the light is very harsh. Again: the photos will suck. And I found that in fact the lighting conditions often were poor. Nevertheless, I managed to get some good results by being thoughtful about when and what to photograph.

So what did I bring? My DSLR, 24-70, 70-200, 300, teleconverter, Gorillapod, GoPro Session, and several mounts for the GoPro. The only thing I never used was the teleconverter.

The 24-70 was useful for much of the time ashore. The 70-200 was absolutely the right lens for Gibraltar. The 300 was perfect for port arrivals and departures. And the GoPro was great for short videos fore and aft, along with port arrival/departure timelapses.

Gibraltar Macaque

Here's the general breakdown by port:

1. Athens: 24-70 at the Acropolis, 300 and GorillaPod for night photography of the Acropolis from a nearby hill.
2. Santorini: 24-70 ashore, 300 for port (aka caldera) departure.
3. Kotor: 70-200 on the hike to the fortifications.
4. Mt. Etna: 24-70
5. Herculaneum: 24-70
6. Gibraltar: 70-200: wide enough for landscapes at the cable car station, long enough for great shots of the macaques, long enough for shots of the town below and ships in the bay.
7. Marseille: iPhone
8. Genoa: iPhone
9. Pisa/Florence: 24-70
10. Rome: 24-70

The ship has a promenade deck that allows passengers to completely circle the ship while outside. Many shots were from this deck. There's also access to the roof of the bridge. That was perfect for photography during port arrivals and departures.

Our cabin had a balcony. I used my GoPro on the balcony for timelapses during port arrivals and departures. I'm still working on it, but I was able to put a nice series of timelapses together. It shows several ports. They really are all quite different from one another. There are big differences among ports in terms of size, facilities, piers and wharves, and maneuvers needed to get docked or to depart.

Alaska is a wildlife photographer's dream. The Mediterranean, not so much. Aside from the Gibraltar macaques and some seagulls, there was hardly any wildlife to speak of. I saw turtles in the Bay of Kotor and dolphins swimming in the ships wake a few times. I don't know if my experience is typical, but this was definitely not a place for wildlife, at least not on this trip.

Bottom line: I'm so glad I brought my gear. I would have regretted leaving the camera behind in Athens and Santorini and Gibraltar especially. It was worth hauling that gear around for the macaques alone. There's no way I would have been able to get the same results with my iPhone.