Bringing Pro gear to a cruiseship wedding?

I am attending a wedding on a Carnival Cruise ship tomorrow morning as a guest. I don't have a decent P&S camera so I want to bring my 50D/430EX/Tamron 17-50 set up with me for some shots. Since I have never been on a cruise ship before, I really want photos of the ship.

Restrictions are no pro photographers which I understand and expect, however, would I have an issue of bringing my camera set up on board?

Thinking of carrying it in my smallest touristy camera bag to make it look less "pro".

Thoughts? Anyone attend a ship board wedding before?

I am assuming that there will be no problem as long as you don;t get in the way of the photog shooting the wedding...

The "No Pro Photog" restriction is for the wedding or the Cruise ship?

monk3y wrote in post #10763499
I am assuming that there will be no problem as long as you don;t get in the way of the photog shooting the wedding...

The "No Pro Photog" restriction is for the wedding or the Cruise ship?

The wedding in on the cruise ship. Carnival runs the whole thing. I just didnt know if I would be turned away at the checkpoint boarding. The restriction is listed under the Carnival Weddings section on their website.

Only people I will be getting in the way of will be people at the open bar... Gotta take advantage of that.

You may have trouble if the wrong security guard happens to see you taking photos, it would also depend on what Carnival considers "professional photography". I'm guessing that Carnival prohibits professional photography without proper permission because they want to have some degree of control on how images of their ship and property are going to be used.
I would think that many of their guests would have dSLR's (considering how popular they have become) so I wouldn't think that would be a problem. You may better off using a kit type lens, onboard flash and no tripod if you want to avoid drawing attention.
On the other hand, this may be a good excuse to go get yourself a nice P&S

it aint about the gear....the pros aren't real pros if they base it on their gear alone, your gear is not considered pro in my book either. not elitism or anything but most pros i know working have at the bare minimum 10-15 grand worth of gear.

a friend of mine working full time has about 120-150 grand worth of it.
mind you he also has multiple shooters, a fully decked out studio and about every piece of studio lighting under the sun...

you should be fine. ask the bride and the groom. id love to have that kinda stuff in my portfolio even if i were just shooting it for a friend, that's a great photo op.

cory1848 wrote in post #10763458
I am attending a wedding on a Carnival Cruise ship tomorrow morning as a guest. I don't have a decent P&S camera so I want to bring my 50D/430EX/Tamron 17-50 set up with me for some shots. Since I have never been on a cruise ship before, I really want photos of the ship.

Restrictions are no pro photographers which I understand and expect, however, would I have an issue of bringing my camera set up on board?

Thinking of carrying it in my smallest touristy camera bag to make it look less "pro".

Thoughts? Anyone attend a ship board wedding before?

Why not simply call the Carnival folks and ask what the rules are and how they are enforced? That seems a lot simpler than hoping somebody here knows the right answer.

I think its referring to the wedding only. They want you to have to buy the photos from their photographer.
I don't think you will have any problem bringing your gear on the boat as a tourist. Just ask before you bring it to the ceremony. Even there I don't think you would have a problem as you are not a professional.

Let me put it another way. If I was taking a cruise to Alaska and they told me I couldn't bring my gear.......well I guess I wouldn't be going on that ship!

If Carnival prevented people from boarding their cruise ships with SLRs there would be problems.

The 'no professional photographers' clause is aimed at the bride and groom. They are not allowed to hire their own photographer independent of the cruise line and bring him along. This is because Carnival is providing the photographer, and I am sure they want to ensure that his work will be purchased.

You can almost certainly bring your camera to the ship, and you can probably even bring it to the wedding. You might run in to problems if you start hanging around the photographer and shooting over his shoulder and such, but otherwise I bet they leave you alone.

Just got back from the wedding a little bit ago. No problems on the gear. All the literature they give makes you think any camera with a detachable lens is pro gear.

"Pro" was using a D300 using a bracket flash direct on (not pro in my book either). Gets that lovely direct flash look.

@Karl - Pro's understand pro gear - People making the rules, don't. I have been hassled before cause my camera has a detachable lens so I must be pro and making money. Ignorant I know... I was worried about the people making the rules.

@Skip - I tried asking but 3 different people gave 3 different answers. We got there early so we asked the wedding coordinator and she said it was fine. I was hoping someone here had real world experience with it, thats all.

@Jeffrey - That was pretty much it. Coordinator said could not hire outside photographer. The literature doesn't spell that out and is misleading.

We got to board at 11:15am and hang around the ship until 12:45pm. I had never been on a ship before so it was cool wondering around checking it out. The ship was huge on the outside but once inside, didnt feel so big. The ceremony itself felt really Vegas like. Small room area with those ugly colored lights.
Usher the people in, ceremony happens, usher the people to the reception lounge. I already offered the couple a bridal session cause I already feel bad at the way those formals will turn out. Entrance, cake cutting, toast, and first dance all in the first 15 minutes...lol. Buffet food, if you loved sushi, it was great...I don't love sushi. Open bar was very nice. Atmosphere was cool. I got some good candids at the reception. During the ceremony I stayed in my seat not to get in the way. I didn't want to be "that" guy.

Good time overall. I way overreacted worrying about bringing gear onboard.

Carnival!

cory1848 wrote in post #10768389
"Pro" was using a D300 using a bracket flash direct on (not pro in my book either). Gets that lovely direct flash look.

Don't go on pre-judging a photographer's abilities without seeing any finished photos. We all know it's the photographer's skill not the gear that is most important.

HappySnapper90 wrote in post #10775870
Don't go on pre-judging a photographer's abilities without seeing any finished photos. We all know it's the photographer's skill not the gear that is most important.

I agree, however seeing the back of the LCD and knowing from experience, most of the shots won't be that flattering. And I am not the one who brought up the gear issue.