I'm Just An Amatuer Photographer,
but..... here's my humble recommendation and suggestions on taking a cruise with a digital.
I currenty have 2 digital cameras.... An Olympus 2020Zoom (2.1 megapixel) and an Olympus 4040Zoom (4 Megapixel). Obviously, I like the 4040Zoom better (more functions to play with & I highly recommend it), but I rarely use the camera to it's full potential, megapixel wise.
IMHO, If you're going digital, go with at least a 3 megapixel camera (for acceptable-to-good quality prints up to 8x10 sized) however 4 megapixel is better. That resolution can enlarge to a 11x14 print with fairly good results, however, you may find (like I do) that you use the camera at a lower resolution setting in order to take more pictures before running out of memory space & having to download your pictures.
I bought my first digital camera about 3 days before a cruise--not enough time to fully learn how to use the camera before "show-time." Buy your new camera as soon as you can and practice with it as much as you can now, in order to be completely comfortable with it before you take those once-in-a-lifetime pictures. Digitals are very easy to use, but you don't want to be figuring it out as great shots are passing you by.
I also learned an important lesson with my first digital camera on that cruise: memory, memory, memory!! Spend the extra money & get AT LEAST one 128meg memory card or larger (around $70 on sale now for a 128 meg SmartMedia Card) for your new digital camera. You'll be glad you did! And, if at all possible, bring your laptop computer along & download your pictures every night before going to bed. If you're like me, you'll be taking pictures of EVERYTHING (on vacation, I take an average of 500 pictures a day with my digital
), so you'll want to start each new day with a blank card & to do that you'll need to download those pictures somehow. A cruise without the laptop is possible, however--just make sure you have LOTS of memory card space!! (That's how I did it with my first digital--but I had to sacrifice quality for quanitity on those pictures as a result.
) You might also want to consider getting your own printer, rather than getting your pictures printed somewhere. There are printers out there now that will print your photos right from your memory card or camera (like the HP PhotoSmart printers for around $179), without even needing a computer. Using photo quality paper, each print will cost between 15 & 60 cents on your own printer.
One more thing... seawater/salt spray/water spray and digital cameras don't mix well. Just make sure to give your camera a good cleaning as soon as you can afterwards & protect any buttons from direct spray, so that the water doesn't get into it. I've even sealed my camera in a ziplock back, with only the lens itself sticking through a hole in the bag (sealed with a rubber band) to protect it from very wet conditions (like at Niagara Falls recently). I believe you can get waterproof digital cameras now, but as with any good underwater camera, they can be expensive. If you want underwater photos but don't have an underwater SLR, then get a waterproof disposable camera or two.
As you can see, digital photography can be a lot like maintaining an aquarium.... one thing ALWAYS leads to another and you always will want to upgrade to bigger & better.
Just my humble suggestions....
Oh, and if you'd like to see some of my pictures taken with that 2 Megapixel camera, you can see them here:
http://community.webshots.com/user/melhouse1
(I also have pictures under melhouse2, melhouse3, etc. up to melhouse11, but most of those were taken using the 4 megapixel camera.)
