As an avid amateur photographer and blogger, I love to return home with photos of the ship including public areas. Readers like to know everything about a ship before its their turn to cruise, and what better way than through pictures. They want to see it all, including the cabins, pools, restaurants, the atrium and every other onboard detail. Whether its good, bad or ugly people need to know.

The absolute best time to shoot pictures is immediately upon boarding, and in order to get the best shots, plan on being one of the first on board. By arriving early, youll have an opportunity for unobstructed shots of public areas before the crowds arrive.

If youre like me, you like to make your cabin the first stop on your shipboard photo safari. I like to know that my cabin is the way I want it and that there are no immediate issues to contend with. First, take a photo of the door and the cabin number, then before dropping your stuff, take photos of the room. An uncluttered room is much more inviting to the viewer than one scattered with belongings. When snapping pictures, dont neglect the bathroom, closets, balcony and electrical outlets the most asked-about cabin features.

Then drop everything and explore the rest of the ship, starting with the most popular places first, the places where passengers tend to congregate. These would be the atrium, of course, along with the buffet area, the lido deck and anywhere else hoards of folks might congregate. Then move on to the quieter areas of the ship the library, for instance.

If all else fails and you arrive to the ship late in the day when the crowds are already in place, you can always use editing software later in the editing process to remove the un-pretty from your photos.