beware of shopping claims on board

[JCerniglow]

We have cruised numerous times on Disney and other lines. I have always found the jewelry selection in st Thomas to be good and pricing good. I pride myself on being an informed shopper. The onboard presentation claimed, as always, significant discounts. The fantasy shoppers were Candace and Mark. We live in Maryland. I had been pricing an Effy bracelet from their water colors collection. In ocean city Maryland, it was priced at 3500 but the manager said that they would sell it to me for 3300. I decided to wait for my cruise.
I entered the Effy store in St Thomas with my card in hand from Candace. Spoke with the manager, Anil (I think that is the correct name). The sticker on the bracelet was 3850. (350 above retail or even internet pricing). He said the best that he could do was 3450. When I told him that I could purchase it in the states for less, his response was that I would have to pay tax in the states. true but still not the "savings" of at least 25% promised on board.

that evening I spoke with Mark regarding my experience. He seemed unaffected. I must admit that I was surprised. So I told him that instead I purchased a lovely pair of blue and white diamond earrings at Cardow. His response was that Cardow quality was poor that is why they were not on the approved list. Interesting because Cardow was approved last cruise. So, buyer beware.

I will still buy the bracelet at my local store. very disappointed in the shopping experience on board. In 20 cruises this was the only time I felt like it was a scam.

 

[phinz]

There's also the benefit of your local store paying taxes in your local jurisdiction, as well as the local owner spending their own earnings at home, which brings at least a little bit of your money back to you in some form.

We used to own a local, independent book store. We couldn't compete with the prices that the local big box had, though we did discount the price of every book on our shelves from the cover price. When someone said, "I can get this book for $xxx cheaper at the WalMarts" we would tell them that we understood that our prices were higher, and that unfortunately we didn't have the buying power that a multinational megacorporation had. We would tell them they were more than welcome to send their money to Bentonville, AR, to pay for Ms. Benton's yacht if that was what they preferred, but that we were local business owners who paid local taxes, ate in local restaurants and shopped in local stores. More than one person said that they'd never thought of it that way and wound up buying the book.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

The shopping "guides" are paid shills, plain and simple. The cruise lines have them because they are getting something out of it.

As for the savings of at least 25%, I'm sure there was weasel speak or print that indicated "up to". There was probably also a crap item that was , in fact, 25% off.

 

[missyp]

off topic I know, but I wish I hadn't seen this post...
Now I want something from the Effy Watercolors Collection- Beautiful!

 

[GadgetGod]

you might find this interesting.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicole-glass/cruise-ships-financially-_b_1531590.html

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

The moral of this thread......buy local! There are many benifits to you and your town you may not notice!

AKK

 

[over50visits]

Once upon a time I went to a cruise shopping presentation onboard. I felt like I was in a carnival side show. I rank those presentations right up there with the onboard art "auctions."

Sorry, but time and time again I hear how people were burned with jewelry purchased on a cruise, whether price or quality wise. We shop for and get great prices and service back home, and travel to the islands on our cruises to see new places, scenery, and people...not to visit some international shopping chain that has zero to do with the local culture, and feels sleazy.

Sorry, but there is so much wonderful to see and do on a cruise. Listening to those shopping presentations and using their maps is nowhere near part of that experience. They are nothing but a profit center for the cruise line.

 

[bumbershoot]

The moral of this thread......buy local! There are many benifits to you and your town you may not notice!

AKK

Lol. The op wouldn't have posted if buying local to him had been more expensive. In this case it worked out financially to buy local.

(while I feel for small independent stores, I rarely buy from them unless they have an Amazon store. Bc for my family, buying loc means Amazon, since that's where our paycheck comes from)

(Op did you check Amazon? Apart from the awful spelling typo the seller transmitted to Amazon repeatedly, possibly decent prices there. Unless they are like invicta where no one ever sells at full price)

 

[Bella29]

I know this is "industry standard" but it really seems like a tacky practice for DCL to be involved in. We don't go to the shopping presentations but they manage to make their presence known anyway through the navigator and tv. I was horrified to see the cruise shopping people standing on the gangway hawking their shopping maps to the disembarking passengers. Just gross.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

We went to the shopping presentation on our very first cruise cause it was our first and we didn't know better. Only thing we got out of it was the map for free charms or whatever it was. Some stores were polite and just gave them when we asked, some wanted to badger us to buy something else.

 

[Bella29]

you might find this interesting.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicole-glass/cruise-ships-financially-_b_1531590.html

I did find that interesting, confirms that the "shopping experts" is a total scam. I was also intrigued by Ross Klein (cruisejunkie.com) being blackballed from all the cruise lines, reportedly because of his reporting on them. There must be an interesting backstory there.

thanks for sharing!

 

[phinz]

I went to the watch presentation once because I love looking at pictures of watches I can't afford. It didn't offer me much, but there were at least pretty photos.

 

[tinkerone]

i liken them to church revivals. they whip you up into a frenzy. how can you possibly live without x y and z. look what your going to miss out on. by the time they are finished half the room is begging to get the coupons being handed out that will guarantee you the 'very best rate!'. went one time and that was enough. yup, it was a frenzy alright.

 

[mom4fun]

My DH went to a presentation on the cruise ship because he wanted to buy a new watch. The DCL rep even showed us the jewelry shop in Nassau. It was a complete overpriced rip off. When we went to key west, we actually found a good deal on our own. So actually there can be much better deals in the U.S.

 

[GadgetGod]

I did find that interesting, confirms that the "shopping experts" is a total scam. I was also intrigued by Ross Klein (cruisejunkie.com) being blackballed from all the cruise lines, reportedly because of his reporting on them. There must be an interesting backstory there.

thanks for sharing!

I am curious about the backstory also. In looking for it, I found another case of PAX being blacklisted from a cruise line for complaining and writing bad reviews on an internet forum. So my guess is in Professor Klein's case, the cruise lines were looking to remove personal experience from his commentary. unfair, but perfectly legal.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24711659/...ining-couple-banned-cruise-line/#.VqkBtPkrLIU

 

[over50visits]

You too can be an Onboard Port & Shopping Ambassador...your job is to "drive cruise ship guests to stores in the ports of call."

http://www.cruiseshipjob.com/mvc/j227/Holland-America-Line-jobs-Port-&-Shopping-Ambassador

 

[JJsmama]

I want to see a pic of the blue and white diamond earrings. Sound lovely!

 

[tinkerone]

I am curious about the backstory also. In looking for it, I found another case of PAX being blacklisted from a cruise line for complaining and writing bad reviews on an internet forum. So my guess is in Professor Klein's case, the cruise lines were looking to remove personal experience from his commentary. unfair, but perfectly legal.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24711659/...ining-couple-banned-cruise-line/#.VqkBtPkrLIU

wow, that is quite the story! it makes me wonder how easy it is to get our private information off of this site or any site for that matter. how would they know it was those people postings? maybe just from the examples from the posts? and it said that other readers were writing in complaint letters. how would they know who the morans were?
very interesting read, thanks for sharing.

 

[Trera]

We have never been to the shopping presentation. After reading this, I'm glad that is one thing we missed out on.

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

I'm wondering if there's a problem with inflating prices in St Thomas. A few years ago DMIL & I bought David Yurman bracelets at a shop listed on the David Yuman website only to find out we paid more than what it cost in the states. I've bought David Yurman in Grand Cayman, Cozumel & the Bahamas and it's always been a huge discount off the price compared to the USA.