Shopping in St Maarten?

[trobert]

We are on the eastern cruise in June and I've read of several people buying tropical outfits in St. Maarten for the tropical theme dinner. When shopping do you negotiate the price or pay the price that is marked?

 

[BeanoC]

Our experience was that they would bargain with you for multiple purchases, but the truth is that the tropical clothing is pretty cheap to begin with! I had a shirt in my hand that was $9.00, and my wife had an outfit that was $18.00. That's pretty reasonable, but they offered both of them to us for $25, without us even asking!!

There are so many different vendors in St. Maarten, they have to make deals to compete I guess. You should have no trouble getting a very reasonable price. We purchased the above mentioned items, plus a dress for our DD and a shirt for our DS. Altogether we spent $42... Not bad!!




'Beano'

 

[trobert]

Thanks BeanoC, do you remember the name of the store or are they all about the same. We are going to one of the beaches in St. Maarten and then we hope to have time to shop. I've read where the shops are close to the dock and i think the boat doesn't leave st maarten till late that evening. Anyway, St. Maarten is where I plan on buying the outfits and shirts for the tropical theme dinner. Thanks for the info and please forward any other suggestions you might have--this is our first carribean cruise and our 1st 7 day cruise.

 

[BeanoC]

I don't recall any specific names of the stores, but they are all similar and all are within a few blocks of each other. You have to take a ferry from the dock, and then everything is within walking distance. You can shop for clothes in 10 different stores in an hour's time! We looked them all over pretty good, and found the clothes we wanted, then bought some sodas and beer to take back. All told, we were gone maybe 3 1/2 hours. We would have stayed longer but the kids get tired and bored. The point is, you will have plenty of time to find the clothes you want!




'Beano'

 

[JLSM97]

When I read stuff about bartering with merchants, them standing out front trying to lure shoppers in, etc., the only thing I can think of is that filthy tourist trap Tijuana. Can someone please confirm for me that St. Maarten and St. Thomas are NOT like Tijuana???

 

[BeanoC]

Well...

It's not as bad as Tijuana in my opinion, but St. Maarten is kinda dirty and run down in many places... the streets are narrow and full of potholes, and you'd better stay on the sidewalks because I don't think they even slow down for pedestrians!

As for the merchants, they don't go as far as grabbing your arm, but they are standing out front trying to lure everyone inside. Overall, I found them to be pleasant and not overly pushy. I can't say that I was terribly impressed with the place, but we did get some good deals.

As for St. Thomas - no comparison. It is clean, classy and beautiful! St. John has some of the most beautiful beaches on God's earth, and the shopping area in Charlotte Amalie is very very nice.



'Beano'

 

[PiperG]

I agree with the previous poster. St. Maarten is not nearly as bad as Tiajuana, although I definitely saw the resemblence (I was born and raised in San Diego and have been TJ plenty). We didn't spend much time in downtown St. Maarten, but did enjoy looking at the beautiful water.

St. Thomas is definitely more upscale, although we didn't spend much time on shore there either. We just wanted to be on the Magic! During our cruise, we anchored in the bay, and DS fell asleep watch a movie about 2:00 on St. Thomas day. Our verandah overlooked the town, and DH and I just sat there drinking mararitas and looking at the beautiful scenery until we pulled out for Castaway Cay. You didn't need to know that, but it brought back a wonderful memory telling you