What did you buy?

[plutojudy]

What did you buy in:
St Martin?
St Thomas?
St John?

 

[Rikersmom]

I highly recommend doing your shopping on St. Maartin. Found the prices to be better than on St. Thomas. I bought a ring that I absolutely love at a jeweler's. The linens are wonderful--got a table runner that I've never seen anywhere else--it's huge strawberries. My husband bought some computer gadget that he said was much less than in the U.S. Also, liquor prices were lower than St. Thomas or the ship.

St. John's is basically a beautiful park. The beaches are out of this world. The water taxi ride to and from St. Thomas is fun. However, the shops there are few in number--not the best place to find bargains.

St. Thomas has beautiful shops. both downtown and at the mall near the dock. I think you can find almost anything on St. Thomas at good prices.

 

[duskysmom]

St. Maarten....rum...$5/bottle...3 bottles...don't know why....we don't drink rum.....but it was the thing to do! Also bought Guavaberry Liquer, a local liquer...again....it just seemed the thing to do. Also bought outfits for myself and dd for tropical night at a nice low price......

 

[MnParrothead]

We bought t-shirts, collector's spoons and a bottle of Coconut Rum in St. Thomas. I don't think we bought anything but aloe vera in St. Maarten.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

I got a liter of Tanqueray gin at St Thomas for $7. Retails for $22 at home.

 

[tecdavidt]

St. Maarten jewelry, t-shirts, tropical clothes for tropical party. St. Thomas, nothing. Just bought drinks, some food and relaxed. Kathy

 

[SingingMom]

Our major purchases were in St. Thomas: Yellow & white gold bracelet, gold ring, tanzanite & diamond earrings, and a Lladro.

(That took care of my birthday and Christmas gifts so that DH didn't have to brave the crowds at the mall back home. Very kind of me, don't you think?! )

 

[Lisa F]

About a year ago I had a terrible allergic reaction to my wedding jewelry. I have had allergic reactions to gold earrings before but never anything else. The problem is, once an area has been sensitized to gold I can't wear it again for years and even then only in short increments (a few hours at most). When we got our wedding rings I never thought this would be a problem but then I never wore rings so constantly before.

Anyway, when it happened my husband was very sweet and bought me an exact replica of my wedding band in platinum. I haven't had a problem with it so we started looking for platinum semi-mounts for my engagement ring. Neither of us have seen anything we absolutely loved.

Then in one shop in St. Maarten after looking at about a billion platinum semi-mounts we found "the one" and it was less than half the cost of the semi-mounts we had seen in the states. They sized it right there and i got to see how it would look with my wedding band (terrific!) even though I didn't have my diamond with me to set... the greatest thing about it is that we hadn't been intending to shop for jewelry but once we got there and saw all of the jewelry stores it occured to us to look for the setting!

Anyway, it was really exciting and made my first cruise ever EXTRA memorable. Now if I could find the time to have my diamond re-set! Anyone know any wonderful and highly trustworthy jewelrs in the Maryland DC-suburbs?

Lisa

 

[jdm]

Is it true you can only bring back one bottle of liquor per adult?

 

[Lisa F]

From the "welcome home" page they leave in your stateroom:

Total Liquor Allowance - per person over 21 years of age - 1 liter is the base exemption purchased on the ship or in St. Maarten, an additional 4 liters is exempt if purchased in St. Thomas providing at least one liter is produced in St. Thomas U.S.V.I. (cruzan Rum and Local Specialty Liquors).

Lisa

 

[mommyinmd]

Hi Lisa,
We're practically neighbors! I'm in Mitchellville, Md. Both my husband and I went to U of Md CollegePark and my daughter should be graduating from there in about 3 mo.
I'll ask around about a trustworthy jeweler- haven't had any repair work done for a long time- always sticking broken jewelry in a ziplock bag!
So glad you found a band that you love on the trip- it makes it extra special!

 

[IrishCowboy]

St Maarten - Austrailian Opal pendants (2) with gold chains and matching bracelet. My wife loves these gems and we can't find them in the U.S.