What has been your best "bargain" on the Eastern Itenerary...

[Favorite Auntie]

OK, so what has been people's best 'Bargain' on the Eastern itenerary? I happen to love shopping in St Martin and I am curious to hear what treasures people have found there and St Thomas....

 

[Euphscott]

The best bargain is the free sample of a GuavaBerry Colada in St. Martin on Front Street.

The most unique items we have come home with are the carved mineral birds found at Amsterdam Sauer in St. Thomas. At $100 a piece, they are not really a bargain, but they are beautiful and unique. We also have purchased a gemstone tree which are a lower price. One fo these days I am going to have to buy my wife one of the large eagles, she has her eyes set on them!

 

[Lisa F]

A few years ago I developed an allergy to my gold jewelry (boo hoo, probably a nickel allergy). Anyway, that included my wedding band and engagement ring. After the swelling in my hands went down and the redness disappeared, I bought a plain platinum wedding band (my gold one had been plain too) to see if I would have a reaction to it. After 6 months of wearing it without any reaction, we were on our Eastern cruise and I thought "hey, maybe I can drag hubby to look at settings for my engagement diamond." He was actually OK with that, hoping to get a bargain too (the ones I had been showing him on the web were all around $1200-1500, WOW). Anyway, platinum settings weren't very common but we eventually found one that we BOTH loved and that reminded us of my gold one (that I could no longer wear). That thing is REALLY heavy (it's a substantial setting) with .33 carats of diamonds (just tiny chips but I love it). The guy (I think it was at Joe's Jewelry, this was on St. Maarten) wanted $795 for it but said he'd give it to me for $650 and we eventually haggled him down to $500, plus he sized it for free. It's so pretty and I still love looking at it and I believe we got a great deal on it.

The really funny thing is that rather than stick it in my bag (i was afraid of losing it) I just wore it off the ship. I didn't have my old ring with me because I wasn't planning on shopping for a new setting before going on the cruise, so I just had the semi-mount without the center stone. Anyway, this woman in the airport approached me and said "honey, I don't know how to tell you this, but you lost your diamond!" I explained to her why I didn't have it and we laughed about it.

Anyway, I think that is it for me for jewelry, after dragging DH to EVERY store in St. Maarten he is pretty much shopped out for life.

Lisa

 

[aa4mom]

While in line to return to the ship, the people behind us had boxes from Kmart. The told us it was the cheapest place to get alcohol!!!!! The Kmart is not far from the arial tram

 

[tarzanman]

I think that Crown Royal 1 Ltr. bottles for 9.99 is a pretty good deal. Actually a streal. That is how much I paid at this little liquor store in St. Maarten. It was on the left hand side of the street past the Guavaberry Emporium.

 

[Favorite Auntie]

I thought that a $5 bottle (1 litre) of razz stoli was a great deal. It sells for $19.99 around here. I know I only saved $15, but that is a 75% savings! That was on St Martin. I found that if you waited until later in the afternoon and walked further from the center of town, you got better bargains...anyone else experience this?

 

[hilltopfamily]

this is not so much an answer as it is a piece of advice.

I am afraid that I had read so much about great shopping on St. Thomas that I purchased only tropical wear items on St. Maarten only to find out the next day that similar, if not the same, items were much higher on St. Thomas.

Next time (if and when that happens ) I'll know to do more shopping at St. Maarten. Especially for tee-shirts!

 

[shellbelle11]

My best deal came thanks to my best friend. Being my 3rd time on the eastern I wasn't going to go to the shopping talk. Since she was curious I went with her. At the talk it was mentioned that St Thomas is a great place for electronics. I went into the store that was suggested and I bought a digital camera! I paid $320 for the camera, the case, the kit to hook it up the the computer, rechargable batteries, the charger and 2 memory cards! Also there's no sales tax on St Thomas, so that was another huge savings. Back home I saw my camera on sale in a store for $300 for just the camera and one card, everything else had to be purchased separately and in MA there's a 5% sales tax. I was very happy with the price I got.

It became my "toy" for the rest of vacation.

 

[DisneyGator01]

Do most shops in St. Martin take US currency? I usually bring cash to curb my spending.. if I bring the plastic--tend to spend more.