Which port for best jewelry?

[MCazer]

My birthday is Wednesday, and my husband wanted to know what I wanted. Well I told him a nice necklace. Well after hitting a few stores, nothing really hit me, and then we remembered we are going on a cruise in less than 2 weeks, so why not wait?

Well, we are on the Eastern, so the 2 ports are St. Maarten and St. Thomas. Which is better? Should be bargain with cash, pay with credit card? It would not be over $300. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Masonpips]

I got a lovely tanzanite necklace/earring set in St. Maarten - I think the prices were much better there. Get one of the "approved stores" sheets when you get off the boat and any of those stores should be fine to shop at! Have fun!

and P.S. - say hi to my friend Liz (firsttimemom) who is sailing with you!

 

[Rhonda]

I agree with St. Maarten! You can get some fantastic deals!

 

[Joel110]

I've heard with the falling exchange rate of the dollar, St. Maartan shopping's not as much of a bargain right now. Anyone recent visitors have updates?

 

[tvguy]

Well, St. Thomas has the reputation as being the bargain place to shop for Jewelry. Didn't buy any Jewelry this trip, so can't say if that changed.

 

[faireygod mother]

We think St Thomas is the best. There is a side street with some jewlers on and we have returned several times to one in particular. It is called the House of Rajah. We have had the items appraised when we returned and were amazed at the savings. My DH bought me blue and white diamonds and it was 1/3 to 1/2 cheaper, not to mention rare to find here in the states. My future nephew just had a three stone diamond engagement ring made by the same store and it was literally 50% cheaper and better quality diamond. My future nephew was sceptical, he is a city policeman, but had it appraised and was amazed as well. Not to mention the quality.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

We haven't been to St. Thomas for many years, but we found some great deals when we were there. We bought blue topaz stones ( then $8.00 a crt). We were on our honeymoon and my husband had them all set for me for a 1st annivesary gift.

 

[piglet33]

Here's another vote for St. Thomas. When we were there in October my husband and I decided to upgrade our plain wedding bands for our 10th anniversary to ones with diamonds and got a great deal.

 

[logan1_2000]

We also did some re-setting and upgrading of DW's rings for 10th anniversary a few years back. We did it after 8 years because I figure being married to me earned DW "combat pay" so she got the 10 yr jewelry early. Don't worry--she got larger diamond stud earrings for the real 10 years. And both of these purchases were from Shivas & Trident, both co-owned by the same family on Front Street. Varsha is the mother's name--we did a lot of work with her son Jay, who last I heard had moved to Aruba to run the family's store there. We were referred to them by multiple affluent time share owners who visit the island annually for over 15 years, and they were the exact type of referral sources I would have sought out back home (they reminded me of my parents except maybe 10 years younger and with more $!).

Great quality, great values, and the follow up earring purchase was done via phone, e-mail, and shipped to me on approval, not charged until I had inspected and had appraised here. I do not think they are on any "approved" list, but such lists always leave me suspicious. I think whatever quid pro quo is involved in the "approval" process is simply something this shop did not need to cough up because of their excellent reputation among the land based, not cruise ship based, clients who provide them with repeat business.

 

[tecdavidt]

I have been on 17 cruises and by far, the islands with the Holland connection have the best prices. I have pieces from St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Barbados and Aruba. The prices were lowest on St. Maarten and Aruba. The highest prices were in Grand Caymen. Kathy

 

[MCazer]

Thank you all for the great posts. Please, if possible, give me an approximate location so that we can find them. We are also doing excursions, so probably won't have that much time!

Thanks again!

 

[Rhonda]

mcazer: You won't have trouble finding them! You will get off the ship and just start walking and the jewelry stores will be all over! Also, you can get a map of the stores from the ship and I believe the ship will also offer a shopping seminar the night before! They will also give you coupons for the various stores!

 

[logan1_2000]

Amazingly at Trident-Shivas' web site there is not a street address. Front Street is certainly easy to find in St. Martin, it will be on every handy, free map you find. On of their stores, Trident, is on one side of the street, and the other, Shivas, is on the other side (so no matter which sidewalk you use, you dont have to cross the street to get to them, and yes I have crossed the street with the person helping me if the particular setting or stone that fit our desire was in the other store).

The email address is: info@shivas-trident.com.

They have been so nice, offered us a chance to call home to the states on their phone and a cold coca cola while shopping. If I can dig up the actual street address on their business card at home I will post it later. Or if you go elsewhere, sigh, I hope you are treated as well as we were there.