Liquor Prices St. Thomas vs. St. Maarten???

[soozaay]

We've heard from a few people that the liquor prices in St. Maarten are lower than in St. Thomas. Is this true and can someone give us an approx. savings that can be expected (in other words, is it worth not doing any liquor shopping in St. Thomas and doing it all in St. Maarten?)?

Thanks!

Susie & Harry

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[HeartofTexas]

Our last cruise in November beared that out -Maarten is cheaper.
Depending on what you are looking for there were some pretty good deals in St Maarten. If you go to some of the larger Liquor stores near the docs in St Thomas also good deals. As I recall they said the best prices on St Thomas were at Kmart - although hard to get to - I don't recommend venturing off to find KMart.

We were on Zuiderdam and they have a price match policy so we just grabbed business cards and wrote down what we were looking for and showed it to the Zdam staff and they accepted it. It had to be the exact brand, and quantity though.

[Shelli]

Yes, it's generally somewhat cheaper in St. Martin, but it's not as though it's half the price or anything. And don't forget that you're allowed to bring back more liquor duty free from St. Thomas (because it's U.S.) than you are from St. Martin. Can't remember exact allowances, but if you're planning to bring back lots of liquor, you'd be better off for duty-free purposes buying it in St. Thomas.

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[stephenandrew]

I would agree with Shelli--the price differential between St M and St T was not all that large---but if you are going to be in both places, I guess it does makes sense to buy your liqour in St M. Regarding the quantity you can bring back, I believe Shelli is also correct when she says you can bring more back from St T. If my experience can be genrealized, however, it may not matter--we bought more than the per person allowance from St M--went to customs on the last day of the ship---told the official we had two extra bottles of gin that we bought at St. M above the allowance and he just signed a document waiving any extra duty. I guess it is more hassel to collect the duty than just to waive it for a small amount. Happy shopping.

[Toto2Kansas]

Usually we have found a savings of a couple of dollars a bottle in St. Martin over St. Thomas.
If you want to find K-Mart, it is not that far from the cruise dock and is actually well within walking distance, maybe half a mile. Just straight up the street, ask anyone and they will point you in the right direction, you can't miss it.
We do all of our shopping in St. Martin as there are much better deals to be had there.
Also, in St. Martin, the further you go down the street to the left of where the main entrance to town is, the cheaper the prices get.

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[coiran]

Prices are definitely lower in St Martin - go left at the main intersection about two blocks to Caribbean Paradise - very low prices on anything.

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[soozaay]

Thanks all! Great advice! We'll probably do shopping in each. We have always found great deals on Grand Marnier in St. Thomas, as well as on high end vodkas. The prices there are also good on rum & tequila, but we'll probably wait to go to St. Maarten for those. We entertain alot, so we just buy our liquor when we cruise. It also makes great Christmas gifts.

Thanks again!

Susie & Harry

Days Until Our 1st Anniversary Cruise on the Caribbean Princess...
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&prgb=32CD32&cdt=2004;09;25;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500

Navigator of the Seas BACK-TO-BACK! 5/31/03 & 6/7/03 (Honeymoon!)
Enchantment of the Seas 11/4/01 (Got Engaged!)

A Bad Day of Cruising is Still Better than a Good Day at Work!