Best shopping in Western Caribbean

We will be cruising to the western caribbean and DW needs to know where the best shopping will be...ports include Roatan, Belize, Cozumel and Cayman Islands. Any suggestions? Thanks

Each port has its own specialties for shopping.

Cozumel is by far a shopping mecca. You can shop until you drop in San Miguel. Best prices can be found a street or two behind the main street through the city.

In Roatan items made from the various woods of the island are great buys, specially mahogany. You can find wood items from instruments to bowls and dinnerware to magnificant hand carved trunks.

Belize is also known for items made from area tree wood.

Cayman has many, many stores in which to shop but you will find prices significantly higher there. Main item we bring home from Grand Cayman is Blackbeard Rum Cake. Delicious and much better than the Tortuga rum cakes made there that are so highly advertised.

Dianne

In Roatan items made from the various woods of the island are great buys, specially mahogany. You can find wood items from instruments to bowls and dinnerware to magnificant hand carved trunks.

Except for maybe an extremely rare item, none of the wood products are made from woods of the Island, as a matter of fact very few are even from Honduras. Some chests do come from the mainland of Honduras but most of the bowls, dinnerware and like items are imported from Guatemala or China and someone just carves or paints "Roatan" on them

Except for maybe an extremely rare item, none of the wood products are made from woods of the Island, as a matter of fact very few are even from Honduras. Some chests do come from the mainland of Honduras but most of the bowls, dinnerware and like items are imported from Guatemala or China and someone just carves or paints "Roatan" on them

Thanks for the info. We normally purchase the children's size instruments, like the marimbas, when we are there. I know I have seen similar dinnerware and bowls in Guatemala when we were there.

Have purchased a few purses made of wood in the past for our granddaughters. Not sure where they were actually made but I know my grandkids love them and they are very durable.

Dianne

Each do have their own shopping experience but I would say for the best "overall" shopping experience definitely Cozumel.

Each port has its own specialties for shopping.

 

Cozumel is by far a shopping mecca. You can shop until you drop in San Miguel. Best prices can be found a street or two behind the main street through the city.

 

In Roatan items made from the various woods of the island are great buys, specially mahogany. You can find wood items from instruments to bowls and dinnerware to magnificant hand carved trunks.

 

Belize is also known for items made from area tree wood.

 

Cayman has many, many stores in which to shop but you will find prices significantly higher there. Main item we bring home from Grand Cayman is Blackbeard Rum Cake. Delicious and much better than the Tortuga rum cakes made there that are so highly advertised.

 

Dianne

Definitely agree that, by far, best shopping on this itinerary is in Cozumel. If you are near the International Pier, there is a shopping center right across the street. Also plenty of shops around the square or plaza. If interested in good liquor prices, there is a store in Grand Cayman, right in the shuttle pier, that has a great selection and good prices. Buy in the morning, leave it with them, and they will get it on your ship. Also a bunch of jewelry stores in Georgetown, like Balaclava or Passman's.

Each do have their own shopping experience but I would say for the best "overall" shopping experience definitely Cozumel.

I agree. Love the Caymans but probably most expensive shopping on this itinerary. :eek: Great place to window-shop.

What kind of shopping does your wife like to do? Some people just like low cost souveniers...baskets, ornaments,t shirts, beach bags, gifts for kids etc. Others are serious.. looking for bargains in jewlery, watches, fine leather etc.

Cayman will have many stores you see on St. Martin, St. Thomas, San Juan etc. Diamonds International and the like. Priced for those serious shoppers. Don't look for "deals" on fine jewelry. :rolleyes: Cozumel has everything from plastic junk, leather of a myriad of values and workmanship, beautiful costly crafted silver jewelry to a $3.00 tarnishable ring. You want it, you'll find it there. ;)

Since you'll be at both places, save enough time to let her look around both places.:)

 

Cayman will have many stores you see on St. Martin, St. Thomas, San Juan etc. Diamonds International and the like.

Roatan has two or three diamonds international

Yep, lots of places are home to DI. I know Belize City has one. Not sure about Roatan. Don't shop there. Even in Alaska, Key West and New York we've seen them. They have over a hundred locations.

Don't forget you can buy directly from Diamonds International, Adiamor, or Blue Nile on line. They all have web sites with the same prices. You don't have to travel to Belize.

Do check to make sure that the diamond is GIA or AGSL certified in writing before buying. Many Diamonds in the Caribbean are sold with an EGL (European Gem Lab) certificate. so, a One Caret J-VS1 EGL rated stone might be worth $500-1000 less than a One Caret J-VS1 GIA stone. That is how they can sell a certified One Caret J-VS1 diamond for less! :cool:

Know what you're buying before you pay.

Long Story

My fiancé and another couple took a 7 day cruise from New Orleans, visiting Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. When I heard about the informational meeting with the shopping expert regarding buying jewelry I went to that. As we were in the market for my wedding ring since we were getting married in two weeks after the cruise.

I found a ring I really liked in Roatan. The only problem is, it was too small. They said no problem they could have it sized. Well we bought the ring late in the afternoon so they didn't have time to size it. Not to worry, we could have it sized in Belize. Our next stop was Belize, so we dropped of the ring to be sized and said we would pick it up at the end of the day as we had an excursion planned. When we arrived at the end of the day, they apologized that they weren't able to resize the ring as they didn't have the proper equipment, but was assured it could be done in Cozumel. Ok, fine. Next stop, drop the ring off again and go to our excursion there in Cozumel. At the end of the day, the ring was sized and we thought everything was good.

After our cruise we stayed 3 extra days in New Orleans and then back home to Arizona. The next day after getting back to Arizona we took the ring to our jeweler to have the center stone mounted, as we purchased this ring without the center stone. The jeweler examined the ring and right away said there were several problems. He explained that because the ring has baquet stones on the sides (that ring should have NEVER been sized) because it loosens the stones and that can't be corrected, because they are channel set. He suggested we get a new ring from them because it wasn't fixable, the stones would eventually fall out as they were loose already. We took the ring to another jeweler they told us the same thing.

We called DI and explained the situation and told the rep what the jewelers had told us, they told us to mail it back to them and they would A. give us a new ring, B fix it or C give us our money back. That it would take 6-8 weeks. I explained that we were getting married in a week and really wanted the ring. After several conversations it was agreed that we would have our center stone set for the ceremony, then after, we would remove the center stone and mail it back to them, which is what we did. Oh before I forget, the next day after the wedding, 3 stones had already fallen out, I had only worn the ring for 1 day.

What a hassle. So send the ring registered mail, insured all that stuff and off it went to New York. After a 4 weeks we got the ring back. Things are looking good, I think. Take the ring back down to the jeweler and he tells us nothing has been done to the ring, just the stones replaced. They NEVER fixed it Got on the phone to DI and we were told to send the ring back. Many, many emails and phones calls on our part, I STILL DO NOT have my ring, which we bought in April. They promise to call and they never to. They DON'T CARE.

Very poor customer service.

They DON'T CARE.

You're right, they don't care. You're here and they're there – they know the odds of you giving up are pretty good, so they couldn't care less.

To be honest – and please understand, I'm not dogging you – the last thing I would ever do is fork out what was probably a substantial amount to someone in a shop in Honduras. Matter of fact, I would never buy anything as important as a wedding ring from anyone I couldn't get in my car and go talk to face to face.

I'll be amazed if you ever get it straightened out – but I hope that you do. Good luck.

I do hope you get your money back eventually. Did you use your credit card to purchase it? If so maybe you can dispute it with them.

Lingerguy

I know, I shouldn't have. I know now. I thought since Carnival was really pushing them and they were a big company that they must be reputable. WHAT a MISTAKE. Lesson learned the hard way.

I really thought they would take care of things.

Lingerguy

 

I know, I shouldn't have. I know now. I thought since Carnival was really pushing them and they were a big company that they must be reputable. WHAT a MISTAKE. Lesson learned the hard way.

 

I really thought they would take care of things.

Please don't beat yourself up over this. I guarantee there is not one person on this board who has not made a bad decision trying to get a bargain.

From the sound, general tone of your post, I get the feeling you are relatively young. I would hate to tell you how many times I did things I wish I could undo while in my youth.

Anyway do not let this ruin your wedding and remember soon enough this will be a distant memory that you and your new spouse will chalk up to experience.

Best wishes on your marriage.

good luck

Only but t - shirts and rum in the Caribbean. :p

Just have them refund the price of the ring and purchase one from your jeweler. You are lucky they offered that option. If you have issues with that go to your credit card company and let them deal with it. Sorry this happened but as others mentioned this too shall pass. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

This sounds like the perfect reason to go on another cruise... can you imagine the look on the guy's face when you walk in the store? :)

On our last cruise I believe Carnival had the shoppers guarantee for the stores that they hawked so feverishly, that covered purchases made in the stores that didnt turn out to be what was promised. Its been a couple months since the cruise, but I seem to remember it in the "Shopping Talk". It might be worth calling Carnival in the morning and seeing what they have to say about it.

Good luck!

Always keep in mind that a cruise buyers guide is very profitable for the cruise line & person hawking the "recommended store." Each store pays the cruise line 15% to 20% of all sales made to cruise passengers. In addition, the person recommending the stores is handsomely paid with all kinds of gifts from the stores. We were on a Christmas sailing once & saw a huge pile of wrapped gifts. I asked our favorite cruise staff if that was for all the crew. Was told no those were gifts for the person handling the on shore buyers talks and the cruise director.

I am wondering if there will be places to buy fake Louis Vuitton purses.. we are going to Cozumel, Mohagony Bay and Costa Maya. If anyone knows of any places selling them, I'd gladly appreciate any info!!

Thank you!