Cruise Ship Shops good and bad

This was my 20 year anniversary gift. I got it on board the Summit in July. The memory of our cruise and where the bracelet came from is priceless! I am a big fan of on board shopping.

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This was my 20 year anniversary gift. I got it on board the Summit in July. The memory of our cruise and where the bracelet came from is priceless! I am a big fan of on board shopping.

 

Is that sapphires? It's very pretty.

Junk and booze. That's what I think about ship shops 99% of the time. I'm not into cheesy Tshirts, flip flops, shopping bags (?????).

That said, on one of my cruises, I did browse the "higher end" jewelry section. I saw a pair of simple silver earrings that were just what I had been looking for. My employer has strict rules on earrings (plain gold or silver, not bigger than a quarter in size). The price was reasonable, so I bought them. They get worn probably 4 out of 7 days a week.

I buy paperback books, novelty birthday cards and notepads with logos, for Christmas stocking gifts; I use the £10 sale for new wallets, and also a passport cover for my dog-eared passport. In one cruise, touching upon Turkey, there was a sale of small Turkish bags and purses, and I bought several for gifts.

Hey all,

 

I'm currently looking at cruise ship shops and wondering what everyone thinks are good buys and what the shops could do with stocking more of?

 

I'm compiling data for a guide that I am writing for an independent travelling group.

 

Current best buys are:

Sun hats

Scarves

Shopping Bags

Flip-Flops

 

Let me know what you think.

 

Thanks

G

I see lots of the "not a good buy comments" and I do understand where this is coming from.

I have something that could be added to a list, cologne. On my honeymoon I bought Obsession Night on the Pride... it has kinda of a tropical coconut type smell to it. Anyways... a few years later I try to buy it at Macy, Nordstrom, Ulta and no one had it. I asked at one of the stores and the person there who had other lines of Obsession said that it had been discontinued. Back onto the cruise ship I went (not looking for cologne but for vacation) and again I find it. Going on the Conquest in October... hoping to find it again.

I've bought the $10 watch on two different cruises over the years. My iPhone went crazy and wouldn't keep time and I wanted to know what time it was. Those two white watches are still working and I have to say they're pretty fashionable. I'm cruising next Sunday and just took one of those watches out today. I'm going to get a fresh battery for it tomorrow and will be packing it.

Last summer my daughter bought a Michael Kors watch on the Ecstasy. She has several MK watches and knows the prices. She was excited to be able to buy one for about $20 cheaper than the best price at home and no taxes. Just know your prices and you may score a deal. They are few and far between though.

I also usually buy a couple of sun hats. They're $10. A girl can never have enough hats. I usually pack about 7 hats for a 7 day cruise, but still buy more. Crazy. In the past, I've also bought a pashmina/scarf or two for $10 ( the same kind they sell from the street carts in NYC ).

My last cruise I bought two decks of Carnival playing cards since we wanted to play Canasta on our last sea day. They were not much, maybe a total of $6.

I always see cute kids things in the shops and a little purse with a poodle on it comes to mind. It sticks out to me because I have little poodles. Don't know the price.

It's fun to walk around the shops and browse. I've bought a ball cap in the past. And I've purchased a nice water bottle that I take to the gym. My daughter LOVED buying the Carnival pullover sweatshirts with a half zipper that they used to sell ( haven't had them the past couple of cruises though ). She's happy she had all four colors before they switched them out--she wore them in college and then when she and her roomies went on a spring break cruise, they ALL bought those half zip sweatshirts. The girls all loved them. I think they were around $30. And of very good quality.

There are cute blingy lanyards in the shops that I would like if I wore my s & s card around my neck, but I don't. No idea of the cost.

They used to sell Havaianas but have switched up to Roxy flip flops or something like that. They sell a lot of Guess merchandise. A lot of the things are overpriced, but you're on vacation and they have a captive audience. The shops are always busy. Always.

The liquor is a pretty good deal. They'll package it up nicely and deliver it your stateroom the night before debarkation. There will be a liquor price sheet in your room amongst the pile of paperwork that they leave for you to read.

I can't wait to browse in the Fun Shops in 9 days. It's fun.

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There's always some cheap shirt I like and bags are good value

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I have bought shirts, bags, lanyards caps. Always been happy with the prices and quality. I just bought 2 jackets and a top on the Celebrity Infinity. Very good buys for me. The brand CruiseWear is very good quality for the price. DH has many logo/print T-shirts that have lasted 10+ years. Good for mowing the lawn or other leisure activities. I have found the staff very helpful in finding larger sizes from their back stock if you ask. They will find it and hold it for you to pick up later. These are things I have found in the logo store. I do not shop at the high-end designer shops because that is not my life-style and I would not know a bargain or if the quality was good

Margee

Personally the only thing we shop for on cruise ships is duty free cosmetics and t-shirts for DH and the boys. I loved ncl's quirky kids shirts ("I didn't do it" on the front, "I did it" on the back), but they don't seem to have anything like this anymore. Otherwise what little shopping we do is in the ports.

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Well this probably says something about me, but I only like cheap stuff. I personally find shops selling expensive watches, jewelry, perfumes etc tedious in the extreme. I quite enjoys the $10 sales of the things like watches/hats/bags/shawls and would like more things like that. Cheap sunglasses - mine broke and the cheapest I could find on Celebrity was $30 - more than I wanted to spend. Similarly my husband lost his sunhat and there was nothing in the shops on board apart from baseball caps for $30 which he would never spend on a tacky souvenir baseball cap.

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On our last cruise I found myself needing to buy Tylenol. They had it. $12.00 for a small bottle.

If shop operators really want to improve their sales, why not trying handing each customer a simple questionnaire as they leave: Did you find what you were looking for? If not, what was it and what would you consider a reasonable price to pay for it? Make it easy for the customers to drop their response in a box and then READ THEM! After a few months, they should begin to understand what people want and need.

This sounds like a great idea! Maybe if a few of us would suggest this to our favorite cruise line(s), we might see it happen!