souvenir shopping?

I’ll be sailing on the Paul Gauguin Cook & Society Island cruise that travels to: Huahine, Aitutaki, Rarotonga, Taaha, Bora Bora, and Moorea. What can I expect in terms of souvenirs and prices of souvenirs? Feel free to quote prices in local currency or USD. What’s the going rate for a t-shirt? Postcard? How about pearl items – what prices do they start at? What other types of unique or typical souvenir items will I find? Which island is the best for souvenir shopping? How much shopping is available at each warf where we disembark the tenders?

The Marche in Papeete is a good place for souvenirs. You will have the morning in Papeete to shop there or the day you board. Sundays are slow days in the market.

You could buy the following souvenirs in the market

Vanilla beans

Vanilla paste

shell souvenirs

Bora Bora has a craft market mostly jewellery made of shell/ pearl

- prices from $5 to $500 USD

Moorea has some sellers on the wharf - Pareos jewellery - prices all over the place. Pareos I think start for $20 for those made in the far east. The local ones are more pricey and are sometimes hand painted. Moorea also has some nice shops all over the Island depends on what you are doing. The Moorea agricultural centre also sells vanilla of good quality as well as some interesting jams. The centre is on the way to the Belvedere. Have their vanilla icecream.

Pearls - it depends on the quality so i would say $25 to $100,000. Though I have seen a occasional necklace at prices in excess of $100,000 as well.

Shell necklaces - BB, Moorea, Motu Mahana.

If you are at the IC in Tahiti I bought some really nice vinegars from there.

Motu Mahana has a local Tahaa vanilla seller there - he sells beans, vanilla sugar and vanilla paste. There are also pearl sellers and shell jewellery sellers

Raiatea has a market by the wharf but havent been there since 2008 so cannot recall what you get there - I would say more of the same.

If you are looking for pearls I found they came in two categories. Those that are souvenirs and those that are jewelry. Almost every roadside vendor was selling pearls from a few dollars usually up to about $100. If you want quality pearls I would recommend purchasing from one of the established jewelers. Tara Collins has a shop on the ship and also on land on a few islands, Robert Wan has land based shops as does Eva Perles on Moorea. All are reported to be reputable.

I would research pricing on a site such as www.bluenile.com before you go if you are interested in quality pearls.

Flight Medic - blue nile is largely freshwater pearls from China - these are salt water Tahaitian kind which is equivalent to south sea.

There is a wide discrepancy in the pricing of the two kinds.

I love the Marche in Papeete. It is great fun to see all the different things available and I have gotten some lovely local soaps and lotions there. Also, as Emdee says, some stunning shell jewerly pieces. The Marche is a must-do for me.

Cheers,

Lorna

Great pearls in many places, but if you don't want to spend that kind of money, there is a ton of beautiful black mother-of-pearl jewellery for sale, in lots of places. The market on the dock at Bora Bora is one example.

Also monoi oil (coconut), and soap. As others have said, lots of other shell jewellery as well. Pareos, although some don't like the fact they're made in Indonesia (I don't care, just love the designs.)

Blue Nile has a large quantity of Tahitian Pearls and they have a good section to learn about the grading system including shape, color and size. I am not advocating purchasing from them but it is logical to get a sense of the going price so you are comfortable with what you purchase.

Thanks Flight I stand corrected. Thought they only had freshwater pearls.

Vanilla beans! You can buy them at Taha'a, including Motu Mahana.

I'm trying to budget for this trip, so any details of prices for typical souvenir stuff would be helpful.

I'm trying to budget for this trip, so any details of prices for typical souvenir stuff would be helpful.

Anywhere from $2.00 on up.:D

Vanilla sugar $6

Vanilla Beans $20 for 4 beans

Vanilla Paste $8-12

Pearl souvenirs $20-50

Shell necklaces $20 - 300

Quality pearls $100-$100,000

Moorea Jam $10.00

Postcards 1-3$

Mother of pearl necklace, one piece (like a semi-collar, on a cord), probably about $20. Nice large hair clip, about the same. You can haggle a bit, but they're not really into this, so don't expect much, except perhaps when you're buying multiples. Pareos, $20-$35 perhaps.

Vanilla, oh, perhaps $10 for 10 beans, perhaps a bit more.

Wendy - your prices are way low.

Vanilla was 20 for 4 or 5 beans

Mother of pearls necklaces full collars were 85 to 300 depending on the carvings.

People are hurting as tourism is down so prices are up. The only thing I found down was the high end stuff.

There used to be this beautiful gold pearl necklace ( 100,000) on the ship. I would admire it every year and even tried it on one year when Ann was there ( remember her? She has gone back to europe). Anyway it was not there last year so we asked if it was sold. The shop on the ship doesnt carry too many high end any more and it was in one of the stores.

They actually carry non Tahia pearls which were all under $200. Simple and affordable necklaces. There were some Tahia pieces. Also they didnt serve a high end champagne on the sale day as they used to! I think it was french but a simpler brand.

Wendy - your prices are way low.

 

Vanilla was 20 for 4 or 5 beans

Mother of pearls necklaces full collars were 85 to 300 depending on the carvings.

 

People are hurting as tourism is down so prices are up. The only thing I found down was the high end stuff.

Wow, I have a collar I bought in 2005 for $15. And swear I paid $10 for a packet of beans in 2008! Maybe 6 beans.

Last week on the motu at Tahaa we purchased vanilla. It was $15 in a bottle or $25 in a vacuum pack for twice the quantity. Dried vanilla was $30 for a small bottle. Collared short bought on the ship to use up credit was $40.

The wharf at Moorea had some of the better prices. I would reserve the market in Tajiti for pareos, shirts, dresses and inexpensive stuff like magnets, etc. The pareos are the same virtually everywhere but a few places have some labeled as being done in Tahiti. I believe this means they were decorated in Tahiti. The fabric comes from Indonesia or other places.

It looked like Tara Collins will no longer be on the ship selling pearls. Apparently the daughter of the IC hotel is a jewelry designer and she is on board.

Tahia salesperson Julia joined us late but had her stuff but selection not as good as 2 years ago and too much gold and diamonds drove price too high. Have purchased from 3 different Robert Wan stores over the years - I find they have great desogns, great quality and fair prices. Don't forget you will get 16% off - just make sure you get the proper paperwork to the customs guy at the airport when you leave.

I love Le Marche - always good stuff there. As far as t-shirts - I find the best quality at Te Mana which is in the building on the main street in front of Le Marche. I still have some from 10 years ago - they wear well and are made locally. Going rate last week was about $30 US.

Tahia has gorgeous stuff but her prices are costly and she uses expensive materials like gold and diamonds with the pearls. Also full strands. Last year there were a lot of cheaper necklaces from someone else.

If you do buy something expensive from any of the pearl shops you can ask for a discount. They discount between 5-10%. I am talking of items above $3000. Robert Wan has lovely stuff in all price ranges but prices are fixed.

The last 2 years Robert Wan has had 30% and 50% off sales - never had I seen that the 8 years previous we have shopped there. Sign of the times or they have woken up?!?!?

Twin,

I too bought a couple of cheaper items which were on sale from them(Robert Wan) last year. However if you pick a full price necklace or other item they wont give you a discount. Tahia and the major pearl stores will give you a % off.

You are correct about some of the stores hurting and I did find the higher price items somewhat down but this was spotty. I loved a pair of pearl earring at MM but the price was 7500 - Just plain large unusual ones. I am a pearl lover ( and shopper) so didnt find great bargains on the higher end.

Shell necklaces were up considerably as well but the variety has improved with unusual carvings.

If you go to the Robert Wan pearl museum in Papeete you can get a 10% off coupon for normal priced items!!!

Twin, didnt know that but too late now. I have Tahitian pearls of all colours shapes and sizes so not looking for any more. Last time I promised DH that I wouldnt be buying any more pearls but then saw lovely earrings in Robert Wan and succumbed.

Is the museum interesting?

Beats me!! never been - haven't been to the RW in Papeete since 2005 buying everything in Bora Bora, Moorea and the IC in Papeete. I ran into some last week who had the coupon and she told me they gave it to her there. I budget pearls into every trip. Hell, even got some for my son and daughter this trip!

When we were in Bora Bora there is a store called Bora Home. You get off where the tender drops you, go straight and take a right on the main street and they are just up on the right. I went to every pearl shop and they were by far the best price. I got a green pearl with a silver chain for about $116 and its gorgeous and has held up beautifully as I wear it almost daily. If you do want something very extravagant you'll pay out the yin yang.Also, Tahia Collins is still onboard along with Kelly Bailey's (who we met and is a very nice girl!) Hinerava. Hinerava is much more low key then Collins and a much better price! go here to see her stuff http://www.hinerava.com/. Of course onboard I'm sure there is more to choose from.

When we were in Bora Bora last year we looked extensively at pearls as we wanted to get a full pearl necklace for me. We found the best price to be at OPEC. The quality was incredible. The necklace I got was flawless. Very expensive but they came down considerably in price when we bargained. It doesn't carry a fancy designer name but sometimes with places like Robert Wan and Tahia you are paying a lot more for just their name. The pearls we saw at their shops didn't compare to what we purchased. Each pearl in the strand came with an x-ray certificate stating the quality and nacre thickness.

We're going back to Bora Bora in November and I'm definitely going to go there again to see about another piece.

http://www.opec-borabora.com/anindex.html

Aside from that, we did purchase some inexpensive pearls for our daughters. They've had a bit of a bad track record with losing jewellery so I didn't want to spend big dollars for them. We also found some cute chokers that have pearls on them that were great for the girls boyfriends. These were at the dock in one port and were very inexpensive (under $20) but looked really nice. The quality of the pearl isn't great but we weren't buying it for the value of the pearl but mainly as a memento for them.