Shopping Question

[cruzbound]

Hi there,

We will be in St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba and Curacao in March. What is the best town for shopping and walking around? I thought maybe St. Thomas. If so, does one need to take a taxi to town to shop or is it walkable from the port?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

cruzbound

[O2B@Cagain]

There are two docks on St Thomas; Havensight and Crown Bay. Havensight is a flat one mile walk along the waterfront from town. Easy peasy. Crown Bay is a bit farther and not as picturesque. There is a shopping area at Havensight, but the buildings aren't historic like in town. Crown Bay has some stores, but it isn't really shopping, IMHO.

[cruzbound]

From what I can find on the internet, it looks like only Allure and Oasis dock at Crown Bay so I am thinking we will dock at Havensight. What I am looking for in regards to shopping is a shopping area kind of like Cozumel. Most of the time the shopping areas at the port are more like a smaller strip mall and not a whole town. Any additional input would be great.

 

Thanks for your help.

[ValerieJo]

I would be interested in shopping information as well.

 

Thanks.

[Ms411]

IMO, Curacao is the prettiest port, and lots to see when walking around. As for shopping, it all depends on what you're looking to buy. All the ports have the same jewelry stores, but Curacao has a larger variety of stores. I usually buy artsy things so I can't say if prices are good or bad, because I bought things I probably wouldn't find elsewhere.

[sail7seas]

From what I can find on the internet, it looks like only Allure and Oasis dock at Crown Bay so I am thinking we will dock at Havensight. What I am looking for in regards to shopping is a shopping area kind of like Cozumel. Most of the time the shopping areas at the port are more like a smaller strip mall and not a whole town. Any additional input would be great.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

Most of the time, HAL and Princess ships dock at Crown Bay.

 

If you are from U.S., you get double duty free shopping exemption for purchases made in U.S.V.I. over what you buy in foreign ports.

 

[cooper4]

From what I can find on the internet, it looks like only Allure and Oasis dock at Crown Bay so I am thinking we will dock at Havensight. What I am looking for in regards to shopping is a shopping area kind of like Cozumel. Most of the time the shopping areas at the port are more like a smaller strip mall and not a whole town. Any additional input would be great.

 

Thanks for your help.

CruzBound and ValerieJo , I believe we are on the same ship Adventure of the Seas and you are correct , it docks at Havensight. There are shops at port but we would recommend walking (one mile) or taking a taxi into town (Charlotte Amalie) Main Street is one shop after another where you can shop till you drop !!! In our opinion St. Thomas is by far the best shopping port of the four mentioned , although we actually prefer the Dutch side of St. Maarten even better.:cool:

"RUSS and AMY"

[sail7seas]

Curacao also has lots of shopping. The stores are different and less emphasis on all the jewelry stores but we enjoy shopping Curacao more than Charlotte Amalie.

 

Charlotte Amalie has taken huge hit from the bad economy. Some shops of more than 40+ years are closed and gone and others have converted from once selling pricey gold and gemstone jewelry to t shirts and beach towels with only a few small jewelry counters now. Many of the goldsmiths in Italy don't even make the jewelry they used to make so, of course, the stores are different. Few people are paying for gold jewelry given what the price of gold now is.

 

If you are looking for fashions, there are a few shops. If you are looking for liquor and cigarettes, you have a larger duty free allotment in USVI than other 'foreign' islands.

 

Souvenir shops are abundant in all the islands.

 

 

[trish1c]

St. Thomas has the best shopping. Curacao had a local craft type market which was interesting.