cruisecrasy Posted June 19, 2005 #1 Posted June 19, 2005 Am off to Eastern Caribbean (San Juan, PR, St Thomas, St Maarten, St John's, Antigua & Nassau in the Bahms. Anyone experienced shopping in these ports and could give opinion as to which ones have the best shopping. I am especially interested in booze, electronic 'stuff', ladies clothes, shoes & accessories (jewellery not important), hsehold items etc and especially local goods.. Really appreciate hearing from anyone..Thanks in advance & happy cruisin'!
travelgirl913 Posted June 20, 2005 #2 Posted June 20, 2005 Am off to Eastern Caribbean (San Juan, PR, St Thomas, St Maarten, St John's, Antigua & Nassau in the Bahms. Anyone experienced shopping in these ports and could give opinion as to which ones have the best shopping. I am especially interested in booze, electronic 'stuff', ladies clothes, shoes & accessories (jewellery not important), hsehold items etc and especially local goods.. Really appreciate hearing from anyone..Thanks in advance & happy cruisin'! I have been to all these islands except St. Maarten. St. Thomas is known for it's shopping and there are TONS of shops there but they specialize in jewlery. Our last cruise many people were pricing out watches and found the best prices by about $500 less on St. Thomas than other islands. Our cruise was selling big coupon shopping books for there. Booze you are allowed to buy 6 bottles per person from St. Thomas and only 2 per person elsewhere so your best bet is to buy booze in St. Thomas. Lots of woman's clothing, shoes stores, and souvenier shops too in the main downtown shopping area. Antigua there is a little straw market type place as soon as you get off the ship to the right. Again mostly local stuff, and hats, t-shirts, etc... Then a few upscale shops too. I didn't shop in Nassua. I know they have a local straw market as well. Have a great trip.
cruisecrasy Posted June 20, 2005 Author #3 Posted June 20, 2005 So nice to get this calibre of info regarding shopping . Thanks so much and I will have a wonderful cruise - it's sooo tough not too - heh heh - same wish for you!!
shmily Posted July 4, 2005 #4 Posted July 4, 2005 Hi there. We did the Tortola, St. Thomas and Nassau ports last month on HAL. By far, the best shopping was St. Thomas. Got things like tshirts for the kids 5/$10, hemotite necklaces 4/$10, linens were major deals, and booze was easy and cheap at the Havensite mall right at the pier. In Nassau, shops were much more expensive and the straw market was a cattle call with way too many people shoved in way too tight a space. I didn't even bother stopping to dicker for anything in there. All I could do was try my best to get out of there was quickly as possible! Have fun!
johnnycruise Posted July 12, 2005 #5 Posted July 12, 2005 Liquor is at least 30% cheaper in Phillipsburg (St. Maarten) than in Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas). The only catch is that most of the Front Street shops take cash only.
m steve Posted July 12, 2005 #6 Posted July 12, 2005 These are the 2 best duty free ports. You can combine your liquoor from both ports so buy 2 in STM and 4 in StT. If you put all the booze in STT boxes you wont be questioned and probably if you go over from either port there is a liklyhood that customs doesn't care. I am not sure that Watches are any cheaper there than at the discount stores in US.
digital_curator Posted July 28, 2005 #7 Posted July 28, 2005 We did an extensive search for booze in St. Maarten and found it to be ridiculously cheap. If you get off at the town pier from the water taxi, go straight ahead to the main cross street. Turn left and walk to the end of the shopping district (less than 10 minutes). Stores around here have even better prices that closer to the main drag. We got 1 L of Gordon's gin for $6 and 1 L of Appleton rum for $5! At the other end of the shopping district, we really enjoyed the guavaberry shop for local sauces etc. (except guava berry liqueur tastes like cough syrup to me). http://www.guavaberry.com/ We didn't shop in St. Thomas- too much of a madhouse!
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