What are your favorite souvenirs?

[Sandytoes]

What are your favorite souvenirs?

 

Are you speaking of souvenirs about Princess :eek: or just in general? ;)..:D

 

Usually a question like this can be found in the Ask A Question thread. ;)..:)

 

 

 

I collect sand from every beach I have gone to.

Placed in a tall glass with tiny shell, sea glass, and coral.

 

[chasetf]

I do shirts and ball caps from our various travels. I used to get a hat at each port .... but now I have too many... so now get one per country. Being retired, I have now a wide selection of hats and shirts that I always wear.

 

We went on our first cruise with my folks and my mom got my wife a charm for a souvenir. We have been adding a charm to the bracelet for each cruise.

[FinelyRetired]

I decide before hand the 1 or 2 fine things I MIGHT bring back if I come across them. I don't look too hard, for example:

 

David Yurman Bracelet & Ring from Curaccao-Panama Cruise

Royal Delft Bowl & Small signed Russian Lacquer Box-Baltics Cruise

Small Antique (dated 1720) Map of Hampshire England(toured)-BI Cruise

Small Handmade Alaskan Nativity-Alaska Cruise

 

For my next cruise I'm hoping to find an excellent hand made & hand painted pottery topiary olive tree or artichoke sculpture in Sicily OR a small antique map of old Barcelona. If I don't find either easily, so be it.

 

Years ago I collected ornaments on all our trips; but some years I no longer put up a tree as we are away.

 

Martha

[cruisealot54]

Magnets, our refrigerator is real tacky.

 

me too - they don't take up a lot of room in the suitcase and whenever I go to open the fridge I am reminded of some wonderful place that we visited.

[Pam in CA]

I collect FCC's. :)

Me too... and I use them. :)

 

I really don't collect souvenirs any more. Having moved from coast-to-coast just over a year ago, I got rid of a lot of the "stuff" that I'd bought over the years. Now, I buy very selectively for myself and perhaps Christmas gifts for my family. For instance, I bought a gorgeous 100% silk pashmina for myself and one for my daughter while in Kusadasi a couple of weeks ago. It folds into almost nothing and drapes beautifully. I wore it on the ship and at least 8 people stopped me or came up to me to say how gorgeous it was. That made it worth every penny to me. :)

[GrandPrincess]

My favourite souvenir is a piece of jewellery.

I like to pick up at least one piece to remind me of my vacation. Anything from a $10.00 trinket from a beach vendor to a 1.5 carat diamond ring, it all depends on my budget for the vacation at hand.

I also like to bring home spices or vanilla when available or local candy, for treats for my family & friends.

[Go-Bucks!]

The one souvenir that I always bring back from any vacation is a small rock from each area/country that I visit. My favorite one was in the English Channel on Omaha Beach. When I look at it now it makes me think of all the men who died there to give the world freedom. The ones from Alaska are very unique and beautiful. I have them all displayed on a shelf with a label stating where they came from.

 

I've also gotten small locally made items of good quality. I don't like buying cheaply made trinkets.

 

Another favorite souvenir of mine are cookbooks of local cuisine. I got a fabulous cookbook from a Countess in the Burgundy region of France. We toured her chateau, tasted her wine, and then she autographed the cookbook. I also like to get books from the areas or museums I visit.

 

I've never collected Christmas ornaments before, but am planning to start that on my next cruise.

[luvscruising2007]

I collect magnets. I was just looking at them closely today and they brought back wonderful memories of all of our trips.

DH likes ball caps and has acquired quite a collection. He has his favorites but tries to wear them all if only for a couple of hours.

We seldom buy t-shirts anymore unless we see one we really like.

We had to stop collecting glasses. We ran out of room, but we do use them quite often.;)

[Azure Moon]

Stamps and postcards

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have one Christmas tree dedicated to our travels -- we always try to buy a Christmas ornament from each new port that we visit.

[Judi2112]

Three things:

1. A shell from every beach I have ever been on.

2. A fridge magnet from every country I have been to.

3. My DH buys me a piece of Swarovski crystal at the end of every cruise. No hints from me, he always picks it himself.

[cruisergal 1]

I have a full fridge with magnets, that I have been collecting for years. Also do the Christmas ornaments for the tree, and DH gets me one piece of fine jewellery on every trip! He usually ends up with a t-shirt!

[cruiseapril]

Like to purchase small watercolor prints from each island or port.

[Sigtau21]

I like to get shot glasses from all the islands on the cruise.

[Peregrina651]

We look for local, traditional and where possible, hand-made --hand-embroidered fringed shawl in Madrid, hand-painted laquer boxes or matrushka dolls in Russia, hand-painted camel bone boxes in Turkey, etc.

[ILoveScotland]

I buy the occasional t-shirt but don't think of those as souvenirs. I also buy magnets, pick up rocks or shells and that sort of thing.

 

But my real souvenirs are boxes and pieces of pottery. I began collecting boxes almost 30 years ago, and I love to find a small wooden box made a local person that I can tuck in my suitcase.

 

DH and I also love pottery and use mass produced hand thrown pottery for our dishes. Now when we travel we look for serving bowls made by local potters. It's fun to have dinner with our NC pottery plates and serving dishes from various parts of the world.

[krogerlady]

No one mentioned coffee mugs. That is a must have for me. Two shelves in my dish cabinet are full of different mugs from different places. I cherish every one, and am filled with memories each time I use one. And i do use every one of them!!

[heatherandfred]

I like to buy magnets. I love looking at them and reminiscing about where I've been.

[MDSue]

I usually like to buy something that is unique to each island if possible.

My personal weakness for me is one nice piece of jewelry. I rarely buy jewelry anywhere else and they remind me of my vacation.

Other favorites are a wooden bowl made in Belize- it is unique and beautiful. A hand dyed tie dye fabric from Roatan, that my daughter now has hanging at her college dorm. In San Juan, I bought a nice print of some local scenery. In St. Lucia, we went to a silk screen factory and bought some beautiful placemats and wall hangings. Of course, I have to buy the local t-shirts

On my first cruise, I sat through 3 art auctions and finally on the very last raffle drawing, my son won a print that I had really wanted. It's now framed and hanging in my sunroom.

[ubermama]

[We just stick with the regular stuff. T-shirts, pool towels for around the pool, snowglobes for our daughter's collection, baseball caps for my husband to remind him of good times while he's fishing. Last trip my husband bought me diamond stud earrings in St. Thomas but that was a splurge. Nothing too unusual, but then we do get to go every year so I'm o.k. with that. [/i]

[Essiesmom]

I am always looking for patches, sew-on or iron-on. I have a couple of denim backpacks that are covered...Also magnets. And LOTS of pictures. I used to buy the 14K gold ship pendant, until they stopped selling them onboard. I did manage to get QE2 in August, but doubt I will buy any more. The occasional t-shirt or sweatshirt. EM

[wayne_trisha]

I like to get shot glasses from all the islands on the cruise.

 

That is what we do. We have plenty of tehm inthe bar and I use them to make drinks and we talk about where that glass came from and how much fun we had.

[desertminky]

Hi, I like Christmas ornaments and/or magnets, my older daughter collects spoons and the younger bells. My Mom likes to collect things made by native people to support their artwork. With luggage issues we can't bring home very much!

[Cruizer2008]

We love the shot glasses also, but a friend from a few years back always went to a Planet Hollywood and would get a shot and the glass. This was there tradition, so no we only get a shot glass as long as it is filled with something to drink.:D

[suezyq50]

We always get a Christmas tree ornament and a shot glass.