Cheap Cigarettes in Port (St. Marrtens)

[bluehenfan]

On my recent cruise to St. Marrtens I was pleased to see how cheap the cigarettes were in the big yellow Duty Free shop nearest the ship ,where Information Center is located. Bought a carton for a friend who smokes. She said each pack was worse and worse - loose tobacco, discolored paper,etc. The final pack had bugs crawling out of it...yuck!! Beware when buying cartons of cigarettes off the ship. If the price sounds just too good to be true -it probably is !!

[chrispb]

Don't think I bought mine from there (can't remember) but mine were fine.

[sail7seas]

Seeing they were so awful.........

 

Why Did she smoke them?

 

[smeyer418]

Seeing they were so awful.........

 

Why Did she smoke them?

 

because they are addicts and a bad fix is better than no fix at all.....(and if all they had were the buggy cigs would you want to bet against those being smoked too?)

 

FYI most of the cigs purchased on shore are made outside the US under a license. The cigs on board are manufactured in the US for sale outside the US.

[bluehenfan]

Seeing they were so awful.........

 

Why Did she smoke them?

 

She didn't. Since she knew she wasn't going to be returning them, she

kept opening packs to see if they were all bad. I don't smoke, never have. Only posted this to warn any CC posters who do smoke to be careful of

buying cigarettes here.

[sail7seas]

Thanks for the response.

Maybe it turned her off so badly .......... ?? ;)

What a gift that would be that you gave her!

Priceless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[G'ma]

On my recent cruise to St. Marrtens I was pleased to see how cheap the cigarettes were in the big yellow Duty Free shop nearest the ship ,where Information Center is located. Bought a carton for a friend who smokes. She said each pack was worse and worse - loose tobacco, discolored paper,etc. The final pack had bugs crawling out of it...yuck!! Beware when buying cartons of cigarettes off the ship. If the price sounds just too good to be true -it probably is !!

 

Here's the trick to buying cigarettes on the islands....or anywhere, basically.

 

Make sure you are purchasine "Class A" cigarettes. They are made in the U.S. using U.S. manufacturing standards. There are cigarettes made for other markets that are "Class B" and are NOT made to U.S. standards.

 

Usually, the "Class B" cigarettes are of poor quality using poor quality tobacco and there is reallly no control over the manufacturing process.

 

Caveat Emptor. If it's too good to be true, it probably is not true.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I would buy them on a ship be happy

[bluehenfan]

ship had no cigarettes left after 2nd day. i went looking for them on board and was surprised they were gone. even ship store's liquor dept was picked over. Glad to say friend is trying to quit.No more cigarette purchases for me!

[Bakincakes]

Seeing they were so awful.........

 

Why Did she smoke them?

 

 

Probably for the same reason that booze smugglers will drink alcohol they have smuggled in mouthwash bottles despite it tasting like the mouthwash.:rolleyes:

[bluehenfan]

Probably for the same reason that booze smugglers will drink alcohol they have smuggled in mouthwash bottles despite it tasting like the mouthwash.:rolleyes:

 

If you read my reply to Sail7seas, you'll see my friend didn't smoke them.( I appreciated Sail7seas reply to me after I explained my friend didn't smoke them ) I later posted that she is trying to quit smoking... no more cigarette purchases for me. Your message seems to imply my friend is so addicted to cigarettes she'd sit there smoking cigarettes with bugs crawling out of them. She is not a heavy smoker at all. The 1st couple pks. she opened only had loose tobacco in them and she didn't even smoke them. Just kept opening packs to see if they were all like that. I only posted this topic to perhaps save another CC poster from wasting their money like I did. I thought the purpose of this board was to share experiences with other cruise lovers. I guess I was wrong - I wont make that mistake again.

G'ma, your reply was very interesting. I wish I'd seen it before my purchase! LOL

We're Sailing Away...... thanks for the good advise, but trust me I won't be buying anyone cigarettes again !!!

[travlnblueberries]

ship had no cigarettes left after 2nd day. i went looking for them on board and was surprised they were gone. even ship store's liquor dept was picked over. Glad to say friend is trying to quit.No more cigarette purchases for me!

We just came off the emerald. There was another passenger wanting to buy cigarettes in one of the shops on board. She was told they would keep them till the last day. (I didn't think they kept cartons till the last day. Either a new rule, or just Princess' rule) It's been some time since I bought on board (i've quit for some time now) but anyway I did ask the passenger if this was her first cruise and she said yes. I told her she could purchase them in St. maartin. She thanked me. DH who buys them every time we are there, buys from the same place. He likes them better then what he gets in the US. He's a Marlborro man.

[barante]

St. Maarten is one of my favorite ports. I take a water taxi to the center of the city, where there is a beach, then do shopping, then return to the ship for lunch and then go back to town once more before the ship departs. I have limited my purchases to the main shopping street where I have identified several reliable merchants. My wife smokes and says the cigarettes do to her whatever they are supposed to do. And very cheaply. Each time I also buy a couple of bottles of Glenfiddich, which comes in tubes. No ship scanner has ever led to their confiscation and storage until the end of the cruise.

St. Maarten is better than St. Thomas, if you ask me. I would never buy any photo equipment in either of them because I truly believe that you can buy stuff cheaper on the internet in the U.S. (St. Maarten also may present some warranty problems). If you buy photo equipment or electronics anyway, you should know exactly what you want and the capabilities of the piece, because neither St. Maarten or St. Thomas is a place for an uneducated consumer to get bargains. You may get it cheaply but it may not be exactly what you wanted.