Shopping Seminars

[RWolver672]

For our first cruise, we went to the sales "pitch". The CD told us to make sure we stayed away from the shops right at the pier in St. Thomas. He said that they were priced comparatively to the shops you find in airports.

 

After going through all the shops in St. Thomas, we decided to just "look" at the prices at the pier shops. Most of them were the same if not cheaper and had the same stuff. We've never went back to their sales talks again.

[jtdlmc]

At the shopping seminar we went to (only for the free stuff) most of the prizes were given to one person - and that one person apparently arrived first to the seminar and sat and talked with the consultants. She got a whole package of stuff - rum, Mexican blanket, sun hat, colour changing bag, a whole crap load of stuff. The rest of us sat through that 1.5 hour seminar where they threw out one shopping bag that has the picture that changes colour in the sun. We got a coupon for a free piece of tanzanite at one of the DI stores in Grand Caymen - it was about the size of a mosquito! I will never waste my time at one of them again.

[footballbabe3]

LMAO!! I can just picture her face trying to be happy while being video taped. Just

think some cruise rep thought Wow this is a great prize!!

[Disneycruisers]

I love to attend the port shopping talks. It doesn't matter to me if they're "not there to really help you," as one poster stated, and yes, I've enjoyed the 'junk' that's tossed to the audience (my dogs love the 'Del Sol' frisbee.)

 

Shopping locally (U.S.?) for best deals? I don't think so. We upgraded my DH's wedding band at one of the 'recommended' stores in St. Thomas, and it was appraised for more than $1500.00 (at Jared jewelers) than what we paid for it there (plus, no tax.) We also upgraded my wedding band settings a few years ago, and yes, it appraised for more when we got back home.

 

I also don't care if the shopping experts are 'getting a kickback' from the cruise lines or another company (I thought most cruisers realized that.)

[Aplmac]

However, I WILL be sitting through these seminars next week

because my understanding is that they give away some pretty great prizes

to the people who are lucky enough to win them!

We endured for maybe half an hour of their sales spiel. Boooooring!

 

We walked out. Never again.

 

Same thing for the awful art auctions. Dreadful things -aimed at suckers.

[MsTabbyKats]

Rule of thumb...

 

If your jewelry is appraised at double the price you paid...you've paid the "market price"

 

If it's appraised at more than double...you got a good deal

 

Appraisals should be done by GIA certified gemologists

 

Otherwise...it's all marketing and hype

 

As far as art....

Ever see the "Agams" they sell for $3000+

I get them locally for $800 (which includes tax & shipping)

When I told one of the "auctioneers" about this he was tried to convince me that mine were "phoneys". No...I even have the certificates.

 

(Personally...I usually buy a piece of jewelry as a souvenir...but it's something that I love....and price "within reason".)

[ccartman2]

I know prices on merchandise. I have yet to see a price in the various Caribbean ports on jewelry, perfumes, watches, cameras, liquor, that I cannot match within 25 miles of our home.

 

Even buying locally can be risky. The chain where my DW bought about $15,000 worth of diamonds with a "lifetime" guarantee, from went out of business a few months ago.

 

Doc

 

Don't know where you live, but where I live, I can get pretty good deals on duty free Liquor. For instance I bought 2 bottles of crown on my last cruise for pretty much the price of one at home. I don't know the other stuff, and I don't know that it is the case every where about the liquor. I just know what I pay at home compared to the duty free prices.

[tandemcruzr]

Locally, a liter of Absolut is $30. I can get 2 at the Duty Free on the ship for right at $20.

[TheCalicoCat]

We upgraded my DH's wedding band We also upgraded my wedding band settings a few years ago,

 

Just out of curiosity - WHY? Didn't the wedding bands have special meaning for you? Didn't your spouse choose that for you?

 

Yeah, I'll take another piece of jewelery, but I won't be "upgrading/trading in" there is more to that gold band that its dollar value.

[ChefSusan]

We sat through one of the jewelry talks (and then a ports of call talk) on my husband's first Carnival cruise so that he could see what all the hype was about. We walked out of each of them saying that we'd never go into any store that was "sponsored" by the ship, nor would we ever take an excursion on the ship.

 

Jewelry-wise we can do better on the gemstones at our local jewelry store (and trust that the jewelers have certifications to back them up), and the money we save on excursions booked privately goes towards my gambling (and my husband's drinks).

 

I feel sorry for the people who get sucked into the hype... if only they would take the red pills and not the blue pills!

[MsTabbyKats]

We sat through one of the jewelry talks (and then a ports of call talk) on my husband's first Carnival cruise so that he could see what all the hype was about. We walked out of each of them saying that we'd never go into any store that was "sponsored" by the ship, nor would we ever take an excursion on the ship.

 

Jewelry-wise we can do better on the gemstones at our local jewelry store (and trust that the jewelers have certifications to back them up), and the money we save on excursions booked privately goes towards my gambling (and my husband's drinks).

 

I feel sorry for the people who get sucked into the hype... if only they would take the red pills and not the blue pills!

 

We do the ship's excursions...mainly because there isn't a problem with the ship leaving without us. For a few more dollars it's worth it to us.

 

The thing is...Carnival is not saying that their excursion prices are better than..."whomever". But the art and jewelry sales agents are claiming that their prices are below "whomever". And it just isn't so.