Diamonds!!

[Zoey1]

DW and I are on Eclipse 18Feb.Does anyone have advice on good stores to buy diamonds in ports(San Juan,St Maarten,St Thomas)We are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary so would like to treat her bearing in mind my credit card limit??

 

We have always bought things from Joe's Jewelers in St Maarten (they have 2 stores I think), I have always had items appraised again at home and have always gotten good prices from them.

 

In St Thomas I had bought a Rado watch a few years ago from Azure jewelers

[dennbr9]

Besides the buyer beware comments:

 

Would mention also, that if you buy the loose stone in the Islands it does not count against your Customs Duty limits. You can then have it mounted when you get home.

 

You do still have to declare it though.

[Lsimon]

There are good recommendations for jewelers in threads on the St. Martin and St. Thomas boards here on Cruise critic.

 

We've had great experiences at Ballerina Jewelers on St. Martin, and had a great conversation with the owner of the stores at their store in St. Thomas. We've also had good experience at Majesty Jeweler on St. Martin.

 

Do understand that the shopping consultant and recommend store system on the ship are just paid advertisements. The stores included on the lists and maps get there by paying a fee to the cruise lines through a marketing company. So don't rely on these "recommendations" from the cruise lines any more than you would any other paid advertisement. I'd also caution you to be careful at the biggest chains which are related: Diamond International, Tanzenite International, and Colombian Emeralds. If you want to know why just google the name of any of these companies along with the word "complaint" or "rip off" and do some reading.

 

Our experience has been that the jewelry items we've bought on cruises have a romantic and sentimental value to my dear wife that adds a lot to her enjoyment of the items. Of course one has to be somewhat careful and know what they are looking for along with a good idea of prices of jewelry back home. Also, be aware of the difficulty you'll encounter dealing long distance should a problem arise. Also, for diamonds, be aware that the rating/certification system used by the jewelers in most of the Caribbean stores sometimes grades their diamonds a level or two more generous than the GIA certification used most often at stores in the USA.

 

I also have no illusions that we've paid the cheapest prices available anywhere for the items we've bought on the islands. While I'm positive we've done far better than the chain store jewelers in our local shopping centers, and have gotten good prices, I'm also certain that careful shopping for diamonds in major city diamond jewelry districts provide better pricing. However, you'll seldom see as nice a selection of mounted jewelry and settings anywhere (other than in a catalog) in comparison to what you'll see at some of the better stores in St. Martin and St. Thomas.