Items/Memorabilia You Bring Back

[qsuzi]

What collectables, items or memorabilia, if/any, do you bring back from a cruise? For us it's just minor things like refrigerator magnets or spoons to remember where we have been. We also bring back things unique to the port/place for our friends and family.

Edited June 11, 2015 by qsuzi

[bonvoyagebites]

We enjoy bringing back little local items... very inexpensive stuff that will remind us of the location. In St. Lucia, it was a handmade doll that would flip and be in a different outfit if you inverted it. Somewhere else, we ended up with a bird feeder made of a coconut... in the bahamas, it was a carved wooden musician figure. Just things to put on the shelf to look at and smile sometimes. How often is it actually made in China? We will just ignore that possibility :)

[Alberta Quilter]

We also purchase fridge magnets. On this last cruise, we bought a Christmas tree ornament in the Magdalen Islands. We have to consider weight restrictions for the stuff that is purchased because we ALWAYS have to fly to/from a cruise.

 

I also buy a treat that is unique to the port for my colleagues at the office. This last time, someone on my live thread mentioned Benne wafers from Charleston so I looked into them. We purchased some and they were very well received by all who tasted them. I also took some maple candies from Quebec so they got something from the beginning of the cruise and something from the end.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Alberta Quilter

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I try to find little items native and MADE in the area. I will not buy anything made in China. I don't buy much anymore since we usually have been to the ports we go to many times. If by chance, I am on ship we have not been on before, I buy a ship's magnet. I used to display them on my kitchen fan hood but anymore they go into a drawer.

[jbhcw]

Mostly just a magnet now..but we used to buy a small watercolor..or nice pastel note cards and have them framed...from the different ports we visited..We have a small little place at the the beach and it was the perfect place...but alas we are out of room for anything...we need to start getting rid of things rather than buying more things:eek:

[DaveOKC]

My DW likes to collect crosses from each area we visit and she has a wall for them in the living room.

[qsuzi]

My DW likes to collect crosses from each area we visit and she has a wall for them in the living room.

 

What a special way to remember the places you went to and your cruise.

[George C]

Love the little logo stuff they give out to winners at trivia , also buy Christmas ornament from the ports and the ship

[jbhcw]

My DW likes to collect crosses from each area we visit and she has a wall for them in the living room.

 

Nice...I have a few I've bought..and stole one from my brother...actually he did give it to me!! very colorful...made with wood and bottle caps...bright bright colors...from Mexico...I love it:)

[qsuzi]

Mostly just a magnet now..but we used to buy a small watercolor..or nice pastel note cards and have them framed...from the different ports we visited..We have a small little place at the the beach and it was the perfect place...but alas we are out of room for anything...we need to start getting rid of things rather than buying more things:eek:

 

You can get some really reasonable prices on the pastel note cards and even the small watercolors. We found a nice small watercolor which we framed and hung that helps us remember that trip to Canada/New England.

Edited June 11, 2015 by qsuzi

[qsuzi]

Love the little logo stuff they give out to winners at trivia , also buy Christmas ornament from the ports and the ship

Ornaments seem to be something that is stocked in the shops no matter what time of year you are on a cruise.

[jbhcw]

You can get some really reasonable prices on the pastel note cards and even the small watercolors. We found a nice small watercolor which we framed and hung that helps us remember that trip to Canada/New England.

 

Yes! I always look for the nice little note cards..and small watercolors...and I frame a note or two...then use the rest for correspondence...a win win!!

[qsuzi]

Thanks for commenting SJSULIBRARIAN, AlbertaQuilter, and BonVoyageBites. Local items are always a great thing to bring back. Friends, family, and coworkers love those special food treats too.

[Jean1946]

We try to get something we can hang up at our barn. Love the old car plates and if we can't find the real thing we will buy a replica. Also, whatever represents the port that we can hang up. We also staple our room key cards on the door.

[1of4]

Depends on the ports. Caribbean be bring back nothing usually. But destination ports I like to find one thing that will be a memory and can be passed on to the children as they are with us on the cruise. On the last cruise my husband bought me an emerald pendant from Columbia and a flat pearl necklace. We have been known to buy nothing in port though. I bought a few tablecloths in the Med and Australia and then use the fabric to make quilts. I do the same thing with tea towels. I am more likely to buy tea towels than t-shirts.

 

I guess the only thing we can count on bringing home are the pillow chocolates! :) I picked up that habit from a lovely lady on this board....

[ANSalberg]

I try to find little items native and MADE in the area. I will not buy anything made in China. I don't buy much anymore since we usually have been to the ports we go to many times. If by chance, I am on ship we have not been on before, I buy a ship's magnet. I used to display them on my kitchen fan hood but anymore they go into a drawer.

 

Some of my TREASURES - both for me and friends/family -are jade jewelry from either Hong Kong [ a store very close to the pier] or Shanghai,. They aren't terribly expensive BUT NOBODY else HAS them! [ I LOVE that!]

The other place we go in any place that carries literature in English -we buy books of local [Nationality] authors. Mainly fiction but ANY WWII history is on my Bucket-list!!!! LOVE book stores; ANY continent ;)

[iancal]

We used to before we downsized our home. Now that we started travelling with carry on only we do not bother.

 

But this does cause some questions when returning home. Our last trips were 2 and 3 months respectively. Customs and excise gave us a look when we both said 'nothing to declare'. We keep expecting to have our bags inspected at some point.

[summer slope]

I bring back Christmas Ornaments, and the wristbands, stickers, etc we receive from excursions that I can scrapbook.

[Alberta Quilter]

I forgot to mention that sometimes (okay, more often than sometimes) I've brought back a pendant from a port. I purchased, in Santiago, a very nice nine patch (quilters will understand) pendant of South American stones that I wear all the time. In Huatulco, I purchased a lovely fire opal pendant. In Skagway, I purchased a green amber pendant. All inexpensive and lovely reminders of my travels.

 

I've had to stop though as I now have many pendants!:D

[Viv0828]

We only bring back gifts for the grandkids and sometimes our kids. We already have too much stuff.

[IRL_Joanie]

What collectables, items or memorabilia, if/any, do you bring back from a cruise? For us it's just minor things like refrigerator magnets or spoons to remember where we have been. We also bring back things unique to the port/place for our friends and family.

 

In Alaska; Ulus from Tsongas Trading Company in Ketchikan, Smoked Salmon, Fudge from the Alaska Fudge Factory in either Juneau or Skagway, both have delicious fudge but Skagway is easier and faster to get to than Juneau's' and a Made in Alaska Collectible Porcelain Doll for our Grand Daughter. And the 1st 2 years we went we'd buy Del Sol T' Shirts for friends and family:)

 

Now though it is mainly Smoked Salmon purchased in Ketchikan and the Doll from a shop in Skagway where the owner of Precious Kollections makes them completely by hand, including pouring the porcelain to the clothes all being made by hand. They are limited and are just so beautiful:)

 

In the Caribbean we buy Wind Chimes made locally. From St Martin we buy at least one 3 kilo round of Gouda Cheese which the ship stores for us in one of their galley refrigerators until the last night of the cruise. I cannot remember anything else we buy in the Caribbean....

 

Joanie

Edited June 11, 2015 by IRL_Joanie

[Cruising-along]

I always bring back a magnet from each port, and try to find Christmas ornaments (not easy depending on the time of year), and a water color or wall hanging. Just something to remind me of where we were. When we went to Mt. Vesuvius they were selling pieces of lava, things like that. We always fly, so it has to be something small and light-weight. Since I'm a cat lover, I've started to look for small locally made statues of cats too.

[Loreto]

Since I am an artist, I always look for examples of local handicrafts: molas in Panama, fabrics, and decorated gourds from the casba ? tree. The gourds are beautifully decorated, light weight and virtually indestructible. I purchased small one from an elderly gentleman at an outdoor shop at an archaeological ruin outside Lima, Peru. I paid around $30 for it. He gave me a brochure to go with it. It is very intricately decorated and as I studied the name on the bottom and the brochure (and googled the name) I realized that this gentleman and his family are famous for their art work and his work is in museums! It is a very special memento of a great day. :)

 

Karen

Edited June 11, 2015 by Loreto
spelling

[Cruising-along]

Since I am an artist, I always look for examples of local handicrafts: molas in Panama, fabrics, and decorated gourds from the casba ? tree. The gourds are beautifully decorated, light weight and virtually indestructible. I purchased small one from an elderly gentleman at an outdoor shop at an archaeological ruin outside Lima, Peru. I paid around $30 for it. He gave me a brochure to go with it. It is very intricately decorated and as I studied the name on the bottom and the brochure (and googled the name) I realized that this gentleman and his family are famous for their art work and his work is in museums! It is a very special memento of a great day. :)

 

Karen

 

Now that's something I would be excited about too! Great find. :)

[Caribbean Chris]

This is an enjoyable thread - thanks for starting it!

 

We rarely buy anything on trips for ourselves these days. Most gifts are food items, as some others have mentioned, since they are appreciated, inexpensive and easy to find without spending a lot of time shopping for "just the right item" for each individual on the list.

 

(Boxed small Tortuga rum cakes from Grand Cayman, for example, are delicious and travel well. Or you can get chocolate Hershey's kisses (made with macadamia nuts) in port on a Hawaii cruise, and they are not sold elsewhere. Many other examples.)

 

The problem of giving and getting too much STUFF is fresh in my mind, since we just finished packing for a big move. Most people I know have too much stuff, too, and don't want more. I wish my late mother had not spent so much of her time and money on all the stuff she bought for us on her trips.

 

So the lengthy shopping and spending on trips stopped quite a while back for us. Those memories of special experiences, rather than things, last longer for me.