Buying Jewelry Onboard - Good Deal or Total Rip Off??

[cruisin'sz]

I was wondering if it was worth it to buy jewelry while on-board.   Can you really get a good deal or is it all just one big rip off?  Also, if you do buy jewelry on board, can you use your on-board credits and (I think it is 15% ) the ship discount some of us have as frequent cruisers?   Finally, if it is worth it to get the jewelry - are the jewelers negotiable.  Thanks for the help.    

[JMB1969]

My husband bought an Invicta watch on the last day of our cruise, when there was a 50% - 75% off sale.  He was hesitant because he wasnt sure how much the watch would sell for at outside retailers.  He took a chance and bought it anyways, because he has a weakness for watches.  Later he learned that the price he paid was about $200 LESS than what the watch sold for at a few online retailers, including Amazon, so he was happy with the price he paid.  

 

That same day, I bought a ring that was normally $160, got it for $80.  I have no idea if it was worth it, but I LOVE the ring and have worn it everyday since buying it.

 

Long story short, it's like everything else.  If you see something you like, and have the money for it, get it!  

Edited December 20, 2018 by JMB1969

[NW Pacific]

You can use onboard credit for purchases.  Not sure about getting the platinum discount.

[April42749]

The platinum discount is only for NCL logo merchandise.

 

The jewelry isn't "good deals" if you know your jewelry.  For example...they always push "zoltanite" and claim you can only get it on the ship.  Not true....I can get it for about 1/4 the price.  It's really the same with all their "fine jewelry".  If you know your stuff...you won't be impressed with the price.  However, if you see something you like and it's within your budget....it will make a wonderful souvenir.  And yes, they do negotiate.

 

The watches are the same price you pay on land (unless you insist on paying full value).  You'll always get that same discount.  Just visit an Invicta store or Evine on TV.  But...you don't pay tax on the ship.

 

With all the above said....I've purchased "fine jewelry" and many watches on cruises.  If I like it...it's mine.  But, I would never buy anything based on "I got a great deal".

[VideoTech]

DW has bought jewelry on the ships - not high end product, but lower priced things she found that she likes. Typically she'll wait for the sales that always happen before the end of the cruise. She wouldn't buy if she didn't feel the price was at least realistic. 

 

In at least one case, she found out that some of the product on the ships isn't available elsewhere. She liked one piece, but elected to pass on it thinking she'd find it cheaper on land. She never could find it, not even directly from the manufacturer. So we believe that the ships do carry a certain amount of product that's only available on board.

 

And no, the onboard shops do not bargain over pricing. (Edit: We've never found they would bargain, at least not on the items DW is interested in. But perhaps that's because those items aren't marked up as much as the higher end product).

 

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by VideoTech

[Pauser]

I've bought two fairly expensive watches onboard. One was about $50 less than I would have paid elsewhere, and the other was about the same price. I think the key is to know what things cost. Alternatively, go with your heart and don't look back! 

[CruisingNole]

5 hours ago, JMB1969 said:

My husband bought an Invicta watch on the last day of our cruise, when there was a 50% - 75% off sale.  He was hesitant because he wasnt sure how much the watch would sell for at outside retailers.  He took a chance and bought it anyways, because he has a weakness for watches.  Later he learned that the price he paid was about $200 LESS than what the watch sold for at a few online retailers, including Amazon, so he was happy with the price he paid.  

 

He paid $200 LESS than Amazon? That must be one of the fanciest Invicta watches on the market. The vast majority are in the $50 - $75 range on Amazon. They aren't particularly the greatest watches. 

[CruisingNole]

To the OP - Everything imaginable is overpriced on a cruise ship so don't think jewelry is an exception. They've got an incredibly captive audience, constant "sales" (gotta laugh at that one), people on vacation with loose wallets and no concern about earning a repeat customer. I can't think of a single reason to sell jewelry at a "good" price on a cruise ship.  

 

It's like going to Disney World and thinking you're going to find a bargain at a gift shop inside the theme park.

Edited December 20, 2018 by CruisingNole

[david_sobe]

Please research the jewelry vendors at ports the cruise lines steer you to.  Google them and some of them are not as great as the cruise lines want you to believe and lots of lawsuits.  Remember the cruise line gets a cut of sales for lobbying their customers there.  Can you get a good deal?  Of course.  Can you get a bad deal with poor merchandise?  Yes.  It can also happen anywhere but any tourist destination or cruise ship, the tourists have bullseyes on their backs.

You can always pick up a cheap watch on the last sea day on the ship.  I like cheap watches and they last pretty long for how cheap they are.  Any high end jewelry is like the art.  No way no how on the cruise ship.  There are some that swear by their purchases while others allege scam.  Buyer beware.

Edited December 20, 2018 by david_sobe

[cruisin'sz]

Thanks all.  Appreciate the responses.  Will probably stick with local jewelers unless something reasonable really strikes my eye.

 

[JMB1969]

41 minutes ago, CruisingNole said:

 

He paid $200 LESS than Amazon? That must be one of the fanciest Invicta watches on the market. The vast majority are in the $50 - $75 range on Amazon. They aren't particularly the greatest watches. 

 

Diver watches tend to be more expensive.  Even on Amazon.  See Here.

[takeadip]

6 hours ago, cruisin'sz said:

I was wondering if it was worth it to buy jewelry while on-board.   Can you really get a good deal or is it all just one big rip off?  Also, if you do buy jewelry on board, can you use your on-board credits and (I think it is 15% ) the ship discount some of us have as frequent cruisers?   Finally, if it is worth it to get the jewelry - are the jewelers negotiable.  Thanks for the help.    

About 3 years back my wife found a nice woman in the atrium in the middle of the ship who had a stand set up selling shirts..trinkets and "gold" chains "by the foot" which when we priced it out actually turned out to be a great deal..before we made the purchase we contacted our jeweler back home and he was very impressed with the price we paid...(He said because we were on a cruise ship we were able to purchase the gold for such a deep discount...turns out my wife was so caught up in the moment that we purchased quite a few "feet" of this gold (35 feet to be exact). Well...as you prob imagined when we got home the "excitement" wore off along with some of the "gold" plating on our hands...we visited one of those "cash for gold" pop up businesses in our town to try to recoup some of our $735 we spent and the Jeweler there said he couldn't possibly accept our "gold"...we had a good laugh at our mistake and decided to use the gold as "garland" and draped it all around our pre-lite Douglas fir artificial Christmas Tree... I must say every year now we put that tree up and just laugh and laugh...

Best,

Mark

[April42749]

56 minutes ago, takeadip said:

About 3 years back my wife found a nice woman in the atrium in the middle of the ship who had a stand set up selling shirts..trinkets and "gold" chains "by the foot" which when we priced it out actually turned out to be a great deal..before we made the purchase we contacted our jeweler back home and he was very impressed with the price we paid...(He said because we were on a cruise ship we were able to purchase the gold for such a deep discount...turns out my wife was so caught up in the moment that we purchased quite a few "feet" of this gold (35 feet to be exact). Well...as you prob imagined when we got home the "excitement" wore off along with some of the "gold" plating on our hands...we visited one of those "cash for gold" pop up businesses in our town to try to recoup some of our $735 we spent and the Jeweler there said he couldn't possibly accept our "gold"...we had a good laugh at our mistake and decided to use the gold as "garland" and draped it all around our pre-lite Douglas fir artificial Christmas Tree... I must say every year now we put that tree up and just laugh and laugh...

Best,

Mark

I am laughing with you....but this is exactly what I mean about "knowing" jewelry.  I (I've got an enormous collection from super cheap to super expensive) would ask the karat of the gold.  I know it's not real gold....based on the price.  If they tried to tell me it was "real"....well, yes, it's not imaginary so it must be "real", right.....I'd know that there's no way that karat could go for that price.

But, if there are, let's say, 3000 passengers on the ship...the jewelry/watch/art vendors know that 2995 have no real knowledge of the products, so you are far from alone.

But....if there are 3000 passengers on the ship, the jewelry & watch vendors know that 2995 of those passengers are

[Trimone]

About 2006 I purchased a Omega on the NCL Dream for about $1550, Stirling was very healthy at the time, with credit card exchange fees etc, I got it into the U.K. for £880, that watch was £1650 at the time, I searched diamonds international shops on the islands, the same outlet as on ship, the prices were identical, recently on cruises I price watches with U.K. prices, on ship they are very overpriced, on the Breakaway they introduced used Rolex watches, the models on sale were not popular, no submariners or Daytona’s just very overpriced standard Rolex available in any online trade auction for a third of the price.

[cathi007]

I bought "sterling silver" rings for both my daughters on a cruise (RCI) years ago that were on sale. They we supposed to be real silver. When we got home I noticed a dark ring around my daughter finger....weird the "silver" was coming off. We paid a couple of hundred dollars for the rings, which also had stones...Never again would I buy ANY jewelry on a cruise ship. I don't trust any of them.

[Nola26]

I didn't buy a John Hardy ring onboard because I wasn't sure of the deal. It was a good deal simply due to being sold tax free. Hardy and David Yurman control their price points so they were about as low as possible. Next time I am ready to splurge I will know.

[newmexicoNita]

22 hours ago, cruisin'sz said:

I was wondering if it was worth it to buy jewelry while on-board.   Can you really get a good deal or is it all just one big rip off?  Also, if you do buy jewelry on board, can you use your on-board credits and (I think it is 15% ) the ship discount some of us have as frequent cruisers?   Finally, if it is worth it to get the jewelry - are the jewelers negotiable.  Thanks for the help.    

My view for what is it worth: it used to be a better deal than now, same with buying in ports, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good deal. I do not think you can say buying on board or at the port is really a rip off except I did buy tanzanite in St Thomas and think I got taken, but that was my own fault. we have had great luck with the casual costume type jewelry. I love some of what I have gotten on the ship; same as watches, but I do not think I would buy expensive jewelry. Hubby did get a rather expensive watch, not on ship but in St Thomas several years ago and saved over US prices, but not nearly as much as he thought he had. 

[newmexicoNita]

15 hours ago, takeadip said:

About 3 years back my wife found a nice woman in the atrium in the middle of the ship who had a stand set up selling shirts..trinkets and "gold" chains "by the foot" which when we priced it out actually turned out to be a great deal..before we made the purchase we contacted our jeweler back home and he was very impressed with the price we paid...(He said because we were on a cruise ship we were able to purchase the gold for such a deep discount...turns out my wife was so caught up in the moment that we purchased quite a few "feet" of this gold (35 feet to be exact). Well...as you prob imagined when we got home the "excitement" wore off along with some of the "gold" plating on our hands...we visited one of those "cash for gold" pop up businesses in our town to try to recoup some of our $735 we spent and the Jeweler there said he couldn't possibly accept our "gold"...we had a good laugh at our mistake and decided to use the gold as "garland" and draped it all around our pre-lite Douglas fir artificial Christmas Tree... I must say every year now we put that tree up and just laugh and laugh...

Best,

Mark

 

glad you can smile about this: that is how we all should be. I have to admit, I do buy that gold and silver on the ship by the inch and it really lasts quite a while, but we knew from day one it was simply gold plated. would love to see your Christmas tree draped in gold.  

[zqvol]

Some things are good buys on the ship others nto so much. Watches can be good buys because you have the ability to check online and other prices before you purchase. Gemstones are not good deals IMO because you have no way to realy know what you are getting. Gold and silver can be good buys, but you have to know the price of gold and sliver and then figure the cost of workmanship. Of course, if you really like something and are happy with the price than it is a good deal.

[CruisingNole]

18 hours ago, cruisin'sz said:

Thanks all.  Appreciate the responses.  Will probably stick with local jewelers unless something reasonable really strikes my eye.

 

 

Unrelated to the ship, but I highly recommend Blue Nile for jewelry. Got an engagement ring from them, high quality, excellent prices and very good customer service. 

[havanadaydreaming]

My wife has cruised for decades and has witness many folks purchasing high end jewelry on cruise ships.  I was floored when I heard this recently, I pretty much have equated the cruise jewelry shop with the cruise art gallery ... $$$. 

 

She really liked a ring last month on the Epic and we disagreed by a wide margin what the price tag was.  I thought it was under $1k...actual retail price $3200.   whoops!   fyi, it was a Leveon (sp?).

[gizfish]

16 hours ago, cathi007 said:

I bought "sterling silver" rings for both my daughters on a cruise (RCI) years ago that were on sale. They we supposed to be real silver. When we got home I noticed a dark ring around my daughter finger....weird the "silver" was coming off. We paid a couple of hundred dollars for the rings, which also had stones...Never again would I buy ANY jewelry on a cruise ship. I don't trust any of them.

If the ship is selling it and claiming it to be sterling, it almost certainly is.  The cruise companies are not going to be selling things illegally.  Sterling silver actually does leave a dark ring on the skin sometimes, especially if you have eaten a lot of citrus.  It's just a reaction between your skin and the silver.  With regards to the gold by the inch comment above, I have seen this sale on every single ship I have been on, and they are up front about it being gold plated, not 14K or 18K or any real karat of gold.  

[slugg]

On 12/20/2018 at 3:37 PM, JMB1969 said:

 

Diver watches tend to be more expensive.  Even on Amazon.  See Here.

You’re funny. You cherry-picked a single, way overpriced listing. Here is something more realistic: https://www.amazon.com/Invicta-10642-Diver-Ion-Plated-Automatic/dp/B0071M6F9U/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1546526744&sr=8-12&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=invicta+grand+diver

 

Also, Invicta watches are just... Well, I won’t get into it. But it’s definitely not a “deal,” whether it’s on the cruise ship or not. 

[JMB1969]

9 minutes ago, slugg said:

You’re funny. You cherry-picked a single, way overpriced listing. Here is something more realistic: https://www.amazon.com/Invicta-10642-Diver-Ion-Plated-Automatic/dp/B0071M6F9U/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1546526744&sr=8-12&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=invicta+grand+diver

 

Also, Invicta watches are just... Well, I won’t get into it. But it’s definitely not a “deal,” whether it’s on the cruise ship or not. 

 

Actually, what is funny is someone going out of their way to write a snippy response to a 2 week old post, completely ignoring the part where i said if you see something you like, and are ok with the cost, go ahead and get it.  Liking it is the most important thing.  

 

Thank you for taking the time to post and Happy New Year!  

[slugg]

7 minutes ago, JMB1969 said:

 

Actually, what is funny is someone going out of their way to write a snippy response to a 2 week old post, completely ignoring the part where i said if you see something you like, and are ok with the cost, go ahead and get it.  Liking it is the most important thing.  

 

Thank you for taking the time to post and Happy New Year!  

I was browsing the forum, saw some misinformation, and corrected it. I didn’t pay attention to how old it was. Regardless, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s poor information and bad advice. 

 

Liking it is not enough, either. Buying an overpriced piece of jewelry is not a financially responsible thing to do, whether it’s on a cruise ship or not.

 

You, sir/mam, are encouraging people to allow themselves to be ripped off, then shaming those who bring you back to reality. The shame is on you. 

 

For everyone else who actually thinks critically, I’d offer the following advice: don’t shop on a ship. 

 

But suppose you can’t fight the urge to itch the bite that the shopping bug gave you, buy an internet package and go into those stores armed with your smart phone. Research everything before buying. I guarantee you that the cost of the internet package is by far less than the amount you’d overpay for a single piece of jewelry. And if you happen to find someone who’s willing to haggle, showing prices on your smart phone might even give you an advantage! All that said, under no circumstances should you believe anything the sales people say. Get everything in writing. 

 

You’d be surprised just how much you’ll save by skipping the ship shops and shopping online. Who knows, you may even ship your pants! You know, if you buy pants online... 😉