Duty-free shops on board vs. Duty free on the island

[anewell28]

Hi and good morning!

 

I was wondering if the prices were better on board in the duty free shop or if you can search and find better prices in port. I was looking to get some rum and vodka for myself and others as holiday gifts. I cant exactly remember what they charged on board and if its a good deal.

If anyone has experience with this please let me know!

 

Thanks!

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, anewell28 said:

Hi and good morning!

 

I was wondering if the prices were better on board in the duty free shop or if you can search and find better prices in port. I was looking to get some rum and vodka for myself and others as holiday gifts. I cant exactly remember what they charged on board and if its a good deal.

If anyone has experience with this please let me know!

 

Thanks!

It all depends on both the port and the itinerary. We've seen prices on board change when going from an Eastern to a Western Caribbean (eastern onboard was ~same as on shore; western on shore was higher), and prices change when visiting a port with a lot of on shore purchase options like St Thomas and St. Maartan (onboard matched on shore) vs. ports with very limited options like San Juan (onboard was lower). We've also seen onboard prices higher on short cruises to a port than on longer cruises to that same port.

 

Our best guess is that the cruise lines try to get as close to a "price match" with their on shore competition in their ports of call. We always try to get a price list from the onboard store before we hit our first port of call so we can do our own price comparisons.

[mayleeman]

The liquor store on Allure said they would price match anything found in a port, but it has to be an identical bottle and the ship's selection is much smaller. You can take pictures of prices in a store, but some store managers get upset and will kick you out. Some stores will match ship prices, I believe, and that helps those stores stay in business.

 

We love the store we go to in St. Maarten so we will always buy from them. Gulmohar's, 76 Front St. They have 4 types of Blanton's, not all of which are available in the U.S.

 

Reviews on Tripadvisor:

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147347-d8571465-Reviews-Gulmohar_s-Philipsburg_Sint_Maarten_St_Martin_St_Maarten.html