Shopping in St. Martin & St . Thomas & Stray Dog Question

[tiamo91]

We are set to cruise to St. Martin and St. Thomas and I was wondering what kind of good shopping deals we can get at either island if any. For example, can you get a good deal on 14k gold jewelry, name brand purses, watches etc? And if so, where should we go? 

 

And one more question - has anyone encountered any stray dogs wandering on either island? 

[Toofarfromthesea]

The first time I went on a cruise I mentioned that I was going to a friend of mine who was in the jewelry business for over 30 years.  He told me not to buy any jewelry because any time a customer did so and brought it to him to be appraised it virtually never appraised to as much as the customer had paid.  Take it for what it's worth.

[Host Kat]

5 hours ago, tiamo91 said:

We are set to cruise to St. Martin and St. Thomas and I was wondering what kind of good shopping deals we can get at either island if any. For example, can you get a good deal on 14k gold jewelry, name brand purses, watches etc? And if so, where should we go? 

 

And one more question - has anyone encountered any stray dogs wandering on either island? 

 

Hello @tiamo91 and welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Thank you for your new topic on the Ask a Cruise Question forum! However, it is the forum for general questions regarding cruising. Your inquiry concerns particular Ports of Call and is off topic there.

 

To help you out I have moved your thread to the Ports of Call - Caribbean - St. Martin/St. Maarten forum where it will be on topic for one of your ports. The majority of your fellow Cruise Critic members that have been there frequent this forum and provide feedback here. 

 

Click here Ports of Call - Caribbean - St. Thomas/St. John to research your other port. Again, the majority of your fellow Cruise Critic members that have been there frequent that forum and provide feedback there. 

 

Browse through the thread titles on the two forums looking for threads of interest. You will probably find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that may be of interest to you.

 

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[navybankerteacher]

I regularly see a fair number of “stray” dogs on St. Maarten — hard to tell if they are actually strays or just free roaming pets.
 

 There are lots of shopping opportunities in the Caribbean— also a lot of counterfeit goods being sold.  You will probably be better off buying watches and expensive jewelry from trusted jewelers at home (other than as souvenirs).  The two great myths cherished by cruisers seem to be about what great deals they get buying jewelry in the Caribbean and how they usually come out ahead in shipboard casinos.

Edited August 9, 2023 by navybankerteacher

[jsn55]

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

I regularly see a fair number of “stray” dogs on St. Maarten — hard to tell if they are actually strays or just free roaming pets.
 

 There are lots of shopping opportunities in the Caribbean— also a lot of counterfeit goods being sold.  You will probably be better off buying watches and expensive jewelry from trusted jewelers at home (other than as souvenirs).  The two great myths cherished by cruisers seem to be about what great deals they get buying jewelry in the Caribbean and how they usually come out ahead in shipboard casinos.

I think it's a good point about the value in the Caribbean.  Don't think I'd do much shopping there any more.  Years ago I bought several things from H. Stern, and I once bought a gold bracelet in Cozumel, of all places.  These items are about the only 'good' jewelry I own and they are all valuable pieces, even the tourmalines I purchased in 1980 or so.  Very high quality and classic designs.  Never appraised because I don't really care about their dollar value.  But I wouldn't buy good jewelry in the Caribbean any longer.

[Ashland]

If you know exactly what you're buying you can on certain items get a good price.

The Fope bracelet I purchased...it was a great price !!

[nimbex1970]

IMHO, the problem with buying jewlery is the haggling time when I'm on vacation.  The stores (like any) are marked up, then you haggle down.  For example, I know I want tanzenite, the color and say it's 1k back in the states just for the stone. Even with a gold band and setting fees, I wouldn't pay 3k... So why do I have to spend 2hours to get it to a fair price of say $1500? I just don't have the patience and I haven't found great deals. That's me.  The best deals I have gotten are rings under $200 bucks go figure. I'm still wearing one everyday that's 10 years old and didn't cost more than that $200, perfect condition.  And don't believe that gold plated jewlery on the ship, you get less than what you pay for, again IMHO.

 

[jsn55]

I agree with you about the waste of time.  I will offer half the price, and make the purchase at whatever amount they come back with.  Never spend more than 15 minutes and I don't shop seriously very often.  It's something that I really want, amortizing $700 over ten years is a bargain.  

[navybankerteacher]

8 hours ago, jsn55 said:

I agree with you about the waste of time.  I will offer half the price, and make the purchase at whatever amount they come back with.  Never spend more than 15 minutes and I don't shop seriously very often.  It's something that I really want, amortizing $700 over ten years is a bargain.  

Of course, the simple act of shopping is something a lot of people see as recreational - they enjoy the exercise,  I happen to not like the activity - and must admit to sometimes paying more for a thing I wanted than I really needed to —— just to get the deal done and go back to activities I prefer.

[lnuzzo]

We shop, sometimes.  I like to find things I can’t get at home.  Last time we were in St Maarten, we stopped at a perfume shop.  They had Guerlaine, which I can’t find at home, only online. And I don’t buy perfume I don’t know online.  So it was a nice treat, and I found a special bottle that reminds me of our vacation.  It’s not about the deal, it’s about the memory.

 

every piece of jewelry we have bought has a memory attached. I worked in wholesale jewelry, so I understand the costs, and the markups.  Over the 30 years we have cruised, we have bought special things. My anniversary ring, the matching earrings we stumbled on in. different port  5 years later.  The watch we bought on ship, no taxes, that I wouldn’t buy myself, but there was savings.   Everything has a value, and sometimes it’s not how much money you haggled down.

Edited September 25, 2023 by lnuzzo

[TTEllis]

Stray dogs?? There's all kinds of stray dogs on St. Maarten most every one have 2 legs, speak English and French fluently and don't bark they *****. 

Hope that helps Todd