Experienced Jewelry Shoppers

[BostonGal35]

Ive *heard* that the caribbean can be a great place to find nice jewelry at much better prices than the US.  Can anyone recommend a reputable jewelry store they have visited in any of the caribbean ports?   we'd be looking specifically for wedding bands (his plain, mine would have stones).

[pete_coach]

Personally, after numerous cruises in the Caribbean and to many islands, we have found that most of the jewellery stores are in cahoots with the ships and cruise lines.

We have never seen any jewellery or watches priced any cheaper than at home.

What is more, if there are issues, getting service is near impossible.

[graphicguy]

The real draw is not having to pay taxes or duties on the jewelry/watches either in the Caribbean stores or the ship’s jewelry shops.

 

I’ve been able to get a good deal on a Tag watch at Diamonds International a while ago.  But, it took work.  Lots of “haggling”……

 

-I like the watch but it’s not in my budget.

-Well, sir what do you think might be in your budget, I’ll find something that fits

-I don’t want anything else.  I want that watch

-Let me get my manager

(Manager starts the whole hard sell all over again)

 

Eventually, I got a good deal.  But, it took work.

 

I’m a watch hound.  I found a nice little local shop off the beaten path in Curaçao.  Found a unique new old stock automatic Oris Swiss watch that the shop keeper said he’d had for years, and no one bought it.  I was one of the few that was interested.  He made a great off to sell it and I bought it.  Took a chance as I couldn’t tell if it was authentic.  Got home and checked,  It was authentic.  And, it was a long discontinued style.  The good news was, since it was never registered as sold, it came with a full warranty.

 

Most of the sales people don’t know diddly about their wares.  On watches, most don’t know the difference between a quartz, an automatic or a “wind” watch.  I’ll assume the same goes for their knowledge of precious stones and metals.

 

Jewelry, whether watches, precious stones and metals, etc have crazy high mark up, whether you buy it at home or in the Caribbean.

 

Little Switzerland, Diamonds International are the two BIG Caribbean stores.  They’re just about at every port.  And, if they see you just stop to look at something, they’re going to stick to you like Super Glue.

 

Best rule of thumb I always follow, if there’s a piece you like, regardless of where it is, and it’s in your budget….buy it.  At worst you’ll have a piece you’ll remember the cruise every time you wear it.  

 

Swiss watches usually have international warranties.  If you don’t have a service center in your locale, you’ll be sending it away for service regardless of where you bought it.

[scaaty]

I avoid the jewelry stores that are 'recommended' by the ship and explore on my own. My favorite where I have gotten a number of really nice pieces is Zhaveri jewelers on Front Street in St. Maarten. I let my husband do the haggling as he is really good at it. That seems to be expected at most of the jewelry stores I've been to in the Caribbean.

[linaka625]

10 minutes ago, scaaty said:

I avoid the jewelry stores that are 'recommended' by the ship and explore on my own. My favorite where I have gotten a number of really nice pieces is Zhaveri jewelers on Front Street in St. Maarten. I let my husband do the haggling as he is really good at it. That seems to be expected at most of the jewelry stores I've been to in the Caribbean.

I've used Zhaveri twice in St. Maarten.  Haggling is expected, but I really like the jewelry I've gotten from them.

[pete_coach]

48 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

The real draw is not having to pay taxes or duties on the jewelry/watches either in the Caribbean stores or the ship’s jewelry shops.

 

I’ve been able to get a good deal on a Tag watch at Diamonds International a while ago.  But, it took work.  Lots of “haggling”……

 

-I like the watch but it’s not in my budget.

-Well, sir what do you think might be in your budget, I’ll find something that fits

-I don’t want anything else.  I want that watch

-Let me get my manager

(Manager starts the whole hard sell all over again)

 

Eventually, I got a good deal.  But, it took work.

 

I’m a watch hound.  I found a nice little local shop off the beaten path in Curaçao.  Found a unique new old stock automatic Oris Swiss watch that the shop keeper said he’d had for years, and no one bought it.  I was one of the few that was interested.  He made a great off to sell it and I bought it.  Took a chance as I couldn’t tell if it was authentic.  Got home and checked,  It was authentic.  And, it was a long discontinued style.  The good news was, since it was never registered as sold, it came with a full warranty.

 

Most of the sales people don’t know diddly about their wares.  On watches, most don’t know the difference between a quartz, an automatic or a “wind” watch.  I’ll assume the same goes for their knowledge of precious stones and metals.

 

Jewelry, whether watches, precious stones and metals, etc have crazy high mark up, whether you buy it at home or in the Caribbean.

 

Little Switzerland, Diamonds International are the two BIG Caribbean stores.  They’re just about at every port.  And, if they see you just stop to look at something, they’re going to stick to you like Super Glue.

 

Best rule of thumb I always follow, if there’s a piece you like, regardless of where it is, and it’s in your budget….buy it.  At worst you’ll have a piece you’ll remember the cruise every time you wear it.  

 

Swiss watches usually have international warranties.  If you don’t have a service center in your locale, you’ll be sending it away for service regardless of where you bought it.

Overpriced jewellery and watches do not make up for "no tax" LOL

The cruise lines get commission on Diamond International as well as other shop sales.

I am also a "watch hound" and check prices everywhere and have found no good prices on any in either Diamonds International and least of all in Little Switzerland.

Both those outlets are riddled with scam claims. Google Little Switzerland scams or Diamond international scams and get 10's of thousands hits.

 

Like always, buyer beware and make very sure of what you are buying. If found to be overpriced or not what you thought, dealing with a shop that is not under your home country consumer controls will be nothing but a shame.

[complawyer]

prior to cruising, my wife and i usually tried to spend a week or 2 on various carribbean islands. this gave us many days to explore, sample the local cuisine, handicrafts, etc. 

 

i was personally told this by various shopkeepers "when cruise ships are in port, they all jack up their prices. if more than 1 ship in port, youre talking about thousands of people descending on the shops.

 

jacking up your price makes sense, No? 

 

so caveat emptor

[graphicguy]

Again, there are no "bargains" per se.  What you do save is taxes.  For example, if your at home and drop $5K on a pair of nice stud ear rings, and your tax rate is, let's say 7%, that would be $350 in taxes you do not pay in the Caribbean or on a cruise ship.

 

Watches are something I like and keep a keen eye on.  Tag Heuer (for example) are what they push heavily on the cruise ships and the Caribbean Jewelry stores.  I know locally, those watches are not discounted at places like Jared's.  On board, they regularly discount them 15%.  Plus, you save on the taxes.  So, not a bad deal.

 

Now, if you go for the INVICTA deals (which are mainly Chinese made watches) for 50% off, that may be a good deal if you're just looking for fashion watches.  But, they do have some decent deals on Citizen, Bulova and Hamilton watches.

 

Heck, I got a great deal on a Movado Automatic watch.  Movado makes mainly quartz watches.  To find an automatic is very rare.  The store obviously had no idea what they had.  I'm sure they buy in bulk and many styles.  They discounted it because they knew no better.

 

Got a BALL automatic watch, which again, is a tough find here in the U.S.  Got a 20% discount on it, which is black market pricing.  But, it was authentic and is registered with the ser#  with Ball.

 

I agree.  If you don't know what you're looking at and prices in general, you're going to pay all the money but save some on taxes.  But, some knowledge goes a long way.

 

Precious stones are a whole other matter.  It's impossible to do apples to apples comparisons since there are so many variables....cut, quality of the stone, setting, shape, etc.  Just like at home, buy what you like and what fits your budget.

[phoenix1181]

When I started cruising in 1990, there were bargains to be had.  Now, not so much. 

 

Unless you can identify the quality of the stone(s), authenticity of the watch, or true value of the item that caught your eye, don't do it.  If you don't have the stamina to haggle or cave under pressure, you're more than likely going to overpay for most anything you buy.

 

Find a good, reliable, jeweler close to home.  You'll be better off in the long run.

[SimplyAlbert]

I've never found a "bargain" on jewelry in the Caribbean, and I have a lot of jewelry/watches.  Since I live in a tax free state I can almost always do better at home.  Having said that, I have bought things in the Caribbean that I really liked and was close to or at the "at home" price as a "souvenir."

[cruiser2015]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

The real draw is not having to pay taxes or duties on the jewelry/watches either in the Caribbean stores or the ship’s jewelry shops.

 

I’ve been able to get a good deal on a Tag watch at Diamonds International a while ago.  But, it took work.  Lots of “haggling”……

 

-I like the watch but it’s not in my budget.

-Well, sir what do you think might be in your budget, I’ll find something that fits

-I don’t want anything else.  I want that watch

-Let me get my manager

(Manager starts the whole hard sell all over again)

 

Eventually, I got a good deal.  But, it took work.

 

I’m a watch hound.  I found a nice little local shop off the beaten path in Curaçao.  Found a unique new old stock automatic Oris Swiss watch that the shop keeper said he’d had for years, and no one bought it.  I was one of the few that was interested.  He made a great off to sell it and I bought it.  Took a chance as I couldn’t tell if it was authentic.  Got home and checked,  It was authentic.  And, it was a long discontinued style.  The good news was, since it was never registered as sold, it came with a full warranty.

 

Most of the sales people don’t know diddly about their wares.  On watches, most don’t know the difference between a quartz, an automatic or a “wind” watch.  I’ll assume the same goes for their knowledge of precious stones and metals.

 

Jewelry, whether watches, precious stones and metals, etc have crazy high mark up, whether you buy it at home or in the Caribbean.

 

Little Switzerland, Diamonds International are the two BIG Caribbean stores.  They’re just about at every port.  And, if they see you just stop to look at something, they’re going to stick to you like Super Glue.

 

Best rule of thumb I always follow, if there’s a piece you like, regardless of where it is, and it’s in your budget….buy it.  At worst you’ll have a piece you’ll remember the cruise every time you wear it.  

 

Swiss watches usually have international warranties.  If you don’t have a service center in your locale, you’ll be sending it away for service regardless of where you bought it.

Not having to pay duty?

Only if you do not declare your purchases on your customs form.

On our last Caribbean cruise, my DW fell for a somewhat pricey Tanzanite bracelet. We did put it on our form - and paid customs in Bayonne, N.J.

If the agent you get decides to search your personals, watch out.

[UKstages]

"experienced jewelry shoppers" only buy costume jewelry and handmade artisan pieces in the caribbean for all the reasons mentioned above.

[1025cruise]

Unless you are a gemologist, or very experienced in jewelry pricing/etc, you're better off buying at home from a reputable jeweler. Now, if you wanted to buy something unique, go for it. I've bought my wife jewelry in Bermuda from a shop in the mall there that looked nice, and wasn't priced too bad. I've also gotten her something in Cozumel, but it wasn't expensive at all and was something that really could only be gotten there (black coral).

[Pitzel]

Note that when shopping in St. Thomas, your customs duty allowance is 2x what it would be from other islands ($1600 pp vs. $800 pp). We used that as a negotiating tactic when purchasing 2 channel-set diamond rings in St. Thomas -- we told them that we wanted to stay under the customs allowance...so they brought the price down to just under that amount, including resizing. We had done our homework ahead of time and knew what a "good" price was for a comparable ring and felt comfortable with our purchase considering that we were provided with documentation about the gems prior to purchase. The price ended up being pretty comparable as buying at home, but we saved the sales tax and duty.

[TTEllis]

Sounds like a mountain of BS to go through, to purchase a piece of jewelry especially on vacation.🫤

I'm the bling king, best deals on real jewelry REAL GOLD REAL STONES, whatever they happen to be, is at the PAWN SHOP. 

Authenticity of anything is never an issue, getting something repaired is never a problem. I bought a gold bracelet at Cardow on St. Thomas in 1996, I've never bought another piece of anything down there again, probably never will and I've bought a lot of bling.

Those so-called good deals on jewelry down there is extremely overrated. 

 

Find you a loser working at your local pawn shop, give him or her a good idea of what you want or what your looking for, and your in. 

Think what you want Pawn Shop only way to go.