Shopping In The Caribbean

[1milehi]

If you plan on buying jewelry, watches or a camera while on your cruise make sure you are VERY knowledged in prices of the item you are looking at . The ship's shopping director tells about all the great prices in the Caribbean and how much you save buying duty free......BEWARE !! Many times you can find the exact item here in the U.S. cheaper (tax included).

 

I found this out the hard way on our first cruise. I bought my DW a high end watch in Jamaica and at the time thought it was a good deal. I got back home and found out I could have bought the exact same watch for $200 less right here in the good ol' USA.

 

On our last cruise I was looking at a Panasonic mini-camcorder and the salesman kept telling me how much cheaper it was from him than buying it in the States . I go back to the ship and log onto ebay and "bingo" , found one $60 dollars less on ebay the first try. As I said just because you are in the islands and it is duty free doesn't mean it is always cheaper .

[Mim Lloyd]

To us in Britain though it WILL probably be cheaper as our prices are generally more expensive than the US.

 

People even fly to New York for long shopping weekends to get the bargains! We went to NY last year with my sister, her husband and her twins to celebrate their 18th birthdays. They had about £600 each birthday money (over $1000) and spent the lot on clothes, shoes, boots and ipods. They said that the fashion/designer items they bought were a third or a half cheaper than in England.

 

The only thing they didn't like was not being able to go out drinking. In Britain they can drink at age 18 although most teenagers are out in clubs and pubs much earlier than that as they look older!