What's your best trip souvenir?

[kk99]

Hi everyone,

Please post back with your favorite souvenir that you've picked up in a port of your Celebrity cruise. I'm always interested in hearing about unusual, unique gifts. Two of my favorites were the free large conch shell on a shallow reef in Antigua where there were hundreds of them waiting to be picked up, and fuschia leather gloves from Madova in Florence that cost 20 euros. We will be cruising Greece and Turkey our next cruise and can't wait to have some new souvenirs besides fantastic memories.

k.k.

[beauxdammit]

You named our best souvenir in your last line. It is all the wonderful memories we have of Hawaii, Mexico (East and West Coast), many of the Caribbean islands we have visited, the great cruise ships we have been on, and even some of the less good ones that gave us rememberences to laugh about now.

[pattyj 1204]

I have enjoyed giving my sister a souvenir(spelling?) spoon from the ship. She has a collection and just called to say to be sure get one from the Millie. I picked up a few pieces of coral out of the Caribbean that I keep in a special place and a rock from near the Mendenhall glacier in Alaska.

[charlielinda]

I love picking up a Christmas ornament from very port -- sometimes I have had to be creative and pick a magnet or something else that will remind me of the port and turn it into an ornament. When I get home I mark the back with the year. It is so much fun every December recalling our wonderful vacations.

My absolute favorite souvenor I ever got was a bird house made by a fellow in Grand Cayman named Caribbean Charlie. It's beautiful and sits in my family room and reminds me of our great times in Grand Cayman.

[Artemis]

I like to pick up things I will use so that I am reminded of our good times with every use! I have some hand-painted ceramic wine stoppers from Anacapri and a sleek stainless steel one from Helsinki. (Unique wine stoppers also make a great gift for someone back home--they are inexpensive & small to carry!) We sleep on Frette linens from Rome (less expensive when bought there, but bulky & heavy to carry!), set a festive summer table with linens from Dubrovnik, and our Irish guest bath hand linens always draw compliments. You get the picture!

 

We like to pick up Christmas ornaments, too, and have one "memory tree" dedicated to our children's holiday creations + travel ornaments.

[rose hill]

I don't know what my best souvenir would be, but I do pick up magnets from every country/state we have visited. The magnets go on the refrigerator so every time I stand in front of it, there is a constant reminder of wonderful vacations and great memories of how I collected each one. :)

[chessbriar]

Memories

[usha]

:D I second the "memories". That's the best thing I've ever come home from a cruise with (besides DH, of course).

[Senga]

Caribbean cruise - tanzanite pendant purchased on board Summit

Hawaii - dashboard hula doll purchased at ABC drugstore

Bermuda - Bermuda cedar loving cup

Greece - had our pictures enlarged, put into a collage and framed at home

St. Kitts - two beautiful pieces of batik which we had framed at home

Germany - beer stein

Alberta, Canada - ammolite pendant

Nova Scotia, Canada - pewter beer stein

Scotland - ashtrays and water jugs from various pubs with company logos

[FAR_girl]

I'd get in trouble if I didn't say my best souvienier from a cuise is my boyfirend, who I met on a Carnival (yes, I know, I didn't pick it) cruise in 2001. That said, I too get Chirstmas ornaments from the ship and from the various ports.

 

With Greece and Turkey as your itinerary, you should have some lovely items to choose from. (Disclaimer: my expereince with these countries is 20 years old.) First, have some baklava -- I actually preferred the Turkish to the Greek. If you need "trinket" gifts, consider some evil eye jewelry in Greece. I also have a lovely pair of heavily embroderied satin slippers that I got in Ankara. I grew out of them fairly quickly, but they still remind me of the market where I got them, feeling overwhelmed by the "exotic" sights and sounds and smells.

[shofer]

I picked up a great embroidered Christmas tablecloth & 12 napkins for about $35 at Mr. Tablecloth in St.Thomas right at the pier. Also in St. Thomas on another trip, tanzanite and diamond rings for myself & DH.

 

Christmas ornaments, at least one on every cruise. I did get a cool one on Summit for the last Hawaii cruise.

 

Maracas on Curacao for my percussionist son, and lovely sarongs in exotic prints for my daughter in St. Maarten.

 

Hawaiian flip-flops in the ABC store on the Big Island for everyone.

 

And memories...priceless.

[GramaFran]

We try to find a pen and ink drawing (black & white) from at least 1 port while on each of our cruises. We get them framed and so far have 9 on our dinning room wall. Everytime we look at the wall it gives us memories of our different cruises. We have Valdez Alaska, Grenada, San Giagimano (sp), Venice, Columbia, Nicaragua, Grand Cayman, New Zealand and Calif.

Francine

[DaisyGirl55]

Something similar to GramaFran, but I think she has a great idea...and I will probably try to do it too. But what I really love are the pictures the cruiseline takes when you board the ship. I have cruised with friends, other couples, family, and sometimes just with my very darling DH. I love to go back and look at who we cruised with, look at the date and ship info, and it always brings back memories of some of the things we did.

 

I love to scrapbook, and I would not ever think of passing up the boarding picture!

[MSBYRDY]

For my husband's birthday a couple of yrs. ago, we were to be in St. Thomas and I chartered the sailing vessel High Pockets for the day as a surprise for him. As we had it all to ourselves Captain Kathleen gave him a great birthday present which was her navigational chart with all the markings of where we had sailed that day. It was rolled up and tied with boating rope. He treasures that chart.

Marilyn

[Lsimon]

Well of course our favorites are the memories and the photo's to remind us of them. Also standing out as something special is some jewelry I bought my wife in St. Martin for our 25th anniversary a few years ago.

 

On a more practical matter I like T-Shirts or caps from places like beaches, bars, and interesting excursions.

 

We also try to find a nice looking coffee mug on each cruise from one of the ports - and have bought a couple of wall hangings in Mexico.

[STUR]

This may sound corney MY WIFE THINKS I AM NUTS

T SHIRTS FROM ALL THE SHIPS / PORTS / RESTAURANTS / NATIONAL PARKS / SPORTS TEAMS ECT.

IN THE SUMMER TIME AND IN WARMER WEATHER I WARE A DIFFERANT SHIRT EACH DAY

PEOPLE THAT KNOW ME ASK WHERE MY T SHIRT IS IF I DO NOT HAVE ONE ON WITH A LOGO

 

IN A FEW WEEKS WE ARE OF TO WHITEFISH MT. GLASHER NATIONAL PARK (MORE SHIRTS)

 

NEXT CRUISE MEXICAN RIVIERA JANUARY 29,2007 CELEBRITY MERCURY 11 NIGHT OUT OF SAN DIEGO

 

STUR DAYTON,OHIO:)

[motherchic]

a piece of jewelry.

I love picking up slides for my necklace. its usually a stone or gem from the area, encased in silver. Whenever i wear them it brings back memories.

Nadine

[woodofpine]

Cartagena - gold filigree set emeralds and a really nice leather attache

Kusadaisi - rugs

 

Aruba - getting off in one piece a horse that LOVED - like an addict - to Gallop!!

[kk99]

Hi everyone,

I didn't think of this before since I'm not sure this qualifies as a souvenir but I rescued a puppy in Grand Cayman, and Katie became a member of our household for 15 years. I rescued the dog on our cruise

day in Grand Cayman, took it to the local rescue center and then adopted Katie. She definitely was the most expensive item I've ever received from a trip ,and the absolute best.

k.k.

[Desertbelle]

It's a hard question because there are many items but, I think my favorite is a watercolor painting of the canals that I bought in Venice. It only cost 40 euros but it cost my nearly $300 to frame!! :D

 

It's so beautiful and every time I look at it my mind drifts off for a few moments thinking of those days in Venice and my trip to Europe.

[WooKeef]

I love picking up a Christmas ornament from very port -- sometimes I have had to be creative and pick a magnet or something else that will remind me of the port and turn it into an ornament. When I get home I mark the back with the year. It is so much fun every December recalling our wonderful vacations.

 

Wow, That is what we do. We have an ornament from all of our travels in the U.S. and abroad. We always try to get the nice ones. Not crazy about the balls. Never marked it with the year though. It is nice to put the tree up and relive your travels huh?

Woo

[Petert]

We found a some very interesting original watercolors on a shore excursion in Dubrovnik and bought one that illustrated a location we had visited. Since then we have found reasonably priced, but excellent watercolors from a number of cities we have visited. It is a nice way to brighten your home and to have pleasant memories always at hand.

 

petert

[starsjohn]

It has to be our collection of hand made ukeleles from all over. The most unusal one was made in the men's jail on the island of Raratonga of the Cook Islands.

[Happy ks]

We're not so much souvenir shoppers, but we will pick up a print from a local artist at times. We have a number of them around the house and it's true, they cost anywhere from $5 - 150 to purchase, then hundreds to frame properly.

 

We have a photo album dedicated to just formal shots from all our cruises, so we usually pick up at least one each cruise. My favorite I have framed over my desk and I can see it while I'm here on CC!

[Jim_Iain]

We rarely bring bank anything physical. Having traveled extensively most of our careers there are so few truely "unique" items we see anymore.

 

My favorite souvenir is a new booking with an on-board booking credit.