Cozumel shopping-what to buy

[crystallynn]

Is it possible to find those marble chessboards, backgammon sets and etc, in Cozumel? Years ago when I went to Acapulco they had them. Also, can I bring alcohol (unopened of course) back as souvenirs?:confused:

[trouble48746]

I havent been there since 1998 but I did buy onyx chess sets for a mere $13US. I dont know about the alcohol though, sorry!

[NinaCO]

Yes, they have those chess sets everywhere in Cozumel. I never priced them because I wasn't interested in bringing anything that heavy or breakable back.

 

 

You can bring alcohol on board the ship. Most cruise lines will confiscate it as you board and deliver it to your cabin on the last afternoon/evening of your cruise. There are limits on the amount of alcohol you can bring back duty free. My recollection is that, if the booze is made in the country where you purchase it, it's considered an island craft item and the limits are increased. I'm not sure about this because alcohol falls into the heavy & breakable category and I rarely bring it back.

 

[Cotton]

Yep, Nina's right. About half the shops on Cozumel sell those onyx chess sets, very reasonable price, as I recall. Hint: If you're docked at the Puerto Maya pier, the 'mall' shop has them, so you wouldn't have to carry them so far back to the ship. I think their prices, as well as the other shops near the pier, are comparable to the shops in San Miguel....so why buy 'downtown' and have to lug it all back?

 

Liquor is about the same price on the ship as it is in the ports.

[ljrfrm]

Shopped last week at Puerta Maya with my tablemate....there's a store right there (sells rugs and stuff) that has a lot of chess and backgamon boards that are beautiful. She bought the extra large chess board for $50 (they were asking $65). He had a lot of differents kinds to choose from.

[crystallynn]

Thanks for the info. It took me awhile to figure out how to locate my replies.

[cruisinonmymind]

My DH and I bought a marble chess set several years ago from a vendor near the pier, although it is beautiful, it was missing several pieces. The set was in a box and taped up but we were missing 6 pieces. I was very disappointed when I got home and seen this.

[LJLB6]

We had situation similar to the above poster. Bought a chess set--taped shut with packing tape, so we didn't open it. Got it home only to find out that 4 pieces were broken, and one had a chip out of the corner.

The chess sets are fantastic deals--just make sure you check them first.

[Truluv]

We just returned from a 7/4 cruise. The small onyx chess sets ran from $10 to $15. I bought a pint of vanilla for $6, with the big bottles selling for $12. Didn't buy any liquor so I can't help you with that. We bought two silver bracelets at one store for $12, after buying a single bracelet at one of the first stores we went into for $20 (oh well). We found two t-shirts for $10, that sold at most other stores for $10 each ($12 for XXL). We bought cold Evian at a drug store for $2.50 a bottle, $1 less than the cruise ship charged.

 

Diamond prices were ok -discounted from the states & no sales tax. You have to know the value at home of any jewlery pieces you're shopping for. It was like buying a car (how much do you want to spend? -- then they'll produce a stone to fit, instead of bargaining on the stone that you may have picked out in a case). The sales staffs in the downtown jewlery stores were definitely much more polite and were less aggressive than our prior visits to Cozumel, which was a pleasure. You'll still find people at the door inviting you into stores, but everyone was very friendly and polite -- still some pushiness in a few stores, but overall an improvement.

[dkbryan]

When we were there last year we drove around the island checking out different prices. All of the chess sets are "made by the families that are selling them" ;^) which makes them very expensive--over US $100!!! Anyway, we found the best deals around the pier where we bought a nice one for $15. They opened the box for us so we could check all of the pieces before buying it.