Shopping?? Which shore is best???

[aembree]

I will be on the Inspiration sailing August 29. I am trying to plan which shore stop will be the best for shopping. I love art, jewerly, clothing, food.....nice afternoon beach bar. My stops are:

 

Sun Tampa, FL 4:00pm

Mon Fun Day At Sea

Tue Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands 7:00am - 3:00pm

Wed Costa Maya, Mexico 11:00am - 7:00pm

Thu Belize 7:30am - 6:00pm

Fri Cozumel, Mexico 7:00am - 10:00pm

Sat Fun Day At Sea

Sun Tampa, FL 8:00am

 

Which stop is best to plan the day for shopping and afternoon drinks in a nice beach bar??? What's a girl to choose!

[taszmom]

Cozumel or Costa Maya will be your least expensive, Grand Cayman the most expensive. Beach bar...plenty of them in Cozumel. Check this out...

 

http://www.cozumel-beaches.com

[hstrybuf]

Grand Cayman is way too expensive to buy much. Just grab a t-shirt and some rum cakes there.

 

Costa Maya has several shops and lots of vendors. Instead, walk or take a taxi to Mahahual. It's the village just down the beach and you can find vendors there with nice things for much less money and hassle.

 

No clue on Belize.

 

Cozumel, try out Los Cincos Soles. They have a wide range of quality items at reasonable prices. Be careful of buying jewelry unless you can get recommendations from other cruisers for reputable dealers.

[artsytart]

I will be on the Inspiration sailing August 29. I am trying to plan which shore stop will be the best for shopping. I love art, jewerly, clothing, food.....nice afternoon beach bar. My stops are:

 

Sun Tampa, FL 4:00pm

Mon Fun Day At Sea

Tue Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands 7:00am - 3:00pm

Wed Costa Maya, Mexico 11:00am - 7:00pm

Thu Belize 7:30am - 6:00pm

Fri Cozumel, Mexico 7:00am - 10:00pm

Sat Fun Day At Sea

Sun Tampa, FL 8:00am

 

Which stop is best to plan the day for shopping and afternoon drinks in a nice beach bar??? What's a girl to choose!

Okay, we just went on the Conquest, and one of the stops was Cozumel. My oh my. First I will tell you about the beach we went to--Mr. Sancho's beach; it was $14 by taxi, free to get in. Water was absolutely clear and gorgeous. It wasn't too crowded there either; there were covered huts, umbrellas, beach chairs, a bar, water sport rentals, and little shops lining the entrance. We loved it. Shopping? You are about to meet the best salespeople on the earth in downtown. You WILL buy something, planning to or not. Taxi was $16 from the beach to downtown; shops everywhere. Always bargain with them; the price they give you is not necessarily set in stone. We got merchandise at a discounted rate almost everywhere we went. Then taxi from downtown back to port was $6. All in all, cab fares were $36--cheaper than any one person's tour price booked through the ship. Have fun! Take lots of dinero! ;)

[CaribbeanBlue]

Be very careful when buying fine jewelry in Mexico. We send our gemological group to all of the ports which are frequented by cruise lines. Mexico had very poor ratings for jewelry. High incidence of synthetic and man made stones sold as genuine fine gemstones, sales staff lying to our secret shoppers about qualities of diamonds etc.

 

The stores in Grand Cayman have a good reputation and provide proper gemological documentation on their fine jewelry.

 

CaribbeanBlue

 

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