My wife and I are taking our first cruise in February. We are visiting San Juan, Puerto Rico; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Nassau, Bahamas

My question is which of these ports (if any) would you recommend to buy jewellery for my wife.

I am thinking of a diamond tennis bracelet but I am open to suggestions if there are any deals to be had.

diamond tennis bracelets are gorgeous in Phillipsburg, St. Martin.

Buy in either St. Thomas or St. Maarten. both islands are duty free although I do believe St. Thomas has a small import tax on soem things.
But the best prices by far are in those 2 ports..not PR or Nassau.

Thanks very much for the quick responses.

hi robmac, will you be sneaking off to make this purchase or does she get to pick her own? there are loads of shops on st. thomas to go in...
try this link for a couple ideas and so you can do comparison pricing with home prices: http://www.usvi.net/usvi/stthomas/shops.htm

St. Maarten, Caribbean Gems. Nice to work with good prices and honest.

On St. Thomas Cardow Jewelers, Little Switzerland, A.H.Riise are honest, reliable & stand behind their products. Be wary of "Everything is 50% off." "I'm in a good mood so for you the price will be..." Also, be leery of things that don't have price tags on them.

I don't know about any import tax on jewelry but it's not the kind of thing I buy regularly.

Virginia,

I'll be sneaking off on my own.

you are a very nice husband!!

yes, Caribbean gems is very good in St. Maarten.
so is DK Gems.

Yes St Thomas or St Martin. In PR you will have to pay tax (although they do have some really great stores in Old San Juan) My favorite in St Thomas is H. Stern, their items are unique. See their site, www.hstern.net
I have not had good luck buying in Nassau though.

St. Martin hands down. I second Barbara for DK Gems, bought few things there myself.

Mim's right. H.Stern is a great jewelry store that I forgot to mention.

Robmac,
Unless you're just buying a "trinket" as a momento from your trip buy your jewelry at home. I work in a jewelry store in upper Westchester,NY and a large percentage of our repairs come from people who bought their jewelry on vacation or while in "port" somewhere. If there's a problem with the setting or loose stone/stone falls out, you will have no recourse for action.

jofus

St Thomas - AH Riise

Jofus, that's not the case with the St. Thomas stores I listed & why I said to avoid the "bargain" spots.

Jofus
That is also not the truth for the good jewelery stores on St. maarten. Reports from tourists who bought here had the items appraised back home and the prices for which they bought the jewelery were quite good.
In addition, whenever there have been problems, they send the jewelry back to the store here and it is always properly taken care of.

Thank you all for your replies. You have given me something to think about.

Robmac...very wise of you to research the stores before you go, because unless you are VERY knowlegeable about jewelry, you'll be overwhelmed. So many stores!

Can anyone comment on the Scandenavian(sp? Center at Havensight Mall. My DH bought me a 25th anniversary ring there. We hadn't planned to purchase anything, but this ring caught my eye. I think we got a good deal. It is a .50 carat, color I, bezel set diamond in a fairly heavy 14K comfort fit band. It was priced $4K, we paid $999. We just decided to take a chance & I have been very happy with it. My jeweler looked at it, without a formal appraisal, said we got a nice ring. But I have always been curious as to the reputation of the store. Hope it's still there.

Have a wonderful trip robmac!

I bought a bracelet on a cruise in St Thomas. It was gold with different semi- precious stones inlayed. It was "originally" listed for $6500. and marked down to $3000. I never buy things this expensive on vacation. But my husband saw I was drooling over it and began negotiate with the store over the price. I walked out of there with the bracelet for $1600. dollars. When I returned to the US I had it appraised at the jewellers I always use and the bracelet was appraised at $2200. dollars. So, you can do well but it might help to do some research first about diamond braclets.