ParrotMom

If there was an opportunity to miss an island this is one I would bypass.. On a cruise ship we got off and walked the main street, walked into one store and checked out a caftan.. the owner insisted I should buy a second one, she would give me a great price, didn't want second piece, she was quite put out (the first one was $60.00).. Found a local shop where I fell in love with a funky lucite necklace,..the problem is the owner of the shop was busy on her computer and just didn't want to answer our questions translating Euros to $$..Finally got her attention and bought the funky necklace..sadly when we got it back to the ship it was broken...I was not going back... The final straw was going back to the terminal for the ship...I wanted some sorbet and ordered a dish of three scoops... pulled out our Euros and the man behind said we had more than enough $$ for two..so I walked out of the shop to sit on a bench.. Parrot Pop came over and when I asked him where his dish was he said.. "she took it back"..SHE TOOK IT BACK!! It seems he was short a few Euros and even though he had started to eat his.. she took it back from him..Talk about inhospitable...lol

welch

Too bad you didn't enjoy the island. I think many islands suffer the cruise ship experience.
I've visited St. Barths many times and always found the island very hospitable, but I'm sure it's not for everyone. Should you ever find yourself there again get out of Gustavia and try a few of the beautiful beaches.

ParrotMom

Beaches are for several reasons not an option for us.. We often find/feel the flavor of a port through walking around.. It's a long story, but I've learned the morale of the story of the :"woman in black"..who "bothered" salespeople at Tiffanys many years ago..she was the wife of Andrew Carnegie and given short shrift except for one sales person.. so you can imagine the rest of the story.. We may be cruisers and seem to bother local sales people, but never judge us as "day cruisers"., what we are wearing or our jewelry.. The necklace was not inexpensive.. and we just found it completely rude to be ignored when addressing her several times and being ignored. Go to the other extreme and Bermudians are wonderful.. they actually like tourists knowing that many of them are "cruisers" and as a result have cruised there more than a dozen times, taken the local buses and ALWAYS felt welcomed by the locals. We have gone to many countries in our traveling years (not cruising) from Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic,Mexico and Peru just to drop a few names..and have always felt comfortable..Oh the favorite cruise ship ports.. like St. Thomas, Jamaica, Aruba.. we avoid those like the plague..lol and now prefer to cruise from Europe

cm318

Sorry you had a bad experience. St. Barth's is a beautiful island. Please keep in mind that most travel destinations are really hurting right now. Merchants are possibly more aggressive than normal under these circumstances. People sometimes act out of character when they feel desperate. Also, many shops and restaurants and understaffed. This is not to excuse rude behavior but I wouldn't judge an entire island on a few bad experiences this year.

ejcrowe

What a string of offputting situations. Any single one could be shrugged off, but taken all together they could really ruin your day. Sorry that St. Barths wasn't more to your liking, but I hope you enjoyed the rest of the cruise!