Shopping in other ports
 

I am getting married in the spring and my fiance and I are trying to decide which cruise to go on. We figure something with a lot of at sea dates will be good for a honeymooning couple. Also, I have cruised before but he never has, and I have only ever been to the Bahamas a few times. A big plus for me is shopping and bringing gifts back to loved ones. So I am wondering what other ports may have good shopping like the straw market in Nassau? This obviously will not be the sole reason for us to pick a cruise, but it would be a plus. TYIA!

Both St. Thomas and St. Maarten have decent shopping, though few real bargains anymore except on liquor. But both are chockablock with jewelry stores, selling goods at basically the same prices as back home. Occasionally, you'll find a good buy. For local crafty type items, I think you'll do better in St. Thomas or Castries, St. Lucia. St. Lucia in particular has a vast straw market.

Oh ... I should have added. There are probably better goods at better prices in Mexico, so you may want to take a look at a Western Caribbean cruise. That might give you a stop in Grand Cayman, which has good shopping for upscale goods but not much in the way of local crafts.

Don't know how much time you have, but you might look at some of the repositioning, trans-Atlantic cruises in the Spring. You would have a week or so of sea days at the beginning, and depending on the cruise, you could have several port days in Southern Spain, France, Italy, etc. lots of opportunity there to see new places and buy unique gifts. Two advantages: prices are much cheaper than other cruises, so would make up some of the difference in airfare to fly home from Europe, and you could be on one of the bigger, 5* ships. Vacationstogo 90 day sticker will show you most of what is available from US to Europe.

You will need passports.
If the cruise plus ports is too many days for your time frame, often you can leave the cruise a day or two early. You just have to ask to be sure. We have done that twice; when we needed to be home two days before the cruise ended and when we knew we wanted to stay a few days and end our trip in a particular port.

A personal preference is to enjoy my cruise and the sights and shop at home. Cruise shopping tends to be when you have the least resistance and are prone to fake, overpriced merchandise.

St. Maarten and St. Thomas are great shopping ports. They are usually reached from southern Caribbean routes but most of them have fewer sea days than what you may want. Take a look at southern Caribbean routes to see what May fit your needs and congratulations. :)