Little Switzerland – jane sadek

Nassau Bahamas — Shopping in crowded Nassau. Faces of innocent bystanders hidden. Perhaps their husbands didn’t realize they were shopping!

TRAVEL THERE: IS JEWELRY SHOPPING BETTER ON ST THOMAS OR NASSAU

I’ve already told you what a good time we had shopping in St. Thomas. Our tour dropped us off right at Charlotte Amalie’s Main Street and we had about an hour of blissful shopping. There were few shoppers and most of the stores we entered were absolutely gorgeous. With just enough exceptions to prove the rule, all the clerks and shopkeepers were marvelously polite and eager to please. It was like being in shopping heaven. Too bad we really didn’t appreciate how lucky we were.

The Shopping Seminar

Having enjoyed our shopping in St. Thomas so much, we were eager to attend the shopping seminar on our third at-sea day on the Norwegian Epic. We hadn’t planned on shopping at all in Nassau, but we’d caught the island shopping bug. The seminar was interesting, not grippingly so, but a pleasant way to spend the morning. I was hoping for more in the way of drawings and give-aways, but the idea was to get us to spend our money, not to give us anything. I learned a little about a new diamond cut and the new vein of tanzanite. The new tanzanite returned to the lighter colors of the first discovery, rather than retaining the dark colors that have been available most recently.

Our favorite discovery was Del Sol. Everything in their shop changes color in the sun, including the fingernail polish. Deb loved it so much she added it to her shopping list. The most important information was a reminder the shops close at five, a couple of hours before our departure time. We needed to shop in the morning. Over lunch we informed our husband what they should expect.

We arrived in port at noon on the fourth day of the cruise. After our shopping, we planned to head over to Atlantis Resort for a peek and it’s skyline loomed large on the horizon. As soon as the boat docked we dragged our husbands towards Bay Street.

Shopping in Nassau

Shopping Nassau was a whole ‘nother thing and it wasn’t a better thing. The first thing we noticed was how crowded it was. Nassau serves a lot more ships than St. Thomas. Many of the cruises are just three day jaunts out of Miami, devoted primarily to the art of shopping. We’d been told that this larger audience meant a larger stock of merchandise to enjoy. Thanks, but no thanks. I enjoyed the quieter streets of Charlotte Amalie.

There weren’t as many freebies in Nassau either. We anxiously looked forward to getting our shopping packet when we got off the boat, but all we found was an offer from Diamonds International and another from Effy. We’d gotten a coupon in the seminar to complement the Effy coupon in the shopping packet. In St. Thomas we’d had to pay a minimal amount for the earrings to match our necklace, but in Nassau, because of the shopping seminar we got earrings for free.

Perhaps because of the larger crowds, the salespeople aren’t as happy to distribute their free goodies as they had been in St. Thomas. There was the same begrudging hesitancy I’d remembered from Cozumel, one that led to my happy surprise at the alacrity of the St. Thomas jewelers. The good news was that for each island the big stores offer a different freebie. In St. Thomas we’d gotten garnets at Effy, but in Nassau it was amethysts. I was particularly happy about that, because I had an amethyst ring begging for some companions. Diamonds International offers you a charm bracelet at your first port and then other charms at your other stops. The fun of it for frequent cruisers is that you’re not getting the same old thing all the time. You could start a collection of sorts.

We hoped to do some additional shopping in Nassau, but were stymied. We looked for a Milano Jewelers, because Deb was beginning to regret that she hadn’t clued into what a great deal the sterling silver necklaces were. We found the Milano stores, but when we asked about the necklaces all we got was a look that suggested we were crazy and some mumbled assurance the cheap sliver necklaces weren’t available on this island.

We also searched out a Little Switzerland store, because I still hadn’t found a gift for my mom and the bracelets I’d seen on St. Thomas seemed like the best bet. Lest you think I was unwilling to share all the free goodies I’d gotten so far, my mom’s ears are not pierced and her advanced arthritis prohibited her from operating the clasps on necklaces. So I had lots of goodies to share with folks at home, they just weren’t going to work for my mom. Unfortunately, the Little Switzerland store we found had a very limited selection in their very tiny Impulse department. I didn’t see anything that looked like Mom.

We took a break from shopping to visit the Atlantis Resort, but I’ll tell you about that in a couple of weeks. I also shopped at the Nassau Straw Market on the way back to the ship, but I’ll compare that to the locals market in Marigot, St. Martin next week. Until then, happy shopping.

Sunny Liston Tours, St Thomas VI — A Mission Coupon soldier next to the Sunny Liston tour bus. I think my hat is wilted!

TRAVEL THERE: USING CRUISE COUPONS FOR JEWELRY ON ST THOMAS

As Deb and I glided out of Bobby’s Jewelers in a haze of shopping euphoria, we spotted Milano Diamond Gallery, one of the coupon stores.

At Milano Diamond Gallery

We walked in waving our special offers in the air, because we’d already bought everything we could afford to buy for ourselves. A nice man took us to the back of the store to give us our free jewelry – a beautiful rhinestone pendant. And if we bought the silver chain he was offering at a ridiculously low price, he’d throw in the earrings.

I know a good deal when I see one. I asked if I could buy additional chains. As we’d collected up our free jewelry at other stores, many pieces had been a pendant of some sort, but no chains had been offered along with them. I was going to need chains anyway and these looked like the kind I’d have to pay a whole lot more money for in Dallas. Here’s the funny thing, though. For every silver chain I bought, this guy gave me another pendant of some sort. I ended up with another bunch of necklaces with pendants for a price I’d been happy to pay for the chains alone. I still came home with pendants for which I had no chain, but I couldn’t get him to quit giving me free pendants.

On to Little Switzerland, Sort of

We rolled out of the store laughing at the haul we’d made. Checking our watches, we realized it was time to head back to Sunny Liston’s bus, but instead of back-tracking, we popped through one of the shopping passages and strolled along the waterfront. Sunny had parked right in front of a Little Switzerland and we were interested in looking at their Impulse Collection. We’d seen the collection in a shopping guide and it had some really cute items for very affordable prices. So we were moving along briskly to have plenty of time to shop there.

That’s when we were waylaid by our new best friend. All along the shopping streets were barkers hired by the stores to get shoppers into their establishments. We’d ignored most of them, especially after the ugly chotskie incident. However, a very nice Rastafarian fellow approached us and he was so polite and soft spoken we didn’t even realize he was of the barker fraternity, at first.

Soon, we caught the drift of what he was offering. The store he represented had the best quality stones at the best prices on the island, just like all his barker brothers were promising. We listened to his schpiel and though we promised to consider his shop, we were focused on getting to Little Switzerland before the bus left. As we walked away, he shouted, “Stay focused!” and warned us of other barkers who would try to take us off course. That tickled our funny bone and we decided to stop by his store, just to let them know they had a sterling employee out there on the sidewalk.

Our Rastafarian friend directed us up Drake’s passage to Eden Jewelers. After the glamorous shops we’d enjoyed on Dronnings Gade, Eden’s was a little less luxurious, but don’t let that dissuade you from visiting. The shopkeeper was very nice and he did have lovely things for good prices in his shop. In fact, he was offering us all kinds of deals that we wished we could buy, but we’d run out of money and were swiftly running out of time.

We felt sorry for the guy, we really did, but there was no way for him to draw blood out of our turnips. He lamented that our Rastafarian friend had done his job, but that we weren’t allowing the jeweler himself to do his own. I was impervious, but he finally found something Deb could buy as a gift for someone on her list. It was all of $12.99, but it made the guy happy and he gave us some free earrings to boot. I was thrilled with the earrings. They were freshwater pearls which would match one of the pendants I’d gotten at Milano.

The clock was really running down now and we still had to stop in Little Switzerland. On our way out of Drake’s Passage, we saw our Rastafarian friend. I yelled, “We stayed focused AND we bought something.” Our new best friend was filled with glee. He ran up the street and hugged us. That was well worth the $12.99 Deb spent. She’d bought me two presents that day.

We did avail ourselves of Little Switzerland’s Impulse Collection and fell out into the street and onto Sunny’s bus. We were those annoying tourists that show up at the last minute holding up everyone else on the tour, but I’m afraid we didn’t care.

Sunny headed up the mountain to continue the tour, but I’ll tell you about that next week. The fun has only begun.

Tag: Little Switzerland

Jewelry Shopping – St. Thomas vs. Nassau

Mission Cruise Coupons Continues

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