Yes, you heard me right… never buy jewelry at home.  The discounts for name brand and high end jewelry is soooooo much higher in the Caribbean islands than at your home town jeweler.

The best tip I can give you is this… before your cruise, visit your local jewelers and get an idea of what your wanting to purchase.  Take pictures, brochures, and get lots of details on the size, design and other things that distinguish the piece(s) of jewelry your wanting to buy.  Also try to work them down to their best absolute bottom price.  Act like your leaving for another jeweler right after this visit and your intent on buying today.  This will get them to their lowest prices which usually involves a manager getting involved.  Write that price down and go on your cruise.  During the cruise they’re will be lots of seminars to remind you of the four C’s of diamonds, jewelry shopping and more.  They will also give you all kinds of free coupons for jewels, jewelry, etc… Collect all the free stuff and while there look for the pieces you are really after.  Use the same tactics they teach you in the seminars as well as what I mentioned above.

If you’ve done your research ahead of time, you’d know for sure if your getting a good deal.  This is the exact same thing we’re going to be doing on our next cruise vacation.  For this one we used the price lowering tactics and we’ll be visiting our home town jewelers when we get back to see what similar pieces would cost us.

The moral here is do your research before your cruise to ensure you get the best deals!!!