What a friendly site... Quick question

Hi,

Firstly I have been a lurker on here for a short while and I want to say what a helpful and friendly bunch you all are!

I have a quick question for the experienced P&O cruisers please.

What are the prices like (compared to the high street) in the onboard shops?. We're on the Aurora in a couple of weeks and interested in prices for perfumes and watches. Are they noticeably different to the high street? And is the selections available decent?

Any replies are greatly appreciated, we're so excited to try P and O after a few RCI cruises in the past.

Thanks in advance.

Last week on the Britannia they had some stalls in the atrium selling costume type watches.These were reduced a week into the cruise along with costume rings etc.. I checked out the Pandora jewellery and it was much cheaper in port ie, Valencia. The expensive Tag Hauer etc were very expensive I thought. I always buy locally at home and haggle as I would any diamond purchases.There was a jewellery specialist evening and they were knocking off 15% no problem. I didn't check out the perfume.

Love the Aurora, she's our favourite ship. :)

We have bought perfume and aftershave a couple of times while on board and find the prices cheaper than the high street. The smaller ships do not stock a full range and you could struggle to find your specific choice but if your looking for a new fragrance there will be plenty of choice.

If you have a particular one in mind check your UK prices first for peace of mind.

It depends whether or not your cruise has a port outside the EU duty area. If not, then 20%VAT is added to shop purchases.

I suggest you check the UK shop price for any item you wish to purchase then you will know if the ship price is a bargain or not. There seems to be plenty of choice on watches and perfume.

Brian

I've always found perfume cheaper ashore and always think the jewellery looks over-priced considering it's supposed to be duty free

I've always found perfume cheaper ashore and always think the jewellery looks over-priced considering it's supposed to be duty free

I guess it depends where you are and what offers they have. Having said that one year In The Caribbean we purchased a diamond tennis bracelet on board . No offer or discount but We had it valued less than one year later and found it worth £1000 more ! I don't know if that's due to diamond prices rising but we felt it a good price at the time:)

We've seen very few "bargains" in the on board shops over the years despite their almost daily bargain sales.

Many of the goods in the ship's shops these days are overrated and vastly overpriced, but there again they do have a captive audience. In the distant past while clothing on sale in the shops may have been costly it was generally of good quality.

Hi everyone.

Just want to say thanks for all the replies. Sounds like the onboard shops aren't especially good value (which in turn sounds very similar to RCI).

Still can't wait though..!

Difficult to generalise. We have bought aftershave on board & it has been cheaper than we can get it at home ( with 10% peninsular discount. We do get a staff discount at home) but the one we buy is not stocked on all ships & I sometimes wonder about the turnover for freshness. There are som bargains though. About 5 years ago on Oriana they were selling RayBans at a vg price. I bought two pairs just before some of the crew appeared to top up their own stocks. Have been on several different ships & the price of sunglasses seems to vary within the fleet. In some cSes they are cheaper thN UK prices.

Difficult to generalise. We have bought aftershave on board & it has been cheaper than we can get it at home ( with 10% peninsular discount. We do get a staff discount at home) but the one we buy is not stocked on all ships & I sometimes wonder about the turnover for freshness. There are som bargains though. About 5 years ago on Oriana they were selling RayBans at a vg price. I bought two pairs just before some of the crew appeared to top up their own stocks. Have been on several different ships & the price of sunglasses seems to vary within the fleet. In some cSes they are cheaper thN UK prices.