silvercrikhix

You're telling me that people sell Plus Size Formal Wear on Ebay!!!!!!!! Plus Size!!!!!!! And it fits????

 

Rhonda

Yep....Rhonda, it's true! I have shopped on ebay, alot, too. I am a bit more careful with clothing purchases, but you can find pretty much ANYTHING on ebay. I often find unique clothing there. I have also used ebay to find clothing I really, really liked but couldn't find in the store anymore....you can search in so many categories, too, like color, size, brand, length, new or used, etc... Give it a look.....sounds like you'll be surprised! :+)

I bought the same dress (in purple) for my cruise. It was comfy and I felt beautiful. You'll love it.

Thanks! I thought the purple was lovely, too, but I'll get more use of the black. They do carry some great dresses and tops, too :D.

Very nice dress, Prairie Gal. I love your igigi dress Cristallo....especially at a bargain like that :D. You really do have to jump on things you like, especially sizes, too! Hey, kleo30.....are we there yet? LOL

Here is one I bought from Kiyonna.com ..... That is not me, though.

YESSSSSSS...it's still available...it will be in a seperate bag warpped in bubble wap and old blanket...special birthday gift for my nephews 25thy birthday in may...

NICE Uncle! :D

I have been to Roatan and have a friend going in January. I would love to have her bring me back one of the larger shells that have a scene carved into it, I think it was from the stonecastle factory. Does anyone know how much these are priced at I would like to give her some money to cover the cost. Thanks

Hi, Cougar:

The large shells with the scenes carved into them had a light inside them. They started at around $500 and ALL the way up from there. They are very beautiful and I will get one the next time I visit Roatan. Try googling Franco Tammaro, the master carver, and Honduras magazine...there were some photos of one that was presented to the President or Mayor in it a few years ago. I'll see if I can find it and post a link for you.

Here is one link: just a story about Franco...... http://www.bayislandsvoice.com/island%20living.htm

If you click on my photo link below, I do have some pictures of the cameo pendants....I don't think I have any of the large lamp ones, though. They are on pages 6 & 7.

Dreaming of Floating...............................................

There were more pieces unset than set. And 99% of the settings are nothing fancy. I am having my jeweler replace them with more substantial ones. :)

Thank you so much for sharing your photo's FlowRyder & English in Spain! Awesome! Now I guess, I'm Dreaming of a Royal Suite.............................:cool:

Thanks for giving me an idea on the prices.

You are welcome, Judi! I love cruise critic, it's so nice to share information with others!

Whqt a great bit of information. Would you mind sharing how much you paid and what kind of discount you received? I'd love to see pictures too if you have any. Many thanks.

Karen in Kentucky

Thank you, Karen. In this photobucket album, on pages 6 & 7, you will find pictures I took of some of the cameos in the cases at the Stone Castle Cameo Factory. They are not the ones we purchased. There were many more than this!

http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/a...0March%202010/

As far as pricing, it was not a percentage. There are prices on them, but they discount that price always. Do haggle with them. It was more like, "oh, you want this 2nd one also? How about $x amount". And so on through the 3rd and 4th. The blue agate with the 14K gold setting was the most expensive at about $500-600. The brown (hammerhead shell) with sterling (?) setting was around $300. The two smaller ones of coral with 14K gold settings were around $200 each. We spent close to $1,500 on the 4 pieces. They prefer cash and will discount extra for that.....which we did also. We do plan on taking the two larger pieces to our jeweler and having some more substantial settings made for them. Our mothers truly loved theirs, which was so nice to hear from them! They say that they have had many compliments on them, too :D.

We just returned from Roatan on Friday. You certainly can get better cameo's in Italy I'm sure, but I don't know that I'll ever get there. But, we did get here! I had done a bit of research on this artist and his cameos, so I knew what to expect. IMHO his work is gorgeous.

Franco Tammaro is a 4th generation Italian cameo carver. He has work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is the only Master cameo carver in the Western Hemisphere. He is dedicated to this art and trains students at his Stone Castle Cameo Factory. He is concerned that this art will fade away. While his cameo's are jewelry (and lamps...ooohhh...ahhhh) they are art carved from the natural shell and stone of our earth.

He has opened a new store at Mahogany Bay called Gem Carvings. There was some jewelry there and many of the gorgeous lamps. We looked here first and saw some we liked, but wanted to see the Stone Castle showroom. The staff at both locations was friendly and accommodating. I watched one of his apprentices at work for a bit. I looked for quite some time at all the cameos, as they are all different. We ended up purchasing 2 for me :D and one for each of our mothers. Which did of course, net us some discounts! They start at about $50 and go up to $$$$'s for the lamps. I bought one carved of blue agate and one of hammerhead(?) shell. The 2 for our mothers were the traditional type brooch/necklace with 14K settings carved from coral. Beautiful!

Because we purchased 4 and I had heard about others having Franco sign the back of them, I asked if he was there and if this would be possible. The clerk said she would check and he was there, but was very distraught and troubled as 2 visiting Italian friends had gone missing 9 days prior and had yet to be found or heard from. She took them back and he signed all of them for us.

Knowing he was not "up to par", but realizing I may never get the opportunity again, I asked if we could possibly meet him and tell him how much we enjoy his art. :o She said follow me. We went back to his studio and he was extremely accommodating. He talked to us for probably 15 minutes. He was very gracious and talked to us at length about his life, education, art and his missing friends.

He was obviously and understandably in a state of some distress, but kept talking to us, anyway. I mentioned I had read a magazine article about him and he produced a copy of it from a small stack and signed it for me. What a kind gracious man he was. He gave us his email address and said to keep in touch. He then gave my DH a cameo from his work bench with a star fish on it. Sweet!!! What a class act!!!

We are praying for the safe return of Franco's 2 friends and hope they will be found very soon.

If you go to Roatan, please check out his art at Gem Carvings in Mahogany Bay, the lamps are absolutely beautiful (I hope to return one day and buy one), and for a real treat go to the Stone Castle Cameo Factory. It is IMHO well worth the time and effort. You may even get to meet the Master himself! :)

We just used Victor Bodden Tours last Friday. We can't recommend this enough. YOU decide where you want to go and what you want to see. Everyone we met was extremely friendly, helpful and accommodating. Top notch service with a smile!

Our driver was a delightful young woman named Johanna. We drove around the whole island, stopping at any places we wanted. She answered every single question we asked of her. And we asked about everything from weather to education to heritage to typical life to traffic to imports/exports, politics, religion, etc.....

We wanted coffee and vanilla from the grocery store, as we had heard it was much less $ than the gift shops. She told us which ones would be best, went in with us and helped us with any questions we had. We bought 2 bottles of vanilla, 2 bags of coffee and 2 banana sodas. Cost $16. US. It was clean and bright, just like an american grocery store. The touristy gift shops and the ship were selling the coffee for $16/bag. Ha!!

We went to Victors home and played with the monkeys for as long as we wanted.....held the parrots....my DH hand fed a new white tail deer fawn. The staff at Victors house was very friendly and happy. There is a spider monkey there with a new baby, absolutely adorable!

We shopped at a few other gift shops, etc. Our main goal was to visit the Stone Castle Cameo factory. We purchased 4 of them. Their credit card machine was not working, she took my DH to a bank while I stayed there and ogled the cameos. The bank didn't work out so......we took one of the store clerks with us back to Mahogany Bay where they have a new store "Gem Carvings" and used the cc machine there. It was toward the end of our tour and we needed to take our purchases with us. Our driver then took the clerk back to the Stone Castle location for us. Talk about service!!!

We can't wait to visit Roatan again and see more with a Victor Bodden Tour guide!!! :D

Awesome review, Froggy4! Thank you for taking the time to share with your fellow cruisers. Really got me reved up for our first cruise on this itinerary via the Legend also....28 days to goooo!!

Your pictures are great....what type of camara did you use?

We have also booked Victor Bodden in Roatan, any must sees, in your opinion?

Thanks again, really enjoyed your review and great pic's!!

On the Legend in 30 days...Great start and photos, Froggy4...you make a very cute couple! We're staying at the other Embassy Suites pre-cruise...they really do a good job of it, in our opinion! The Mardi Gras party certainly was a bonus!

Thank you, arlodog, for your answers to my questions. Much appreciated! :D

Hey, arlodog: Do you recall if they took other credit cards? I am hoping they take Mastercard....our main card with a LARGE credit limit....might need it....I hope :D! LOL Thanks, again for your help!

Thank you, arlodog, for reporting back your information on Franco, the cameo carver, in Roatan. Much appreciated. :D

Dreaming of Floating...........................................

Thank you, roatanradio.......I checked out your online station.....great music!!

Yes!!! Thank you so much, roatanradio, for your information on Franco and his cameo's. I am looking very much forward to viewing and hopefully purchasing a nice cameo!! I've done some reading about Franco's art and find it to be very interesting.

We will be in Roatan on Friday, March 26, 2010. We will be arriving on the Carnival Legend. We have a tour guide set up with Victor Bodden Tours and planned on making it a priority stop. If Franco will be at the Mahogany Bay shop, we will go there first. We did want to see the Stone Castle he built, too, so I'll go by there, too.

Do you have any other suggestions for Roatan??:confused:

We were thinking of purchasing coffee, vanilla, mahogany carved something....good places to do this in your opinion?

Best views for photos?

Private little beach spot to take a quick swim?

Maybe visit an orphanage a make donation....which one?

Other ideas?

Come tour your radio station?? lol

WHO MAKES THE BEST COCONUT CHICKEN?????????:D

Thank you, again for the information....I LOVE Cruise Critic!!

Dreaming of Floating........................................

They have a shop at the Mahogany Bay Docks now where Franco is creating on site so no need to go to the castle...

Hey, Roatanradio: Is this correct??!! More info. please.

Can anyone else confirm this as well. I may change my plans for this port, if this indeed the case. I saw a picture of a storefront that was "Gem Carvers, Int'l" was this it, roatanradio?

Thanks, everyone, any information is truly appreciated.

Dreaming of Floating.........................................

Thank you so much for your review of the Stone Castle Cameo Factory!!

Any one else been there lately?

Dreaming of Floating.........................................

For those interested in cameos....here is an article on the Master Carver at Stone Castle Cameo. It is from Jan 2007 but still gives some great information about this artist.

http://www.bayislandsvoice.com/island%20living.htm

Dreaming of Floating..............................:D

Thank you so much seasquirt and Kerry & LuAnn!!! I appreciate your time and consideration!

I am looking forward to this very much! DH has been hinting about Christmas jewelry and I keep telling him that I'm saving ALL of my jewelry "allowance" for a Cameo in Roatan....LOL :D

We're going to Roatan in March, 2010, aboard the Legend.

I WANT one!!! :D I think the one pictured in this thread is fabulous!

I hope they are still there. Maybe they have become overwhelmed with all the business, being as they are handmade?

Anyone, been there lately?

Dreaming of Floating...............