Beach and Shopping Question in St. Thomas

[cruisegal415]

I also posted this on the St. Thomas thread, sorry for the duplicate.

 

Our family is debating, if we want to do shopping and beach at our stop in St. Thomas (we are not going to St. Johns) do you do the shopping first or beach first? Half of us says shopping then beach so we can go right to the ship after being sandy and sticky. The other half says beach then shopping, because what if we buy something valuable? One of us would have to stay on the beach to guard our stuff. Both good points. Your ideas?

 

2nd question: has anyone been to the Emerald Beach Resort (Best Western) in Lindbergh Bay? You can rent lounges and water stuff there for reasonable $. If so, how long a drive is it back to the ship, if we are doing the beach second?

 

3rd question: Truly, how good is the shopping? How much time should we allot for the shopping part of the day vs. beach part?

 

Thanks for your input.

[egoldman16]

I want to reply to your shopping question in St. Thomas. I can say to you "buyer beware". I bought a $995 ring from Cardow and a $850 pair of earrings from Klassique. They gave me appraisals for more than I paid for the items. Once I got back to the USA one of the stones fell out of the ring -- and I found out that the earrings were only worth about $400.00. Fortunately I used American Express for my purchases and had no problem getting my money returned for the ring (which I returned) from Cardow. Unfortunately Klassique is a different policy. They have a no refund policy and once you sign the receipt you are in deep trouble if you want to return the jewelry. I am in constant dispute with them through American Express, i.e. earrings are not worth what I paid, the appraisal is bogus and I consider this fraud. DON'T BUY JEWELRY IN THE CARIBBEAN!!!!! Any item you find in the Caribbean you can find in the United States half the price from a reputable jeweler.

[cruiser1014]

Yes, Do your shopping first, then beach and the resort is wonderful.

 

Helpful info: I was just there. If your ship parks at the pier it is a 3 mile ride to shopping. Construction caused a 45 minute ride in a bus just to go Downtown to shop. And even longer to get back. Ask for information on the ship if there is still construction. But if your ship "tenders" you in. The tender drops you right in the heart of all the shops and it only take two hours or less to hit them all. Also look for passing showers here mostly afternoon. :) Have fun. Cruiser1014.