Shipboard Shopping

There are about 5 shops onboard the ship. When we're at sea, they're open; they stay closed in port to force everyone to shop on shore. All onboard purchases are done with our room keys, which makes it fatally easy to spend to the point of shock on the last day. The onboard shops offer beach-related stuff (swimsuits, sarongs, sunblock, aloe), formal wear, giftware of various sorts, jewelry, duty-free liquor, perfume, and souvenir clothing. And they spill over into the atrium - nearly every day there's been something for sale on tables in the public areas - loose gemstones, watches, port-theme t-shirts and hats, the inch-of-gold concession, swarovski crystal jewelry.

In the early days of the cruise, before we hit our first port, the ship's "shopping staff" conducted several seminars on shopping in port. Interestingly enough, the seminars referred us to the same set of stores in every port - and even more interesting, it was the same set of stores that Royal Caribbean referred us to in Alaska: Diamonds International, Tanzanite International, Pacific Jewelry, Del Sol, Senor Frogs (okay, that one was new). The small print indicates that these stores have paid a "promotional fee" to the cruise line to be included in the recommended shops list, and that they will all honor a 30-day money-back guarantee on their merchandise. And if we were so unlucky as to miss the live seminars, at least one of the in-room TV channels had a recorded pitch.

Ship-sponsored tours include stops at the recommended shops, where the tour group is provided with a "welcome drink" and invited to shop. Even the taxis in Mazatlan had what appeared to be preset routes that ended at a recommended shop. Our first taxidriver deposited us at Diamonds International, and when we left that area to go to the old town area (way cool, by the way), that taxidriver took us right to yet another bloody jewelry store.

I really didn't come on this trip to shop. Maybe some of the other 3000 passengers did, but the constant sales pitches have begun to get on my nerves. I succumbed twice - I bought a bracelet from the inch-of-gold lady, and a pair of fire opal earrings at what turned out to be a recommended shop (not anything named ...International, though). And I ended up with the earrings sort of by surprise. I didn't intend to bargain for them. When the lady at the shop told me that they were $80, I figured I could live without fire opal earrings. When I was waiting for my husband to finish buying vanilla (a request from several family members), she asked me if I would buy them for $50, and I said no again. We left the store (or so I thought) and were looking in the window of another one, and she came up and asked if I would buy them for $30. Well, at that price, I caved, and I'm glad I have them, but it was a little weird.