Grand Cayman Shopping

1 more image

Flagship is definitely one stop shopping. The store carries everything you could want in the jewelry, crystal, silver, watch and china department. My wife had a grand time perusing the merchandise especially the watch department (she'll still looking for the "perfect" watch and has yet to find it). The sales people are very friendly, helpful and not pushy. It was a pleasure shopping here without having the hard sell you can get on some other islands.

Gem Palace (Milano Diamond Gallery) is one of Carnival Cruiseline's recommended stores. Carnival cannot be trusted when it comes to their port shopping program... it is all a ploy for them to make more money by receiving a cut when you make in-port purchases. The guarantee they offer is completely worthless.

On May 10, 2011, I purchased a 14 karat white gold diamond ring from Milano Diamond Gallery in Georgetown, Grand Cayman for the amount of $3395.00. I consider the item purchased at Milano Diamond Gallery to be a fraudulent product.

34 days after purchasing the ring, a small diamond fell out (one of 58 small diamonds surrounding 3 larger diamonds). I became uneasy about the product I had purchased, so on June 20, 2011 I took the ring to a very trusted and reputable jeweler whom I have done business with for years. After inspecting the ring, he informed me that it was a "total disaster" and that there were several more diamonds on the verge of falling out at any time.
I received a certified letter from the jeweler (and certified gemologist) who inspected the ring. He stated the following:

“Upon inspection of a 14K white gold diamond ring belonging to Katie Morgan, it is evident that the reason for a diamond falling out of the ring is because of inferior workmanship in the setting process of the diamonds. It is evident that more diamonds will fall out of this ring because of the lack of stability of prong work when the diamonds were set. It is not an option to rebuild all prong work because of major expense involved and the initial instability of material to work with. We are custom-design manufacturers of jewelry of all types, and have over 30 years of experience in the field of manufacturing of jewelry, for not only the public but other stores as well. “

I have since made numerous attempts to settle my dispute with Milano Diamond Gallery who has been extremely uncooperative and difficult to contact. My emails to the company have gone unanswered and when I called Milano headquarters in New York on June 22, 2011, my requests to speak to a supervisor were repeatedly denied.

After having no success reasoning with the merchant (Milano) I turned to Carnival and The PPI Group (who is in charge of the port shopping program) to take responsibility. I sent multiple emails to corporate leaders, contacted customer service many times, and even sent certified letters to The PPI Headquarters. I have only gotten responses from one staff member and she has repeatedly denied my requests to demand a refund from Milano.

4 more images

The Tortuga Rum Company is a duty free store right by the cruise port. The store specializes in "Tortuga Rum Cake" and assorted island rums. They also carried a large selection of hard liquor, wine and champagne.

After perusing the store and checking out the prices we left empty handed. The liquor prices onboard the ship were better than they were offering in the store.

3 more images

We had to come into the Cheeky Monkey just because of the name. The store is another souvenir shop that carries the usual tee shirts, post cards, magnets, shot glasses and other island themed merchandise.

I found a nice Grand Cayman tee shirt I wanted in blue with a simple design on the back. Liz picked up two shot glasses for her friend Koky back home. The tee shirt was $20 and the shot glasses were $3 a piece.

4 more images

The Blue Iguana is a typical souvenir shop. The store carries a variety of inexpensive to moderately priced souvenirs from shot glasses, post cards, tee shirts, photo albums, Christmas ornaments and children's toys. My wife and I decided to check this place out after we saw some Christmas ornaments through the window.

My wife and I collect Christmas ornaments from every place we visit; so we were happy to find some nice ones here. We decided on a nice Christmas ball that had a pretty beach scene painted on along with the location and year. The ball was very inexpenisve at $6 and made me happy to add another ornament to our tree at home.

Effy is a chain of jewlery stores that are scattered across the Caribbean. During our visit to Grand Cayman we stopped here to check out a few items that my wife was interested in trying on.

The store has the usual rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and watches to choose from. They have special Effy specific collections which are quite nice. My wife found the necklace she was looking for but wasn't thrilled with the quality and brighness of the saphires. Although she did love the pair of blue and white diamond Diversa earrings she tried on. After some haggling we agreed on a price and my wife had a new pair of earrings as well as a free jewelry case.

I think the store's specific collections such as Diversa are a nice quality but with most jewelry shopping you have to know your prices and quality before you buy. Over the years my wife has given me a good education on these things so now I can see the flaws that make her say no to an item.

Jewely shop. It claims to have very high quality jewelry

What to buy: Nothing - I bough a new setting for my diamond ring.
I brought it home - wore it for about 6 mo, developed a terrible rash from the so-called 14 kt white gold. I brought it to my local jeweler who said it had many defects in the crarftmanship.
Ring send back - not fixed. The Jewelry center said they would send me another higher quality ring. Ring sent - 2 months after I sent original ring!!! New ring was a JOKE - very light - tin like.
A diamond was missing from the setting!!!!!!!!
Called the Jewelry center and spoke with Romesh Mirpuri who said he would refund my visa.
NEVER DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BEWARE AND AVOID AT ALL COSTS>
We had to contact visa's fraud dept to get a refund.

What to pay: avoid

When shopping in Georgetown the prices get lower to further from the port you go. Don't purchase right away. Walk down a few blocks and you will find better deals.

What to buy: Jewlery or anything with rum (i.e. rum cake, etc.)