Just came back from a Celebrity cruise ship and they had quite a nice shops area, including a pair of Omega and Breitling mini boutiques.

Having brought both a Speedy and a SuperOcean on the cruise, I was looking forward to some cool conversation with the guys, but alas, the staff were cruise ship weenies, not watch co employees(I pointed one out and the staff member said "isn't that a nice yellow one?"..I didn't have my glasses with me so I asked what the depth rating was...he just stared at me and said "it's a nice color, yes?"). Should have figured that, but the boutiques looked nice anyway. Omega actually had a 'clearance sale' going on in one display case.

They had another watch boutique but it was a combination of Rolex, Tissot, Hamilton, Longines, Tag Heuer, and a few others.

Also had Tiffany&Co and Bulgari shops. Surprisingly high end stuff for a cruise ship.

 

<mentions clearance sale, fails to provide pricing>

 

I only asked about one..the MkII style with racing dial(7th pic down)...$4200US and the ship gives you a shopping credit of 10%, so $3780 total, no tax/duty etc. Not too bad...I think its ~$6500 retail.

 

Nice, I couldn't be trapped on a ship with an Omega boutique for several days. I break by day two and buy something.

 

I kept gravitating that way...but my wife cleverly steered me back to some other activity so that I never actually stopped there for more than a few moments. Had to sneak out of the cabin in the early morning just to get the pics(bummer,no staff that early). She saved us a small fortune......

 

That mkii racing... might have made money on it even if msrp.

Mkii LE also in that case. Olympic edition I think.

 

Twelve days. Twwwweeeeelllvvvve daaaaaayyys.

It was like looking at boobs; just a glance....don't stare or you're in trouble.

 

Is that an Ultraman ST in the Omega case??

edit: Nah, it's a Speedmaster Racing model.

 

That yellow one is nice...

 

My wife would cancel the whole cruise if she would find out about these boutiques on forehand.....can't help myself ;-)

 

haha beat me to it.....was photoshopping some more yellow dials into the frame...

 

This is why I love Omega Forums......

 

Have been on a few over the years with this set up and would love to have a look around as i am 3500km from anything like a boutique. Even the one jewellery shop in Darwin that sold TAG closed a few weeks ago.
But they shut everytime they are in port ( and not a good look whilst working )


Wonder if the Costa Concordia had boutiques ( salvage divers would have been coming up with a new watch each dive )

 

6 hour layover in Frankfurt Germany a few years back and I wore a Rolex GMT Master 2 home ... couldn’t sit in the business lounge that long. I totally understand. Fond memories of a great week in Budapest though. I’ll never part with it. As long as you have price points straight you did well.

 

Those boutiques in the Frankfurt airport getcha' everytime!

 

I'm sailing with Celebrity from now on!

 

All joking aside, its an excellent cruise line...a little upscale, probably the next step up is the Regent/Crystal/Silversea/Seabourn lines.

Excellent value. Better quality in all areas than the Carnival/Royal Caribbean/Holland/Princess/Norwegian ships(we've been on all these), but at similar cost. One real stand out is the staff. Incredibly friendly and attentive(and all speak english). The ship's officers are also very visible, friendly and hang out in customer areas regularly(and also all speak english). It seems intentional for the officers to pass through customer areas vs crew areas when traversing the ship. The level of fit and finish is also far above. They do not cater to families per se, which is nice for older cruisers. Music is largely live jazz/classical groups vs DJ or piped music.

Celebrity is basically very chill and relaxing. Other cruisers are also very chill and friendly. Very easy to strike up a conversation with anybody. Crazy how many people we met that are perpetual cruisers. Hop from one cruise to the next. One couple hadn't been home in 6 months.

Hard to complain about anything really, so can only say that the specialty restaurants at ~$100/plate simply do not perform at that level. Quite plain and unexotic. We preferred the Dining room or buffet, and both are free. Drinks are expensive, but they are on all cruise lines. Internet is stupid expensive and slow, as it is on all cruise lines. Hard to go from gigabit at home to 5mb at sea.

One thing you will not see is the constant upselling common on other lines. That's nice. Oh, and dress code is enforced. Formal means formal on those nights. Smart Business for most other evening events(pants/longsleeve shirt,..tie/jacket preferred). They had a very famous special guest on the cruise and they wouldn't let him into the dining room...he didn't have proper shoes. If you're prepared,not a big deal.

Highly recommend Celebrity.

I'd put in order from best to last:
Celebrity
Norwegian
Royal Caribbean
Holland America
Princess
.
.
.
Carnival (noisy, drunken, crazy mess)

BTW, if you only take one cruise in your life, go to Alaska. Its the only place I've been in the whole world that is better in person than words can describe. Astonishing beauty.

 

I went on a Carnival cruise to the Yucatan and Cozumel this summer. It's the only cruise I've ever been on so I don't have a frame of reference to compare it to the others. It did have a watch boutique on board and I did check it out, no photos though. They had a decent selection of Rolex, Breitling, Tag, and a couple of Omegas. If I go on another cruise I'll have to keep a look out for more watch shops.

 

sounds like a captive audience

 

Snap