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One last duty-free chance Sometime recently, this place opened up. Caribbean Host is a duty-free store inside the airport terminal on St. Thomas. (Past Customs and security.) Plenty of perfume and $6 rum. It’s next door to the waiting area gift shop. The duty-free store just outside the terminal by luggage claim also remains open. 21 Responses to “One last duty-free chance”Leave a Reply |
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April 21st, 2009 06:18
This is actually a pretty good shop. Choices are pretty good for a tiny shop and the prices are competitive to downtown and K-Mart (yes, K-Mart has great duty free prices). The pack well for check in, just be sure to shop before you check in your luggage!
April 21st, 2009 07:08
I’m confused.
Is it inside the terminal before customs & where you check your bags?
Or inside the terminal where the gates, gift shop & cafe are?
April 21st, 2009 07:10
In the gate boarding area. Next to the gift shop toward Spirit Air gates.
April 21st, 2009 07:17
It is in the waiting area AFTER you have gone through customs and security. You shop after you check your bags and are allowed to carry it on. The staff told me that they were cleared by customs to allow this. Hopefully, they will keep the shelves better stocked than initially as there was NO Cruzan rum (plain)!!!
Staff were great.
April 21st, 2009 07:28
Gotcha! But if I purchase rum for the trip home, do I have to go back & check it? Or can I carry on?
(sorry, but I’m not a seasoned STT traveler like some boys we know!
April 21st, 2009 07:32
We just drink a couple of bottles right there! Makes coach a lot more fun.
April 21st, 2009 07:50
LOL!
April 21st, 2009 09:10
Rum’s up to $6.00?!?!?!?!?!
The fading price stickers on my remaining duty free Cruzan supply bought back in 1989 say $4.30.
Next thing you’re going to tell me is that gas costs more than a dollar a gallon!!!!
April 21st, 2009 11:02
how do you purchase before you check your luggage?
April 21st, 2009 11:42
So if you alredy checked in your max bottles of booze, what stops you from buying another six for carryon?
April 21st, 2009 12:10
If you buy before you check in, at the shop to the far right of the check in counters, the airlines will include the boxes as checked baggage (the result of a major series of protests by shops on StT in ’08). Anything you buy AFTER check in and security may be allowed on THAT flight, but if you are continuing onto another flight in the US with those bottles, that’s not going to be allowed. It only works if you are flying direct to your destination with those “after clearing security” bottles. As far as the number of bottles, enforcement of duty on liquor from the USVI, which allows 1 gal/person over 21, is not usually very strict.
April 21st, 2009 12:26
Sorry guys, you are not allowed to carry on any bottles of liquor anymore. It is more than the allotted 3 oz liquid rule. =(
April 21st, 2009 13:38
You can buy up to 5 bottles to take as carry-on from the new gate area store.
Can you take those 5 bottles if you already checked 5 others that you bought before Customs?
“In theory, yes,” said the nice guy who answered the phone at Caribbean Host, with a bit of a wink in his voice.
The store marked its one month anniversary yesterday.
340-776-4000
April 21st, 2009 15:22
Be careful about the carry on rules, though. If you’ve already got a suitcase/backpack and a briefcase/laptop (personal item), the airlines may not let you carry on a case of booze, too.
Also, I would think you could still carry a booze box on another connecting flight as long as you didn’t leave the security area of the airport.
Trust me, American will think of some way to spoil it!
April 21st, 2009 15:47
Carianne,
You are generally correct. But the rule is actually that you cannot carry more than 3 oz. bottles through security. Once on the gate side of security, it’s all good. That’s where you buy your bottle of water, fountain sodas, etc. for your flight. The booze from duty free is placed in a bag that has a “seal” across the opening so you shouldn’t open it in flight.
Cheers!
April 21st, 2009 19:51
Jeff
Could you get clarification from Customs? I would hate to purchase the max and then get to the gate and be shot down. We always brought home 12 bottles of rum for friends and family. I love the flavored cruzan rums. They make great smoothies in the middle of the summer in New Jersey. Also, the pineapple rum works well in a rum cake. That for the help!
April 21st, 2009 20:10
I took 6 bottles of Cruzan home. I think you are allowed 6 liters if it is a product of the VI’s. When I got home, I noteced that the bottles were 1.14 liters each. Oh well, I also got my usual stash of Cuban cigars through also.
April 21st, 2009 20:58
You can carry on what you purchase after passing thru security. We don’t like to check our luggage so this store was a great find!
April 22nd, 2009 11:05
We checked our Cruzan Dark 12 days ago on Continental and there was no extra charge either.
Dave
May 3rd, 2009 16:09
I am still unclear with regards to returning to the U.S. with 6 bottles in tow. We will be returning from St. Thomas to Massachusetts with a stop in Charlotte, N.C. Now as I understand it, if the trip was non-stop, we check our luggage in addition to a box of bottles with no extra charge if it was non-stop.
Unfortunately, because we’re coming into Charlotte, if we return with our 1 allowed suitcase we will be charged for the extra box of bottles at some point. That is because when we collect our baggage in N.C. and board our next plane, customs will count 1 suitcase and an extra “bag” of bottles and will charge us for the extra baggage. Correct?
July 10th, 2009 10:38
Is it less expenses to wait and purchase liquir once I get on the island of St John or St Thomas. Can I purchase duty free on the either island while I am vacationing on the island of St John