Panamas of the Caribbean???

[Mark from Plano]

She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed and I are going to the Caribbean in about a month to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary. We will be visiting about 5 different islands (San Juan, PR; St. Thomas; Barbados; St. Lucia; and St. Maarten/St. Martin).

I am looking to buy a new Panama hat and am wondering if there are deals to be found on very nice high-grade panamas there?

I suppose I could just look shop to shop and see what I can find, but I'm no expert on Panamas and am likely to wind up overpaying if I don't get some good advice on what I'm doing. On the other hand perhaps there are some duty-free bargains to be had there.

Anyone know about this?

 

[indycop]

Can't help you on the hat but I was wondering what cruise line you are going with?

 

[Mark from Plano]

Can't help you on the hat but I was wondering what cruise line you are going with?

Celebrity. 10 nights, leaving 12/28 and will be gone for NYE.

 

[indycop]

Celebrity. 10 nights, leaving 12/28 and will be gone for NYE.

Awesome!! Maybe I will get to go next year.

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

A Real Panama?

If you are looking for a real Panama hat, a fine weaved hat from Ecuador, then you probably won't find them in the Caribbean, at least a good price. Best place to get them is from Panama Bob or from Art Fawcett, who gets them from PB and puts a hell of a bash on them.

They make some pretty good straw hats in the Yucatan, near Merida, but I don't know if they can be found on any of the islands you are going to.

But if you are just looking for a basic straw hat, then yes, you can probably find them there. But it won't be a real Panama...KC

 

[Tomasso]

I concur with KC.

00000000000000

 

[RBH]

Yep... cant beat Panama Bob!

 

[Mark from Plano]

If you are looking for a real Panama hat, a fine weaved hat from Ecuador, then you probably won't find them in the Caribbean, at least a good price. Best place to get them is from Panama Bob or from Art Fawcett, who gets them from PB and puts a hell of a bash on them.

They make some pretty good straw hats in the Yucatan, near Merida, but I don't know if they can be found on any of the islands you are going to.

But if you are just looking for a basic straw hat, then yes, you can probably find them there. But it won't be a real Panama...KC

OK. Good info. Not really looking for a cheap straw. Wasn't sure if there were Panama buying opportunities or not, but thought I'd check. I did find at least one Panama hat store in Old San Juan called "Ole Curiosidades" which apparently deals in true Panamas, but I don't know whether there are particular deals to be had or not. If not then I'll just buy one domestically.

 

[Mike K.]

I definitely concur with the earlier recommendations about where to buy a good Panama. But in my experience, it is the Caribbean...no telling what treasure you might find ashore.


On a separate note...

She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed

...my gal really loved this one!!

 

[indycop]

...my gal really loved this one!!

lol lol lol lol !!! Uh oh wheres Dee!! :coffee: [angel]

 

[besdor]

The only island that had a decent selection of straws was Puerto Rico . There are three hats stores if I remember from my last cruise. There is a store called The Doll House which sells a lot of felt hats as well as some basics. Then there are some local craftsmen who make and sell theri straws. But dont expect anything decent . If you want nice , go to Art .




Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

 

[cookie]

De Caribbean

Any chance you could post the Lounge with your movements and a few anecdotes en voyage?

 

[Mark from Plano]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I actually went ahead on your recommendation and ordered a new Panama from panamas.biz. They're running a sale right now, so the price seemed right.

There's a "chance" it may get here before the cruise, although with Christmas shipping delays I'm not holding my breath. Otherwise I should easily have it for next spring/summer.

I'll check out the selection in San Juan and report back.

Any chance you could post the Lounge with your movements and a few anecdotes en voyage?

Not sure about "en voyage". Some ships have internet access and others don't. I'm pretty sure this one does. I'm happy to try posting, but frankly it reminds me of inviting someone over to the house to look at your vacation pictures. BOORRRRIIINNNGGG.

 

[Mark from Plano]

On a separate note...

...my gal really loved this one!!

It's actually a quote of a quote. I first heard it on the old BBC series "Rumpole of the Bailey" where Horace Rumpole used the term to refer to his loving wife. I thought it was funny and have used it on and off, though my wife doesn't always much appreciate it (says it makes her sound dictatorial).

I found out much later that Rumpole was himself quoting from a series of stories by H. Rider Haggard from the 1880's called "She" about an African Queen named Ayesha (or something like that).

 

[Tomasso]

I'm happy to try posting, but frankly it reminds me of inviting someone over to the house to look at your vacation pictures. BOORRRRIIINNNGGG.

Au contraire , the vids and pix of HJ/DB's Paris trip are drawing rave reviews.

 

[funneman]

Just got back...

from seven days aboard the Norweigan Sun. We went to Honduras, Cozumel and Belize. I didn't see any straw hats worth buying. I decided to save my money for my trip to Philly. (See: Hat Stores in Philidelphia).

My Adams straw hat performed admirably, but I think it suffered some severe sweat staining. It may have to be retired.

I agree with all here, buy your hat now and wear it there.

Have fun, I've been to almost all of the places you mentioned. Puerto Rico and St. Thomas were my favorites. When you get to St. Thomas try to make your way to Bluebeard's Castle, it has the best view on the island.

 

[Mark from Plano]

Have fun, I've been to almost all of the places you mentioned. Puerto Rico and St. Thomas were my favorites. When you get to St. Thomas try to make your way to Bluebeard's Castle, it has the best view on the island.

Thanks. Yeah, we've been to all of the islands except Barbados and St. Lucia.

We loved St. Thomas. Stopped there the first time on a cruise in 2004 and loved it so much we spent two weeks there in 2005. We're doing a yacht racing excursion on 60' Farr sailboats out of the new Yacht Harbor next to the cruise ship dock. That only lasts a few hours so we're hoping to have some time to spend in Charlotte Amalie as well.

Have only been to San Juan once so I don't know it as well. We only have a few hours there (2pm to 8pm I think) so we'll probably just wander around old town San Juan again. That was pretty fun last time.

 

[Mark from Plano]

Just to complete this thread I wanted to report back from our trip. The first stop on our cruise was San Juan, PR and we did indeed visit Ole Curiosidades which is on the main street in Old San Juan. They did indeed have both Cuenca and Montecristi panamas. They did their own blocking, but also had a good selection of pre-blocked hats.

Both Mrs. Mark from Plano and I were able to find some pretty basic Cuenca panamas on sale for about $45 each that we used to great effect for the remainder of the trip. The service was wonderful. Mine was pre-blocked, but the Mrs. was able to have hers styled and selected the hat ribbon of her choice.

I ordered one from Panama Bob prior to the trip, but due to the late date when I got around to ordering it, it didn't make it in before we left; which was just as well since the traveling put quite a bit of wear on the hats despite our best efforts at caring for them. So it was nice to have the option of buying some less expensive yet nice looking ones to travel in.

If you're in San Juan and need a Panama I would definitely recommend looking at Ole Curiosidades at 105 Fortaleza in Old San Juan.

P.S. In wandering around, I did notice at least one other shop in Old San Juan that had panamas, but didn't go in and don't remember the name of the shop (helpful, eh?).

 

[RBH]

Hey Mark, could you show us a few photos of the panamas that you and youe wife got?
Thanks!

 

[Twitch]

I can agree with you all. In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic June '07 andthere is nothing but cheezy straw stuff like you'd find in WalMart at home!