Ask a group of people on recommendations for Tahitian pearl shopping and you'll receive a group of different answers! Ngaire, the sponsor of this board, wrote some good guidelines some years ago. Perhaps a good "techie" person like Karen S. can put in a link to this or tell you where to find it on this site. My pearl purchases were from Black Pearl Gem Company (now Tahia Collins) and Sabini Pearls (I think that's the name) on Bora Bora. Read up about how to choose, look at the pearls in the boutique onboard to get an idea of what you like color wise etc. and go from there.