Bill Weis

Review of House of Waterford Crystal

Be sure to ask the sales people what the country o...

Be sure to ask the sales people what the country of origin is of any piece you are interested in, if your heart is set on buying something actually made in Ireland. Most items are not. They went bankrupt in 2009, and are now owned by a Finnish company, Fiskars. Many pieces are now made in Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Hungary.
That being said, this place is amazing. You will see virtually all stages of creating these beautiful pieces. The tours are well polished. They have duplicates of custom / one-off items made for celebrities and special events. The tour is under a half hour, and you are rather close to the craftsmen, and in our case a craftswoman. You are separated by glass. Much of the tour's information is about the training / apprenticeship program. The tour ends in their beautiful showroom, where of course you can buy pieces ranging in prices of 75 (Christmas ornaments) to many thousands of Euros for their higher end pieces.
I gave 4 stars because they typically will not come out with the out-of-country origins of their pieces unless you ask directly.
Don't be fooled by the offer to ship your purchase to your home. It more than likely will not even come from Ireland. Again, they will not be upfront with this information, but will answer honestly is asked directly.