No useless thoughts and prayers but definitely my sympathy as we in California are all too familiar with destructive wildfires.
Originally Posted by
wrp96
I agree. There are two decision timelines to be discussed.
1) if your vacation is coming up within the next few weeks, and especially if you were scheduled to stay in west Maui, cancel now and make other plans. With the caveat from the reports above that if you were scheduled to stay in one of the areas unaffected by the fires (Wailea for example), you might still wait a few days for more info to come out.
2) if your vacation is in September or beyond, give it at least a few days before making any changes. Maybe start thinking of alternatives, but don't make any rash decisions.
Either way, give the good people of Maui time to mourn their losses and figure out what has really happened. Your vacation, while important to you, is nothing compared to these people's lives and livelihoods.
Agreed. As was the case with hurricane damage in Mexico etc, I would expect the island will need at least a couple of months to clean up and get infrastructure up and running again. So IMO it makes sense to postpone any visits prior to October. That said the Maui economy is heavily dependent on tourism, so I expect they will welcome back visitors as soon as feasible, and definitely by the holiday season. Maui is not Puerto Rico, the recovery will be fast and efficient.