shimps1

I have a trip coming up, 10/8-10/13, to Playa del Carmen, flying into CUN. All forecasts point to the storm being gone by my arrival, (1PM 10/8), but I am curious if there are any standard protocols that hotels have for situations like this. Obviously, there is no way to predict the impact of the storm on each individual hotel, but is this a situation that I should just avoid, and rebook, or do they have construction codes in place to make sure the resorts can still operate? What about power/internet?

I have emailed the resort already for their advice, but I would assume they will tell me to travel as normal. My flight leaves 6:45AM on 10/8, so it will be pretty hard to get an update from the resort prior to leaving, since the storm will be passing over during the day Wednesday.

cayohueso

Tomorrow things will be more certain. I can say that having personally been through 5 hurricane eyes and several more near misses and given the of this storm, I would hold out little hope that your hotel will be functional. I would definitely rebook.

PointsPanda

This area is pretty well equipped to handle tropical storms but this one looks like a monster. Couldn't hurt to see what rebooking options you have and if the hotel and airline are being jerks, check again after the storm has passed maybe more options open up to ya. Its possible PDC doesn't get hit that hard and maybe you're ok to go.

shimps1

Thank you. Not sure how to proceed, the timing is as bad as it gets. If it was a day earlier we'd know the damage and be able to decide easily. If it was a day later our trip would be obviously canceled. But today, there is no way to make an informed decision. Only way it would be worse is if we were at the hotel during the storm.

​​​​I will keep an eye on the damage and try to make a decision. Luckily, we booked with our Sapphire Reserve so trip insurance is included. Unfortunately our schedule is not conducive to rebooking. If the hotel has power, and we can get there, I am thinking we will go. Concerns are over damage, lack of power, pools being dirty, beach washing away, etc.

Bogwoppit

I would definitely be looking into delaying, the last storm this big 15 years ago, Wilma I think, had power off for a month in places. The storm surge looks to be huge, and that will take some dealing with. Can you change dates or go west coast?

shimps1

Dates are fixed, potential for a switch to the west coast. Looking at SJD and PVR now.

JDiver

Up to 140 MPH winds predicted for CUN and area, as depicted here. There we.l might be serious disruptions of various kinds lasting for days, at least.

Bogwoppit

https://twitter.com/ReedTimmerAccu

Videos here, looks to be less bad than predicted. Damage is really trees and lighter structures. Seems to be very centered on Puerto Morelos.

JDiver

At Cozumel Delta ended up as Category 2 at landfall vs the cat 4 they were forecasting. There was a power outage of several hours and some street flooding, but people aren’t reporting any major issues. Though for divers I’m sure the visibility is crap.

shimps1

Hotel has gotten back to me via email and stated they only had tree damage, and they are operating as normal.

Unfortunately, DL canceled my arrival flight, so that's the biggest hiccup right now. Rebooked onto AA but not sure if that will go.

DELee

FYI:

David

PointsPanda

Hey guys,

Pointspanda the american that lives in Mexico City here. Just talked to multiple friends on the ground. Tulum was 100% spared, everything is running more or less as normal. PDC got hit but not super hard, i'd head down if you already have a reservation.

Cancun not sure about I don't have any friends on the ground there, but it seems from reports the area got spared as well. Seems Isla Mujeres got hit with the brunt of it, but even so it came in at Cat 2 not Cat 4 and passed extremely quickly limiting damage.

Also be skeptical of these weather reports especially from weather.com/The Weather channel they have a tendency to hype everything up, every hurricane that hits is the "worst in XYZ years "

Points Panda recommendation, if you have reservation go. If you want to be sure you'll have a smooth vacation and your hotel is refundable, head to Tulum vs Cancun, the area is 100% as normal now.

DELee

As a follow up and as noted in the DL Forum, all of the LAX/SEA/SLC-CUN and afternoon ATL-CUN flights flew today (10/08/20)

Just for curiosity, I searched for flight status on UA and AA to CUN - never realized how much lift was/is still flying into CUN. On UA, the latest flight out of IAH is delayed until tomorrow while the other USA-CUN flew. On AA, which appears to have the most lift, the evening flights out of ORD, DFW and MIA were all cancelled.

David

shimps1

Sitting here at Secrets Maroma, night four. You would never know the hurricane came through. Hotel staff when asked state no issues at all.