Question about natural disasters and travel

[Marseeya]

I have a weird question.

When people are traveling and a natural disaster or something else happens (like 9/11), what happens? If you're stuck in your hotel, are you expected to stay at the same rate you were paying, or do they cover it? What happens if you run out of money?

Just curious.

 

[kristen821]

i've wondered this too

 

[lynetteSC]

Welll ... it all depends ... If you have travel/cancellation insurance they will help you PROVIDED you can get in contact with them (i.e. power/phones/etc). They can get you $$$ wired, try to get you home via rental,car,bus, airplane, whatever is working at the time.

I know that if you are on a cruise and things go awry and they can't dock (hurricane/weather issues) they usually change the itinerary and go to another place. If they can't go anywhere and just have to stay put, they usually open the bar and have a free drink time frame or something to appease the passengers. I am not sure how the hotels/resosrts deal. I know I read alot of positive trip reports about the WDW resosrts during and after hurricanes.

I am not sure that answered your question, but maybe that helps.

 

[RangerPooh]

We were at WDW when the hurricanes were hitting in 2004, thankfully our stay extended after the hurricane (Jeane, I believe) had passed. I know that they were offering 'hurricane rates' for those who had to extend their stay due to airports closing. However, the rates were not that great, but like Peak season rack rates. I guess it's all about supply and demand.

A word to the wise, if you are staying at POR during a hurricane and are confined to your room stock up on food!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the moment that the food court opens RUN to it or else you'll find that there is NO food left. We were fortunate enough to get one of the last trays of food. Sadly they didn't even tell people that the food court was open, you had to venture out and discover it yourself.

 

[Beth76]

We were in Playa del Carmen when Wilma hit. Yes, we ran out of money. But, we were in an all-inclusive resort and we didn't really need cash. Unfortunately, we weren't able to tip the workers what we would have because of this. We did not have to pay for the extra nights there. We ended up staying 4 extra nights. Some people were there almost a week after the hurricane hit.

We were lucky. We spent two nights in the shelter (conference center for the resort) and then 4 nights back in our room. I know there were many people who stayed at smaller hotels who were in public shelters the entire time.

 

[Marseeya]

Thanks for the info! It's just something I've always been curious about. I know if we were ever in a position like that, we'd probably run out of money! We budget just for the trip and have enough for our length of stay. I can't imagine having to come up with anything over a couple hundred dollars.

 

[Muffin]

We got stranded in Jamaica last year during Hurricane Emily. We had to stay for 4 extra nights before we could get a flight out. The resort gave us 2 nights at no charge and 2 nights at 50% charge. Since it was all inclusive, we didn't have to worry about buying meals and other day to day living expenses. They were as nice as could be about it. And this particular chain does not allow tipping, so we didn't have to worry about that.

Always buy insurance. We had, so we were reimbursed for almost all of the extra expense. Make sure you have some way to cover extra costs in case something like this would happen. We met a couple who did have insurance, but they didn't have any way to pay up front and they were freaking out. I don't know what they did. Make sure you can afford to pay for emergency phone calls home. We were in a pretty remote area and my cell phone did not work there. The calls made through the switchboard were very expensive.

Also, make sure you bring extras of any medications you need. We heard of a couple who were frantically trying to get refills of his heart medication. I'm sure they were able to get the refill, but I can't imagine what they must have had to go through to do it as we were far from any city.