miss missy
Is this the Dis Board Desperate Housewives?!
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2005
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thought I'de share with the huricane season here:
from Money Smart newsletter:
A FEW WEEKS AGO, I vacationed with Hurricane Emily.
I knew when I booked my bargain-priced Club Med Cancun vacation that hurricanes were a possibility. But, really, what are the chances of that? Very small, I figured just like the price tag for this week of sun and fun with my husband, sister and brother-in-law.
But on day two of our vacation, as the four of us lay side by side on our king-size bed, with my sister in her bathing suit under her jammies, two spare mattresses propped up against the glass door for protection and just a few cans of tuna fish and some soggy sandwiches to survive on, I have to admit, the thought "Couldn't we just have vacationed in Europe?" crossed my mind, oh, 1,673 times.
Turns out we avoided the worst of Emily's wrath. The eye of the storm hit roughly 60 miles south of Cancun. At our resort no one was hurt, and the resort emerged relatively unscathed. While the rain continued into day three of our vacation, by then we could at least venture out of our rooms and sip cocktails under a canopy by the beach. And on day four, the sun came out. For our troubles, Club Med gave each guest a voucher for two free nights for a future vacation.
Ah, travel during the off season. It's usually the best way to travel on the cheap, but let's face it it's called "off" for a reason. Hurricanes, soaring temperatures, "rainy seasons" with most tourist destinations, there's usually a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why tourists tend to stay away during a particular time of year. Which is exactly why, to lure you in, airline and hotel operators offer spectacular deals during those periods.
You could fly from New York to Barbados and stay in a three-star hotel for seven nights for as little as $640 this September, according to Expedia.com. Staying at the island's exclusive Crane Club resort increases the price by only $400 a person. With deals like that, rolling the dice on some unlucky weather might seem worth it.
The good news: Despite seven named Atlantic storms in July alone, the chances that you'll get directly hit by a hurricane during your vacation are pretty slim. In the rare event that it does happen, airlines and hotels will likely try to accommodate you. Many will let you postpone or cancel your trip with no penalty, says Pauline Frommer of the Frommer's travel series. And if that doesn't give you enough confidence, you can always purchase travel insurance.
Here's some information that might help you decide whether or not to book that cheap trip to Jamaica this fall.
The Airlines
You can feel confident that your airline won't force you to fly directly into the eye of a hurricane. If your flight is canceled due to weather, either your money will be refunded or the airline will book you on another flight.
As soon as the National Hurricane Center declares that a particular storm has become a hurricane, most airlines will allow you to cancel, postpone or reroute your trip to a safer destination without penalty. During Hurricane Emily, for example, Continental Airlines allowed its customers to reschedule or reroute their flights at no added charge if they were flying to any of 21 destinations beginning July 14 through July 25, says Martin Deleon, a spokesman for Continental. For those already on the ground, Continental did its best to get people on departing flights before Emily hit.
What if you had booked through an online travel agent, like Expedia.com, Travelocity or Orbitz? You might still have been in fine shape. Their customer-service representatives are available 24 hours a day.
Unfortunately, some of the smaller charter airlines that service the hurricane zone might not be as helpful. Make sure to ask your airline what its policy is before you book your seat. If its storm policy is meager, the best way to protect yourself is to buy travel insurance, which we'll discuss below.
The Hotels
Most major hotel chains allow individuals to cancel their reservations without penalty up to 24 hours before their anticipated arrival. During a hurricane, they usually issue refunds to those traveling in large groups and those who prepaid for their rooms. Marriott, for example, not only allowed its customers traveling to Cancun to cancel their reservations, but it even offered them a free upgrade if they chose to postpone the trip for another time later in the year, says Christopher Calabreses, general manager for Marriott hotels in Cancun.
The same applies for the major all-inclusive resorts, such as Club Med, Sandals and Super Clubs. If you happen to have the bad luck of being at one of these destinations during a hurricane, they will offer you vouchers toward free nights for future stays, says Frommer. Club Med even offered me the option of rerouting my trip to any of its other resorts in the Caribbean or Mexico at no added cost (even if the prices at the new resort were higher).
Package Tours
Package tours are another story. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get your money back once you've already paid for your vacation especially if you book it through a lesser-known company either online or through a mom-and-pop travel agent. We aren't advising you to avoid these companies, since they often offer incredible deals. But if you go this route, you might want to consider purchasing travel insurance.
The folks at Expedia.com and Travelocity, however, pride themselves on customer service, and argue that because of their size they can usually accommodate their customers. In the case that your hotel was recently damaged by a hurricane, both travel sites will transfer your reservation to another property on the same island penalty-free.
Cruises
Somewhat surprisingly, a cruise is actually one of the lower-risk trips you can book during the hurricane season. That's because the captain can change course and steer around a storm, says Expedia.com's spokeswoman Kari Swartz. Typically a cruise headed for the Eastern Caribbean would simply go to, say, the Southern Caribbean to avoid bad weather. But in one recent extreme case, a Royal Caribbean cruise rerouted passengers on a five-day Bermuda cruise to Nova Scotia.
Travel Insurance
There are times when travel insurance can make sense and traveling during hurricane season is one of them. A policy can come in handy if you book a package tour or a flight on a small charter airline that doesn't have a generous storm policy. Frommer says it also makes sense for people with very expensive travel plans.
Those taking a cruise might also want to consider insurance. Why? If you need to travel to, say, Miami from Chicago to catch your boat, there's always the danger that a summer thunderstorm could delay your flight and force you to miss your departure. "Airlines, cruise lines and hotels don't always play well together," says Jim Grace, president of Insuremytrip.com, an online travel insurance broker. "A good policy will cover your entire trip and help you get your refund all the way down the line."
If you decide to purchase travel insurance, make sure you buy what's known as "trip cancellation and interruption coverage" from a reputable company. This will protect you if you need to cancel for a medical emergency or if, for example, your flight is delayed and you miss a connection. When possible, also look for a policy that will cover you if your destination is uninhabitable. Otherwise, you might have a problem if the airlines are flying to your island of choice but your hotel was damaged by an earlier hurricane, says Grace.
Travel insurance is relatively inexpensive. A good product should run you no more than 4% to 8% of the total cost of your trip, says Grace. Prices vary somewhat based on the age and health of the traveler. Older travelers, for example, will pay slightly more, since they're more likely to experience a medical emergency that would force them to cancel a trip. Prices decrease as you near your departure date. But be warned: Once a tropical storm starts brewing in the Caribbean, it will be too late for you to purchase coverage.
Despite my own hurricane experience, I wouldn't hesitate to book another vacation in the Caribbean or Mexico. If the price is right, I'm ready to take my chances.
from Money Smart newsletter:
A FEW WEEKS AGO, I vacationed with Hurricane Emily.
I knew when I booked my bargain-priced Club Med Cancun vacation that hurricanes were a possibility. But, really, what are the chances of that? Very small, I figured just like the price tag for this week of sun and fun with my husband, sister and brother-in-law.
But on day two of our vacation, as the four of us lay side by side on our king-size bed, with my sister in her bathing suit under her jammies, two spare mattresses propped up against the glass door for protection and just a few cans of tuna fish and some soggy sandwiches to survive on, I have to admit, the thought "Couldn't we just have vacationed in Europe?" crossed my mind, oh, 1,673 times.
Turns out we avoided the worst of Emily's wrath. The eye of the storm hit roughly 60 miles south of Cancun. At our resort no one was hurt, and the resort emerged relatively unscathed. While the rain continued into day three of our vacation, by then we could at least venture out of our rooms and sip cocktails under a canopy by the beach. And on day four, the sun came out. For our troubles, Club Med gave each guest a voucher for two free nights for a future vacation.
Ah, travel during the off season. It's usually the best way to travel on the cheap, but let's face it it's called "off" for a reason. Hurricanes, soaring temperatures, "rainy seasons" with most tourist destinations, there's usually a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why tourists tend to stay away during a particular time of year. Which is exactly why, to lure you in, airline and hotel operators offer spectacular deals during those periods.
You could fly from New York to Barbados and stay in a three-star hotel for seven nights for as little as $640 this September, according to Expedia.com. Staying at the island's exclusive Crane Club resort increases the price by only $400 a person. With deals like that, rolling the dice on some unlucky weather might seem worth it.
The good news: Despite seven named Atlantic storms in July alone, the chances that you'll get directly hit by a hurricane during your vacation are pretty slim. In the rare event that it does happen, airlines and hotels will likely try to accommodate you. Many will let you postpone or cancel your trip with no penalty, says Pauline Frommer of the Frommer's travel series. And if that doesn't give you enough confidence, you can always purchase travel insurance.
Here's some information that might help you decide whether or not to book that cheap trip to Jamaica this fall.
The Airlines
You can feel confident that your airline won't force you to fly directly into the eye of a hurricane. If your flight is canceled due to weather, either your money will be refunded or the airline will book you on another flight.
As soon as the National Hurricane Center declares that a particular storm has become a hurricane, most airlines will allow you to cancel, postpone or reroute your trip to a safer destination without penalty. During Hurricane Emily, for example, Continental Airlines allowed its customers to reschedule or reroute their flights at no added charge if they were flying to any of 21 destinations beginning July 14 through July 25, says Martin Deleon, a spokesman for Continental. For those already on the ground, Continental did its best to get people on departing flights before Emily hit.
What if you had booked through an online travel agent, like Expedia.com, Travelocity or Orbitz? You might still have been in fine shape. Their customer-service representatives are available 24 hours a day.
Unfortunately, some of the smaller charter airlines that service the hurricane zone might not be as helpful. Make sure to ask your airline what its policy is before you book your seat. If its storm policy is meager, the best way to protect yourself is to buy travel insurance, which we'll discuss below.
The Hotels
Most major hotel chains allow individuals to cancel their reservations without penalty up to 24 hours before their anticipated arrival. During a hurricane, they usually issue refunds to those traveling in large groups and those who prepaid for their rooms. Marriott, for example, not only allowed its customers traveling to Cancun to cancel their reservations, but it even offered them a free upgrade if they chose to postpone the trip for another time later in the year, says Christopher Calabreses, general manager for Marriott hotels in Cancun.
The same applies for the major all-inclusive resorts, such as Club Med, Sandals and Super Clubs. If you happen to have the bad luck of being at one of these destinations during a hurricane, they will offer you vouchers toward free nights for future stays, says Frommer. Club Med even offered me the option of rerouting my trip to any of its other resorts in the Caribbean or Mexico at no added cost (even if the prices at the new resort were higher).
Package Tours
Package tours are another story. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get your money back once you've already paid for your vacation especially if you book it through a lesser-known company either online or through a mom-and-pop travel agent. We aren't advising you to avoid these companies, since they often offer incredible deals. But if you go this route, you might want to consider purchasing travel insurance.
The folks at Expedia.com and Travelocity, however, pride themselves on customer service, and argue that because of their size they can usually accommodate their customers. In the case that your hotel was recently damaged by a hurricane, both travel sites will transfer your reservation to another property on the same island penalty-free.
Cruises
Somewhat surprisingly, a cruise is actually one of the lower-risk trips you can book during the hurricane season. That's because the captain can change course and steer around a storm, says Expedia.com's spokeswoman Kari Swartz. Typically a cruise headed for the Eastern Caribbean would simply go to, say, the Southern Caribbean to avoid bad weather. But in one recent extreme case, a Royal Caribbean cruise rerouted passengers on a five-day Bermuda cruise to Nova Scotia.
Travel Insurance
There are times when travel insurance can make sense and traveling during hurricane season is one of them. A policy can come in handy if you book a package tour or a flight on a small charter airline that doesn't have a generous storm policy. Frommer says it also makes sense for people with very expensive travel plans.
Those taking a cruise might also want to consider insurance. Why? If you need to travel to, say, Miami from Chicago to catch your boat, there's always the danger that a summer thunderstorm could delay your flight and force you to miss your departure. "Airlines, cruise lines and hotels don't always play well together," says Jim Grace, president of Insuremytrip.com, an online travel insurance broker. "A good policy will cover your entire trip and help you get your refund all the way down the line."
If you decide to purchase travel insurance, make sure you buy what's known as "trip cancellation and interruption coverage" from a reputable company. This will protect you if you need to cancel for a medical emergency or if, for example, your flight is delayed and you miss a connection. When possible, also look for a policy that will cover you if your destination is uninhabitable. Otherwise, you might have a problem if the airlines are flying to your island of choice but your hotel was damaged by an earlier hurricane, says Grace.
Travel insurance is relatively inexpensive. A good product should run you no more than 4% to 8% of the total cost of your trip, says Grace. Prices vary somewhat based on the age and health of the traveler. Older travelers, for example, will pay slightly more, since they're more likely to experience a medical emergency that would force them to cancel a trip. Prices decrease as you near your departure date. But be warned: Once a tropical storm starts brewing in the Caribbean, it will be too late for you to purchase coverage.
Despite my own hurricane experience, I wouldn't hesitate to book another vacation in the Caribbean or Mexico. If the price is right, I'm ready to take my chances.
