Hurricane Irma was no laughing matter when the world heard about her arrival. She came with a vengeance and left with a lot of cleaning in her wake. With her gone, those in the travel industry affected by her passage are releasing several updates.

On Sept 13, Visit Florida stated the following the effects of the storm will continue to be felt by those attempting to travel in impacted areas of the state, whether visiting, returning home or assisting with recovery efforts. Evacuation orders and curfews continue to be in effect for many areas.

Discover The Palm Beach Tourism Corporation, has released a full list of hotels currently open and they are providing special rates for those in need of shelter and accommodations. View the list here

• Sonesta Fort Lauderdale Beach: Scheduled to reopen Sept 14.
• Hard Rock Seminole: Remains open for business.
• Boca Raton Plaza Hotel in Palm Beach: Closed until Sept 19

As reported by Travelweek, The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, on September 11, complied a list of hotels and resort closures and damages. View the following hotel and resort updates released on September 11 & 12 from around the industry: 

 

ANTIGUA

• Curtain Bluff: Property emerged from the tail of the storm without any damage. Clean up has begun and communications will soon be restored. • Cocos Hotel: No long-term damages • Galley Bay: Guests are safe. Operational updates will be available in the coming days • Hermitage Bay: No major damage • Jumby Bay Island: No structural damage reported, just landscaping cleanup. The resort is currently closed as part of its annual maintenance so no guests were on the island during Irma • Keyonna Beach Resort: No long-term damage • Pineapple Beach Club: Guests are safe, operational updates in the coming days • St. James Club: Guests are safe, operational updates in the coming days • Veranda: Guests are safe, operational updates in the coming days  

ANGUILLA

• Carimar Beach Club: The clean-up has begun and management will advise of the reopening date, now that Jose has passed. • CeBlue Villas & Beach Resort: Resort had no guests as it was already closed for the season. The villas and resort buildings held up against the hurricane and they are all structurally sound. The resort has begun the clean up process. • Fountain Anguilla: The Fountain buildings and grounds are structurally intact. A few units suffered some damage from debris. Assessment and clean up are underway and resort is expected to open for the season. • CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa and The Reef by CuisineArt: This property was significantly affected, and engineers are currently assessing the full extent of the damage. The ownership and management are have said they are steadfastly committed to restoring, rebuilding and reopening. • Malliouhana, an Auberge Resort: Upon preliminary review there appears to be no major structural damage to the resort. The team is now assessing the extent of the clean up required and will advise on their proposed reopening date. • Quintessence Hotel: Plans for reopening on Nov. 1 have been delayed due to damage. • Zemi Beach House: The property held strong during the storm and will be able to welcome guests before long, although the timing is still uncertain. • Neveah Villa: Suffered only cosmetic damage and clean up is under way. • Sunset Homes Properties: Ready for reopening on November 1 • Bird of Paradise: No structural damage to the buildings or to the roof

 

THE BAHAMAS

As of September 12, The Bahamas is getting back to business as airports are open in Nassau, Grand Bahama Island and on nearly all Out Islands. International flights resume and ports has reopened allowing cruise ships to being to return. Hotels in major tourist areas are resuming normal operations and welcoming more guests while visitors return to beaches and attractions.

• Nassau and Paradise Island Hotels: Received no damage
• Atlantis, Paradise Island and Warwick Paradise Island: Remained open during storm and continue to welcome guests.
• Baha Mar Resort and Casino: Resumes full hotel, casino and retail operations today
• Melia Nassau Beach Resort: Open and resumes full operations as of Sept 13
• One&Only Ocean Club: Welcoming guests as of Sept 13
• Grand Bahama Island Grand Bahama Hotels: Resume operations as of Sept 13
• Sandals Emerald Bay: Open
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• BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
• Bitter End Yacht Club: The hotel was on its annual closure during the storm; crew on the ground is safe
• Peter Island Resort & Spa: Guests and on-island staff are safe
• Rosewood Little Dix Bay: Currently closed for renovation so no guests were present during the storm
• Scrub Island: All guests and associates are safe

 

CUBA

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 As reported by Travelweek, The Cuba Tourism Board says Cayo Coco and Cayo Santa Maria should be ready by or before November 1. Havana and Varadero have been operational since September 13. All international airports in Cuba, with the exception of Cayo Coco, are now operating flights as normal.

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Irma hit Cuba’s northern coast, where thousands of tourists were evacuated from low-lying cays.
• Melia Cuba: As of Sept 13, according to twitter their Melia Las Americas, Melia Varadero and Paradisus Princesa Del Mar have returned to normal.

 Melia Cuba: Hotels in Havana, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Cayo Largo are already fully operational. Paradisus Varadero will be closed temporarily to carry out reforms and improvements prior to the high season.

 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Punta Cana International airport has resumed normal operations and the hotel sector is reporting no major damage.
• Ocean By H10 released a statement on Sept 12 saying their Ocean Blue & Sand is fully operational however the beach is still on red flag as there are still high waves and debris brought by the weather. They are currently in the cleaning process of the area and it was not badly damaged. No type of watersport activity is currently allowed until weather conditions are deemed safe for guests.

 

PUERTO RICO

The Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) is reporting that major tourism infrastructure and attractions are operational and the island can continue to welcome new visitors

• Condado Plaza Hilton: Minor damage
• El Conquistador Resort: Operational and working on getting all amenities back to normal; Las Casitas Village will reopen when electricity is restored
• El San Juan Hotel: Minimal damage and all efforts are being made to reopen as soon as power is restored
• Hotel el Convento: All guests, associates and clients are safe; no significant damage and operations are resuming
• InterContinental San Juan: Business as usual
• Rincon Beach: Open for business
• San Juan Water Beach Club Hotel: No damage, have full power, is open for business

 

KITTS AND NEVIS

• Four Seasons Resort Nevis: Is in fine shape and all areas are generally dry • Hermitage Inn: General debris and no structural damage • The Great House and Cottages at Nisbett Plantation Beach Club: Excellent condition, with some damage to the Sea Breeze Beach Bar, decking and beach

 

BARTHELEMY

St. Barth’s was heavily impacted, with reports of destroyed government buildings and badly damaged homes and resorts, including the Eden Rock Hotel.

 

MAARTEN (Dutch) / ST. MARTIN (French)

The island is currently in recovery. Director of Tourism for Dutch St. Maarten Rolando Brison is reporting that Sunwing has evacuated some visitors to Montreal, while other guests have also been evacuated. Princess Juliana International Airport has been receiving flights that are bringing in relief supplies and evacuating guests. No passengers or media are being allowed in at the moment due to airport staff shortage

• Beach Plaza: Badly damaged
• Hotel Mercure: Damaged
• Oyster Bay Beach Resort: Significant damage
• Riu Palace St. Martin: Infrastructure is severely affected, all guests and employees are fine with sufficient water and food
• Sonesta: All guests and staff of Sonesta Maho Beach Resort Casino & Spa, Sonestsa Ocean Point Resort and Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino are safe and unharmed; resort damage is severe, with guests in on-property ‘safe areas’ at the resorts. All further reservations from now through the end of 2017 have been cancelled
• Westin Dawn Beach: Significant damage
 

TURKS AND CAICOS

Governor Dr. John Freeman and Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson given the all-clear. Many roads have been flooded and power lines and transformers are down. Providenciales International Airport (PLS) is currently closed

• Alexandra Resort, Blue Haven Resort and Beach House: All guests and staff of the three resorts are reported safe and are remaining on property pending further instructions. The resorts sustained some wind and water damage and will be closed for arrivals for 30 days through Oct. 8.
• Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa: All guests are safe, no power or water yet
• Gansevoort Turks & Caicos, A Wymara Resort: All guests are safe, power off and water is temporarily off, phones are out but cell and Internet are working
• La Vista Azul: All guests are safe, no power or water yet
• Ocean Club Resorts: All guests are safe, no power or water yet
• Ports of Call Resort: all guests are safe, no power or water yet
• The Regent Grand: All staff and guests are safe
• Sands at Grace Bay: All is well
• Seven Stars Resort: All guests are safe, no power or water yet
• The Shore Club: All staff and guests are safe
• Villa Del Mar: All guests are safe, power and water off
 

UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS (St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas)

A full assessment on Irma’s impact is underway, and while St. Croix is getting back to business, visitors are being encouraged not to visit St. Thomas and St. John

• The Buccaneer (St. Croix): Open for business, facilities in good shape but there may be some limitation of services for the next few days
• Caneel Bay (St. John): Complete power outage
• Westin St. John Resort Villas (St. John): All associates, owners and guests are safe
• Bluebeard’s Castle Resort (St. Thoams): Everyone at the resort is safe but without power and cell phone service
• Secret Harbour Beach Resort (St. Thomas): All guests and staff are safe; no major structural damage, generator is still working
• Sugar Bay Resort & Spa (St. Thomas): All guests and team members are safe
• Windward Passage (St. Thomas): Will be closed for six month

AIR CANADA

Air Canada is resuming normal operations to affected destinations. Full service to Florida will begin on September 13 and regularly scheduled flights have started to operate to most Caribbean destinations.

Florida

Preparations are underway to resume our full schedule to Florida on Wednesday September 13. This includes Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa. The next regularly scheduled flights to Fort Myers on Friday, September 15, and Sarasota, on Saturday, September 16.

Cuba

Air Canada is resuming service to Havana September 13. Other destinations in Cuba remain cancelled with plans to resume services to most destinations in the coming days, subject to the safety and security of airports and infrastructure. The airports serving Cayo Coco and Santa Clara are presently closed until September 25, 2017.

Other Caribbean

Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge have resumed scheduled service to other destinations in the Caribbean. This includes the Dominican Republic and Guadeloupe since September 9, and to Martinique, Haiti, Jamaica and Turks and Caicos since September 10th. Other flights that were disrupted in the Caribbean will resume as regularly scheduled.

 

WESTJET

WestJet has made the decision to remove regularly scheduled flights to and from: Cayo Coco (CCC), Santa Clara (SNU) and St. Maarten (SXM) through October 31, 2017 as local airports and hotels have suffered significant damage from the storm. In these cases, we are reaching out to our guests and travel agents with bookings between now and then (October 29) to re-book the guests. In addition, guests booked for travel through December 31 will be offered flexible change/cancel for these destinations.

Providencials (PLS), Varadero (VRA), Myrtle Beach (MYR), and all of WestJet’s Florida destinations including Orlando (MCO), Miami (MIA), Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and Tampa (TPA) are still under evaluation to ensure the airport, runway and hotel infrastructure are intact and safe and the destinations have the ability to service our guests. Guests booked to any of these areas will be offered flexible change/cancel for travel through September 30, 2017. We advise all guests travelling to or from these affected cities between September 5 and September 15, 2017 to check the status of their flights prior to leaving for the airport.

Finally, WestJet is now back to normal operations for airport and hotels in Bahamas (NAS), Bermuda (BGI), Aruba (AUA), Antigua (ANU), Grand Cayman (GCM), Dominican Republic (AZS, PUJ, POP), St. Lucia (UVF), Curacao (CUR), all Mexicican destinations, Costa Rica and Jamaica. We will no longer be offering flexible change/cancel to these destinations as they are confirmed to be business as usual.

 

SUNWING

Florida

We have cancelled our southbound services to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando that were scheduled for September 9th. Customers departing between September 6th and 10th inclusive have the option to rebook or change destination as per our hurricane policy. A special flight operated on Friday September 8th to bring customers home a day earlier than scheduled.

Cuba

All southbound flights to Holguin have been cancelled up to including September 14th. Flights to Varadero are currently cancelled up to and including September 17th. Flights to Cayo Coco, Cayo Santa Maria and Camaguey will be suspended until October 31st. Flexible policies are in place for customers to rebook or change destination.

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From Sunwing’s Airport Advisories

Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Coco, Camaguey

Flights: Scheduled flights are expected to resume on Wednesday November 01st, 2017.

Hotels: Together with our destinations teams, we are in the process of conducting detailed evaluations on each hotel. Until we have more complete information, it remains too early to give an accurate assessment as to the reopening date of any specific hotel. We expect to be able to share preliminary information by early next week.

Interim Flexible Policy: Customers scheduled to travel to any of these three destinations up to and including Tuesday October 31st, 2017 may book an alternate date* or destination*, or obtain a full refund in cash.

 

Holguin

Flights: Regular flight service resumed Friday September 15th, 2017, from both Toronto and Montreal.

Hotels: All Sunwing hotels are open and operational with the exception of Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca which will reopen on Sunday September 17th, 2017 to accept new arrivals.

Interim Flexible Policy: Customers booked to travel to Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca up to and including Saturday September 16th, 2017 may rebook to travel to an alternative resort*, change their travel date* or destination*, or obtain a full refund in cash. All Holguin customers scheduled to travel up to and including Thursday September 21st, 2017 that no longer wish to travel may rebook to an alternative date or destination, or obtain a full refund in cash. Regular policies are in effect for departures scheduled from Friday September 22nd, 2017 onwards.

Varadero

Flights: Regular flight service will resume from Monday September 18th 2017 onwards from Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa as per original flight schedule.

Hotels: Based on information provided from our hotel partners and detailed on the ground assessments from our destination team, we are currently evaluating the dates on which each hotel will be able to service our customers to the necessary standards that we would expect.

Please note that hotels may be accepting guests from other operators or countries at an earlier date and this information applies only to Sunwing arrivals.

All Sunwing-featured Varadero hotels will be welcoming Sunwing guests from Monday September 18th 2017, with the exception of the following properties:

Expected to be ready within the next week

Be Live Turquesa, IBEROSTAR Varadero, Blau Varadero, Islazul Delfines, Club Kawama, Roc Barlovento, Club Tropical, Royalton Hicacos, Hotel Playa de Oro, Sol Sirenas Coral Resort, IBEROSTAR Bella Vista, Starfish Varadero, IBEROSTAR Laguna Azul, Tuxpan Hotel

Not expected to be ready until later

(exact dates will be advised once confirmed)

Blau Marina Varadero, IBEROSTAR Playa Alameda, Blau Privilege Cayo Libertad, Melia Marina Varadero Brisas del Caribe, Naviti Varadero, Club Karey Varadero, Paradisus Princesa del Mar, Hotel Bella Costa, Paradisus Varadero, Hotel Gran Caribe Sunbeach, Villa Sotavento, Hotel Los Cactus, Hotel Atlantico (Havana by the Sea)

Interim Flexible Policy

Customers travelling to a Varadero hotel not scheduled to reopen before their travel date have been re-protected in an alternate hotel, but may choose to rebook to an alternative resort*, date* or destination*, or obtain a full refund in cash.

All other Varadero customers scheduled to travel up to and including Thursday September 21st 2017, that no longer wish to travel, they may rebook to an alternative date or destination, or obtain a full refund in cash. Regular policies are in effect for Friday September 22nd 2017 departures onwards.

*Where the price of the chosen alternate varies, customers will pay or be refunded the difference in price as appropriate.

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Islands of the Bahamas

• Freeport, Grand Bahama – services will operate as normal from September 15th.
• Nassau - there has been no impact to the Nassau flights which will commence as scheduled on November 2^nd

St Maarten

Please be advised that due to the effects of Hurricane Irma, all Sunwing flights from Toronto to St Maarten are cancelled until October 26th, and from Montreal to St Maarten are cancelled until November 09th. Sunwing has added additional flying on the same day of travel, from Toronto to Montego Bay and Montreal to Cancun in order to offer customers more options. Impacted customers have been provided the option of re-booking alternative vacation packages at a special rate, choosing from other available options or cancelling for a full refund. Customers who booked with their travel agent are encouraged to contact them directly to make arrangements.

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 All Sunwing flights from Toronto and Montreal to St. Maarten are cancelled until April 30th 2018. To accommodate customers who were scheduled to travel to St. Maarten, we have added extra flight services from Montreal to Cancun and from Toronto to Jamaica and will be introducing more destinations over the coming days to offer customers additional alternatives.

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Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is no longer under a hurricane warning. Services to both Puerto Plata and Punta Cana will operate as scheduled.

 

Transat

Cuba Our airline operations to Cayo Coco and Cayo Santa Maria will be suspended until October 31, 2017. Our operations to Holguin will continue as normal, with a flight scheduled as of this Friday, September 15, 2017. We expect to resume our operations to Varadero as of September 22, 2017.

Dominican Republic and Mexico
To meet the higher demand, we will be increasing the capacity on our flights to the Dominican Republic and Mexico during the months of September and October 2017.