Of course safety is a concern when looking into travelling somewhere. Why wouldn’t it be? It is part of the reason I stopped travelling to Mexico and the USA and came to appreciate Cuba. Look at post #7 again from Wessislander. Where do you get your information that the DR is so safe as you wrote in reply #1. ??????

Oye! Bueno, ekscrunchy, Tomas was hanging with the wrong crowd in Medellin Colombia. Staying away from the jineteras, their chulos, and the cocaina does wonders for one's health and remaining safe if visiting other countries outside of Cuba. RIP Tomas. But anywhere there's an abundance of hand guns around, one also needs to worry about getting caught in the crossfire as well. Terry

Safety concerns of anywhere we travel is a definite factor in our decision. A common problem we have heard about is the snatch and grab. This can obviously happen in Cuba too. You can meet some annoying people in Cuba but we have never witnessed any sort of violence there. Tourists are protected better than the citizens in some ways it seems.

Wess, scroll up to my #17 and give that a read - that explains it all. However, I was once at the annual carnival in Camaguey with Yudith and a few friends. On a side street off the main drag, there was a lot of women screaming, so we immediately turned our gaze in that direction. All of a sudden, 6 young Cuban guys came running out of the crowd into the main drag carrying another young guy who had been stabbed 3 or 4 times. His torso was completely covered in blood and he was unconscious too. His blood was all over his friends as well. They put him into a bici taxi and sped off to the hospital as fast as the poor guy driving the bici could peddle. The next day, we heard that the young guy had died before he even got to the hospital - he didn't make it. Apparently he had been knifed because he had been talking with some other guy's girl - a common theme. Violence Cuban on Cuban is fairly prevalent in Camaguey city - I've seen my fair share of it first hand. But Wess, it's extremely rare when it comes to foreigners in Cuba for the reasons that I already explained in my #17. Terry.

I don't think I should continue in this conversation since I've not been to Cuba..

About the DR, I've been a number times and have many friends who go often on holidays and managed to avoid gunfights. When I was small, and after my parents stopped vacationing in Cuba, we'd spend Christmas with family friends in Santo Domingo, but I'm talking a hundred years ago.. I'm sure crime happens, just as I'm also sure that there is crime in every country. Would not stop me from going, but I like Mexico more than any of the Caribbean islands I've visited.

I've been to Mexico many, many times and hope to visit again soon....even lived there, long ago....never had any issues (although did witness actual crossfire for the first and only time in my life, in Acapulco in the 1980s!) I love Mexico and would not be afraid for one second..all this takes into account that all of us have some common sense and are not going to be wandering into "bad" neighborhoods at night--whether we are in Puerto Plata, in Mazatlan or in Habana.

I'm more worried about falling down and breaking something than I am about partaking in a gunfight or being mugged. And the goes for my home city, New York too, where there might be more handguns per capita than in most cities in our world. Don't get me started on THAT issue!

RIP Tomás.

100 years ago! ekscrunchy, you are being funny. Us Cuba travellers are passionate about Cuba. Like I said before, I have never been to the DR and from what I have always heard about it, it is not for me. But what do I know?

I guess if you compare the DR to Haiti, then it would be considered safe. Maybe not so safe compared to Cuba. I have never been to Jamaica either but have always heard that it can be dangerous there off-resort as well.

I hope that you continue posting on the Cuba forum. NYC is still my favourite city in the world. Hope to return there when the current federal regime is gone.

I've also done a fair amount of Mexico travel. Merida is one of my favourite destinations in the south. I'm actually thinking about going in May. Puerto Vallarta still has it's charms, but does have way too many tourists. I've also spent about a year in Cozumel during my life time. Peaceful and charming island. You do hear about some tourists being victims of crime in Mexico. Much of that has to do with the amount of visitors. They had 45 million tourists last year. Cuba had 2.3 million.

Thanks for contributing to this thread ekscrunchy. I did not mean to bash Mexico, DR, and the USA but once I found Cuba I didn’t want to go back to the others but we still tried other Caribbean destinations once in a while. We have also done cruises in the Caribbean. Some of them departed out of New York city. Our trips to Mexico were always to resorts. My parents were robbed at the airport in Mexico many years ago. The tour operator that sold them their package actually reimbursed them part of their initial cost. I don’t think that would happen today.

I've vacationed in Puerto Vallarta 40+ times and counting. I have never stayed at a "resort". I have never been robbed at the airport. Yes there are lots of tourists because it is a fabulous city. And it's typically on several cruiseline destinations which swells the "tourists" in that one area on certain days. But if you get off the resort properties, away from the cruise port, and simply stay somewhere downtown in a local hotel or rent an apartment/condo there is a good ratio mix of Mexican resident families, expats/snowbirds, short-term visitors. I've stayed as short as 10 days and as long as a month. Over and over again since the early 90's. Never had an issue with personal safety and most trips I was solo (female).

Good for you suze that you have had many safe trips over the years. You certainly sound like an experienced well-travelled person. I am sure that most visitors to Mexico and the DR have had good safe trips but you almost seem in denial that anybody would have a problem in these places. Just today there was a violent incident in a touristy part of Mexico. This kind of thing doesn't happen in Cuba. That's what I think Jhenry was originally trying to get at.

Past personal experiences are not necessarily indicative of future travels. I've spent about 8 years of my life travelling through 52 countries and have never been a victim of crime. I certainly would never say that the world is a crime free paradise and of course my luck can change at any time. We all need to be vigilant and bring our street smarts with us no matter where we travel too. A former colleague of mine was robbed by the police in Puerto Vallarta earlier this year. John Abbotsford from this forum had his backpack snatched in Cuba. Stuff can happen anywhere. But violent crime against tourists in Cuba is extremely rare. And I generally feel safer there than most other countries.

I did not start this thread to argue that the DR is totally dangerous and that Cuba is crime free. I was just trying to say that I feel more at home in Cuba and safer. The petty crime can be annoying in any place. Other reasons for me preferring Cuba is price, the people, distance from Canada and for me safety. Those are my opinions and others are entitled to disagree with me. I am fine with that but I think what I wrote about safety in those countries is general common knowledge. Sure the majority of people travelling to these places have a safe and good vacation. I frequent resorts mainly because of my age and laziness. Smiley

Who the heck needs that kind of holiday?

Hoping the best for Cubans these trying days.

​​​​​​​Summer in Canada is not long away.

So now that we've heard a vague rumor of someone who was robbed by the police, we should cross PV, and all of Mexico, off our lists.

A guy got shot in my city last night. Should I think about re-locating?

ekscrunchy, Please. Give it a rest already. Nobody is insinuating what you've ridiculously suggested. Terry

Hi! I didn't suggest anything.....just posted out how silly it was to boycott one destination based on the rumor of one bad thing happening. You already know that I am going to come to the defense of Mexico travel!! One of these days I have to go to Cuba, though!!

Not a vague rumour at all. It was from a guy I worked with for over 10 years. He was walking back to his residence late at night by himself and intoxicated. The very thing I preach to everyone never to do no matter where they are. This incident would never stop me from going to Mexico.

The Cuban police are more discreet about robbing you. Our late friend Don Tomas once said that he was pulled over twice by different police officers in one block for made up charges.

Let’s just say that there is a POTENTIAL for violence in other countries that pretty much doesn’t exist in Cuba against tourists.Not prevalent enough that you should stop visiting those places though.

Ain’t no violence stopped me visiting NYC when I used to visit there regularly in the past. There was though some thug giving me the finger on Michigan avenue in Chicago couple years back.while strolling. I just ignored his silly arse but ran soon as I turned the next corner.

That's the thing...we can all find incidents of violence and/or robbery, in just about every destination on the planet. And I've heard people say that they would never go to Mexico because it's so dangerous--cartels, etc. Things can happen everywhere...but I tink we all have a desire to get out of our comfort zones a bit and see the world. There are very few places that I can imagine that would be, at the very least, .interesting.

I'm so sad about the current situation in Cuba, and horrified by the statements of our own "leader" about that country...