Poppa

Gina <BR> <BR>When you say marked down hurricane rates....don't you mean...its the OFF season because of the hurricanes and hot summer months...therefore the hotel has to charge lower rates because the demand is not there to charge higher rates. <BR> <BR>What's your point? If the room was reg. $350 a night and he got a $175 a might rate..but received no services.. that $175 was his discount? Discount of what? <BR> <BR>100% of nothing is still nothing. Get it...bad weather is one thing...hurricane that you can't even get food to eat is another. <BR> <BR>And as for his lounging around all day to miss the ferry, he stated that he was going to catch the 130 pm....and it was cancelled! What gives.....is he supposed to just know that they cancel ferrys all the time. <BR> <BR>

Alby

The resort did what it could. No one there was going to risk life and limb for a foolish person that had been advised to leave, yet chose to procrastinate. <BR>You get the lower rate because the Caribbean is less inviting at that time of the year. Period. The resorts charge as much as they can in the market they have. The rate is, in effect, what the market will bear, so it is value for value. <BR>When a storm hits, all bets are off. If the resorts had to pay back every person who deemed himself inconvenienced by storms, then the resorts would simply have to stay closed for the hurricane season. What Burke wanted was not possible. He wanted the impossible. You don't refund money when the impossible is not provided. <BR>He also received sound advice that he did not heed then boo-hoo'ed over the resort's "unfairness". What a whiner! <BR>So Poppa is off base. Totally.

alby

One more thing. Poppa, to respond to one other of your points, when you look out your window and see 10 foot seas, yes, it's a fair bet that the ferries are going to be cancelled. In fact, with a hurricane coming, you've GOT to know that the ferries are going to stop at some point in time. I'm afraid I have to agree with Gina and 95% of the other folks that responded to this posting from this whiner. <BR>

Joanne

Wow, and to think that this thread began last November. I've got to agree with the multitudes that feel JB is a bit of a whiner. I too was trapped by a hurricane last November - Lenny, in St. Croix - and my outlook was considerably sunnier (even if the weather was not). <BR> <BR>We were advised by our hotel that it would be wise to cut our vacation short and make plans to leave island. Alas, USAirways didn't see it that way and refused to rebook us without penalty since we were not in immediate danger - apparently "direct path" doesn't qualify. In hindsight maybe we should have paid the penalty, but I'm almost glad we did not. <BR> <BR>We were evacuated from our waterfront hotel to a smaller hotel several blocks inland the day before the hurricane hit (and after airlines had ceased running). Our first hotel, to our great surprise, did not charge us at all (and we had spent the five good days with them!). The second hotel, which was (needless to say) unable to provide services, did charge us the going off-season rate. At first this seemed unfair, as we would have had those services at the same off-season rate if Lenny had not hit. We (most of the other guests an I) also volunteered and helped the owner clean up the property. On the other hand, the hotel allowed us to stay there (as opposed to, say, a Red Cross center) so I guess it was worth it. I am, though, surprised that Biras Creek did not make some allowance for Mr. Burke, given that he apparently had an AI package - it would have been good customer relations. <BR> <BR>When Lenny became inevitable we approached the whole experience as an adventure, and I know that helped our outlook. We met some wonderful people during the "seige" and are now aware first hand of nature's awesome force. Was it inconvenient - heck yes. Will it stop me from going to the Caribbean again in November (I also go in March) - by no means. You have to learn to make lemonade out of those lemons. As someone said, look at the memorable stories you'll have.

pamr

If your cruise ship runs into inclement weather & you are forced to remain in your cabin for several days, thereby missing certain amenities on the ship, or beach time at island destinations, do you receive a refund? If you have inclement weather for several days at your Florida all-inclusive and cannot take advantage of your watersports or theme park tickets, do you receive any money back? Any info I have ever seen on these trips have clearly stated there is no money for unused portions of a trip or package. We have been evacuated out of the Outer banks of North Carolina two years in a row due to hurricanes changing track at the last minute - no one has ever received a refund for unused days or amenities. If you yell the place down, you can sometimes get a voucher ( very grudgingly and with all kinds of stipulations) - great for those of us who live close by, kinda useless for those who live across the country or overseas...

Mark

I'm just curious. It seems that the most well-known "Hurricane Guarantee" is from Sandals. <BR> <BR>In the past, when have they honored this guarantee and when have there been hurricane-like situations where they haven't? <BR> <BR>(I'm wondering because I'm getting married at the Sandals St. Lucia Golf Resort & Spa in October)

Ann

Mark, I can't answer with respect to Sandals' reliability in carrying through with their policy, but I have noticed that those policies emanate from resorts on islands that don't or rarely encounter hurricanes. I think that St. Lucia is one of those, but I will defer to more knowledgeable persons. The further down the Antilles you go the less the hurricane risk. The killer hurricanes come in from Africa and miss quite a few of the islands. It's real easy to promise money back for typhoon damage in Oklahoma!

Alby

I agree with Ann. The so-called hurricane guarantees come from resorts on islands that don't get hit by hurricanes. I would offer one if I owned a resort on St. Lucia, although, sadly, I don't. In defense of Mr. Burke, albeit every decision he made was a bad one, we have to take into consideration that he was on his honeymoon. Look at the psychological pressure on this (presumably) young man. His first chance/obligation to provide for his beautiful bride. A real need to be a MAN. I feel for him. And considering that he was undoubtedly thoroughly mesmerized by the charms of his bride, what chance did he have to think straight. He was in no shape to be making decisions. But Biras still owes him nothing. Sorry.

E.

Too late for a response? I see that this article was posted two years ago but .. I couldn't help but put in my 2 cents. Hurricanes are not a recent phenominon in the Carribean. Any hotel, especially a 4 or 5 star hotel... charging $425 per night in off season... should have a procedure to take care of guests during a storm. It sounds like the employees of this hotel had a free-for-all when the storm came and just left!! Contact the management of the hotel and ask what their procedure is in case of hurricane and see what they say. Quite possibly your food and service were stolen from you and explained away as you not liking the hurricane instead of you not liking the services and not getting food. It might also be the procedure to NOT charge individuals during a hurricane like yours but the employees cashed in. If you speak with the management and they refuse to refund you anything and you are unable to contact the owner, I would contact the chamber of commerce for the island group you visited and get their input. If they think that it was fair to abandon you with no food, booze or help and charge you, I would research a list of travel agents, online travel services, travel book authors and present the list to the chamber of commerce and tell them that you will be notifying these travel agencies and give a factual, non-biased account of your trip to their islands, the cost and what you received for the services and you will be fair in letting them know that you chose to go there during hurricane season, but it is fair to let other travelers know what it is like on their islands in hurricane season, which I believe is six months out of the year for most Carribean islands. If it is really fair for you to pay $900 to be stranded on an island with no real food, terrified out of your mind with the entire staff gone home, then it shouldn't bother them.