Hurricanes and hotel renovations...

Remember in my last post when I said that this trip has had a few hiccups in the planning?? Due to the devastating hurricane's that hit the Caribbean this year, much of San Juan is being repaired and some still without power. We were notified today that our hotel, the Embassy Suites by Hilton San Juan Hotel & Casino, is undergoing restoration to the lobby and other public spaces but our rooms are still available - so we were left with a pretty large decision to make. We are traveling to San Juan on Thursday, our boat leaves on Sunday, and our hotel is under repair and much of the island is coming back to life after the devastation so several people in our group decided to shorten their stays in San Juan, coming in Saturday instead. This is a pretty big decision to make, do we delay our travel and then face the possibility of winter weather impacting our travel and potentially missing the boat OR do we roll the dice and enjoy the beautiful people and culture of San Juan with a few days to spare despite the potential restorations taking place in our hotel....what would you do??

Well, we have faced this issue before during a January vacation to Jamaica. One day while floating in the pool drinking a Jamaican Smile, the dreaded word blizzard came up for the Northeast so we watched the news, checked in back home and sure enough they were predicting the largest snow storm to hit the NE in years. That night, several other couples we were with decided to pack up and leave early abandoning the rest of their (already paid for) vacation, to get home before the storm. We talked it through and after consulting with family at home, decided to stay and ride out the storm poolside and we would soon learn that we made the right choice!! You see, everyone who had cut their trips short to get home before the storm ended up in various parts of the country stranded and sleeping in hotel hallways. Yes, you read that right, hotel hallways. Some made it to Atlanta with several thousand other people and the hotels were booked and so were flights so they slept in hallways for several nights until the flights resume and the backlog dwindled down (*we made it home before this group). Some decided to fly anywhere they could get a plane to and then rent a car and drive home, they too ended up stranded in the snow several states away from home and unable to complete the trip due to road closures.

At the end of the day, we decided to keep our existing reservation and head to San Juan early. We might face difficulties getting around the island, but that is nothing compared to what those people have been through in recent months and we are lucky to be able to go. Stay tuned for an update when we return home, but we are all happy with our decision and can't wait to get there!

#SanJuan