7DaysinParadise
Travel => General Travel => Topic started by: flopnfly on July 19, 2005, 12:55:00 PM
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After a rough but memorable end to their sunny Mexican vacations, stranded Canadian tourists are finally headed home.
Forced to leave their resorts to huddle up in shelters further inland as Hurricane Emily pounded the Yucatan in the tourist-heavy regions of Cancun and the Mayan Riviera, as many as 3,000 Canuck tourists had to stay a few extra days in the country until the storm passed.
Now that the hurricane has moved over the Gulf of Mexico, life is returning to normal. Airports have re-opened, and there were no reports of Canadians killed or injured in the storm.
Chris Channon, a passenger returning to Toronto's Lester B. Pearson Airport was thrilled to be back in Canada after Emily provided him with some fearful moments.
"I looked outside, put my hands on the patio doors and they bowed in two or three inches," he said. "Then we were like, this is not fun."
Another passenger, Keith Paridy, praised the Mexican government for keeping people safe.
"The winds were howling. We were in Cancun, but I know people that came back from the flight. Their hotel was south and they had no bags to come back with because their hotel was pretty much gone," he said. "The Mexican government had everything totally planned out. There was no panic. Very well prepared."
Though some passengers were able to grin and bear it, many weren’t happy with what they had to go through waiting for a flight, and some Quebecers have threatened to launch a class-action lawsuit against Montreal-based carrier Air Transat.
The airline reportedly won’t reimburse passengers because a hurricane is a "force of nature" and travellers were warned of the possibility, said Air Transat spokesperson Pierre Tessier.
Other Canadian vacationers were taken to hotels inland after charter carrier Skyservice cancelled its flight to Toronto due to a piece of ground equipment on the runway damaging the plane's left wing.
More than 200 passengers were told they’d have to wait for a Tuesday morning flight. Customers complained it took too long, and they weren’t given access to enough food or water in the meantime.
Skyservice spokeswoman Sheila Whaley said the company's priority was to keep its passengers safe, and despite the challenges was trying to keep them comfortable as well.
The hurricane was blowing at nearly 220 km/h when it hit the Yucatan Sunday, making it a fierce Category 4 storm.
It weakened to Category 2 as it passed over the peninsula Monday, but was expected it to regain force and hit the northeastern Mexican coast Tuesday night, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
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I heard about some of these class action lawsuits on the news this morning, and I am opinionated, so I'm biting my tongue here.
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Shine
Biting tongue and cheeks!!! They should bend over and kiss you know what that they are O.K.!!!!
F&T
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Fred and Tracie, I'm with you. Way too much litigation IMO. It's a natural disaster.
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Have to agree with you FredTracie.
Tourists booking Caribbean destinations are aware that weather will probably impact their holidays (from rain to hurricanes) from June to at least the end of October.
We have been impacted even in November and yes, had an impending evacuation at that time.Had my small carryon(with the important stuff)packed and told our Cuban friends to collect and keep the rest of our bags for themselves (all could be replaced).
We were fortunate with the hurricane changing direction and moving away from Varadero but if not I would have been just happy to get out alive during a hurricane..lawsuit?..I think not.
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I too will hold my tounge as I have views on Skyservice customer care :D
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Originally posted by BF54bulldog:
I too will hold my tounge as I have views on Skyservice customer care :D
I agree with you there Bulldog, but in the other case we're talking a natural disaster. The skyservice incident you were involved in may have been a case of negligence.
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Yes Millybess the other Class Action is based on negligence...but I hade a huge problems with there Customer relations and plain old Customer care...but like I said.. Me lips are sealed :D
Bulldog