Maria: Punta Cana spared from storm

While the Dominican Republic expected the worst with Hurricane Maria’s approach, no major hotel complex in the Punta Cana area is reporting any extensive damage.

Here are some updates communicated by various hoteliers via their social media channels:

Club Med Punta Cana

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana

Meliá Hotels International

• Official information about the state of the three Punta Cana properties of Meliá Hotels International:

Paradisus Punta Cana and Paradisus Palma Real = ok, complete opening in 48 hours. The same applies to the Melia Caribe Tropical, with the exception of 2 restaurants near the beach (Cuatro and Agora) which will need repairs (45 days). *

Barceló Bávaro Grand Resort

Hotel Bavaro Princess & Hotel Tropical Princess

Riu Bambu

Tour operator updates

Air Canada Vacations

"For customers who have planned to travel to the Dominican Republic with a scheduled departure from Sept. 18, 2017 to Sept. 22, 2017, please note that all flights are cancelled. For customers who have planned to travel to Punta Cana or Samana on Sept. 23 or September 24, 2017, please note all flights are cancelled. Your file will automatically be eligible for rebooking at a later date. Affected customers may rebook an alternate Air Canada Vacations package by October 15, 2017 for travel before April 30, 2018. Customers are responsible for any price differential resulting from selection of a higher-priced alternative. This policy applies to scheduled departures as indicated above only. Service to the Dominican Republic remains as scheduled on September 25, 2017. Air Canada Vacations is continuing to monitor the situation closely and will continue to provide updates as it progresses."

Sunwing

"Hurricane Maria has now passed over Punta Cana and based on the feedback from our local teams in the Dominican Republic, the damage has been limited to fallen trees with no major structural damage to hotels. Airports in Puerto Plata and Punta Cana are expected to remain closed until later today. Any flights to Puerto Plata and Punta Cana are expected to resume normal operations on Sept. 23 however we have extended flexible travel options until Sept. 24 for customers with plans to travel to either destination until that date. As we continue to communicate with our local teams, we will provide further updates as ground crews conduct assessments on any hotels that were in the hurricane`s path."

Transat

"Due to the impacts caused by the passage of Hurricane Maria, please note that scheduled flights on Sept. 21 and 22 to Punta Cana and Puerto Plata, departing from Toronto, Montreal and Quebec are canceled. Customers affected by these flight cancellations will all be contacted and may (i) travel at a later date; (ii) travel to another destination, subject to certain conditions; (iii) cancel with full refund (excluding travel insurance costs when purchased). The company continues to closely monitor the development of Hurricane Maria. Transat's hurricane policy has been implemented for flights still scheduled to depart until Sept. 25, 2017 to Dominican Republic."

WestJet

At this time, we have cancelled three flights into Punta Cana (PUJ), Dominican Republic. Flight WS2766 on Sept. 19, 20 and 21 from Toronto to Punta Cana has been cancelled. We have also added three extra flights from Punta Cana to Toronto on September 19 to bring home WestJet guests who were originally scheduled to depart Punta Cana with us on Sept. 20 or 21. Flight cancellations are also expected for some additional Caribbean airports and we will continue to update the blog to ensure our guests have timely information.