Hi Dee111,

I'm not usre why the Mods moved your post as your query does seem to still be relevant to the Caribbean forum but here goes with my thoughts!

The travel agent was right to warn you that August is slap bang in the middle of the hurricane season and last summer was worse than usual. A great many holidaymakers to the region had their holidays ruined and many more had them disrupted. I was in Cuba for the last 2 weeks in July/ 1st week in August. Our outbound flight was just after Emily had traversed the island and out flight was delayed as a result of the knock-on effects. There were still some problems with both getting power and water supplies back to normal. Also, we experienced some torrential rainstorms in both Santiago and Havana and experienced further delays with our internal flight from Santiago to Havana and the weather had started to deteriorate towards the end of our week in Havan as Dennis approached. We left before it hit Cuba but there were already some problems with planes being delayed because of the deteriorating weather conditions.

All the above might sound bad but we weren't there for a sun and sand type holiday and we didn't find that the weather (intensely hot but also intensley humid with heavy rain in the late afternoon/early evening on a number of days) made that much difference to our plans though we did have to cancel a planned trip into the Sierra Madre because of the damage that Emily had caused the weekend before we arrived. We were there on a specialist dance and language holiday and just got on with it. Would I go back at that time of year? Yes, I would but I travel to Cuba with a small operator that uses scheduled flights and has a full-time rep there for just 15 clients at a time! I'd have every confidence in them to do their utmost to look after us in the event of problems. But if you look elsewhere on the forum you'll find that people were much less happier with some of the big TOs, especially people who travelled to Mexico with Thomson and were caught up in the havoc caused by Wilma.

You have to decide for yourself whether you're prepared to take the risk of travelling in the hurrican season and part of that is about deciding whether you trust the TO to look after you in the event of a hurricane hitting the island you are staying on. Personally I would not necessarily avoid going but I would be careful about who I booked with and your travel agent was quite right to warn you of the risks - some of the people who have been most irate on this forum think that they weren't adequately warned enough about the risks before they booked.

SM

I moved it because the post was requesting a long-haul destination possibly other than the Caribbean

It'll get more coverage here.

Pippy

Hi Dee11,

Have you considered somewhere in the Carribean that lies outside the typical hurricane belt such as Aruba?

http://www.aruba.com/index.html

I visited Aruba for the day as a cruise stop and I thought it was lovely and was really impressed. I have been to many of the Caribbean islands on cruise stops and Aruba remains one of my favourites.

I have also been to Domincan Republic in the month of September which is a frequent month for hurricanes and one actually hit Cuba the time we we there, however we were lucky and had brilliant weather and a lovely holiday. Obviously the prices do drop at this time so it is a risk you have to decide whether or not you want to take.

Good luck deciding.

Thanks for your replys so far,

samgidley funny enough we though of Aruba last night, Which part of the island did you stay in ?

We docked in the capital Oranjstead and as I said I thought it was lovely and very very clean. The beach close by was also really nice and my general impression was a good one.

Have a good look on the website link; there is lots of information on there, clink on the Site Map button and you can view hotels, things to do etc.

SAM