Puerto Rico Travel

Taking a poll -- would you cancel/reschedule travel to Puerto Rico this coming weekend? Stay is in the north, near San Juan. Facility is undamaged and has power. Special Spirit fare, so it seems there will be a financial hit to change. Alarmist or smart to change it?


That is a tough call - there’s some advice here:

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/puerto-rico-earthquakes

I’m not sure I would do.  



No advice to give. Reports of more aftershocks earlier today.  Given the problems facing Puerto Rico at this time, I can understand your concern about traveling there at this time.   I am sure you will make the decision that is best for you.


Yeah - I'd cancel. The chances for disaster seem to be a bit high.


Thanks for the input. Couldn't decide if we were being silly to be nervous about this. But it no longer mattered when Spirit decided to waive change fees!


If you're not losing any $ - then I would opt for a safer location.  Not silly to be nervous at all.  There was a 5.9 aftershock on Saturday.  


I'm going in 3 weeks.   Also staying in the north.   I wouldn't cancel.   


My 18 year old daughter flew to Puerto Rico the day before (1/5/20) the first earthquake to visit a college friend. They were in San Juan but felt the quake & many of the aftershocks. Granted the epicenter is in the south, we decided for her to come home. She’s not easily rattled but was quite nervous with what they were feeling and the unpredictability of what was possibly coming. She had another friend from NJ there too who also choose to come home. I did not feel good about the unpredictability of the situation and would not go if I were you. Wait for another time when you don’t have to worry. One side note: Jet Blue would not switch their  tickets or give them any discount. Under the circumstances I would have expected them to. They had to purchase completely new tickets. Under the circumstances, I was really disappointed with Jet Blue & won’t be using them again and we travel a lot and have had airlines work with us on changes in much less dire circumstances. 


My wife and I just returned from a week in Puerto Rico.  We stayed in an excellent hotel in San Juan.  We were awakened by earthquakes about 5 times, that last 30-60 seconds, like trying to sleep in a boat with rocky seas.  It was a bit unsettling, but then we went back to sleep.  People on the island were rather traumatized, as a reaction to this on top of the recent hurricane, and power was initially down throughout the island, although many tourist spots and a minority of the population have generators by this time.  The major damage and lasting power outages were in the South, with no damage other than some power outages in the north and around San Juan.  The seas were somewhat rough and the winds were high independently, due to unrelated weather conditions, but we managed to do some enjoyable things including restaurants, most of which were open, sailing and snorkeling on a few beautiful days, visiting several rain forests, and a coffee plantation, and taking walks around Old San Juan.  The people were friendly.  A few museums were closed because of the power outages.  All in all, it was a good vacation, and I'm glad we didn't cancel, but it was not for the weak of heart or the highly anxious.  Meanwhile, despite rolling series of earthquakes, our understanding is that, although there are no guarantees, the earthquakes are gradually subsiding, (only 3 percent chance of a very big one now), and unless were were planning on visiting the Ponce area on or near the Southern coast, you should be ok.  Don't stay in a small place or Air BNB unless you are confident of their backup generators, however.  



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