tropical storm/category 2 hurricane heading for Jamaica? :(

Looks like mother nature may be putting a damper on our plans for a great week at Couples. We are supposed to fly in this coming Saturday and stay for 7 nights. I was hoping this potential tropical storm would veer off or dissipate, but the latest forecast has it potentially turning into a category 2 hurricane hitting Jamaica on Sunday.

I looked up the cancellation policy, but can anyone tell me what happens for those already at the resort in this type of situation?

I live in Florida and am used to the threat of tropical storms being a near constant during the summer, but am a little nervous now that they are talking about a Cat 2 hurricane. My old house was hit by only a cat 1. or 2 and my area was out of power for nearly 3 weeks. Anyone else re-thinking travel plans for next week? I have my fingers crossed that their predictions end up totally wrong like they are 90% of the time.

I'm a little worried about that myself. CTI friday to friday. would rather not spend a week getting rained on.

We are suppose to fly out on Sunday for our Honeymoon, so I am a little worried about this as well. I'm not sure what happens when you are there and it hits, but my parents have been before and they told me that weather blows over so fast in the Caribbean that it is hard to predict. This potential hurricane is too far out for me to make an rash decisions on this awesome trip.
So my soon to be husband and I are going to go anyway!
Maybe we will see ya'll there!

With the latest models that are coming out, the eye will probably head North of Jamaica with the rain starting late Friday and going until Monday in the late morning. It really depends on whether it will hit Puerto Rico and lose some energy. That being said, I think that as long as it doesn't hit Jamaica directly, the strongest winds will be in the 30-40 mph range and be tropical-storm like on the island. The major question is always duration. Hurricanes usually move about 20 to 25 mph, are massive in size and as a result can pack a long punch. However, the worst place to be is on the northwest side cause that is where the major surges occur (i.e. Cuba). Jamaica will be south of this. Final forecast = Rain and Wind on Sat/Sun with intermittent rain/storms on Monday. Start doing the naked hurricane dance and ask for a more northly track to this so the 60 hours of rain will drop dramatically to something like 36 to 40 hours.

I'm not much of a weatherman, but I did stay at a holiday inn last night...:)

The last weather update Channel 6 Orlando had this morning had it moving more toward Cuba by Sat-Sun, lets hope it it dies down to NOTHING and spares Jamaica and also Florida!!! Hope you have a nice vacation anyway, will keep you and everyone in my thoughts and prayers for a safe and sunny week! We have another 119 days of waiting still to go!

OMGosh. Super nervous about the impending storm over here too. We're due to arrive 8/25 as well. We're just going to watch and wait. Hopefully it'll swing north of Jamaica and won't interfere with our much-awaited vacation too much... I keep wondering if our flights will get us there on Saturday before the storm or if we'll be stranded in the Philly airport till the 26th... :( Not sure which is worse! lol

Hoping for us all to make it to the swim up bar this weekend! :-) Fingers crossed!

We are dealing with the same thing. We are supposed to be flying Saturday morning to Couples Negril. We have Travel insurance and we booked through Delta Vacations but to cancel without penalty a storm waning must be issued and thus far it has not. It is pretty annoying since the weather channel shows the storm going through Jamaica Saturday-Sunday at a possible Category 2. We really hope that we can come to Couples but if not we have a back up resort planned and should hopefully get to go on vacation this weekend at Couples or another resort. I would recommend having a back up plan. I too would be interested in knowing what happens if there is a storm while on resort premises.

We just cancelled our vacation for CSA for Thursday arrival. I am just sick about it. Even though we knew of the risk when we booked it. We took out cancellation insurance so, we were fully covered. It's still to early to tell exactly what the storm is going to do but, looked like way too much risk for the much needed vacation. Just trying to decide if we should rebook a week later or change destinations. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Hadn't heard the prediction for Cat 2 yet. Certainly hope & pray they are wrong- so looking forward to this trip. We booked through a travel agent and bought the insurance. Haven't looked up the policy though- hoping it will die down like several others have this year (ok I'm just thinking if I live in denial it won't happen right?). Also interested to hear what happens to guests already at the resorts.

We're supposed to get in on Sunday. Hopefully it dissipates. Curious to hear the answers to your questions.

Go to www.wunderground.com/tropical This give the best info with no hype or drama :) Looks like Jamaica will be just fine :)

I just saw the forecast and we are scheduled to arrive on Saturday too. I knew I was taking a chance at this time of year, but the percentages were still small. Now I would say the percentages are pretty high and agree we have to rethink our plans. I lost my home in Hurricane Andrew; so I know a thing or two about them. Now I live in Southern California, where we only have earthquakes, fires, floods, and mudslides, but no hurricanes. LOL. Of course with the timing they are predicting, the airlines might not even fly into Jamaica on Saturday. Then we would be stranded in Houston (our stopover point). If it does develop into a Cateogry 2, then the odds that Couples will be without power after we arrive increase dramatically. Right now I am just going to monitor Hurricane Issac closely, and hope that we hear from Randy and Couples, but we will have to make some kind of decision soon. Fortunately I did purchase travel insurance as I always do.

Hi Jay,

We are also flying into Montego Bay on Saturday to go to CSS. I'm assuming that if they don't cancel flights we'll just be flying around the storm. I haven't heard anything about an upgrade to Cat 2.

I plan to shop up at the airport and hope for the best! :)

I wish theyd post an official thread... We fly out Saturday!

We are scheduled to arrive on Sunday and start our vacation at CN and then on to CSS. wunderground.com seems to have the most accurate and up to date information.

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Originally Posted by CindyFTW

OMGosh. Super nervous about the impending storm over here too. We're due to arrive 8/25 as well. We're just going to watch and wait. Hopefully it'll swing north of Jamaica and won't interfere with our much-awaited vacation too much... I keep wondering if our flights will get us there on Saturday before the storm or if we'll be stranded in the Philly airport till the 26th... :( Not sure which is worse! lol

Hoping for us all to make it to the swim up bar this weekend! :-) Fingers crossed!

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I bet the airlines will not be flying into Jamaica on Sat. Looks like the worst day for Jamaica.

This graphic is the key to the resort or airlines doing anything regarding their own cancellation policies. The 3 Day Cone is the driver for these decisions.

We dealt with this in 2007 and Hurricane Dean. Once the 3 Day Cone was over Jamaica the airlines and resort allowed us to make changes as we wished. Never had to invoke the travelers insurance. We re-booked for the following week and added a day for Labor Day. If the 3 Day Cone is not over Jamaica then you are on your own as far as changes go.

Good luck to everybody this hurricane season.

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Originally Posted by Sympa

I wish theyd post an official thread... We fly out Saturday!

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Exactly. Where's the official thread? Randymon, we're waiting ...

I just checked a few radars and Isaac is moving away from Jamaica!! Yaaaay! Even the forecasts are starting to ease up on the Negril weather predictions compared to what I saw a few days ago.

There goes our plans for the Hurricane party at CSA! Ahh well, we shall find other things to get ourselves into. Everybody, keep checking Weather Underground. They've got some great tools.

Based on current updates, I think Jamaica will be fine since it's tracking towards the eastern side of Cuba. We haven't heard about any changes to our Saturday flight yet, but it's probably still too early to tell. We are going to continue with our trip as planned unless things change drastically - just preparing for more rain than usual and possibly missing out on watersports.

I'm more concerned now about our home and the outlook for Florida! Luckily we live inland and not in a flood zone, but I have family on the Gulf Coast. Hoping the storm breaks up a bit once it hits land. Good luck to everyone who is traveling this week - looks like it may be a bit of an adventure :)

All model's I have seen currently show it heading north of Jamaica, with Cuba in it's direct path.

As long as it stays north we will be fine. We also fly out Saturday. HURRICANE PARTY!!!

Hopefully the storm will pass, but I.am sending prayers to the Jamaican people and hope all goes well!!