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Vacationing Here Archives
Other than the first person reports I have been able to find on Storm caribe and a few others, I don't believe much of what I am seeing or hearing from the news outlets.
It's not as good of a story unless the media sensationalize it. Lead story on the news here last night was "Wilma cuts a path of death and devastation through Mexico". Everything I can find has only a handful of deaths (flukes at that)and while there appears to be quite a bit of damage, I wouldn't call it devastated.
I've seen quite a few pics from the area, and having been in construction for over 20 years now, I can tell you that most of the damage is cosmetic. Broken glass, signs, palapas, entry ways, facades, trees, power lines, a couple roofs here and there, and a lot of water damage.
I am sure that the local residents took the brunt of the damage as their homes certainly weren't constructed up to the standards of the hotels. The residents are the ones that we should be concerned about as I am sure thaey are the ones that had the hardest time with this storm.
The hotels need to have a broom run through them, new windows, probably some new furnishings. Their biggest problem is going to be getting the supplies they need to replace everything. How much glass do you think they have on hand? Not enough to replace all the windows and doors that need to be replaced I am sure.
People who had vacation plans for Cancun next week are going to need to look elsewhere. Hopefully they bought the trip insurance. People who are going after the first of the year are probably going to be OK. Anything in between is going to be on a hotel by hotel basis.
I am sure the beaches have been hard hit, but I have nothing to back that up other than common sense. If you were going to Mexico just for the beaches, than you probably want to look elsewhere, but if you spend your entire vacation on the beach (or in the entire Hotel Zone for that matter), you won't know the difference anyway.
You are going to get the most up to date and location pertinent information from your travel agent. They are going to have the contacts to find out what is really going on at your hotel. Stop worrying about your vacation being ruined. There are real people in Cancun and the rest of the Yucatan with real lives and real problems.
it is hard to hear vacation questions when I don't know if my husband's family are ok.
My mother-in-law is Mayan, born in Libre Union near Chichen Itza. She moved to Cancun at it's conception in 1975. She was there for Gilbert and all she was saying this weekend before we lost contact was how much worse it was. The beaches used to go out 100 or so feet, then gradually lower (think Playa Norte on Isla). We all know how there isn't nearly that much beach and it now has a steep dropoff. 17 years later and it still is not what it used to be, so I doubt if what the beaches were like last week can be expect for a long time.
I hope I'm proven wrong.
di
That I was sure the big hotels and big corporations that run them would take care of themselves since they have the money, but that it was the residents who would have more problems and amazingly enough, while we keep seeing pictures of the hotel zone, I personally have seen very little regarding the residents who DON'T live in the hotel zone and unlike most of the hotels, I'm sure many of these people don't have insurance and losing their homes or having them even partially destroyed will be devastating for them.
But regarding those who are taking vacation--I don't think their asking about what others think--whether they should go or not, necessarily means they don't care about the residents. Some people work hard and scrounge all year to save for a week or two vacation so although their worries might not equal those of the residents, I don't think it is bad for them to ask. This website is basically a board for vacationers so of course questions like these are going to come up.
Fran in NY
That whole shoppping center was gutted from the look of it--those escaltors lead to a ruined mall--the streets in front were a river of destruction. Thats the area we stay--The JW MARRIOTT for example where I have been was really damaged inside and out. I think this is worse than most people think. The ocean went to the lagoon--the worst possible, with a 48 hr storm to boot. The beaches will be ok but it is the city that will need alot of tlc.
I guess we just have different interpretations of what devastation is.
A good sweeping, some drying time, a truckload of steel studs, some wall material, some paint, new inventory, and the mall is ready to go.
being in construction then, will you be heading down to fix this "cosmetic" damage that just takes a little sweeping, steel studs etc?
Take it easy Cindy..
I happen to agree with Scott. I lived in MX and was director of maintenance at two hotels over 350 rooms total plus grounds including golf-tennis etc..
The damage for each facility will differ however most necessary repair work appears cosmetic at this point.
Let's hope for the best
MH
just like you said, Mike, and while plenty of places might just have cosmetic work--which will be costly nonetheless, the house ripped in half in Playa definitely has to be considered structural and the roof off of the Marriott must not be purely cosmetic if they are going to close until the end of the year.
Luckily in Mexico lots of buildings are concrete, marble, etc., but the water will still have a bad effect. After a couple of bad rains one summer my sister's pool started sinking--like a house foundation getting ready to crack, and she had to fill it all in. I once had a fish tank leak about 10 gallons of water during the night and it seeped through the floor. After a few drips, we thought it was all right--until the ceiling started coming down! Carpenters had to come in and rip it all out and it was pretty expensive considering how small it was! I also had the same problem with a window in the bathroom--shower water always leaked into it and eventually the wall had to be pulled out completely, the window taken out and replaced by just wall so nothing could seep through.
I think some of the pictures Cindy saw were the same that many of us had seen and I have to say that a few buildings I saw looked pretty bad. Sometimes fixing things in a building can be almost as expensive just putting up a new one. Again, maybe not a major problem to the owners of large hotels, but for the average citizen whose house is ruined, it's probably a devastating experience.
Fran in NY
: being in construction then, will you be heading down to
: fix this "cosmetic" damage that just takes a
: little sweeping, steel studs etc?
Not sure I understand your post Cindy. Am I going down to fix it myself? No. I have a job. But give me enough guys and enough material and these buildings would all be fixed and ready pretty quick. There doesn't appear to be any "structural" damage that would require knocking thinks down and starting over. Things are going to be tourist ready faster than most people imagine.
What's going to take the most time is the residential areas that were really damaged structurally or blown away completely. Those are the areas people should be worrying about.
Thats the difference between the commercial buildings and the residential buildings Fran. The commercial buildings damage is cosmetic. The residential buildings damage is more structural. I am sure that many residential buildings are devastated, but nobody is taking pictures of those because not enough people are interested.
A water leak in your home that is built out of wood and sheetrock is a much bigger deal than water in a hotel that is constructed almost entirely of concrete. These buildings in the hotel zone are built for this weather. No sheetrock, no wood, no carpet, no suspended ceilings. All Concrete, steel, tile.....
Your sisters pool sank because it was either undermined or improperly built on unstable soils to begin with. Your fish tank and window leak caused problems due to the method of construction used in your house which is very different from the construction used in these hotels. A 10 gallon fishtank leak isn't going to create any problems in one of these hotels, neither would a 1000 gallon fishtank leak.
Yes the house split in half in Playa is structurally destroyed and will have to be rebuilt from scratch. Those are the buildings and the people that we should all be worried about, the residential areas and Cancun City. I'd be willing to bet that by the first of the year, the hotel zone will look just like it looked the day before Wilma struck.
The residential areas will take much longer I am afraid.
That's probably true--my house is a little over 40 years old and built of wood--the only concrete is in the foundation. (And actually that is alot of cinder block as opposed to solid concrete.)
Fran in NY
CAN ANYONE REPLY WITH INFORMATION REGARDING EITHER THE BLUE BAY RESORT CONDITION OR THE MAYAN PALACE. I AM PLANNING A VACATION THERE FOR THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY FOR TWO WEEKS...PLEASE ADVISE THANK YOU
Go to www.bluebaycancun.com for updates on the Blue Bay properties.