Occidental Grand Flamenco - Punta Cana

[Lejean]

Hi All,

This is my first visit to this Forum/website, and first of all I would like to encourage the people of the DR in their struggle with nature (Jeanne). Over here in Belgium Jeanne has been in the news for the last few days with terrible images from the DR.

It happens that we are leaving on the 25th destination Occidental Grand Flamenco in Punta Cana. Does anybody have some info about the resort ? Is it damaged ? Should we delay our trip ?

We would be thankfull for some information

Many thanks

Jan & Helga

[Stewylouie]

Hi, we just got back to New York this morning from Punta Cana. Our flight left after midnight last night from Punta Cana.
We stayed at the Occidental Grand Flamenco.
Things were very bad, our tour operator, Apple Vacations evacuated all their guests on Sat, regardless of when their return dates were.
Damage at the Flamenco is substantial. Although I would't characterize the damages as structural, it will take some time to repair eveything.
I don't even know where to start.
Roofs were damaged/blown off on many buildings.
In our building, the power went out Wednesday evening and was on and off through Sat. The water was out for signficiant time as well. Flooding in the rooms were severe. Rain poured in on the third floor and the sewers backed up in the first floor rooms. We were on the second floor of building 13 and were fairly dry, but we saw rooms on the building which looked like they had waterfalls in them. The flooding outside was severe, there was a foot of water in the walk paths. From the smell, it seems the septic systems fooded and there was sewage flowing around. Trees were blown over, the light posts were blown over, all the grass huts and sheds were destroyed. The pool is in terrible shape and it will take weeks for that to be drained and cleaned (particularily in light of the sewage problem).
We were told that supplies were running low (food/water/gas) and asked to conserve.
The Royal Club guests seemd to fair better as power and services wre reatored there before the rest of the resort.
Servicewise they hotel did a very good job under the circumstances.
All the restaruants were closed except for the main buffet and that suffered severe leaks and damage. They did a very good job at damage control afterwards. Afterwards they handed out candles, extra towels and brooms/mops and squeegees to guest to help control the damage.
At the airport during the evacutaion, we meet some guests that were evacauted from Secrets by military helicopter, apparently things were very bad up there. Theose guests wound up sleeping outside the airport Firday night (not in the airport).
We were also told that the horse ranch (next to Secrets?) flooded badly and over 30 horses drowned.
We were told several other hotels were shut down completely.
It seems like we were very lucky at the Flamenco, from the stories, other hotels faired far worse.
As to reports by management, we learned that although locals began evacuation Wednesday morning, we were not told of the storm until Wednesday evening and even then we told it was small and nothng to worry about. Later they told us it was worse than expected. We received no instruction on how to deal with the storm and were left to fend for ourselves.
As we left on Sat, the cleanup begain to progress, although cosmetically I think they'll get the resort looking fair quickly, it'll be some time till its fully functional. I would advise those who can delay the trips to do so.

[Lejean]

Originally Posted by Stewylouie

Hi, we just got back to New York this morning from Punta Cana. Our flight left after midnight last night from Punta Cana.
We stayed at the Occidental Grand Flamenco.
Things were very bad, our tour operator, Apple Vacations evacuated all their guests on Sat, regardless of when their return dates were.
Damage at the Flamenco is substantial. Although I would't characterize the damages as structural, it will take some time to repair eveything.
I don't even know where to start.
Roofs were damaged/blown off on many buildings.
In our building, the power went out Wednesday evening and was on and off through Sat. The water was out for signficiant time as well. Flooding in the rooms were severe. Rain poured in on the third floor and the sewers backed up in the first floor rooms. We were on the second floor of building 13 and were fairly dry, but we saw rooms on the building which looked like they had waterfalls in them. The flooding outside was severe, there was a foot of water in the walk paths. From the smell, it seems the septic systems fooded and there was sewage flowing around. Trees were blown over, the light posts were blown over, all the grass huts and sheds were destroyed. The pool is in terrible shape and it will take weeks for that to be drained and cleaned (particularily in light of the sewage problem).
We were told that supplies were running low (food/water/gas) and asked to conserve.
The Royal Club guests seemd to fair better as power and services wre reatored there before the rest of the resort.
Servicewise they hotel did a very good job under the circumstances.
All the restaruants were closed except for the main buffet and that suffered severe leaks and damage. They did a very good job at damage control afterwards. Afterwards they handed out candles, extra towels and brooms/mops and squeegees to guest to help control the damage.
At the airport during the evacutaion, we meet some guests that were evacauted from Secrets by military helicopter, apparently things were very bad up there. Theose guests wound up sleeping outside the airport Firday night (not in the airport).
We were also told that the horse ranch (next to Secrets?) flooded badly and over 30 horses drowned.
We were told several other hotels were shut down completely.
It seems like we were very lucky at the Flamenco, from the stories, other hotels faired far worse.
As to reports by management, we learned that although locals began evacuation Wednesday morning, we were not told of the storm until Wednesday evening and even then we told it was small and nothng to worry about. Later they told us it was worse than expected. We received no instruction on how to deal with the storm and were left to fend for ourselves.
As we left on Sat, the cleanup begain to progress, although cosmetically I think they'll get the resort looking fair quickly, it'll be some time till its fully functional. I would advise those who can delay the trips to do so.

Thanks for your exellent report "Stewylouie". Our tour operator "Sunjets" is still trying to gather information and flights apparently still go out to Punta Cana.
If anybody has more info on the situation in Punta Cana ( if possible the Occidental Grand Flamenco ) please do advice

a million thanks,

Jan

[smurfin]

We're going there the 6th october, also with Sunjets. Hope everything will be ok by then...

[gonzaga]

As this is the resort I prefer to stay at when I'm on holidays in Punta Cana. My last trip to this resort was November 2004.

This resort this time last year were in the process of doing some major renovations to the beach buffet and main lobby buffet, (which were closed) and around the resort. The renovations was completed by 2004. My brother and his wife were there last year as well and went back to P.C. in February & said that the renovations were very nice, especially to the main buffet.

[Dolores]

Reports from people who also have been there confirms the hotel did not suffer structural damage that would affect the stay of the guests. The roofs lost some of their exterior decorative tiles, but things are rapidly coming back to normal. By 6 October all should be back to normal. Please report back your experience.

[Lejean]

Originally Posted by Dolores

Reports from people who also have been there confirms the hotel did not suffer structural damage that would affect the stay of the guests. The roofs lost some of their exterior decorative tiles, but things are rapidly coming back to normal. By 6 October all should be back to normal. Please report back your experience.

Thanks for the encouraging message, Dolores. Although we didn't hear any news from our touroperator, the messages on this forum seem to have a positive vibe on the situation in Punta Cana ( Occidental Grand Flamenco ). Right now I would say there's a 75% chance we'll take the flight.

I'm pretty sure the tour operator will give their advice the latest on wednesday, and I hope it will be objective. But with the information gathered on this Forum I think I have a pretty good idea on the situation.

Many thanks to DR1

If u have any more info on the situation, please keep us posted. We'll post a situation report as soon as we get there.

[smurfin]

Originally Posted by Dolores

Reports from people who also have been there confirms the hotel did not suffer structural damage that would affect the stay of the guests. The roofs lost some of their exterior decorative tiles, but things are rapidly coming back to normal. By 6 October all should be back to normal. Please report back your experience.

Thanx for the information... I just discovered the list with the damaged hotels, hadn't seen it yet. It seems indeed that the Occidental Grand Flamenco has only suffered some minor damages. I feel relieved.

I'll sure let you know how it was. Will be my first time in DR

[Lejean]

Originally Posted by smurfin

Thanx for the information... I just discovered the list with the damaged hotels, hadn't seen it yet. It seems indeed that the Occidental Grand Flamenco has only suffered some minor damages. I feel relieved.

I'll sure let you know how it was. Will be my first time in DR

Dear Smurfin,

I can tell u that the Occidental Grand Flamenco is a good choice. We've been there last year and thought we were walking through a postcard. Also the service, staff, service, swimming pools, rooms were great. My girlfriend, who has been all over the world, said it was the best resort ever ... For me, who has been nowhere ( uhm, spain and Greece ), it was paradise.

Too bad we are leaving the 6th of october , otherwise we could have a drink together at the poolbar

Bye,

jan

[scottrennie]

We're heading to the same hotel, very concerned as to the condition? Have you heard from any others at all??

Originally Posted by Lejean

Hi All,

This is my first visit to this Forum/website, and first of all I would like to encourage the people of the DR in their struggle with nature (Jeanne). Over here in Belgium Jeanne has been in the news for the last few days with terrible images from the DR.

It happens that we are leaving on the 25th destination Occidental Grand Flamenco in Punta Cana. Does anybody have some info about the resort ? Is it damaged ? Should we delay our trip ?

We would be thankfull for some information

Many thanks

Jan & Helga