Canadian airlines and operators are offering passengers options to postpone their vacations in Varadero, Cuba due to the ongoing blackout in the popular resort area. But Air Canada Vacations (ACV) went one step further and cancelled its flights from Montreal and Toronto for 23OCT.
“We don’t want our customers to have to deal with these outages,” Air Canada Vacations Vice President, Nino Montagnese, told Open Jaw.
The operator is reaching out to travellers heading to Varadero from 21OCT to 27OCT with options to postpone their vacations, change destinations, or accept a voucher for a future date.
"There has not been much impact -- all flights have operated up to now," said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick. "We presently serve Cayo Coco and Varadero. For tomorrow, the southbound flight to Varadero is cancelled, but an aircraft will go down to bring people back."
Air Transat has a similar offer for travel dates up to 23OCT, and Sunwing’s make good offer is available through 23OCT and extends to Holguin and Cayo Coco as well.
Rolling blackouts have slammed the island nation since its power grid collapsed 18OCT as Tropical Storm Oscar hit the island. Most resorts have their own generators, although Global Affairs Canada has warned that these may stop working if the blackout persists since access to fuel is also limited. Travel advisors who’ve talked to clients in Varadero say generators are still working as of 21OCT in resorts like Blau Varadero and Hotel Roc Barlovento.
However, at Roc Barlovento, one advisor posted “no water” on social media around noon 21OCT.
The Cuba Tourist Board of Canada told Open Jaw on 21OCT that power would be restored in tourist areas within 24 hours, and that vacationers in resorts with no power have been moved to hotels with generators.
Havana and Matanzas have power, according to the Board, but “Varadero is taking longer and it has been a slower process due to the higher consumption and the number of generators being used,” spokesman Lessner Gomez told Open Jaw on 22OCT. “So their integration to the grid has been slower, but is improving.”
“The rest of the tour operators are maintaining their flights and we don’t anticipate major disruptions,” he added.
Power was restored to most of Havana 21OCT – just in time for a hurricane to touch down in eastern Cuba, knocking out power lines, causing flooding and killing six people as it weakened to a tropical storm and headed for the Bahamas. As of 22OCT, the storm was 110 km’s off the Bahamas coast – and it could become a hurricane again by Saturday, according to the Associated Press.
The CBC reported that eastern Cuba remains in the dark and without reliable communications.
Stay tuned for further updates.
