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Buganvilias Resort upcoming trip

Netski

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Hi all,

We have reservations for one week at Buganvilias in PV for the first week in November. We have not made air travel reservations yet......because, you know why!! So unsure......Shall we make flight reservations with travel insurance to cover cancellation now or wait? We really want to go, we LOVE our timeshare & PV, but are seriously confused about what to do. Yes I am a worrier! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Netski
 

PigsDad

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You could reserve a flight on Southwest and that would limit your financial exposure since there are no fees for cancellations / changes (if you would use the credit amount in the next year). As for the health side, it is really a personal decision; I'm sure everyone has their own threshold of risk.

Kurt
 

WalnutBaron

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+1 on Kurt's comments. Regarding PV, Mexico has 38% of the population compared to the USA, but less than 10% positive cases compared to the USA. If you feel the risk is acceptable to travel in the USA, you will likely feel safe traveling to PV. One other factor to consider: flying presents its own unique set of risks. The CDC says that the highest risk of catching the virus is being in close proximity (within 6 feet) of an infected person in a confined space without sufficient air flow. Sounds like getting on an airplane, doesn't it?
 

Eric B

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CDC's position on the risk of air travel is a bit nuanced because of the effect of filtration and the exchange of air inside an airplane with air sourced from outside the airplane. Here's what they say:

Considerations for Types of Travel
Travel increases your chances of getting and spreading COVID-19. We don’t know if one type of travel is safer than others; however, airports, bus stations, train stations, and rest stops are all places travelers can be exposed to the virus in the air and on surfaces. These are also places where it can be hard to social distance (keep 6 feet apart from other people).

Consider the following risks for getting or spreading COVID-19, depending on how you travel:

Air travel

Air travel requires spending time in security lines and airport terminals, which can bring you in close contact with other people and frequently touched surfaces. Most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on flights because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes. However, social distancing is difficult on crowded flights, and you may have to sit near others (within 6 feet), sometimes for hours. This may increase your risk for exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19.

Source:

 

pittle

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We have been going to PV for at least 2 weeks in November for the past 15 years. Friends and family join us. We are scheduled to go for 3 weeks - November 13 - December 5. We have one VRBO week reserved in Old Town on the beach and 2 weeks at the Buganvilias. Our Thanksgiving week in our Imperial Sky Suite is our favorite vacation week each year. We generally use one of our bonus weeks for the week after. I used AA miles for our tickets and made reservations in late January. So we are in the same situation.

We are now considering cancelling and will make our final decision around Labor Day. My brother and his wife are really concerned (they took out travel insurance) as is my DIL (has not bought tickets yet). I check Trip Advisor Puerto Vallarta Forums each day and PV online news. There are several folks who live there who report in on the TA PV Forum and it is not sounding as good as I would like. My husband is doing chemo right now, so that puts him in the high risk category. While we do not get out as much as we used to, we do like to go to some of our favorite local restaurants. We had already commented that we would not ride the bus this year before we found out hubs needed chemo.

A much as we love PV and look forward to our annual trip, it may be a good year to stay home. We have to pay the MF regardless and we have until October 12 to cancel the VRBO with a full refund. The miles can be put back into our account for another year. I will ask if we can transfer our bonus week to 2021.
 
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simon63

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I am in Club Regina Cancun now, the resort has 30% of ocupation and they take many sanity measures, the social distance between groups is right. What I didn’t want was the flight, there wasn’t social distance between seats and they sold food during the flight.
 

Eric B

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We have been going to PV for at least 2 weeks in November for the past 15 years. Friends and family join us. We are scheduled to go for 3 weeks - November 13 - December 5. We have one VRBO week reserved in Old Town on the beach and 2 weeks at the Buganvilias. Our Thanksgiving week in our Imperial Sky Suite is our favorite vacation week each year. We generally use one of our bonus weeks for the week after. I used AA miles for our tickets and made reservations in late January. So we are in the same situation.

We are now considering cancelling and will make our final decision around Labor Day. My brother ans his wife are really concerned (they took out travel insurance) as is my DIL (has not bought tickets yet). I check Trip Advisor Puerto Vallarta Forums each day and PV online news. There are several folks who live there who report in on the TA PV Forum and it is not sounding as good as I would like. My husband is doing chemo right now, so that puts him in the high risk category. While we do not get out as much as we used to, we do like to go to some of our favorite local restaurants. We had already commented that we would not ride the bus this year before we found out hubs needed chemo.

A much as we love PV and look forward to our annual trip, it may be a good year to stay home. We have to pay the MF regardless and we have until October 12 to cancel the VRBO with a full refund. The miles can be put back into our account for another year. I will ask if we can transfer our bonus week to 2021.

We already canceled our February/March trip down there, banked the week at Buganvilias in our Sky Suite for next year in anticipation of shifting that one to 2023, and so on. They were happy to do that for us, but we can't adjust the 2023 reservations until January. We had prepaid the MFs for both of those; they let us cancel and bank the 2021 week with no charge due to the COVID situation, but we'll have to pay $59 for next year's. In the end, that means we'll get an extra year out of the contract, which doesn't have all that long left in it anyway. If this goes on past next year we'll wind up having to use a Sky Suite week during the summer, which isn't too bad.
 

pittle

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Thanks for the info!
 

Netski

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Thank you all very much for your informative answers & advice!! I think we may just go ahead & bank our week to 2021 to be on the safe side. Flying seems too risky right now. However, I am so reassured by your time & heartfelt replies. Stay safe & see you in PV next year! Hopefully:cool:
 

pittle

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Today I cancelled our Thanksgiving trip. :cry::cry::cry: I just could not take a chance on my husband's health as we learned that he will be taking chemo treatments until the end of the year.

The Buganvilias is such a class act. They let me reschedule for November 2021 and gave me reservations in some awesome units. :) So I am now on a new countdown! While it is disappointing, I know it is best for us. Our friends who usually meet us in PV for Thanksgiving said that they would change their reservations too and fly out here instead.
 

Fredflintstone

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I love PV! And yes, sadly just dont feel it’s the right time to travel. It’s not really because of COVID itself....it’s because of all the safe guards making travel a hassle. Heck, I already dislike popping on a face mask to get a jug of milk at Safeway. I can imagine masked up for a 5 hour flight plus transfer/wait time. Also, rules can change on a dime. Today, it’s all good...tomorrow 14 day quarantine, added measures, etc.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

easyrider

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This kind of reminds me of 2008-09 in Mexico. It felt like we were the only ones there at times. Our resort was able to fill about 30% of the room in winter season. We are heading south this winter. It will be different. We did purchase trip insurance but we do this for all International trips. Our flights to Mexico have all the center seats empty.

Bill
 

pittle

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I just cancelled my 4 weeks in January at the Buganvilias. The first time I will not be in PV in 15+ years.
Karen, I know how you feel! :cry::cry::cry:

We treasure our 2 weeks there in November each year. There have been many times when we are sitting on our deck looking at the ocean or sunset, that my husband says "Heaven is going to be like this".

We also own Vidanta Grand Luxxe units that are super nice, but we just love our Buganvilias!
 
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DBS1968

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Just came back from Paradise Village at the end of June. Airports were pretty empty at LAX and Houston. Was not hard to distance, everybody in masks. Saw two people in "Hazmat", although not worn properly...lol PV Airport sanitized our bags before the taxi, driver had mask. Resort was cleaner than ANY place I have seen in the US(bar a hospital), massive protocols. Went to PV for dinner and the restaurats were same, limited seating in some and all people had masks on. Just cause it's Mexico doesn't mean it's not serious to them as well. We felt safer there than in Phoenix. Almost booked extra days to stay longer. If you take care of yourself and do the smart things you can, you should be o.k. Just as safe as going to one of our grocery stores. And before anyone says something about the rates in AZ, we are down to 1500 and less cases a day and less then 100 deaths. ALl of us are in very good health and fitness, so if you have co-morbidity, then going anywhere right now probably a roll of the dice IMO.
 

TheHappyWanderer

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One thing to remember when comparing Covid-19 cases in the U.S. to Mexico is that a much lower % of the population in Mexico has actually been tested for Covid-19. For instance, less than 1% of the P.V. population has been tested so far.

The positivity rate of those who have been tested in P.V. has fallen from 60% in mid-July to 38% now (part of that decrease is due to increased testing being done). A positivity rate of under 5% is one indication that Covid-19 is under control in an area.


We are still hopeful of travelling to P.V. in November if the positivity rate keeps falling. But we do not expect the positivity rate to fall all the way down to 5% with so little testing being done.
 
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T-Dot-Traveller

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One thing to remember when comparing Covid-19 cases in the U.S. to Mexico is that a much lower % of the population in Mexico has actually been tested for Covid-19. For instance, less than 1% of the P.V. population has been tested so far.

The positivity rate of those who have been tested in P.V. has fallen from 60% in mid-July to 38% now. A positivity rate of under 5% is one indication that Covid-19 is under control in an area.


We are still hopeful of travelling to P.V. in November if the positivity rate keeps falling.

My guess is that the positivity rate is above 30% because right now - only those showing symptoms & risk factors are getting a test . That said - there is probably plenty of on going Covid 19 transmission in the PV area .

Our booked weeks are in Feb. We will wait & see.
 

TheHappyWanderer

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Yeah it's very hard to compare numbers between countries when the testing is so different. I am hopeful that P.V. is now starting to improve Covid wise, so that we can go on November, but time will tell.
 

dsmrp

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We have 2 units reserved in mid December, thru RCI HGVC portal exchange. I was looking fwd to going to PV for first time, but just waiting to see if RCI will extend Covid cancellation policy to December exchanges. I don't want to lose that hefty exchange fee, if it can be helped.
 
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