To be worried about my holiday to the Dominican Republic

[flamed12]

Read this article

www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7130807/amp/FBI-investigating-SIX-mysterious-American-deaths-two-Dominican-Republic-hotels-past-year.html

Plus another about a athlete from America being shot in the back this week and about about an American woman badly beaten in her hotel.

I leave in a week and have paid a lot of money but now I’m scared to go. Been booked for 6 months as was really looking forward to it. We are staying at a resort very close to the Hard rock hotel in the article above in punta Cana.

I wondered how long it would take for this absurd scaremongering to reach MN.
Two million people visit the Dominican Republic annually, some of these will die. Those with a pre-existing heart condition or take recreational drugs, both of which were implicated in the recent deaths are more vulnerable.

We take all our family to the DR every summer. They all love it, the people are delightful, our hotel is excellent, and we have never felt unsafe or insecure.

We are all looking forward to returning in July.

@flamed12 It might be worth looking into some of those cases more. Two of the people who died had heart conditions. The story of the lady who was badly beaten is hugely controversial, it's not entirely known what happened there but it doesn't appear to be as she said it was.

You're not staying at any of the hotels involved. Don't get in a froth because of some dodgy sensationalist reporting.

My friend has just come back from DR with 3 dc. She had an amazing time. No issues at all.

I hadn’t heard of the mini bar thing in the news before. I would be trying to change location.

I thought this was going to be about this story - www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7095405/Husband-tourist-beaten-Dominican-Republic-says-authorities-bungled-investigation.html

Utterly horrific, not just what happened to her but the whole hush hush of it.

I'm not really sure what I'd do OP but tbh it would out me off. Whatever (if anything) is going on is going to take a long time to come out.

If I could salvage some of the money paid and go somewhere else I'd have a better holiday.

But plenty will tell me I'm being irrational, so I'm just telling you my own personal gut feeling.

There was two deaths in the same cruise ship recently, these things happen.

The op isn’t even going to either of the hotels involved anyway.

It has really put me off unfortunately and we have looked forward to it for months. I have anxiety generally and now I’m just worried but I doubt I will be able to get any money back if I don’t want to go

I’m American and have read not to visit the DR for just this reason. It shocked me because cousins of mine went about three years ago and had no problems at all.

Thanks. Is the advice not to travel from an official source?

Id not worry about it. The story about the woman being assaulted in the middle of the night seems like it was her husband and they both had it planned

I read it on our local news but I’m not sure where the article came out of though, I’m sorry to say. This was about 6 months ago.

The FBI is involved in the investigation, I read about it in an NY times supplement and it’s all over the American media- it’s not just the Daily Mail reporting on it.

I don’t think there’s an official advice but the article I read did say that people are cancelling so you’re definitely not the only one concerned.

Can you change to somewhere else if you think this will ruin your enjoyment of the break?

The Caribbean Islands are 3rd world countries, and many have problems away from the resorts. They rely heavily on tourism.
We have been to the DR three times over the years and had a great time. We only left the hotel on organised tours (as we have done in other places, e.g Mexico), apart form in Barbados, which is meant to be "safer."
It is in the country's interests, in view of its dependence on tourism, to clamp down on incidents like this. And if you stay in the hotel complex, or stick to First Choice tours, you will be absolutely fine.

I've been twice... last December and this April. Both times to Bahia Principe Hotel in La Romana. I drank from the mini bar every night - they only give you a choice of scotch or vodka miniatures (sealed) and the soft drinks are tango orange or pepsi - all in sealed bottles. In fact, in that DM article, the view from the couple's window looks exactly the same as the room we stayed in!

The food was really nice. I got no upset tummy at all and came home a bit too fat.

I'm sure you'll be fine OP. You are not even going to that hotel anyway.

Thanks, I’ve rationalised it and I do think we will be ok but I just want to go and eat and drink and not worry about possible poisoning etc. I know once I get there and everything seems ok and we are enjoying our time in the pool and beach I’ll be ok (hopefully)