I was on a trip by myself which was half holiday, half a self-arranged fam trip visiting Sandals resorts. The last hotel I was staying at was, luckily, Sandals Montego Bay, so just five minutes from the airport – my scheduled flight home was the Virgin Atlantic 9.30pm from MBJ to LHR on 25th October [The Jamaican government has closed its international airports until further notice].
Sandals Montego Bay had started taking measures to secure the property, taking sunbeds off the beach, securing all water sports equipment, reducing the restaurants and advising guests to try and get an earlier flight home before the weekend if possible.
By Saturday [25 October] it almost felt like an empty resort. Many guests had made it out, and some, like me, were waiting for their flight that day – or if they couldn’t get a flight, sticking it out in the hotel.
It was windy with intermittent clouds and showers, humid but the atmosphere felt very much like the calm before the storm in a very literal sense.
Staff were offered to stay in the resort so they didn’t have to risk travelling home and back, so they were there for the guests.
I was in a swim out room, and by say 2pm on Saturday they closed the pool and started to drain the water for safety.
The hotel manager gave multiple updates on when airports may close and advising guests on what was best for them to do.
After leaving, I heard guests and staff were moved to first floor rooms instead of ground level, and to the centre of the hotel instead of being spread out, for safety reasons.
I left the hotel around 6pm to head to the airport.
The airport was not busy and didn’t have a sense of panic at all, just the usual laid back Jamaican vibes – business as usual it seemed. There were only maybe three or four flights out that evening, so it was not very busy.
Club Mobay lounge was quite full but seemed a normal level and staff were attentive like on a usual day, no sense of stress.
The flight back also brought home the crew from the outbound flight so they were not forced to stay in Jamaica, as the next Virgin flight to MBJ was cancelled.
I spoke with one of the crew and they said people were offered the choice not fly on the outbound, but many chose to – which I found surprising – and it was a nearly full flight out too, apparently.
Most of all I feel guilty being able to leave the country, and leaving all the lovely hotel staff and residents of Jamaica there to prepare for Melissa.
