Some tourists are thinking of changing their vacation plans after City of Miami Beach Commissioners voted to extend an 8 p.m. curfew and nightly shutdown of the three major causeways that allow access to the island.
It’s a decision some tourists are disappointed with.
“A lot of things were closed down for us, so it is bittersweet,” said Kamoni Donnelly.
Donnelly says many of his plans were cut short and had planned to fly out of Miami Monday night.
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“It definitely cut a lot of plans early I couldn’t do anything past 8 o'clock yesterday and we had a few other plans,” Donnelly said.
Despite the recent state of emergency declaration, travel experts say it may be difficult to get a refund on your current travel reservations.
However, in some instances, travel insurance can offer some protections.
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“There is travel insurance that covers the basics of canceled flights, hurricanes and stuff like that. But there is also travel insurance that will allow you to cancel for any reason, you pay more but you will be cover for situations such as this,” travel expert Chris Lopinto said.
Lopinto, with ExpertFlyer, says you will want to read the fine print of any travel insurance policy.
He says often policies that cover a wide array of cancellation reasons cost more. One silver lining -- many airlines are not charging additional fees to change your flight time or day.
“Most airlines are waiving change fees so if you want to take a different flight, like a flight an earlier day, they are not charging change fees. But maybe subject to a chance in fare, if the fair is more expensive, but that’s not something that will be covered under insurance,” Lopinto said.
With more relaxed COVID restrictions in Florida and increased hotel and flight availability, Lopinto says larger crowds are expected.
“More availability and more options make it cheaper, and at this point people are willing to pay whatever because they want to go somewhere warm, they have been cooked up in the house, they want to get out and have fun and go to the beach,” Lopinto said.
