Fear of violence prompts students to back out

At the end of last semester, Abby Goldbach ’20 began planning a spring break trip that she hoped would be a fun-filled last hurrah for her and her other senior friends at St. Joe’s. 

Goldbach had been the only junior on a senior spring break trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico last year, and she wanted to share that experience again as a senior. 

“It’s the last spring break you get before everyone goes into the working world, and it’s nice to be with your grade and friends,” Goldbach said. 

When Goldbach polled her classmates, the most popular choice was Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic. By the end of May, about 90 students had put down $10 deposits to secure a spot on the trip. 

 As they locked in their spots, the story of Tammy Lawrence-Daley, 51, from Delaware, made the news. In late May, Lawrence-Daley began speaking publicly about a January incident at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana where she  said she was beaten for eight hours in an unlocked maintenance room. Lawrence-Daley survived the attack and sued the resort. Nobody has been charged with the crime.

While Goldbach was busy planning the trip, other stories made the news involving tourists suffering from severe illness and, in some cases, death during their stays at hotels and resorts in the Dominican Republic. As this information was getting out to the public, some of the  students on Goldbach’s trip began pulling out, forfeiting their $10 deposits.  

Goldbach’s trip her junior year had been run through JusCollege, a company that provides college travel experiences through exclusive packages. The students last year paid $1,799 each for seven nights in Cabo. JusCollege was supposed to organize this year’s trip too.

Travel companies like JusCollege and XtremeTrips, which cater to college students, book all-inclusive stays through agencies that allow students to make monthly payments rather than pay for a trip upfront. Last year’s group from St. Joe’s paid in installments of $300 or less. 

Garrett Majam, the representative from JusCollege who was helping Goldbach plan the trip, said St. Joe’s students were not the only group to ask to switch their trips to different destinations.

“I personally had three other campuses that were deposited for [Punta Cana], but I switched them to [another destination] for no extra fee,” Majam said in an email. “Company wide, we have switched out over 10 campuses from [Punta Cana] to Cancun or to Cabo.”

Finding a new destination for Goldbach’s trip has proved tricky. She is now trying to recruit students for a trip to Miami, again using JusCollege. Although the travel company isn’t offering trips to Miami this year,  Majam added he was willing to do a custom trip to Miami for the St. Joe’s students.

Miami has received an influx of tourists due to the incidents in Punta Cana and the destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas. As a result, prices in Miami have skyrocketed. 

Goldbach said JusCollege gave her a quote of $1,800 per person to Miami. Although it was the same price as the Cabo trip the previous year, the Cabo package included transportation, flight costs, concerts and unlimited food and drinks.

“There are no ‘all-inclusive’ resorts in the continental U.S.,” Majam said. “If students want true ‘all-inclusives,’ then they need to travel out of the country. 

Marion Lambert, owner of Senior Excursions, a travel agency based in Wildwood, New Jersey, that specializes in group tours, books trips for travelers to Punta Cana and other popular Caribbean destinations. 

Lambert acknowledged that “people will steer clear for a while.” But that also means Punta Cana is more affordable. When a country relies so heavily on tourism, it will try to draw the tourists back in by dropping the prices, Lambert said, making the country more appealing for travelers. 

But this isn’t enough to persuade some St. Joe’s students. 

Tatum Pappas ’20, who was in charge of helping to recruit fellow students for Goldbach’s trip, forfeited her deposit not long after the incidents at the resorts came to light. 

“We didn’t feel comfortable going, and we knew our parents wouldn’t let us go to Punta Cana,” Pappas said. 

Jeff Hoffner ’20 also pulled out of the trip. He said he was skeptical of the whole venture anyway. 

“It seemed to me to be a little too good to be true,” Hoffner said. “It seemed very Fyre festival-esque,” referring to the 2017 fraudulent luxury music festival that was supposed to take place in the Bahamas and that scammed thousands of people out of hundreds and thousands of dollars. 

A number of the seniors who originally planned to go on Goldbach’s trip are striking out on their own, booking their Miami flights and hotels despite the spike in prices.

Sabrina Grandrimo ’20 and her friends had been debating among Punta Cana, Miami and South Padre Island. They ultimately decided on Miami. 

“It’s going to be safer,” Grandrimo said. 

Lambert said the key to traveling abroad for spring break is to go with care.

“I would tell my children that they can go [to the Dominican Republic],” Lambert said. “You just have to be smart wherever you go.”