DENTON, Texas — Their flight to the Dominican Republic is scheduled to leave July 21. But Kristin Stewart and her husband won’t be on the plane.
“We had our plans. We booked them in March, and we were ready to go,” Stewart said.
Stewart and her husband visited the Caribbean nation for the first time two years ago. They had heard good things about the DR and decided to vacation there for Stewart’s 40th birthday.
This year, Stewart’s husband is turning 40. And this time around, they made plans to head back to the Dominican Republic with another couple.
“We were really looking forward to going back,” Stewart said. “Unfortunately, that won’t happen ever again.”
According to ABC News, at least 10 Americans have died in the Dominican Republic in the last 12 months.
“Slowly and surely, we saw different things happening. Crime rates increased,” Stewart said. “All of the sudden, so many people were dying from their resorts.”
“We don’t want to just leave the country and not come back. So we cancelled,” said Stewart.
Stewart says everyone in their group had travel insurance. However, she said the airline didn’t refund them their money.
“It was just really unfortunate. They’re only giving vouchers. They’re not sending you money back for the trip that you booked. So I don’t really want to go there any time soon so using a voucher really isn’t helpful to us. We just lost a lot of money,” Stewart said.
Last week, we introduced you to a family in Grand Prairie, whose loved one died in the Dominican Republic last June.
“It’s just not worth it. It’s not worth the money. It’s not worth your life. It’s not worth risking leaving your families,” Stewart said.