Has anyone seen the news today about this hotel having a poisoning outbreak? It was on GMTV this morning. Beware, if you're booked to go here, check with your tour operator first to make sure things are going ahead or if they will move you to another hotel!

I was booked to go here in September until I changed today but only after a 5hr fight with tour operator, no way was I going here with my children especially when our youngest son is making a recovery after a long illness. Tour operator not willing at all to help, until I kicked off! insisted eventually on speaking to a manager and they finally agreed to let us change our flight dates, for changing they were going to take 50% off which meant we would have lost £1300, no way was that going to happen!! They said it was because we were within 8 wks of departure. All I can say is if you're booked here and having trouble with your tour operator - stand firm! We have changed our holiday completely, off to Majorca (which we know well) in a 4* hotel, upgraded to superior rooms and can be assured that we won't end up in hospital and I get £800 refund. Not the Caribbean but at least we can go with easy minds. Tour operators should be contacting their customers and offering them free alternatives or a full refund!

Sparkycat who was your tour operator,
We are booked to go there in Sept and want to change.

Hi Toots
Our tour operator was mytravel and what a fight I had on my hands....just stand firm and insist they do something for you, the staff seem to be briefed on what to say to customers phoning up and after a slight battle they agreed that I could change my holiday but that I had to fly out on the same day, as we were travelling from NCL the only option they gave me was Tenerife, Italy, Menorca, Ibiza and Turkey - no thanks... after some lengthy time I insisted on speaking to her manager the reasons they gave me was because we were within 8 wks of travelling, this they said was why we had to fly out on the same day, anyway after some considerable time with me just getting more annoyed the manager agreed that we could change dates we were flying and we decided to opt for a holiday to Majorca instead...and also got a load of cash back, so we can go and spend and spend without the thought of getting ill. No way were we going to this place, the tour operator will try to persuade you to stay there as they say "by the time you get there, everything will be fine" yeah right... Who are you travelling with? the sooner you contact them to change the better so you're not getting too close to your departure date. Please let me know how you get on. Good luck Alison

Hi Alison

We are traveling with First Choice. Have already had one argument with them. They told us everything will be fine when we go.
We have been told to go back on Saturday. Hopefuly they will have a clearer picture by then.

Toots

I would try and change my hotel ASAP if I was still booked to go there.

Passengers flying back to Glasgow today were kept on the My Travel plane for 90 minutes because several were ill and the flight from the Dominican Republic was quarantined -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6939090.stm

Hi Toots, honestly they will try anything for you not to change their booking, as they are hardly going to have queues of people waiting to book this accomodation. if you're sure you want to change your booking then don't let them win, insist that they do something, I told them I would be contacting Holiday Watchdog and I would certainly take it further should they not allow me to change my holiday, then insist on speaking to the manager. As long as you are polite but firm then you often find once you get higher up they do allow you to change your booking. Anything is worth a try. Good luck. Alison

According to DR1 which is the DomRep News Portal it was food related !
Local Enviromental Officers think it is Staphylococcus aureus, a leading cause of gastroenteritis resulting from the consumption of contaminated food. One tour operator is cancelling NEW bookings (TC are their initials)

According to GMTV this morning the tour operators THINK it might be a virus.
They have said food preperation and serving is o.k
Also said people are being struck down with this for the second and third time. Report's were from people still at the hotel.

Toots, If you want to change your booking I would just get in touch with first choice. I am sure it had on gmtv yesterday that the operators were now willing to change the bookings now as I dont think they are taking any new ones at the moment either for that place

I booked this hotel for my daughter and her husband for their honeymoon. They flew out on monday 6th august when they landed were told they would not be going to this hotel they had booked them into another hotel on the island. My daughter phoned me to let me know glad she did as next day it was on the tele and I would of been very worried. Dont know which hotel she is in but they are very happy with hotel. So Im sure anyone else due to go will be transfered to another hotel. I booked with first choice.

Hi dont know if this helps but my husband and i have travelled the caribbean a lot and have been to dom rep twice. The second time was sept 05 and this time we paid a lot of money and booked a year in advance. The air condiioning was broken as were the other three rooms they tried to move us to. A national holiday there meant every local for around 50 miles invaded the hotel and treated the tourists with contempt and violence. The food was not brilliant and my husband ended up with mild food poisoning. All the alcoholic drinks were so watered down you couldn't taste the difference between any drink you had. the 'nightclub' up the strip was a seedy place and the local prostitutes hung around there at night. the pool was only ever cleaned once whilst we were there and that was only when we objected after one dominican family's 8 year old son decided to use it to empty his bowels. I actually slipped on the wet floor at the poolside bar as it was never dry and cracked my head - they came and mopped up around me whilst an english tourist helped me get up dazed and bruised. I would NEVER recommend this hotel and no matter what they say about re-fitting it aint gonna happen! We stayed at a 3/4* the year before - Occidental Allegro in puerto plata - now that was a fantastic hotel.

Hi my daughter and husband have since returned from their honeymoon. They had a lovely time they stayed at the rui merenge hotel said it was lovely.

Ooh! Riu Merengue. We had a fantastic holiday there (our first in the Caribbean) 3 years ago. Glad to hear they had a lovely place to stay on their honeymoon.

I stayed at the Bahia Principe San Juan several years ago with my then 6 and 12 month old son. I found the place to be very clean, and saw the pool being cleaned daily. None of us got ill, and the children were eating a large selection of food. I am well-travelled, so have plenty ot compare it to.

It was only last year or the year before that the Riu hotels were suffering similar bouts of illness, which, if I remember rightly, ended in the eventual closing of the hotels to put things right. As far as I am concerned, most of the press coverage is scare mongering, you can get ill, including food poisoning, anywhere. I would imagine, as in the Riu case, that this is a virus. the amount of people who do not wash their hands before/after eating or using the toilet is disgusting.

The food poisoning here was not a virus it has been proved that it is indeed the staph bacteria. Many people dont wash their hands but this should not readily be a problem to themselves. As I said previously my husband was ill and others, and as I am a nurse I always carry plenty of meds just in case and ended up giving a lot out to people who couldnt get them. My husband fastidiously washes his hands all the time so I know then it was food related. I have a friend who recently started to rep at this hotel and 'the virus' was put out to cover and prevent scare mongering - it was not a virus. Sorry but it doesn't matter what the hotel is in the news for it should not be happening these days with the amount of money being poured into tourism that it has. Especially as most of the caribbean hotels are american owned.

Hi

I'm trying to make contact with people who have stayed at the Bahia Principe in San Juan and became ill. I've seen reports that over 200 British tourist became very ill when staying there. Please could you get in touch with me with via the site or on *Edit to remove phone number, please contact via PM. Pippy*

I hope to hear from you soon

Best wishes

Kylie

Crikey, not again.
Bahia Principe do seem a bit prone to these outbreaks, which is strange as they're a quality chain.
Didn't BP San Juan have illness major problems last year and the Punta Cana hotel the year before ?

I think there have been a few. It's the one in San Juan I'm interested in. I'm keen to speak to people who have been there and got sick. Were you there?