Hi nuttarussell
can you tell me if you have had your results back. We are going to Sonesta Club on 2nd July. I am feeling a wee bit worried now.

Hi bairn

I wouldn't worry unduly reguarding the Sonesta club and food poisoning. I have had e coli 0157 a few years ago. I thought i had caught it from a burger and after tests proved i got it from a restaurant in Cyprus a few days earlier before i even got on the ship to Cairo. So in this case it could be the same, as it happened within 24 hours of being in the Sonesta club. It was never mentioned if the symptoms stopped after the first 24 hours or was still with nuttarussell, but either way i wouldn't wait until i got home to see a doctor.

I always advise any cramps/stomach upsets go to see the hotel doctor, it is free if you take out the excess waiver on your travel insurance. The doctor will examine and determine the illness, do tests etc and get you fixed in a few hours to a day or so, why be in discomfort for so long? The Sonesta Club and Sonesta Beach use the same doctor, they are excellent and speak very good English. Summer months are notorious for bacteria bugs, we are 'so clean' in the UK they we do not carry 'germs', therefore going to another country with different mixtures of foods and sauces will notably give you some sort of diarrhea, unless of course you have a cast iron stomach.

Advice from the doctor in resort has always remained the same, as well as good hygiene practice, avoid beef, it takes 3 days to disperse into your system, therefore can cause contamination to the gut. Fill up on bread rolls, avoid excessive water and water melon as its liquid and causes the bacteria to loosen bowel motions. Anything that is stodgy is good, and drink plenty of lemon sprite. Avoid air-conditioning at night at any cost as it freezes and contracts the gut causing spasms, and avoid going into too cold shops. When you go for meals, go early so it is not standing so long.

Sonesta club does have its fair share of complaints, but also for every bad is a good one, bairn my advice is if you get cramps seek medical help immediately, they will call at your room, or go to the surgery, do not leave it to fester, that way, you can continue you well earned holiday in the red sea.

I do hope nuttarussell gets better soon

Good luck

Michelle x
sonesta beach resort queen

Hi Debbie . I was very ill when staying at the sonesta Beach resort over Easter . see my post here http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=23153&start=420 Now I can't say for definate what caused it but i'm fairly certain it was something I ate ., maybe the fresh fruit salad that I was hoovering up twice a day that nobody else from my family ate . My symptons were those of classic food poisoning and i was still ill for several days on my return . there were plenty of guests there at the time that had it and I have been to Egypt at the same time of year on several occasions and never experienced anything like this .

I was laid up in bed for a day and a half and along with the diahorrea I was shivering one minute and sweating the next and barely concious half of the time . It was so bad that I didnt even know it was coming out of me at times . Shocking to wake up in bed and find it

My daughter, mum and friend were the same, quite poorly, and all the times i have been in the summer months i am the same as you Lyn. This is why i have since switched to November, although still 80s in the day, the night a lot cooler. I never experienced any kind of looseness this time. If i did as my other post describes, i wouldnt suffer, and get treated straight away. When i first went to sharm i spend loads on antinal and other remedies, but the fact of the matter is that if its bacteria it needs antibiotics. On a personal level i am pleased to say the food has improved 100 percent since i went last year, but to be honest where ever i go i get the runs and cramps, and i am not going to let it spoil places i want to visit, nor has it put me off egypt. All any of us can do is practice good procedures whilst out there, remember it is a 3rd world country, and we have to maybe except that some of us will have some illness or other. I just go to the quacks and be done with it. Maybe now anyone reading this will do this, there is no reason why anyone should have there holiday spoilt

Michelle x

sonesta beach resort queen

and i am not going to let it spoil places i want to visit, nor has it put me off egypt.

I completely agree there Michelle and it hasn't put me off of Egypt . What it has done though is put me off trying different hotels and to just stick with the one where I havnt had any problems

What it has done though is put me off trying different hotels and sticking with the one where I havnt had any problems

I agree Lyn, i think this is why i stick to my hotel (not literally mine, but you know its my baby ) i know the first sign and i see my men at the clinic, in fact Sam says hes off there in November to have ears shringed as they will not do it at our doctors

lynwestie wrote:

It was so bad that I didnt even know it was coming out of me at times . Shocking to wake up in bed and find it :yikes

OMG Lyn, I knew you had food posioning, but I didnt realise it was as bad as that. You poor thing, sounds like you were almost delerious if you didnt know what was going on. I do remember being like that about 20 years ago in Kenya, so awful.

Makes my dodgy couple of hours that was probably caused by a fresh (or not so fresh ) cream meringue that had no doubt hung about on the buffet a bit too long seem quite tame in comparison.

Yes it was ghastly at the time Chris and not an experience I have any desire to repeat. . If that had happened just before we were flying home there is no way I would of been able to travel. Fortunately that side of it only lasted for the day and a bit that I was in bed but things were definately not right for the rest of the holiday .The day we travelled home I thought I was more or less over it only for it to return when I got home along with the clammy and ill feeling .

I know I've said it before but I always get the odd loose day . I get it in Turkey too . I even had that particular day on the day we were travelling home from Nuweiba but managed to plug it with Imodium and I was fine .Definately did'nt feel ill and more of an embarrasing inconvenience .

lyn

Is the Sonesta Club AI?

Yes Glynis it is, its the sister hotel to Sonesta beach, although SB is bigger. If the persons that were ill had stayed in the hotel and ate all the time there, then i would have referred them to Ros, but i do not know if they ventured out to anywhere else. If you remember i had all this with e coli 0157 and food poisoning together, but because i ate out (it was an half board hotel) i couldnt claim.

edit: to say a cyprus hotel and mini break to egypt we stayed at, not the above hotel, just wanted to clarify.

Not a lot would stop us making the most of our holiday but when I read reports of certain places, there is no way I would want to expose ourselves to the worry and discomfort of tummy troubles.
I know it can happen anywhere, even the best of places.
The same thing happened to my Husband in Torremolinos - he was really ill - it was so frightening to see a healthy man knocked down within minutes. He could not leave his room (or the toilet) for 3 days.
We would never want to go through that again!
I bet it was the first time you were glad to get home! All the best for a speedy recovery.

Hi guys. Just to answer few comments on the posts. I did not visit the hotel doctor as the illness didn't begin until the flight home on monday the last time i had eaten at the Sonesta club was on the sunday night, classic symptoms of food symptoms began on the plane. Unfortunately for me the symptoms lasted about twelve days and i have only just began to feel normal although am still waiting for my appetite to return! But everything else is normal. I get my results back from the doctor tomorrow so will let you know what he says. If it is food poisoning then i will be complaining to thomas cook as this shouldn't be happening at a 4 star hotel. Although i doubt i'll get anywhere. I have stayed in egypt many times before and have never had food poisoning before. Regards. Debbie x x x

Yes Glynis it is, its the sister hotel to Sonesta beach, although SB is bigger. If the persons that were ill had stayed in the hotel and ate all the time there, then i would have referred them to Ros, but i do not know if they ventured out to anywhere else. If you remember i had all this with e coli 0157 and food poisoning together, but because i ate out (it was an half board hotel) i couldnt claim.

Thanks Michelle - you knew why I was asking and I remember your previous problem -hence me trying help the member xx

Did you eat on the plane coming home? and did you solely eat only at the Sonesta Club?

We are due at the sonesta beach in September, wary of issues about food now, any advice on peoples experiences would be appreciated

Hi stark

SBR is a different hotel to the Sonesta club, Lyn did experience illness whilst there for a few days, and so do others but it depends on a lot of factors. I have been to the hotel 6 times and the 7th being this November. I went last November and didn't experience any gut infections. It can happen at any hotel any place in the world, especially 3rd world countries.

You can read reviews on HT and on trip advisor mainly all good now they are sorted out the teething problems with the food, but reviews are based on individuals, meaning everyones body would react unless cast iron to some kind of upset, due to hot weather, AC, change of water etc etc. I myself had cramps the first time and looseness, and still do in the summer, but i went to the site Doctor and it was gone in a few hours, mainly an injection i get. If you read at the top of the forum there is a lot of advice how to look after yourself in this country. It is hit and miss whether you get any discomfort or not, but it can usually be fixed by a Doctor, free if you take out your excess waiver on your policy.

SBR until last year used to be b and b, so it was really new to A1, when Lyn went and i went a month later, i didn't like the food. Going back the same year last Nov, the food was lovely, someone wrote on TA that the food was the best A1 they had tasted and they had been to different hotels all over the country.

I am ill in most of the destinations i travel, USA to Med. Sonesta club for some reason has been having problems for a long time, so much so the reps tell me they do not like working there, and opt to work at SBR. TA writers have passed on not to go to S/club, because of the food.

Just take on board the advice that everyone on here tries to help with, i am sure you will have a holiday to remember. Just remember though that if you are going anywhere between Apr-October you may experience some discomfort due to the real hot heat, yesterday it was 45c (119F)

Happy holidays

Michelle x
sonesta beach resort queen

are most of the illnes related problems with the club hotel then and not the beach part?

Yes the club is about 15 mins walk from the Sonesta beach. It is smaller and different food and chefs. Last June i wrote and complained as a frequent visitor to the Manager of the SBR to change the menu to have a British night, and to leave out a lot of the rich sauces available. Rich sauces can cause upsets. The doctor stated to bulk up on their lovely bread, leave out salads and melon, drink sprite and stay off coke etc. We did just that and was great. You are going the latter end of summer and a lovely time to visit. Most problems stem through the sheer heat. Leave off the AC at all times, then you will find the difference. AC is recyclable so therefore breeds germs.

Who you going with?

If its thomson/portland or in fact any tour operator email the hotel from their web site a month or more before you go. Ask to be put in the 1105 block or 2000 block, they are the big family rooms, they will upgrade you free. In the large rooms they are like flats, you will not require AC, so therefore cuts the risk down by 3/4 x

leave out salads and melon

Definately stay away from the fresh fruit salad . It contains lots of melon and i'm convinced that is what caused my problems . I was trying to stay away from the puddings and eat something that wasnt going to put my usual half a stone on. Big mistake but the good news is no weight gain on my holiday

I was there this easter and I have to say there were lots of people talking about upset tummies around the pool and I know of at least another 2 that had to spend a day or 2 in bed ill as I did at the same time .
what you have to remember is the looseness is pretty commonplace and normally only lasts for a couple of visits to the toilet . Anything else is'nt normal so see the doc .

If you do get anything follow Michelles advice and talk to reception as soon as possible . It will still be hot in September and I don't think it would be easy to sleep without Air con. I was in 1105 and the evenings fairly cool in april but i still needed it . I just can't cope with the stuffiness so keep it on as low as possible .

lyn