Thank you for sharing your experiences of your 'holiday' in Madeira.

It gives us some useful ammunition for our second letter to Thomson, as you make some useful additional points.

I don't expect to get anywhere, as this company seems particularly stubborn and insensitive.

Keep us informed of any further steps that you take in pursuing your complaint.

Thanks again.

It's encouraging to know that we have support out there. Unfortunately we are moving house next Tuesday (the holiday in Madeira was supposed to be a bit of relaxation beforehand.....) so time is very limited at present. Will pick all this up again afterwards, please keep on keepig us posted.

On the 19th February we travelled to Madeira for a 2 week holiday with First Choice / Thomson. Upon arrival at Funchal airport there was no sign of the storm to come the following day as we boarded the mini bus to travel to our hotel situated approx 3 miles from the city on the coast. The storm started during the night and into the next day and the sea shore below our balcony was littered with debris (hundreds of trees) which had been washed down from the hills behind our hotel. Later in the day we saw the rescue boat & helicopters looking for people who had been trapped in their cars and washed out to sea - it was a very sad sight indeed. The staff in our hotel and our rep was very good indeed during this terribly difficult time for the lovely people of Madeira. We perfectly understood that we would not be able to travel into the city for some time or venture out on the pre-arranged tours until the roads were cleared. A couple of days later a notice appeared in the hotel lift stating that we should not use tap water, we did not receive any complimentary bottled water but instead had a choice of paying 3 Euros for their bottled water or travelling to the nearest shop to purchase a similar sized bottle for 1 Euro. Unfortunately by the time we read the notice we had already used the water to brush our teeth, etc and within a short time had come down with Norovirus. My father was particularly badly effected by this (he's 82) and lost a total of 11lbs in weight and was too ill to go out for several days. In fact out of 14 days we only managed 6 trips out of the hotel as he was too weak and I did not feel much better. Neither of us could eat for 4 days. I asked the rep if other guests had come down with the virus but was told they had not but other hotels had reported that their guests had been ill. On the flight home many of our fellow travellers also told us about how they had suffered with the Norovirus bug and that their hotels had had the water tested and that this had not been contaminated by the flood waters and that it was very likely that it had been brought in on flights from the UK / Ireland. My father is still not well and it has been nearly 3 weeks since we came home. Had we known beforehand that Norovirus appeared to be rife on the Island it would have certainly made me think twice before booking the holiday. So come on holiday companies think about your customers and issue proper health warnings where necessary and advise guests swiftly if there is a problem in their hotel.

Yours is the worst case I have heard of so far. It is really sad to hear that your holiday was spoiled to such an extent. It does seem debatable if the problems with the virus were present before the floods and whether it played any role in them.

Either way it is clear that many of us have had a very poor holiday experience and that Thomson has been particularly unsympathetic in its response.

I hope that you get further in any complaint with Thomson than we have so far!

Lots of tales of woe but we can only sympathise with your plight and express a personal opinion, Posting here on HT may help you but does not move your case along in obtaining some sort of recompense. You might like to consider contacting Ros Fernihough for some specialist advice and assistance.

Ros Fernihough is a Specialist Travel Law Solicitor who has assisted many members of HT and I would suggest you contact her.

The direct number to Ros's PA Pam is 01922 705134

Or try the switchboard number 01922 633214 and ask for Travel Dept.

fwh

Is there a charge for this service?

I think it depends on if she takes the case on or not. However, am sure they will give advice as to which way to proceed

Kath x

I would guess that the Norovirus is going the spread a lot quicker than normal as more guests would be in and around the hotel during this period ?

John