Removed from ship after food poisoning. No refund.

[RJM]

On the second day of our 8 day cruise, my wife and I both got food poisoning. Thanks RCL. Mine was mild, but my wife got so bad, she got an infection which the ships medical could not control, and sent her to the hospital. We had to leave the ship on day 2. Not only were they uninterested in covering any of our hospital or hotel expenses. They refused to give us a refund or FCC. This is abysmal service. You should all be aware of how they treat passengers who get sick on board. And I am certain it is their food that made us sick.

[Matt]

Sorry to hear about your experience and most importantly, hope your wife is better.

What did the hospital diagnose your wife with?

At the end of the day, getting your wife to medical attention is the first priority. I think you'd agree getting her the necessary medical care is more important than anything else.

One thing for the future, travel insurance would have likely covered a scenario like this to cover a refund of time lost.

[CrimsonCruiser]

That sounds like a really tough time. I do hope you and your wife recovered well.

 

Like Matt, I would recommend Travel insurance for ANY future cruise you take, even if you opt to not do Royal again. Most lines (if not all) will not cover the costs of care and transport in events like these. (In fact, I'd like to direct your attention to this line in your cruise contract which you would have agreed to when getting your Set Sail Pass: "c. Payment for Medical or Personal Care Services. Passenger shall pay for all medical care or other personal services requested or required, whether onboard or ashore,  including the cost of any emergency medical care or transportation incurred by Carrier and any costs associated with the provision of medical services as provided in the CLIA Passenger Bill of Rights. If Passenger is unable to pay and the Carrier pays for such expenses, then Passenger shall reimburse Carrier for those expenses."

 

 

Food poisoning is difficult to prove (I say this as one who has had it before) and if only your party was affected it can be easily assumed that you caught something else that was not directly related to Royal's food. This may be why Royal is not immediately offering compensation.

[berkeleykel]

Given so many people are eating the same food, if you two were the only ones who got sick, and in light of the fact that it happened so early on in the cruise, I’m not sure how you could be so certain it was the food that made you sick. What food in particular do you think it was?  

[Ryan79]

You are going to need proof that it was food poisoning and that you ate the afflicted food on the ship. Food poisoning on a ship isn’t just going to affect 2 people out of thousands. Thousands of other people ate the same exact food as you did and I doubt there was lots and lots of other people in your same situation with getting sick. Since this happened so early in the cruise, how can you be 100% positive it wasn’t something you ate before you even boarded the ship? Food poisoning doesn’t always happen within a few hours. 

[almondmilktea]

Did you pay with a credit card that includes trip interruption coverage?  Check with your credit card to see if that could be another avenue to get some reimbursement.

[Spang1974]

Pleas let us know more details? Ship? saying date? Destination/Ports? It would be helpful to let others know.

2 hours ago, RJM said:

On the second day of our 8 day cruise, my wife and I both got food poisoning. Thanks RCL. Mine was mild, but my wife got so bad, she got an infection which the ships medical could not control, and sent her to the hospital. We had to leave the ship on day 2. Not only were they uninterested in covering any of our hospital or hotel expenses. They refused to give us a refund or FCC. This is abysmal service. You should all be aware of how they treat passengers who get sick on board. And I am certain it is their food that made us sick.

Please let us know the details? What ship? Sailing Date? What Destination/Port? Where you ate? What you ate? It would be helpful to allow others the chance to avoid the same fate.

[mistertomatohead]

Yes, please provide details so others can report if they got sick. These things are very unreported. I can remember the good old days of norovirus outbreaks. I was on a cruise (not Royal) earlier in the year and got a bad stomach ache. It was not “fun.” Thankfully it only lasted the night. I’m pretty sure it was some sketchy fish I ate in the main dining room since I only ate cruise food. Nothing in Mexico.

[Pattycruise]

1 hour ago, berkeleykel said:

Given so many people are eating the same food, if you two were the only ones who got sick, and in light of the fact that it happened so early on in the cruise, I’m not sure how you could be so certain it was the food that made you sick. What food in particular do you think it was?  

Royal will never admit if it’s one person, 10 people or 100 people etc, sick on a ship.  They don’t report Covid #’s per sailing, why  report on this? There is no way to find out if there were large amounts of people who may have gotten food poisoning.  It’s not like a restaurant in NY where the department of health might be made aware of multiple cases, (if people choose to report it).  Unless there’s a Facebook group for the sailing, or other social media for the sailing where they can all discuss an illness there will be no way to know.  Even if there is such a group for the sailing I don’t see them getting very far, unless maybe there is an agency that takes complaints for food  poisoning on a ship.

[Ampurp85]

I am sorry to hear about your wife, I hope she is doing well. 

As other have stated without an actual outbreak, tracing a food borne illness to one source is often hard to prove. Everyone's body is different, so it could have been a reaction to the food on board, the issue is no one knows for sure. Since this is the case, there would be no reason for Royal or any company to provide a refund or any compensation. Which sucks, but this is where having trip insurance/travel protection from a card comes in handy. 

[smokeybandit]

How did the ship doctor determine what the infection was and how was it deemed something that couldn't be controlled on board ship?

[Ray]

3 hours ago, RJM said:

 And I am certain it is their food that made us sick.

If my wife was the chef then i would agree 100% 

Hope you are both feeling better.

[Rose City Cruiser]

Sorry to hear your vacation was abruptly ended.  I am glad you both received the medical attention you needed.  As other have stated, travel insurance (medical and non-medical coverage) is something to look into on your next vacation.  If you used a credit card to pay for the entire cruise, I would call them to see if you have any coverage.  

[ALnAtlanta]

3 hours ago, Matt said:

Sorry to hear about your experience and most importantly, hope your wife is better.

What did the hospital diagnose your wife with?

At the end of the day, getting your wife to medical attention is the first priority. I think you'd agree getting her the necessary medical care is more important than anything else.

One thing for the future, travel insurance would have likely covered a scenario like this to cover a refund of time lost.

 

I just recenty booked a cruise for November and I opted NOT to take the insurance. Last night, I watched your video on the top 15 things you weren't sorry you purchased on a cruise and insurance was one of them. After listening to that and especially, after reading the above, is it too late for me to opt in for insurance for my cruise and if not, how would I go about it? (by the way, I love this site: it's so helpful - like this gentleman's post) and to RJM: sure hope you and your wife are feeling better!!!

Al

[J3N]

 

 

When is your cruise?  You can look online and see what companies are offering insurance for your trip and you can still get coverage.  

[CrimsonCruiser]

53 minutes ago, My3rdAct said:

I just recenty booked a cruise for November and I opted NOT to take the insurance. Last night, I watched your video on the top 15 things you weren't sorry you purchased on a cruise and insurance was one of them. After listening to that and especially, after reading the above, is it too late for me to opt in for insurance for my cruise and if not, how would I go about it? (by the way, I love this site: it's so helpful - like this gentleman's post) and to RJM: sure hope you and your wife are feeling better!!!

Al

Not at all too late. You can add it on via Royal or purchase 3rd party with someone like Allianz. I think for the Royal one, if you don't have a TA, you may need to call - it's been a couple years since we handled our own reservations so I don't know what the new planner looks like. If you have a TA they may also have an insurance program they partner with.

[Matt]

56 minutes ago, My3rdAct said:

is it too late for me to opt in for insurance for my cruise and if not, how would I go about it?

Generally, not. 

A good starting point is https://www.insuremytrip.com (I have no relationship with them, just easy to browse plans)

[ChessE4]

55 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

Not at all too late. You can add it on via Royal or purchase 3rd party with someone like Allianz. I think for the Royal one, if you don't have a TA, you may need to call - it's been a couple years since we handled our own reservations so I don't know what the new planner looks like. If you have a TA they may also have an insurance program they partner with.

Yes, I agree with adding coverage.  The only limiting factor is coverage of pre-existing conditions.  In order to have pre-existing conditions covered, insurance must be purchased within a specific timeframe, like perhaps 2 weeks after booking the cruise.  Purchased later, the policy wouldn't have that additional coverage.  For this reason, we typically purchase insurance right away. Knock on wood, we haven't ever needed it for pre-existing conditions.

[Paid4c4]

Glad you are both well, sorry you lost your cruise.  We always purchase travel insurance when we book our cruises.  Our TA always compares and purchases the best insurance for a particular cruise.  Have you ask your TA to reach out to RCCL on your behalf regarding some consideration for your cruise?  Might be worth a try.

Bill

[Quazibear]

Just got off a Royal Caribbean cruise (Allure of the Seas May 20 - 24, 2024) where a large number of cruisers got food poisoning from the same thing at the same time (pork bao tacos at 5:15 pm dinner). I know how bad it was because I had to take 3 of my family for medical attention. Passengers throwing up in trash cans, soiling their pants, etc. in the overflowing medical area on deck 2.  I got to see it all - just lovely. My wife ended up having an IV.  One family, the husband had to leave the cruise in a wheel chair. The wife shared with me this was their 9th Royal Caribbean and their last due to the poor handling by RC. This was

our first and likely our last  Caribbean cruise as they covered up the issue trying to pass it off as a few passengers got a virus that RC skillfully contained.  Even worse, their denial of food poisoning cost those who weren’t sick 1/2 day at Coco Cay because they had a hard time getting approval to let people go ashore.

Surprised and disappointed for what I had heard was one of the best cruise lines and ships. 

 

[smokeybandit]

Clearance got held up at Coco Cay because Bahamian authorities wanted confirmation that it wasn't norovirus. Pretty par for the course.

 

And GI outbreaks happen. Just part of cruising. Sorry it happened to you, but from everything I've read, RC did no wrong. And they even gave compensation.

[DunkelBierJay]

I know this is an old thread, but I would like to contribute to it. I work at a university and oversee the purchases for the second highest volume food service operation in my state with a little over $15 million dollars in food spend a year. I deal with food recalls when they occur. Typically, I receive food recall notices 1-2 times per year due to food contaminated by e coli or salmonella (the two most common causes in my experience). Tainted food is usually fresh produce and sometimes a packaged good. The process of removing such products from the supply chain takes about a week because of what is needed to identify the source, track the product and inform those within the supply chain who may have the product. Frequently, because of the efficiency of the flow of supply, the food has been served and nothing happens or gets reported. Also, one must consider that symptoms can occur a week or more after exposure. This is unfortunate and a little scary, and we all do our best to keep such product from reaching the table. For the most part, practices within the supply and temperature chain are very safe considering the volume of food in the economy.

Another possible exposure is cross contamination. It is unlikely that it comes from the crew, but it is possible. I have been on several back of the house tours on cruise ships and the sanitation practices I've seen are better than the industry standard for high volume food service. I can say with confidence that great care is taken and best practices are in play. I think cross contamination is most likely through passenger contact. If it's e coli, salmonella or norovirus, the best hedge against getting sick, by far is hand washing with soap and very warm water. Sanitizer solution is ok, but not ideal. It is the operator's best hedge against poor hygiene by the public.

I find that many who have been the victim of sickness on land or on a cruise, the first default is that they had food poisoning. The blame for such outbreaks always seems to go to the operator and rarely to the practice of guests who are sick and want to assign blame. When there are outbreaks of a certain percentage to the total population of the ship, it gets reported and investigated. The real cause is frequently different than the assumption. 

All this is to encourage people to give grace to the medical and food service staff on board ships and consider that the first assumption of the cause may not be correct. Imagine 40 passengers descending on the medical center on board any ship at one time. I can see how people can be distressed and impatient and be inclined to make judgments on what they see.

[Matt]

2 minutes ago, DunkelBierJay said:

All this is to encourage people to give grace to the medical and food service staff on board ships and consider that the first assumption of the cause may not be correct. Imagine 40 passengers descending on the medical center on board any ship at one time. I can see how people can be distressed and impatient and be inclined to make judgments on what they see.

Well said. I've certainly been guilty of assuming something is occurring, only to realize later that's not the case at all.

Moreover, it's even easier to "Monday morning quarterback" something after the fact. 

I'm sure it was not pleasant on Allure yesterday, and even if you weren't sick, frustrating not to be able to disembark at CocoCay as scheduled. But unfortunately life happens, and being flexible and trying to make the best of the experience is key.

When I had Covid on Serenade of the Seas in 2022, I was miserable in my cabin, but I caught up on TV shows and YouTube content on my phone and it helped distract me a bit. 

[Jolly Ogre]

If only there was a way to remind people to wash your hands??!!

Oh Wait....

 

 

[OCSC Mike]

Wow, this thread is from almost 2 years ago, lol.

[JasonOasis]

4 hours ago, Quazibear said:

Just got off a Royal Caribbean cruise (Allure of the Seas May 20 - 24, 2024) where a large number of cruisers got food poisoning from the same thing at the same time (pork bao tacos at 5:15 pm dinner). I know how bad it was because I had to take 3 of my family for medical attention. Passengers throwing up in trash cans, soiling their pants, etc. in the overflowing medical area on deck 2.  I got to see it all - just lovely. My wife ended up having an IV.  One family, the husband had to leave the cruise in a wheel chair. The wife shared with me this was their 9th Royal Caribbean and their last due to the poor handling by RC. This was

our first and likely our last  Caribbean cruise as they covered up the issue trying to pass it off as a few passengers got a virus that RC skillfully contained.  Even worse, their denial of food poisoning cost those who weren’t sick 1/2 day at Coco Cay because they had a hard time getting approval to let people go ashore.

Surprised and disappointed for what I had heard was one of the best cruise lines and ships. 

 

I'm sorry for both you and your wife and I hope you both are feeling better on the road to recovery. 

In situations like these we always love to blame the food but in most cases it isn't the food that is to blame.  In most cases a stomach bug outbreak on a cruise ship is cause by an irresponsible passenger lying about their health pre-cruise and on boarding day simply because they want to take the cruise and not loose out on what could be their one and only vacation of the year.  I read the article that blamed the tacos but it also stated it was speculation and added that someone could have brought this virus onboard the ship as well.  Boarding a cruise ship while experiencing any type of diarrhea, vomiting is highly irresponsible.  Unfortunately cruise lines have to take passengers at their word when they ask have you experienced any of these symptoms in the past few days.  We all saw the hoops cruise lines and passengers had to jump through when cruising resumed during COVID.  If passengers say no they haven't experience any of those symptoms they are allowed to board and that is the end of it.  And as much as people love to blame the cruise lines the truth is the cruise line has no idea by allowing this person to board they just allowed a highly contagious virus onboard their ship. It takes time for these things to spread but one irresponsible selfish person can easily take out  or infect 400-800 passengers.  By the time the ship leaves port  on embarkation day that one individual has probably already infected 10 to 30 healthy individuals, and after that the ship is really behind the preverbal 8 ball even with the rigorous cleaning they do onboard. This is why it is absolutely important to first and foremost be cautious in the weeks leading up to your cruise.  Individuals need to take their health seriously in the weeks leading up to their cruise.  Purchase trip insurance so that if you are sick you can tell the truth and have recourse to at least recoup some if not all of your money depending on insurance.  Lastly once onboard always wash your hands before you eat, drink, touch your face and if you can't wash your hand always carry hand sanitizer with you either in your pocket or in your bag.  

I don't work for Royal I do cruise with Royal a lot and been cruising with them since 2009 I've been onboard when one or two outbreaks.  But I still believe Royal is one of the best  cruise lines out there and I'm sorry you had this horrible experience on the Allure OTS but most likely it wasn't the tacos instead it was an extremely selfish individual who only thought of themselves on embarkation day and decided to not be 100% truthful when answering those health questions.

[Vancity Cruiser]

I am not here to defend Royal for their handling of things but the number of posters who come on and say "I'm never cruising Royal again" may as well go with I'm never cruising again because the other lines are going to handle things pretty much the same way. The reality is that the cruise lines are much more similar than they are different, especially when it comes to handling of issues. If you expect to go on another cruise line and expect the same situation to be handled in a much different way you are going to be sorely disappointed.