ROYAL CARIBBIAN FOOD POISIONING AND QUARANTINES

My fiance and I were a part of a wedding cruise on the Explorer of the Seas from July 18-July 23, 2009 to Bermuda.

On the evening of July 21st, 2009 we ordered dinner I had the minestrone soup and the tiger shrimp at 8:30pm. By 11:30 I was feeling my stomach do somersaults. I spent the next hour in the in the restroom with diarrhea- finally, I vomited several times and was able to lie down in my bed. A few hours later, I woke up and vomited 4 more times. After this final series of vomiting, I felt far better and had no further symptoms.

On July 22, 2009, around 7:30-7:45am I first called medical after describing what I ate, and what had happened. At 8:25am I went to medical and filled out the necessary paperwork. In the initial documents I had indicated that I had experienced diarrhea, vomiting, headache, fever and abdominal cramps, and I also told the attending nurse that after vomiting I had experienced no further symptoms.

The nurse let me to the examination room where I waited for Dr. Byron Hidalgo who came in, had me lie down and he touched each side of my stomach and announced I had the stomach flu. When I attempted to explain to him that I had had mild food poisoning before from seafood he said to me: you try to teach me medicine, you have the 24 hour flu and will have to be quarantined along with any occupants of your room, when I noted that this situation was unacceptable and that I would file a complaint he presented his nametag arrogantly and waived it at me and said my nametag, write it down, write it down. When I told him I would, he then walked out of the room.

He did no formal tests or examinations, he refused to investigate the fact I had eaten seafood and became sick within a few hours. He also did not want to hear the fact that neither I nor my fiance ate outside of the ship, or that she was not at all sick (and never became sick), or that I do not consume alcohol for religious purposes. He didnt care.

The nurse, Elizabeth Curry, explained that I was the only person who had reported being sick. I also pointed out that even if I was the only one reporting food poisoning doesnt prove anything-it simply proves that Im reporting food poisoning. What if I was the only person to experience this, does that negate my experience? All it takes is for one time a server or chef mishandles or undercooks food. One time.

We I were sent back to our rooms and my fiancee explained to me that the doctor had told her that I was extremely emotional-whatever that means. I called to medical to have a copy of all medical records sent to me and was told by the nurse that they would see what they could do, and perhaps sometime before you go. It was awfully unusual given the staff well aware we were disembarking early the next morning and that we had been quarantined.

When a crew member did come to our cabin door she had a release form for me to sign and no paperwork! We had to re-call medical once more and argue with the nurse to have them send the paperwork before we would sign anything, which eventually was done. Upon review of the medical notes, the doctor described me as a very uncooperative patient. I guess I am now classified as uncooperative because I disagreed with the doctors cursory look-over, asked for a fair and full examination, and I tried to tell him what happened that night. It is also important to note that these two uncooperative people followed and respected the ships quarantine, despite having the lack of respect and medical treatment given to us.

I later found, while quarantined, on page 5 of the Cruise Services Directory, -In the event you experience symptoms that indicate a gastrointestinal illness, such as diarrhea or vomiting, or know of someone experiencing these symptoms, you must advise the Medical staff immediately.- It then became blatantly clear to us that Dr. Hidalgo already knew what he wanted to diagnose me with, hence the lack of examination and lack interest in the facts. Also note that our Memorandum from the Infirmary said your illness appears to be due to acute gastro-enteritis, commonly known as stomach flu. How would they know that? They preformed no examination.

Moreover, we had called upon the dining room where we eaten, the night I experienced food poisoning, to request that they conduct an investigation. The supervisor agreed to this and to give us a report of the results before we disembarked. As it turned out-we never received such a report even after calls up until the moment we had to leave the ship. What exactly was the ships crew trying to hide?

It is interesting to note that the day we disembarked, the front desk informed us that we could go eat with the rest of the passengers-how is it we deserved quarantine if we had some severe contagious 24 hour flu yet we were allowed to eat with everyone else the next morning? It is also important to note I followed none of the medical instructions and took none of the Imodium AD tablets they gave me and had not one issue-some flu. It simply doesnt add up.