More Canadian vacationers come forward with reports of illness on Sunwing trips

More Canadian vacationers come forward with reports of illness on
Sunwing trips
By Sean O'Shea - Consumer Reporter

TORONTO — A growing number of Sunwing Vacations customers are stepping
forward to say they got seriously ill on trips booked with the
Toronto-based tour operator in recent months.

"I am still a week later struggling," said Amanda Klein, 26, of Medicine
Hat, Alta.

Klein and a group of friends spent a week at the Memories Paraiso Azul
Beach Resort in Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba in early January. She says she
became violently sick with diarrhea and vomiting soon after arriving.


READ MORE: Canadian travellers report illnesses at Cuban resorts
promoted and operated by Sunwing

After new reports of illnesses at the Cuban resort–widely reported by
Global News in 2015–many other Sunwing customers came forward to say
they experienced illness, too.

"We tried to ride it out but it got so bad that my husband ended up in
emergency," said Ashlee Hanefeld, who stayed with her husband at the
Memories Varadero resort from Dec. 26 to Jan. 3.

Hanefeld said medical testing later revealed her husband suffered from
Salmonella poisoning, a potentially serious food-borne intestinal infection.

Alejandra Cline stayed at the Memories resort in Cuba with her husband
and two children in the first week of January, having paid for an
upgraded room.

"The food was bad. I had a piece of bread and it was completely rotten
in the inside, you could smell the mold," Cline said. "It was just a
really bad experience."

Canadians returning from Cuba for years have complained about the
blandness of food served at some all-inclusive resorts in the country.
But travelers told Global News they witnessed unsafe food-handling
practices which they believe contributed to illness.

"I didn't expect for the food to be prepared in such an unsanitary
manner," said Celina Radoi, who visited Cuba twice before her visit to
the Memories Paraiso Azul in late December.

"The cross-contamination was what struck me the most. Staff would use
the same utensils to cook the raw meat and the vegetables. The food
would be sitting out for hours This was just what we could see; I don't
want to know what was happening back in the kitchen," she said.

Most travelers who contacted Global News with food safety complaints say
buffet items that should be kept refrigerated, like cold cuts and
cheese, were left exposed to heat for hours, melting in the heat of the
intense sun. Conversely, items that ought to be kept warm were not
heated, they said.

"We can't generalize this is happening 100 per cent of the time but it
can happen anytime," said Dr. Mark Wise, a Toronto physician and travel
health specialist.

He says even at the best of times, buffets pose potential risks to
diners because of the possibility that food isn't managed properly.

"Those are all signs of improper food handling," Wise said when asked to
comment on reports by travelers of inadequate refrigeration and lack of
heating in restaurants at various resorts.

But in contrast to allegations of poor conditions leading to illness,
Sunwing denies there's a serious problem.

"During the past three months, 400,000 Canadian customers have travelled
with us to tropical destinations," said Rachel Goldrick, corporate
communications manager at Sunwing.

"Of these, less than two per cent have contacted us to address any type
of complaint or concern, with a small fraction of these relating to
concerns around hygiene or illness," Goldrick said.

READ MORE: Sunwing offers compensation to Canadian travellers after
outbreak at Cuban resort

"We work very hard to ensure that our customers' vacation experience is
a positive one, which is exemplified by our customer satisfaction rate
of 94 per cent based on over 500,000 survey results annually," she said.

But Tracy Reker disagrees.

"We feel mislead, lied to, and feel the trip was a complete waste of our
hard-earned dollars," Reker said after returning from the Be Live resort
in Punta Cana on Jan. 8, booked through Sunwing.

Reker said she estimated "70 per cent of the resort" was ill during the
week she vacationed with her husband and two children. She says Sunwing
shouldn't continue to book Canadians into resorts like Be Live.

"Bottom line: Sunwing continues to send people to this resort when they
are fully aware that people have been deathly ill there just days
before! The reviews on Trip Advisor are enough to make you cringe,"
Reker said.

A year ago, Tina and Chris Riley took a Sunwing vacation to the Club
Amigo Carisol Los Corales in the Dominican Republic. The Toronto couple
say they had reasonable expectations about the resort, but didn't expect
what they found: the lowest floor entirely closed because of previous
hurricane damage. And something unwanted in their own room.

"She (the maid) opened the closet and whole closet was moldy," said
Tina, who insisted the family be moved.

But Chris says, in general, Sunwing's on-site representative minimized
any concerns or complaints about the resort which included worries about
the family's personal security.

"I would never, ever fly with Sunwing again," he said.

Michael Gibbons of Toronto, who said he has flown with Sunwing twice,
says he will find another tour operator after two poor experiences.

"Truly, it's one more example of you get what you pay for and in the
future we'll be paying for Air Canada and West Jet."

Source: More Canadian vacationers come forward with reports of illness
on Sunwing trips | Globalnews.ca -
http://globalnews.ca/news/2464696/more-canadian-vacationers-come-forward-with-reports-of-illness-on-sunwing-trips/