We paid £3,700 for dream Caribbean all-inclusive...
and ended up with parasitic worms: Brit family describe 'birds landing on buffet and insects crawling on food' during holiday from hell By Olivia Christie Published: 09:35 BST, 23 August 2024 | Updated: 10:09 BST, 23 August 2024 e-mail View comments A British family contracted parasitic worms during a £3,700 five-star holiday to the Caribbean and say their trip was ruined by bugs on the food and deafening drum and bass music. Sarah Sigston, 57, her husband Jeremy, 53, and their daughter Isabelle, 25, jetted off to the Dominican Republic on May 4 for a two-week stay at an all-inclusive resort. But the luxurious holiday at the Viva Dominicus Palace by Wyndham soon turned into a nightmare.
On arrival, the family from Rayleigh, Essex, said they found the hotel 'looked nothing like the pictures online' and they soon found issues with 'undercooked meat', 'insects in the salads' and 'birds on the buffet trays'. The family said they were also subjected to 'deafening' drum and bass music which played around the swimming pool constantly and contained 'awful' swear words. Sarah Sigston, 57, her husband Jeremy, 53, and their daughter Isabelle, 25, jetted off to the Dominican Republic on May 4 for a two-week stay at an all-inclusive resort The family claimed the meat served at the hotel's restaurants was often undercooked Isabelle ate her own Itsu gluten-free rice pots as she felt there was nothing she could 'safely eat' They say they selected the resort as it claimed online that it catered for people with coeliac disease, which Isabelle has.
However she then became unwell after being served a burger which they say contained, gluten despite being assured by three different staff members it did not. By the eighth day on their trip, the family started to notice 'worms' in their stools – which later required a three-day course of medication once they returned home to the UK. The family are currently trying to seek compensation through Tui, who they booked the holiday with.
However the Sigstons said their claim has been refused by the travel company due to a lack of evidence linking their illnesses to the hotel . 'My wife and I have travelled around south-east Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and we've never had any issues, come back with anything, or even been ill,' Jeremy said. 'We've eaten some pretty questionable food but never have we come back with any lodgers inside us.
'We were totally underwhelmed with the holiday, disappointed and wholly mis-sold, especially with it being marketed as a 'coeliac friendly hotel' – it was misleading.' Sarah, an artist, told how the family have visited the Dominican Republic three times and had 'amazing' trips, but said their latest holiday 'wasn't worth' the £3,783.16 they paid.
'On the first night, we all went 'oh my god' because it wasn't anything like we were expecting,' she said. 'The first day we got there, the food was cold, there were very limited food options, when you went round the buffet there were loads of empty trays. 'There was undercooked meat all the time, there were insects in the salads, flies all over the salads, birds sitting on the buffet trays.
Isabelle (left) has coeliac disease and became unwell after eating a burger which contained gluten Sarah said food which was naturally gluten-free was labelled saying it contained gluten The family said the lock on their hotel room door was 'wholly inadequate The family said they were also subjected to 'deafening' drum and bass music which played around the swimming pool constantly and contained 'awful' swear words 'The hotel was very, very tired, it wasn't worth the money we paid, it looked nothing like the pictures online.' Sarah continued: 'There was loud music around the swimming pool, which might sound like a silly thing to complain about, but the type of music, it was really loud rapping, like drum and bass with the F-word and the C-word. 'It was constant and the swearing in it was unreal, it was awful.
'If I had a young child there, I would be absolutely appalled, it was literally deafening.' Jeremy added: 'The door lock to our room looked like someone had broken into it and smashed the Chubb lock and it had been replaced, but it was really badly done. 'It was wholly inadequate, you could have lent on it and opened the door.
' Sarah said around the third day of their trip, she and her family started to feel unwell with diarrhea, nausea and stomach cramps. 'I think it was (Jeremy) who had the first worm and I remembered saying, 'there's a long white thing, you've got a parasitic worm',' Sarah said. 'We were sort of joking at first but then we all started getting them.
'For a couple of days, I had to stay in the room for the day because I couldn't go out as I kept having to go to the toilet.' The family returned home to the UK on May 19 and went to a doctor the following day, where they showed images of their stool, with Sarah saying the doctor immediately told them they were worms. They were all prescribed a three-day course of Mebendazole, a medication which is used to treat a number of parasitic worm infestations.
Sarah also told of how her daughter's coeliac disease also became a cause for concern at the hotel. Picture taken from inside the hotel which two yellow precaution signs The family said the food was cold and there were 'very limited' food options Pictured: Food served at hotel in the Dominican Republic where the family stayed She said many of the food items available at the hotel's restaurants which are naturally gluten-free, such as potatoes, white rice and vegetables, were accompanied with labels saying they contained gluten. 'No-one seemed to know what coeliac disease was but apparently, the hotel catered for it,' she added.
'We asked (about the burger) and they said 'yes, they're gluten-free', we double-checked again and we were told 'yes'...
Isabelle was still a bit hesitant but she started eating it,' Sarah said. 'In the end, the head chef came down and he was really, really apologetic and said they weren't gluten-free but (Isabelle) had already eaten half of it and then obviously, you've got no choice.' A few hours after eating the burger, Isabelle became ill with diarrhea, sickness and 'crippling pain', saying she was 'wiped out' for the remainder of the holiday.
To try to remedy the situation, Sarah said the chefs at the hotel asked the family to go to one of the 10 restaurants on site each night and find one of the chefs, where they would be able to cook something specially for her, such as gluten-free pasta. 'It was very nice but they weren't always there,' Sarah said. TUI declined to comment and the Viva Dominicus Palace by Wyndham hotel has been contacted for comment but has not responded at the time of publication.
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