Lisa Fickenscher of the New York Post writes that an apparent salmonella outbreak at a resort in Jamaica in Dec. has ruined vacations for potentially dozens of holiday travelers — and now some sickened guests are considering legal action, The Post has learned.
“It was a nightmare,” Chantel Ele of Lincoln, Nebraska, told The Post of her experience at the Grand Palladium Resort and Spa, which was echoed by other people online. “I don’t know how many people go on an all-inclusive vacation and lose weight.”
Ele and her husband, Justin, secured their room at the 537-room beachside resort, which boasts 11 restaurants, 17 bars and “one of the largest swimming pools in the Caribbean,” in February before the pandemic hit.
But the island getaway dissolved into severe stomach and body cramps and diarrhea within two days of their arrival on Dec. 13 — tethering them to a bathroom at all times, Justin told The Post.
Aaron Sutton and his fiancé Cheyenne also had trouble in paradise. The couple, who live in Pittsburgh, squeezed in about 48 hours of fun before they were both felled by unrelenting diarrhea and vomiting on Dec. 14, they said. They booked their $4,000 honeymoon trip to the Palladium resort last year after getting engaged in Jamaica, and held on to the reservation despite being forced to postpone their wedding.
“My fiancé was so weak and feverish, she could barely stand up,” Sutton told The Post.
Iwaspoisoned.com, a platform that tracks food-borne illnesses, has tallied the number of guests who have allegedly become ill at the resort in December at close to 100, said the site’s founder Patrick Quade, who based the tally on reports to websites like TripAdvisor, Orbitz, Booking.com and the resort’s Facebook page.