Two girls fled their £3,600 dream holiday to Cape Verde a week early after both were hospitalised with extreme sickness – leaving them only able to eat pringles for days.
Jessica Whetstone and Caitlin Savage spent a night in hospital in Santa Maria, Cape Verde after falling ill on their fifth night of the package holiday – turning their long-awaited trip into ‘hell’.
The pair booked their all-inclusive getaway to Hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria last year after stumbling across photos of the ‘beautiful hotel’, white sand beaches and glowing reviews of the five-star hotel.
The two 20-year-old women jetted off on what should have been a relaxing 14-day break to do ‘absolutely nothing’ on September 4.
However they were forced to book an emergency flight home a week early on September 11 following a ‘night of hell’ in hospital and feeling ‘too terrified to leave the hotel room’.
Jessica Whetstone (left) and Caitlin Savage (right) fled their £3,600 dream holiday to Cape Verde a week early after both were hospitalised with extreme sickness
Caitlin Savage, 20, in a hospital bed in Santa Maria, Cape Verde after her and Jessica fell ill on their fifth night of their package holiday – turning their long-awaited trip into ‘hell’
The pair booked their all-inclusive getaway to Hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria last year after stumbling across photos of the ‘beautiful hotel’, white sand beaches and glowing reviews of the five-star hotel
Dog groomer Caitlin says she began to ‘feel strange’ whilst getting ready for the hotel’s white party on the evening of Friday September 8 before vomiting in the middle of the dance floor at 9.30pm with no warning.
The duo, who say they had not even been drinking that evening, claim Caitlin threw up a further 20 times before Jessica called the hotel reception for medical assistance at 2am after fearing her cousin was becoming too dehydrated.
Photos show both Caitlin and Jessica in hospital beds where the pair claim doctors told them they had ‘eaten something that did not agree with them’ and severely dehydrated Caitlin was administered ‘three bags of fluid’.
Hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria is the same hotel that Jane Pressley, from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, was staying at in November last year when she fell ill with vomiting and diarrhoea and died upon returning home.
Jessica, a hairdresser from West Sussex, said: ‘It must have been food poisoning from how violent it was. There were lots of flies around the hotel. Guests said they saw flies on the food because the buffet area was completely open.
‘They had birds flying around near the food and dogs and cats everywhere. People were even feeding dogs off the hotel plates and cups.
‘We saw other guests throwing up too. We drove past two people throwing up into a hotel room bin walking back from reception. And we met two others in the hospital with the same hotel room bin – both throwing up.
‘They were German so we couldn’t communicate well, but the lady kept saying “ice cubes”. You’re only meant to drink bottled water over there, so they thought the ice for the drinks might not have been made with bottled water.’
The two 20-year-old women jetted off on what should have been a relaxing 14-day break to do ‘absolutely nothing’ on September 4
Jessica on the beach at the Hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria before getting ill
Jessica, who was hospitalised with diarrhoea, says the doctor told her and Caitlin they had “eaten something that did not agree with them” and prescribed them paracetamol, probiotics and diarrhoea tablets.
The ordeal, which left both women with severe diarrhoea for days and ‘desperate to fly home’, cost the pair nearly £1,000 – including the early return flights, hospital and pharmacy costs, and a pre-booked horse riding experience that could not be cancelled.
Caitlin, from Chessington, Surrey, said: ‘My friend paid for the holiday for me and I have to pay her back. I’m still in the process of paying her, so I feel guilty as hell.
‘My mum also had to pay for my flight home so I have to pay that back too. Relying on other people to pay for me makes me feel even worse.’
Jessica added: ‘It was my idea of hell. I have a phobia of sick, which I coped well with because of the adrenaline and I was just looking away. But when we got back to the hotel I called my mum in floods of tears. I didn’t know what to do.
‘It completely ruined the holiday. We were worried about how to get home and what we were going to eat. We didn’t leave our hotel room.
‘We were too scared to eat or drink anything at the hotel. There was a little souvenir shop in the hotel which sold tubes of Pringles so we lived off of those for three days. But even they went straight through us.’
Jessica says the company refused to compensate her for the return flight as the pair had ‘decided to return home early’.
The 20-year-old claims there has been ‘constant messaging’ from the holiday provider but ‘no resolution’ – and she has since submitted an official complaint.
Jessica, who used up all her annual leave for the ‘horrific’ trip, said: ‘You put your trust in them that if they’re offering you a hotel rated 4.5/5 you believe that’s what you’re getting.
‘They keep emailing me and asking for my feedback, but when I respond with my feedback I don’t hear anything. It’s a constant battle.
‘I just want them to at least investigate this so it doesn’t happen to other people. They’re very aware of what’s happening at the hotel and in Cape Verde but they’re not doing anything about it.’
Caitlin Savage, 20, and Jessica Whetstone, 20 – dressed up for the ‘white party’ before getting ill and throwing up in the middle of the dance floor
Caitlin eating at the hotel buffet restaurant which the girls believe led her to becoming extremely ill
Jessica says she joined a private Facebook group with more than 1,000 members called ‘Cape Verde (S&D)’ in which holidaymakers share stories about having sickness and diarrhoea in resorts across the region – including at Hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria.
The UK government has even warned of the potential risks of contracting Shigellosis, which causes diarrhoea, in the Santa Maria region of Sal, but Caitlin says it’s ‘shocking’ that there’s no warning when you book.
Caitlin added: ‘You don’t think to go on the government website. You’re just looking at the reviews saying people have had such amazing holidays here. Now knowing other guests have been through the same thing is absolutely disgusting.
‘I would never ever set foot back in that restaurant. When I look back I just feel anxious about it. And I would definitely feel wary about going on holiday again..’
Both Jessica and Caitlin are awaiting results from tests taken by their GPs in England to determine whether they caught a bacterial infection in their gut.
Hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria has been contacted for comment.
Content source – www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com
