A woman claims she thought she was going to die after falling violently ill and ending up in hospital during a TUI holiday 'from hell'. Nicky Alan says she was left to crawl through her own blood and vomit for a week whilst on a luxury holiday in Cape Verde.
Nicky had booked the vacation to celebrate her partner, Darren, getting the all-clear from doctors after a battle with cancer earlier in the year. However, the couple's dream trip to the Hotel Riu Palace Santa Maria soon turned sour, with the 52-year-old branding it the "worst place I've been to in my life".
She took to social media to share her experience on the holiday after claiming to not receive an adequate refund or an apology from the hotel or travel agent TUI, who she booked the excursion through, reports Essex Live. In the video, Nicky explains herself and Darren arrived in Cape Verde on May 10 and upon their arrival ate the hotel buffet.
But upon tucking into the food, the 52-year-old says she thought the pork was 'really chewy' , before claiming it was 'raw inside' and spitting it out. Within a few hours of eating the food, Nicky says she became very ill and started 'projectile vomiting'.
Her symptoms then started to worsen through the evening and she began to experience diarrhoea as well. Despite her ailments she encouraged her partner to enjoy the trip and still attend a planned diving trip.
However, once he left, things took a turn for the worse. Vicky said: "I started vomiting so severely that it got stuck in my throat,
"So I started choking, and so I had to literally put things down my throat to try and get my airways free and that really, really panicked me."
Nicky says she tried to phone the reception but no one spoke English well enough to understand her requests and as a result she received no help. Upon Darren's arrival back to the hotel he also fell unwell and was 'shaking on the floor' with his partner.
The couple claim they continued to ring reception for help but were left stranded in their room despite begging to be taken to hospital. Nicky said: "We ran out of water. We were cleaning up our own faeces and vomit because the cleaners refused to come in.
"Blood started to come out of both orifices and that really scared me. At one point Darren was delirious and he was just mumbling and talking rubbish and I thought we're gonna die here. We're gonna die.
"We ran out of water and toilet roll. You could imagine how dirty and filthy it was. We had nothing to mop up what was happening in the beds and toilet.
"And for a week, seven days, we were left in the room with no help whatsoever."
After a week, the couple say they were able to attend the hospital themselves where staff put them on unknown medication 'without asking about allergies or medical history'. Nicky then stated that an IV blew in her veins causing her to suffer a swollen hand for the rest of the vacation in an experience which cost them £400.
Upon her return back to the hotel Nicky says she 'lost it' with staff who offered her a bottle of champagne and a meal at one of their restaurants. The couple were also moved to a new room, with Nicky stating the old room was visited by cleaners in "hazmat suits" after they left.
The pair then recovered in their new hotel room for the remainder of their vacation before flying back to the UK. Once back in the country, Vicky attended hospital to discover that she had a distended bowl and a parasite in her gut from the raw pork.
After three weeks of treatment, she then caught Covid-19 which kept her bed bound for two months, which she claims took her longer to recover from because of her weakened immune system due to the holiday ordeal. The 52-year-old says she has been in touch with TUI since her return but is yet to have a satisfactory response- having only been offered half the holiday cost refunded.
A spokesperson for Tui said: "We’re concerned to hear about Ms Alan’s experience as we take these matters very seriously. We’re in contact with Ms Alan about her claims and would like to reassure customers that we regularly audit all of our properties in regards to health and safety. Superior cleaning measures on top of already stringent protocols have been implemented at the hotel to ensure that health and hygiene levels are maintained."
Irwin Mitchell say they are working on a group lawsuit with more than 80, who visited the Hotel Rui Palace Santa Maria and also fell ill. Jennifer Hodgson, specialist lawyer at the firm, said: "Understandably, those we represent have many questions about how they fell ill, while many of the group have queried why they weren’t informed of illness at the hotel, before they arrived at the resort.
"We’re determined to establish the answers our clients deserve and to support all of them following what has been a terrible experience. If during the course of our investigations any issues are identified, it’s vital that lessons are learned to ensure that other travellers aren’t left with ruined holidays and potential long-term illnesses."
The Hotel Rui Palace and Clinitur Santa Maria were contacted for comment by EssexLive.
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