Montezuma or Noro?

[pamici]

TMI warning, so scroll past if you are squeamish. My husband and I were on the Vista Oct 19-26th and it was an absolutely perfect cruise. Until ... The next to last night, after a (perfect) port day in Cozumel, we got so. very. sick.

 

At first, we chalked it up to being amateur drinkers since we were at a very well-respected beach club, but more than 24 hours later, I was running out of cookies to toss. We did visit the Medical Center (not exactly helpful), but they were not terribly concerned because my issues were all above the waterline, as it were. My husband had issues on the other end. They gave me a prescription anti-nausea medicine that helped a lot, as long as I didn't eat anything and only cautiously sipped very cold water. Hubs rationed out the immodium until we got back to the states.

 

I checked in with the folks from my facebook group and nobody else was remotely sick, whether they were at the beach club or just onboard. So I'm wondering, what the heck gives? I'm scheduled to return to the same beach club in March and I'm trying not to overreact, but maybe I should stick with bottled beer and no produce? I love me some guacamole and what's a Corona without lime? And those mixed drinks were really, really good. Until they weren't.

 

Those with more experience in cruising, drinking, and foreign food ... any purely amateur opinions on what hit us?

 

[tallnthensome]

Was there ice in your mixed drinks on land? Food in port? 

[Homosassa]

Forget Cozumel.  I would be thinking about where I was the day before and what I had to eat or drink.

[Mutumbojimbo]

If you don't have reports of others on your cruise being sick, then I would think it was related to what you ate/drank in Cozumel or the port before. I would be careful with ice and make sure to wash/sanitize your hands frequently. For what it's worth, we've been to Paradise Beach and La Choza several times and not had any issues (knock on wood) fi you want to think about other options in Cozumel.

[amyotravel]

While there are always exceptions to every rule, I have been to Cozumel many times and have always seen bags of filtered ice everywhere. I would imagine if it was Cozumel, it would more likely be how something was washed or not washed. 

[Nic6318]

36 minutes ago, amyotravel said:

While there are always exceptions to every rule, I have been to Cozumel many times and have always seen bags of filtered ice everywhere. I would imagine if it was Cozumel, it would more likely be how something was washed or not washed. 

 

Hi 

Yes. especially peoples' hands.

 

You mention that slice of lime... "in your beer?". Do you know where it was before you got it? It could have been anything.

[cheeseclan]

My husband not too long ago was in Mexico City for work.  Stayed at an airport hotel and got some food from the cart lady in the lobby, which he has done  many times before.  That night he was very sick from both ends.

He was the only one who ate from the lobby cart and decided it was the produce she was using.

Needless to say he has never done it again and has been fine.

[SRF]

9 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

Was there ice in your mixed drinks on land? Food in port? 

 

This is a BIG one that people miss.

 

The OP also mentioned something about produce.

 

I do not eat ANYTHING not cooked or peeling in most countries.

[nolatravelgirl]

I would just chalk it up to bad luck. Even just polling your Facebook group is still a very small sample size. You could have easily just picked up a stomach virus from pretty much anywhere. Maybe it was hand railing, a door knob, etc. Just remember that correlation does not always equal causation. It is always good to be cautious of what you eat/drink but it doesn't necessarily mean that you got bad food/drink in Cozumel. 

[sanger727]

If you both got sick at the same time I would lean towards food poisoning rather than a virus or over-drinking. But, it could have been from Cozumel or the port before. Did either of you both eat/drink the same thing in either port. It could be the ice, but I would hope that a well-respected beach club would have better food safety. If it were me personally, unless I could identify another likely culprit, I would go to a different beach club on my next trip.

[clo]

You could have shaken hands with someone, touched a contaminated anything, you name it.  Bob and  I had it happen after hiring some 'casual labor' to help us move some furniture.  There is NO way to know and no reason to predict a repeat.

[pamici]

18 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

Was there ice in your mixed drinks on land? Food in port? 

 

Yes, both.

[pamici]

18 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Forget Cozumel.  I would be thinking about where I was the day before and what I had to eat or drink.

 

Grand Cayman. No food or drink, but we did take a public bus. And the water shuttle, of course.

[pamici]

18 hours ago, Mutumbojimbo said:

If you don't have reports of others on your cruise being sick, then I would think it was related to what you ate/drank in Cozumel or the port before. I would be careful with ice and make sure to wash/sanitize your hands frequently. For what it's worth, we've been to Paradise Beach and La Choza several times and not had any issues (knock on wood) fi you want to think about other options in Cozumel.

 

Interesting, I've never heard of La Choza - I'll have to check it out!

[pamici]

18 hours ago, amyotravel said:

While there are always exceptions to every rule, I have been to Cozumel many times and have always seen bags of filtered ice everywhere. I would imagine if it was Cozumel, it would more likely be how something was washed or not washed. 

 

Ah ... that's an angle I hadn't thought of. Except, I guess the limes in the margaritas may have been washed or not.

[pamici]

12 hours ago, cheeseclan said:

My husband not too long ago was in Mexico City for work.  Stayed at an airport hotel and got some food from the cart lady in the lobby, which he has done  many times before.  That night he was very sick from both ends.

He was the only one who ate from the lobby cart and decided it was the produce she was using.

Needless to say he has never done it again and has been fine.

 

Ooof. OK, produce is looking like a culprit.

[pamici]

25 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

If you both got sick at the same time I would lean towards food poisoning rather than a virus or over-drinking. But, it could have been from Cozumel or the port before. Did either of you both eat/drink the same thing in either port. It could be the ice, but I would hope that a well-respected beach club would have better food safety. If it were me personally, unless I could identify another likely culprit, I would go to a different beach club on my next trip.

 

We had mostly the same things, except I had a margarita with lime (which he did not) and I had more guacamole than he did. And I was way sicker than he was. I've already put in a non-refundable deposit on the same beach club, but I'm thinking I may take that loss and go elsewhere.

[Mutumbojimbo]

1 minute ago, pamici said:

 

Interesting, I've never heard of La Choza - I'll have to check it out!

It's an easy walk from the downtown area, but the taxi drivers know where it is. Complimentary wi-fi, an interesting and tasty sauce for the chips and we've had amazing seafood there, but the other plates we've seen look fantastic too. There is a really good bakery just around the corner that had good treats. I would have paid the peso price in dollars for the items there (most things were only a couple of pesos anyway.) Yep, recommending restaurants on a thread about getting sick, that's my style. 🤣 

[pamici]

10 minutes ago, clo said:

You could have shaken hands with someone, touched a contaminated anything, you name it.  Bob and  I had it happen after hiring some 'casual labor' to help us move some furniture.  There is NO way to know and no reason to predict a repeat.

 

Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, this place is beloved and if it was an ongoing issue, we'd be hearing about it. I'm just still gun-shy. Things will look better come March, I'm sure.

[cb at sea]

Raw produce that is washed in TAP water is not washed at all in those countries...the water used may be the culprit.  That's why you don't get ice in your drinks, just in case it's made from local tap water.  Raw foods that can't be peeled are a no-no.

[ldubs]

On 11/11/2019 at 2:17 PM, Homosassa said:

Forget Cozumel.  I would be thinking about where I was the day before and what I had to eat or drink.

 

x2.  Backtrack 24 hours for likely culprit.  

[clo]

7 hours ago, cb at sea said:

Raw produce that is washed in TAP water is not washed at all in those countries...the water used may be the culprit.  That's why you don't get ice in your drinks, just in case it's made from local tap water.  Raw foods that can't be peeled are a no-no.

We eat and drink any and everything we want, including water, all over the world.  And, knock wood, have never had a problem.  Can I explain it?  No.  But that's the two of us.  As some have mentioned perhaps we've self-innoculated.  FWIW

[aknguyen]

Most food poisoning symptoms take at least 24 hours to start so it likely wasn't the beach club from Cozumel. If it was some type of foodborne illness, it was likely something else days (or even weeks in some cases) before. Or it could have been Noro. That can hit as little as 12 hours after exposure. Just my 2 cents.

[cheeseclan]

I have had food poisoning 2 times and both times it happened the same day within about 5 hours of eating.  The doc told me it CAN come on that quickly for some people.  I am proof it did...

[clo]

1 hour ago, cheeseclan said:

I have had food poisoning 2 times and both times it happened the same day within about 5 hours of eating.  The doc told me it CAN come on that quickly for some people.  I am proof it did...

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-poisoning/symptoms-causes/syc-20356230

 

If you scroll down you can see the various things and timing of onset.