Milk made me sick on Mariner!!

[hockeymom2150]

:( Just off Mariner, got a tea from Cafe Promenade the first night and sipped it with a cookie, halfway done I had just the tea and had to spit it out, took off the lid and it was all curdled. Woke up Monday very sick, couldn't leave cabin, ship was quite rocky. Tried to get outside in the afternoon to feel better, felt worse, tried pepto, bonine. Finally went to the doctor around 5:30pm, lots of people there with motion sickness but they took me in right away (guess I looked pretty bad). While I was with the Dr., DH & DS were discussing what was wrong with me and another woman overheard them and said she made a tea there too and was sick. Dr. said the milk probably started it and then the motion got to me (this was my 6th cruise and I've never had motion sickness, we own a boat, it never bothers me). He obviously thought it was food poisoning as he didn't charge me for the visit or meds. Anyway, they gave me a shot, some other pills and gatorade. Felt a little better but not 100% until Thursday. Dr. told me to report it to the purser, I did on Tuesday, they wrote it up and said someone would contact me. On the last day there was a message left at 4pm from the purser wanting to know if I enjoyed my cruise and that someone from the Windjammer tried to contact me, it was the Cafe Promenade, not Windjammer. Overall we made the best of it and still had a good time, the ship is in great shape.

[Emi's Mom]

Sorry to hear about this Hockeymom. :( When I hear stories like this, I'm so happy that I'm lactose intolerant and would never consider drinking milk.

[brn2crz]

Curious,did you use actual milk,out of a carton.Or did you use a dairy creamer?

[nlcentralchmps03]

I'm really sorry to hear this. I can not imagine being sick on vacation, especially a cruise. It sounds like you made the best out of it though.

[KarinaGW]

Out of curiosity, what kind of tea was it? Because, there are just some teas that you should not add milk to...pretty much any lemon or orange flavored tea, and, interestingly, Earl Grey. They will cause even perfectly good milk to curdle.

 

I'm sorry this happened to you, it must have been horrible to feel that wretched on your vacation.

[cruisegirl1]

Sorry you got sick – what an awful feeling.

 

I am a little confused; don’t you fix the coffee and tea yourself and then place a lid on the cup? I am surprised you or others using the milk or cream did not see the problem.

 

Bad food will generally get you pretty fast, not necessarily the next morning. I am not disputing that there was anything bad. I’ve apparently had a bad pina colada on a ship, sure tasted weird to me, and I got sick even before I finished it!

 

Is it possible that the “ocean motion” was the real culprit?

 

Glad you still had a peasant trip.

M

[KillaFee]

Sorry to hear about this Hockeymom. :( When I hear stories like this' date=' I'm so happy that I'm lactose intolerant and would never consider drinking milk.[/b']

 

My thoughts exactly! I stay away from meat too - blech! :D .

 

 

What a bummer that you were sick for a large part of your vacation. That is my biggest nightmare for cruises. Right now I'm quite sick and while lying in bed last night, grump, drooly, and coughing my lungs out I thought to myself "I'd be sooooo bummed if I were on a cruise and I felt like this". So my thoughts go out to you.

Laura

[KarinaGW]

Right now I'm quite sick and while lying in bed last night, grump, drooly, and coughing my lungs out I thought to myself "I'd be sooooo bummed if I were on a cruise and I felt like this". So my thoughts go out to you.

Laura

 

Well, you know, I'm not quite sure I would agree with that. Because on a cruise, I really wouldn't have to worry about anything else except being sick. Room service would feed me. And the ship would keep my family busy and leaving me alone. And, I could go curl up on my balcony and smell the sea which would at least be better than the dog.

[OregonGirlie]

Oh my gosh! It's not just me!

 

We just got off the Mariner on Sunday.

 

Was it the Fat Free milk?

 

The first night we had milk & cookies delivered to our room. The carton smelled funny, so I was suspicious. I opened it and went to take a sip and it was so rotten. My son took a sip of his and threw up. The expiry date was May 2 though.

 

A few days later I decided again to try milk thinking maybe they had another batch. I took a sip since the carton smelled ok and the milk smelled ok. I instantly threw up all over the floor in our room. Again, expiry May 2 (it was like April 30 or May 1 at this time). I was so ill.

 

I called room service and said you just sent me rotten milk can I get something else. He asked if I wanted more milk?!? Um, no. Iced tea. He didn't seem too concerned.

 

We just stayed away from milk the rest of the trip.

 

Not impressed with cruising food. 2 ships, 2 times sick.

[GTO-Girl]

We were on the Mariner last week and we got bad milk too. Ours was in the Windjammer and it happened on 2 different occasions, both times the milk was sour in the carton. The third time we noticed the milk was already out of date and we never opened the carton.

 

There was definately a problem and from reading these comments it sounds like it was in several different areas of the ship.

 

Dianne

[jen-ja-fer]

Oh no! Sorry you guys got sick. Sounds like RC bought a bad batch of milk. I wonder why no one pulled the milk from being served? Maybe because it was happening on several parts of the ship, no one caught on?

[GTO-Girl]

I don't know why they didn't remove all of it. It was pointed out to them by us and from what I observed, by several others in the buffet over a 2 or 3 day period.

 

And we also told them in the Cafe........guess the message never got to anyone high enough in charge to do anything about it.

[jen-ja-fer]

Bummer. Sounds like bad communication on their part. I hope everyone still had a good time regardless.

[GTO-Girl]

We had a GREAT time!!! The milk situation was the only "blip" in the whole cruise. Everything else was fabulous!!!!

 

It was our first cruise on RCI and we loved it and are already trying to plan the next one because I have been into "post-cruise" depression this week :o .

[jen-ja-fer]

We had a GREAT time!!! The milk situation was the only "blip" in the whole cruise. Everything else was fabulous!!!!

 

It was our first cruise on RCI and we loved it and are already trying to plan the next one because I have been into "post-cruise" depression this week :o .

 

HA! I know what you mean. We've started flip-flopping vacations with our families, and I'm already missing cruising next year! We'll still have a great time with my husband's family (YES we are blessed to all get along so well!), but man... I haven't even been on this years yet!

 

Welcome to the RC family!

[cruisegirl1]

I hope it was only one ship.

 

This is usually the type of story the press eats up. Oh - sorry for the food reference. :)

 

M

[imae39]

Milk was probably sour because it was not refrigerated in a satisfactory manner.

[tally10]

Sorry to learn you were ill. We have been on 4 transatlantics where the milk has been either close to or beyond expiration (RCCL and Celebrity) date. When I complained (in the buffet on Celebrity), they brought out the long shelf life milk. I tried to go vegetarian on the last one as the quality of beef on RCCL has really gone down (except in Chops, of course) and did well. I am allergic to shellfish and don't eat fish or pork and I had no problems. DH has become ill on both lines, whether from the shellfish or noro (he landed in the infirmary for 2 days of IV's after eating the tiger shrimp on the JOS and was told there were over 200 fellow cruisers with the same symptoms). Now, he doesn't touch shellfish (just in case).

[mtu_huskies]

Very interesting, I got off Mariner on Sunday and one of the first mornings (we had breakfast delivered every morning) and I got fat free milk as apart of my breakfast and remember thinking it tasted funny, but just thought it was a cheap brand and didn't have any more for the week. I didn't look at the date and thankfully didn't get sick.

[Arizona Laura]

I try to remember to check expiration dates because I have been burnt one too many times at the grocery stores and occasionally eating at friend and relative's homes. Anyhow in Jan on the Mariner I did check the expiration date of the milk in the Windjammer and was surprised to see it was so close. I also wondered since not inside a closed refrigerator setting was it really cold enough as well. Landed up not drinking it. Maybe that was a good thing!!!

Laura

[abridalmaven]

Low fat milk goes bad faster than cream or whole milk. I have cream in my fridge that is almost two weeks old and it is still fine.

[buckanear]

Blech. I cannot stand bad milk.

 

I don't drink ship milk because I've watched them leave pallets of perishables out on the dock before. Something about warm milk gives me the willy's.

 

Glad you still had fun though!

[ala-kat]

The date on milk is usually a 'sell buy' date, not expiration. Under normal circumstances, it is still good for close to a week after that date. Poor storage could easily negate this. I love my milk and although much doesn't bother me, going a week without my beloved milk would.

[BabyDntGotBack]

Blech. I cannot stand bad milk.

 

I don't drink ship milk because I've watched them leave pallets of perishables out on the dock before. Something about warm milk gives me the willy's.

 

Glad you still had fun though!

 

The same thing can be said about the restaurant I work in too. I've seen so much food left out it's crazy. Either people aren't getting sick or I just don't hear about it. We do make our best effort not to leave stuff out, but sometimes things happen. Working in a kitchen has really opened my eyes to the way food is prepared in some places. YIKES!

[wrp96]

Sorry to hear about this Hockeymom. :( When I hear stories like this' date=' I'm so happy that I'm lactose intolerant and would never consider drinking milk.[/b']

 

There are some advantages for those of us that can't have milk!

 

 

To those of you that noticed the sour milk, especially those that reported it and nothing was done, I suggest you write a polite concise letter to RCCL. It sounds like there might be a storage problem and/or they received a bad batch of milk. In case it is a storage problem, it would be good if RCCL corporate hears about it so it can be fixed since it sounds like the ship personnel weren't concerned about it.