Mariner of the Seas, 8/30/09---Picked up some lovely parasites, anyone else?

[Serendipity123]

So my husband and I just got married on 8/29/09, and left for our honeymoon on the Mariner of the Seas on 8/30/09. I can't say for certain where we picked it up, but I can tell you for sure that at some point during the cruise, we both picked up a nasty parasite called giardiasis. I'm assuming it was from the food in either Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan, but honestly it could have been from the pool or whirlpools on board.

 

My best guess, and I'm sure I will get a lot of people angry at me for even suggesting such a thing, but given the conditions, I'm thinking we picked it up on our excursion with Randis Happy Horses. Don't get me wrong, we had fun, the horses were great, Randi is a very nice woman and so are all of the guides, but Mazatlan in general was a filthy place, and the kitchen at Victors was nothing more than a few pots on a campfire basically. The bathrooms were filthy and the sinks didn't have soap. I know people rave about how great the garlic shrimp is, which is what we ate, but honestly it didn't sit well with me from the beginning and I couldn't even finish half of the plate which is what leads me to believe that is where we picked it up. That and the fact that undercooked shellfish from contaminated waters is a likely cause of giardiasis.

 

Let me say that neither of us drank any water, or anything for that matter that didn't come straight from a bottle or can while in Mexico, so it wasn't from contaminated water. We also both used hand sanitizer religiously, including before comsuming the food. We washed with soap and water (except at Victors where there was no soap to be found, but we did both use the hand sanatizer there.)

 

I wanted to post this both as a warning, and to see if anyone else has been through this, especially anyone that was on the same cruise with us.

[Sandy Sails]

It sounds like you probably figured it out - Mazatlan. I was right next door at Lety's (did you see me come over to say hi to Patrick - I was wearing a pink flowered tankini top). Lety's was much cleaner than what you described at Victor's. We had Lety's garlic shrimp and nobody had any issues (there were nine of us). I only drank the beer but some drank margaritas.

 

I hope you guys are feeling better! Did you have fun anyway? It sure was an interesting cruise - hurricane and all.

 

Take care, Sandy

[jasmith52]

Whenever traveling in Mexico (or other 3rd world countries)...

 

Some suggest that you don't drink anything that isn't bottled. Or eat anything that didn't have the @#$% cooked out of it. Nothing "fresh" like salads etc.

 

A second best (at your risk) is to only eat and drink in 1st class hotels. perhaps you should only eat where the tour groups get taken.

 

In Mazatlan (in 1998) we had half of our group come down with amebic disentary in (Motazuma's revenge) following a lunch in a resort hotel.

 

No fun for them - spoiled their vacation.

[Cruiser63]

So my husband and I just got married on 8/29/09, and left for our honeymoon on the Mariner of the Seas on 8/30/09. I can't say for certain where we picked it up, but I can tell you for sure that at some point during the cruise, we both picked up a nasty parasite called giardiasis. I'm assuming it was from the food in either Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan, but honestly it could have been from the pool or whirlpools on board.

 

My best guess, and I'm sure I will get a lot of people angry at me for even suggesting such a thing, but given the conditions, I'm thinking we picked it up on our excursion with Randis Happy Horses. Don't get me wrong, we had fun, the horses were great, Randi is a very nice woman and so are all of the guides, but Mazatlan in general was a filthy place, and the kitchen at Victors was nothing more than a few pots on a campfire basically. The bathrooms were filthy and the sinks didn't have soap. I know people rave about how great the garlic shrimp is, which is what we ate, but honestly it didn't sit well with me from the beginning and I couldn't even finish half of the plate which is what leads me to believe that is where we picked it up. That and the fact that undercooked shellfish from contaminated waters is a likely cause of giardiasis.

 

Let me say that neither of us drank any water, or anything for that matter that didn't come straight from a bottle or can while in Mexico, so it wasn't from contaminated water. We also both used hand sanitizer religiously, including before comsuming the food. We washed with soap and water (except at Victors where there was no soap to be found, but we did both use the hand sanatizer there.)

 

I wanted to post this both as a warning, and to see if anyone else has been through this, especially anyone that was on the same cruise with us.

 

 

I hope you are better now and too bad for your experience. But I do not see why you say Mazatlan is a filthy place, when by what I read, you were only on stone island. You did not see the real city. Stone island is a little village and can be like any Mexican village. I can tell you that people can get sick anywhere, even on the ships. I have friends that can get sick in American fast food places, so it could be any place where you get sick. How many people go to Victors or Letys or anywhere to eat in total and how many get sick.

But one thing for sure, is you must be careful where you eat. I think Victors is great as well as many restaurants I have tried in Mazatlan and have never got sick.

 

 

Louis

[bzy1]

Giardiasis affects over 2.5 Million people in the United States each year. It is easy to pass and pick up via hands to mouth, or not washing hands.

It takes 7 to 14 days for symptoms to show up and can happen anywhere in the world including World Class Resorts.

 

You know how many people who wash their hands well get it? From the people who did NOT wash their hands and opened the bathroom door leaving the cysts/eggs on the handle. When you open it, they transfer to your clean hands. This also includes people who just wet their hands and leave the cysts on the handle for the paper towel or anything else you touch. You will NEVER know where you get it, including from hand rails, animals (pets included) and then you pop in a piece of gum, touch your mouth, etc. etc.

 

You could have gotten it on the ship, on an airplane as well which are notorious for having more germs and bacteria on the tray tables than in the bathroom.

[jasmith52]

In areas where people can't readily wash their hands with soap (especially food handlers) or where the water is polluted - then beware.

 

In my opinion - I suspect that you didn't get this on the ship.

 

For You Info:

 

<From wikipedia>

 

<Giardiasis is caused by the ingestion of infective cysts. There are multiple modes of transmission including person-to-person, water-borne, and venereal. Person-to-person transmission accounts for a majority of Giardia infections and is usually associated with poor hygiene and sanitation. Water-borne transmission is common in United States Giardia epidemics, which are often associated with the ingestion of unfiltered water (contaminated). Venereal transmission happens through fecal-oral contamination. Additionally, diaper changing and inadequate hand washing are risk factors for transmission from infected children. Lastly, food-borne epidemics of Giardia have developed through the contamination of food by infected food-handlers.>

[GinDon]

You know, I hate to bash Mazatlan, because we had a great day there, on Stone Island. We also ate at one of the local beachside restaurants on the island. Out of our group of 8, only me and my husband didn't come down with stomach/intestinal troubles the next day. We all suspected that it was the food on Stone Island that got them..............although we'll never know.

[luv2cruise777l]

You know, I hate to bash Mazatlan, because we had a great day there, on Stone Island. We also ate at one of the local beachside restaurants on the island. Out of our group of 8, only me and my husband didn't come down with stomach/intestinal troubles the next day. We all suspected that it was the food on Stone Island that got them..............although we'll never know.

 

Which place was it? Did you purposely leave out the name of the beachside restaurant?

 

We ate at Victor's when we were in Mazatlan a year ago and I felt very uneasy about our decision to eat there after using their bathroom and seeing the kitchen. Not very sanitary!

 

We also had a great day there but if I return to Stone Island.....I won't be eating there!

[STARFISH*4]

we did STONE ISLAND with RANDI in dec 2005--there were 4 of us....3 of us ate there at Victors--i did not but we all came home with some type of BUG--last dec we didnt go to STONE ISLAND and came home with NO BUGs

but ya just never know where you can PICK SOMETHING UP--

SORRY that happened to you on your HONEYMOON

[GinDon]

I don't remember the name of the restaurant, it was the one we were brought to, by our tour company, which was Puesta del Sol. We had a couple of choices for food, as the lunch was part of the tour package. DH and I had the chicken dinner, which consisted of 1/2 a roasted chicken, rice, and salad. The salad was mostly lettuce, cut in thin strips. We are putting our money on the lettuce as the culprit. We think it's probably grown with, um, organic fertilizer, and maybe wasn't properly washed/rinsed. Just a guess. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage anyone from Stone Island, we really liked our day there. But, in the future, just to be safe, we'll eat only in real restaurants, or on ship, not only in Mazatlan, but most ports.

[luv2cruise777l]

I don't remember the name of the restaurant, it was the one we were brought to, by our tour company, which was Puesta del Sol. We had a couple of choices for food, as the lunch was part of the tour package. DH and I had the chicken dinner, which consisted of 1/2 a roasted chicken, rice, and salad. The salad was mostly lettuce, cut in thin strips. We are putting our money on the lettuce as the culprit. We think it's probably grown with, um, organic fertilizer, and maybe wasn't properly washed/rinsed. Just a guess. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage anyone from Stone Island, we really liked our day there. But, in the future, just to be safe, we'll eat only in real restaurants, or on ship, not only in Mazatlan, but most ports.

 

We really enjoyed our day there too and I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from visiting there. To be on the safe side, I won't be eating while over there if we visit Stone Island on our cruise in Mar. We will sit and have a few beers and enjoy the relaxing ocean!