Blizzardcpl

Just wondering if anyone booked with airtransat from toronto to Playa Tambor on Dec. 28, 2010. The Costa rica health ministry has closed it down till inspection. Where did the tour operater send you folks as a substitution? Are you satisfied with alternate arrangements etc. Any canucks down there now?????

Andrea_loves_travel

I think this trip only leaves twice weekly, so there are probably some people down there now but maybe wouldn't be online while on vacatin I'm taking Airtransat to San Jose on Jan 4th, thank goodness we did not book Barcelo Tambor (we almost did, just for the transportation to Tambor, but we've elected to book flight only).

Are you leaving for a trip there soon?

Redwing1

My family and I just got back from the Barcelo Playa Tambor. We arrived on Dec 21, 2010 and became violently ill on Dec 23. The hotel was extremely overcrowded with locals and there were lineups everywhere. The pool was very cloudy and we did not swim in it. There was garbage everywhere. We walked past the same dirty diaper on the walkway all week. The pool was finally closed on Dec 23 for "cleaning". I tried to get to the hotel medical clinic for some medicine for my family, but the line up was too long. Hundreds of people were sick. We were finally informed that the Costa Rican Ministry of Health was closing the hotel. We had 12 hours to pack our bags and get out. We were shipped to the hospital in San Jose, then to the Barcelo San Jose. Some people required IV's and perscription medication. My wife and daughter are still taking this medicine. We were basiclly quarentine by Barcelo staff for the rest of our stay in Costa Rica. We were only allowed to eat in a separate meeting room and could not eat in any of the hotel restaurants. There were about 50 Canadians in our group. All on Nolitours, some from Toronto and some from Montreal. The Barcelo Management and Nolitours did not give anyone any indication there was a problem at this hotel. Stay away from Barcelo. There are other great hotels in Tambor.

costaricalover

This is unbelievable! Hope your family recovers soon .
Will definitely be following this story!

Jeff_Costa_Rica

How awful for you, Redwing. What a terrible way to spend your vacation. I hope you and your family are on the mend.

The Ministry of Health is supposed to announce this afternoon its decision about reopening the hotel or keeping it closed.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

The Ministry of Health gave the okay this afternoon for the hotel to reopen.

http://www.ticotimes.net/News/News-B...anuary-03-2011

I find this statement troubling:

"The hotel pool was drained, food was tested and water samples were taken to determine the cause of the virus. Health Minister María Luisa Avila said they expect results from the testing in the upcoming days."

If they don't know yet what the cause was, it seems premature to reopen, I think.

kellyramsay

My husband and 6 year old child arrived at the airport at 340 am on the 28th of December. We waited 1/2 hour in line to check in. We we arrived at the queue we were told our trip was cancelled and the hotel was closed. We were told to go over to the Air Transat counter. There we were given a generic sheet of paper indicating we could book at a later date or receive a full refund. They told us that out of 80 passengers they couldn't get a hold of us. I was home all day. We went home and again paid for our own cab fare. I called Air Transat later that morning and they told me that we should have been given the option to go to either Ixtapa or Cancun at the airport. My travel agent assured me that the carrier has all of our personal information and should have gotten a hold of us. The travel agency was notified of no changes. To date I have received no correspondence from Air Transat. We lost one week of income and had no holiday. We are deplored as to how we have been treated by Air Transat.
Regards

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I'm so sorry to hear about that, Kelly.

kellyramsay

I want to reiterate the issue that Air Transat knew the hotel was closed since the 26th of December. Information on its closure was in 4 major Canadian newspapers on the 27th. They had 48 hours to contact us. Air Transat/Nolitours did not contact us.
If I had known, both my husband and I would have had the opportunity to make other travel/work arrangements. And to needlessly wake up a 6 year old at 3 am to get to an airport when the trip was cancelled IS disgusting.

Redwing1

Consider yourself very lucky that you did not go to this hotel. This virus was like no other. I have travelled throughout the Carribean, Mexico, Europe and Africa and never been as sick. My children spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day sick in bed in a foreign land. We are awaiting a response from Air Transat/Nolitours.
We lost our entire vacation. The way Air Transat is treating their customers, they may go the way of Skyservice and Jetsgo!

kellyramsay

I feel very sorry for what happened to you and your family. We agree that no one would want to be in your situation. I really do think your issues are with the Barcelo hotel group directly whereas our issue is with Air Transat. I hope you receive compensation

modaisky

I am so sorry to hear about all of those who were sick. I hope you are well soon. We were supposed to go to Barcelo Tambor Beach on Dec 29th-Jan 5th and were told at our airport arrival that our trip was cancelled and that we could choose to have a refund or to go to the Barcelo in Punta Cana. We unfortunately chose to go to the Barcelo in Punta Cana because we had already driven all the way from Niagara Falls to Montreal already. (there were no more trips to Costa Rica departing from Toronto). There was also no attempt to contact us at our alternate phone numbers. Apparently a voice mail was left on our home phone on the morning of December 28th which we did not receive. The Barcelo in Punta Cana was rated a 4 star but was a 3 star at best. The service was terrible, rude reception staff, could not understand any English, food was barely passable (and we had stomach problems all week), rooms were awful and unclean, no hot water, got clean towels rarely, other services were disappointing. We will now be fighting with both Nolitours/Air Transat and Barcelo to get some money refunded as our costa Rica trip was definitely more expensive. If there are any others who were there during this time, please post so that we can talk. Or email me at [email protected] as I will be working on my complaint this week and I think we would have more success in numbers.
I hope the others who stayed in Costa Rica are well soon

Andrea_loves_travel

I took Air Transat to Costa Rica Jan 4-11.
I talked to the passenger next to me on the plane on the way there who was originally booked to go to Barcelo Tambor and he was given the option to change to several other hotels. I saw him yesterday on the flight back and he had a great time!

MackNorth

I'm heading to this hotel on Tuesday morning, is there any chance that any of you know if this is still a problem down there?

I'm gettin freaked out now, I didn't know this was happening!
Maybe I should call Air Transat?

Sorry to hear about all your troubles btw! Hope you're all better by now!?

Andrea_loves_travel

MackNorth > if you are worried, call Air Transat. But if you haven't heard from them, it's possible the hotel has re-opened now. It's also possible they couldn't get ahold of you though. Have a great trip!

Blizzardcpl

Hi thanks to all who replied and read. I will give our trip/booking record here.
I booked our family of 8 plus one from alberta with airtransat directly for Jan. 4 Jan. 11 with an air transfer to playa tambor. We also had friends for the same period with the bus transfer booked thru airtransat via sears travel.
My party was 3 teenagers 2 twenty somethings my wife and I and my 82 yr. old Mother-in-law. Our family has been to Costa rica 7 times since 2000 and evry time a portion of our holiday is at Playa Tambor. It is the best choice for all-inclusive and ease of accessibilty in the country (in my opinion).
I follow a couple of local english papers online (ticotimes.net and AMcostarica.com ) and became aware of the hotels health issue on Dec 26. There was a 3 day closure/clean order from the health department in Costa Rica, that was followed by a week closure order on the 27th of Dec. until the 3rd of Jan. One day before our scheduled arrival!!!!
The fun all started when I contacted airtransat about our booking. The VERY FIRST QUESTION THEY ASKED, was "How do you know about this?" after I responded The national papers (it was also reported in some Canadian newspapers) I realized the last minute re-booking on the phone with a Quebec based charter company, would take all of my patience, tact and politeness to get anywhere. After 4 days and some 6 plus hours on the phone we finally got an "offer sheet" of substitutes. We chose Occidental Grand Papagayo a travel credit voucher and an assurance that this resort was an upgrade.
As we had paid an additional 180 dollars for an air transfer, and our friends who booked without air transfer got the same travel credit voucher. I objected to this loss of 1500 dollars before we accepted the new resort. The supervisor said that yes we have an issue, but seeing as this was now Dec.31 we will have to deal with it when we return.


SO, they are getting back to me in 4-6 weeks, Oh give me strength LOL

Anyway the Grand Papagayo was a nice resort, Staff was fantastic. The resort like all resorts in this area of Costa Rica is built on a hillside and made for difficulty with my Mother-in-law but that is just the way it goes.
Everyone enjoyed their time on vacation together in Costa Rica as usual.

The wife and I left the family at the San Jose airport and took a second week to ourselves in south carribean (puerto viejo) and in Dominicalito on the pacific.

As always we had an awesome time and met some wonderful people both Costa Rican and tourists. We are seeing an incresing amount of Australian tourists here and we think that is just awesome!!!!


PURA VIDA everyone thanks for the responses everyone

Stu_McCulloch

Hi to all who believe one rotten apple makes a barrel....
This Christmas past was our 7th visit to Barcelo Tambour Beach in the last 5 years and thee first time to see anything like this happen.
I was one who got nasty sick, actually 2 days of hell and 7 days of recovery. I lost 25 lbs that week so I am talking from experience. My oldest son was un-well for 6 hrs and my wife was down for 3 days. And yes I have toured the world in my military service and never been so ill before. It was a Norwalk Virus that was already active when we arrived 21 Dec 10. And yes the Hotel and Tour operators should have stop all new arrivals. But it was Christmas and hard to turn off people. Actually, my family and I were the last guests cleared out of the hotel. We went to the Hotel Tamor Tropical just down the beach to recover for the second week of our holiday. Both Barcelo and Tropical staff were a great help to us.
Yes it was busy, but only 1200 guests. I have seen it busier, try +1600 at Easter 2 years ago. It is a 402 room Barcelo hotel that had lost its management guidance. I know personaly that it has recently had a drastic change - trust me the broom has clean house.
Now to the corrective action - Nolitours has complensated us our complete Christmas tour even before I sent a letter of concern. That is real customer service, a check to be used as we see fit, not a voucher for future service. So, my wife and I are booked to shortly go back to Barcelo Playa Tambor Beach with Nolitours to confirm everything is ship shape or better. My wife was a "House Keeper" in a big London UK hotel in her younger days and will be giving it the white glove treatment.
I will give you all an update on my return.
TTFN - Stu