Iberostar Hotel Cozumel food

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pidgiepoo

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Two friends of mine recently got back from the Iberostar hotel in Cozumel. They reported getting ill from the food. They also mentioned others getting ill. I have stayed at that hotel 17 times over the years and thought the food was good. Is anyone current at the Iberostar or been there recently and had a problem with getting ill after eating the food? I am leaving for there August 15 and want to come prepared. I thought my only problem was going to be the mosquitos :depressed:
 
I have never stayed there....
But I think most people get "ill" in Mexico from the water issues. You MUST drink bottled water. I even use it to brush my teeth. I would ask the friends about that.
If that is not the culprit, then find out if they ate anything from off the resort where the food may have been washed (like lettuce, fruits, etc) with water that wasn't bottled.

Having lost a few dive days myself, back years ago before we started staying at SCC, I am very paranoid about food and water. I am more sensitive than my husband, who can eat anything and never get sick.
 
thanks for your post Robin..hopefully someone staying at the IB will have some current info to post on the subject. I'm like you...more sensitive than my husband about the food. No problem with the water..we always use bottled.
 
You MUST drink bottled water.

Actually, the conventional wisdom is you CAN drink the municipal water, but it tastes kinda bad and is hard. They have apparently made a ton of progress over the years.

That being said, I do the bottled water.

---------- Post added August 7th, 2013 at 06:03 PM ----------

We also run a little pro-biotic just to get the gut happy and full of good organisms and microflora. More for the abuse I put it though with the 'good things' than any actual bad 'things.' :)
 
We stayed there about 3 weeks ago and had no problems. It was our 8th trip. The water seems fine for showering or brushing teeth, and I don't worry about ice in the dining areas. They will give you all the bottled water you want. Nevertheless, I always tend to apply the rule "cook it, boil it, peel it, or forget it."
 
Fwiw, be aware of what you eat at buffets. Mexico, US, wherever. It's common sense, fact if you take any courses on food borne illness. I have. Again, fwiw, food temps are extremely important. It's not that the food was 'bad', or prepared incorrectly, it's that it sat for too long at the wrong temp. Maybe it sat on the buffet at a bad temp for too long, maybe it sat in the kitchen waiting to be put on the buffet at a bad holding temp for too long, whatever. This is why i'm not a fan of buffet food, anywhere.
-Blair
 
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I have never stayed there....
But I think most people get "ill" in Mexico from the water issues. You MUST drink bottled water. I even use it to brush my teeth. I would ask the friends about that.
If that is not the culprit, then find out if they ate anything from off the resort where the food may have been washed (like lettuce, fruits, etc) with water that wasn't bottled.

Having lost a few dive days myself, back years ago before we started staying at SCC, I am very paranoid about food and water. I am more sensitive than my husband, who can eat anything and never get sick.

Smart.

Actually, the conventional wisdom is you CAN drink the municipal water, but it tastes kinda bad and is hard. They have apparently made a ton of progress over the years.

That being said, I do the bottled water.

---------- Post added August 7th, 2013 at 06:03 PM ----------

We also run a little pro-biotic just to get the gut happy and full of good organisms and microflora. More for the abuse I put it though with the 'good things' than any actual bad 'things.' :)

Correct

Fwiw, be aware of what you eat at buffets. Mexico, US, wherever. It's common sense, fact if you take any courses on food borne illness. I have. Again, fwiw, food temps are extremely important. It's not that the food was 'bad', or prepared incorrectly, it's that it sat for too long at the wrong temp. Maybe it sat on the buffet at a bad temp for too long, maybe it sat in the kitchen waiting to be put on the buffet at a bad holding temp for too long, whatever. This is why i'm not a fan of buffet food, anywhere.
-Blair

Excellent post.

Unfortunately, while as cvchief said, much progress has been made, there is still e coli in water samples, and a small level is allowed. Of course, in the US and Canada, the threshold is 0.

You may not get sick from drinking the water, but the reality is that you're playing Russian roulette. That being said, I know an 8 year expat, and a 16 year expat. Both drink bottled water, but both brush their teeth with tap water, and niether of them has gotten sick. Another expat MD has told them both that they are idiots, (I'm paraphrasing).

Based on my conversations with the first two expats, I started brushing my teeth with tap water. After the conversation with the remarkably laid back and pragmatic MD, I went back to bottled.

Edit to add: Our tomatoes and lettuce get soaked in microdyn, as does the canteloupe before it gets sliced.
 
I wonder if there is also a bit of confirmation bias in all this. People often get sick when they travel, and we expect contaminated food in Mexico, so when we get sick there, we blame the food. But I get an upset (TMI- sometimes severely) stomach all the time when I eat out- all around the United States. I really blame stress of traveling more than the actual food.

Yes, I plan to take extra precaution in Mexico, but I doubt the hotel had actual unsafe food (except maybe buffets: because wrong temperatures really is a problem everywhere.)
 
I agree with nodakdive. These places have a vested interest in keeping people happy and wanting to come back. They know that if people get sick, they'll never see them again.

Most problems are more likely related to food sitting too long at the wrong temp than due to poor food preparation or the water (at least, at Iberostar). It can be challenging for any of these enterprises, which serve so many people all day long, to keep everything properly warmed/cooled.

That's why I tend to choose items that are clearly freshly cooked or things where temperature doesn't matter so much (eg, bread, chips, etc).

BTW, I am an MD and my wife is a RN. When we are out of the country, we try to stick to bottled water, although we are comfortable relaxing it a bit at Iberostar Cozumel. We have not had a problem.
 
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