A family who contracted parasitic worms during a five-star Caribbean holiday have said their £3,700 trip was ruined by undercooked meat, insects in their salad and "deafening" drum and bass music by the pool. Sarah Sigston, 57, her husband Jeremy, 53, and their daughter Isabelle, 25, from Rayleigh, Essex, flew out on May 4 for a fortnight's stay at the Viva Dominicus Palace by Wyndham, booked through TUI as an all-inclusive package.

Upon arrival, they were disappointed to find the hotel "very, very tired" and their room not matching the online pictures. They encountered issues with "undercooked meat", "insects in the salads", and "birds on the buffet trays".

The family say they also endured "deafening" drum and bass music around the pool area, which played "constantly" and featured "awful" swear words.

They had chosen this resort specifically for its online claims of being coeliac-friendly, as Isabelle suffers from the condition. However, she fell ill after eating a burger that was supposed to be gluten-free, having been reassured by three staff members that it was safe.

By the eighth day, the family noticed "worms" in their stools, leading to a three-day medication course upon their return to the UK.

The family persevered with their holiday, later attempting to claim compensation through TUI. However, they were met with a refusal from the company who cited a lack of concrete evidence connecting the family's health concerns to the hotel – despite saying they have shared pictures of the parasites.

Jeremy, a double-glazing installer, told PA Real Life: "My wife and I have travelled around south-east Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and we've never had any issues, come back with anything, or even been ill. We've eaten some pretty questionable food but never have we come back with any lodgers inside us."

Expressing his displeasure, he continued: "We were totally underwhelmed with the holiday, disappointed and wholly mis-sold, especially with it being marketed as a 'coeliac friendly hotel' it was misleading."

Sarah, an artist, said her family had been to the Dominican Republic on three separate occasions and always had "amazing" experiences. However, referring to their most recent stay, which cost them £3,783.16, she expressed disappointment, saying it "wasn't worth" the expense.

"On the first night, we all went 'oh my god' because it wasn't anything like we were expecting," Sarah said. "The first day we got there, the food was cold, there were very limited food options, when you went round the buffet there were loads of empty trays."

Describing the conditions of the hotel further, she said: "There was undercooked meat all the time, there were insects in the salads, flies all over the salads, birds sitting on the buffet trays."

Adding: "The hotel was very, very tired, it wasn't worth the money we paid, it looked nothing like the pictures online."

The family said their ordeal was made worse by "deafening" drum and bass music blaring around the pool, filled with "awful" expletives.

"There was loud music around the swimming pool, which might sound like a silly thing to complain about, but the type of music, it was really loud rapping, like drum and bass with the F-word and the C-word," Sarah said.

"It was constant and the swearing in it was unreal, it was awful." Adding: "If I had a young child there, I would be absolutely appalled, it was literally deafening."

Jeremy also highlighted security concerns, noting that the locks on their hotel room door were "wholly inadequate".

"The door lock to our room looked like someone had broken into it and smashed the Chubb lock and it had been replaced, but it was really badly done.

"It was wholly inadequate, you could have lent on it and opened the door."

Sarah described how, around the third day of their holiday, they began experiencing diarrhoea, nausea, and stomach cramps. By the eighth day, the situation worsened as they discovered long white worms in their stool.

"I think it was (Jeremy) who had the first worm and I remembered saying, 'there's a long white thing, you've got a parasitic worm'," she recalled.

"We were sort of joking at first but then we all started getting them."

"For a couple of days, I had to stay in the room for the day because I couldn't go out as I kept having to go to the toilet."

The family returned to the UK on May 19 and visited a doctor the next day, where they presented images of their stool. Sarah said the doctor "immediately" told them "they are definitely worms".

They were all prescribed a three-day course of Mebendazole, a medication used to treat various parasitic worm infestations.

Further issues arose with the food during their holiday when their daughter Isabelle, who has coeliac disease and therefore cannot consume gluten, ate a burger that staff assured was gluten-free. "The reason we chose this hotel is because they had a box on their website saying something like 'coeliac disease, no problem, you're safe with us'," Sarah explained.

She added that it can cause some food anxiety, especially in a foreign country. Many of the naturally gluten-free food items available at the hotel's restaurants, such as potatoes, white rice and vegetables, were labelled as containing gluten.

"No-one seemed to know what coeliac disease was but apparently, the hotel catered for it," she said.

"We asked (about the burger) and they said 'yes, they're gluten-free', we double-checked again and we were told 'yes'... Isabelle was still a bit hesitant but she started eating it.

"In the end, the head chef came down and he was really, really apologetic and said they weren't gluten-free but (Isabelle) had already eaten half of it and then obviously, you've got no choice."

Isabelle suffered from diarrhoea, vomiting and "crippling pain" just hours after eating a burger on holiday, leaving her "wiped out" for the rest of the trip.

Her mother, Sarah, explained that Isabelle managed to get by with white rice, salad, and grilled meat, and later resorted to her own Itsu gluten-free rice pots as she felt there was nothing she could "safely eat".

To address the issue, hotel chefs suggested the family visit one of the 10 on-site restaurants each evening to find a chef who could prepare something special, like gluten-free pasta.

"It was very nice but they weren't always there," Sarah said.

The family has sought compensation from TUI for their ordeal but claim their request was denied due to insufficient evidence.

They said they couldn't prove through tests, such as a stool sample, that the worms were contracted from the hotel or that Isabelle's illness was due to consuming gluten-containing food.

Upon returning home, the family didn't think a stool sample was necessary as they were all prescribed medication the day after landing, without the need for a test to confirm the presence of worms.

TUI has not provided a comment, and PA Real Life has reached out to the Viva Dominicus Palace by Wyndham hotel for a statement, which had not been given at the time this article was published.