Pins Marina Apartments

We booked for as we thought Salou.....that’s what it had said in the travel agent’s advertisement....we were in for quite a nasty surprise. On arrival we found that our apartment was actually in a place called Villafortuney...a.k.a. hell closed down! Villafortuney was a small village 2km from Salou and 10km from Cambrils, and whilst I admit that we were there mid-October (for our 10th. wedding anniversary as well as our 1st ever European holiday as a family), it was like a dirty half-constructed ghost town.
Our apartment block was called Pins Marina, it was below even basic and the staff were not only unhelpful, they were downright rude; I was a barmaid in my 20's & therefore well used to being gawped at by lecherous men, but the stares and dirty comments from the barmen, in front of my children, did manage to annoy me. Only hours after booking in, the ceiling light simply fell from the ceiling, landing on the dining table and exploded right beside my two young children.
Thankfully they were in the process of walking away from the table at that exact moment, so whilst they along with everything in the living area and bathroom were showered with fragmented glass and wood, they were shaken but otherwise unharmed, However all our towels and my daughter’s brand new bikini were ruined. We sought help from reception but were lucky to a replacement bulb and a promise of repairs to be carried out the following day.
Determined to have a good time, we set off walking to Salou for some dinner but were ripped off by the taxi driver on the way back. Exhausted we put the kids in the twin bedroom and laid out the bed settee. Now I’m not exactly a featherweight but at 8 stone 10lbs I am certainly not overly heavy. I had just started to lay myself down on the bed settee when the slats underneath me gave way & I ended up with my rear end on the cold floor. Thinking that they had just maybe been a wee bit loose, my husband re-constructed the "bed" only for the same thing to happen! Good job my husband wasn’t first in bed...he weighs in at 15 stone & 4lbs!! We quickly changed the sleeping arrangements around as the children could manage to sleep on the bed settee without too many collapses!
Shortly afterwards we discovered that we were right beside an overly loud disco which broadcasted outside as well over a P A system. We knew before we left that the local train ran right past our building, but even it was quieter than this disco, which went on until the wee hours, even though there were barely a dozen people in it!!
The next morning we set off to buy some groceries only to find that most of the shops had closed down for the winter, so we had to pay through the nose for what little we could find.....being an experienced camper, I didn’t mind roughing it a little bit but neither my husband or kids had ever been abroad before so they were more than disappointed with their experience.
Of the three main theme parks advertised in the reception, one had closed for the winter, a second was to close at end of business the following day, only the third and final was to remain open....Universal Studios. I could not say anything bad about Universal, it was simply amazing, but Aquopolis was extremely disappointing not to mention expensive. The beach was only across the road but it was a "shelf" beach which was unsafe, in my eyes, for children as well as being an unholy wind tunnel.
All in all, apart from a fantastic day in Universal Studios and a very nice trip into Cambrils one night, we made the best of what we had but will never go back!!