Hotel Caribe Resort

1 reader found this review helpful

We are just back from a holiday in Salou, Spain. We booked our holiday through First Choice at Hotel Caribe Resort, Port Aventura. I have mixed opinions about our stay there. We reached in the morning at 9.30 a.m but were told the check in time was 3 p.m. and that we could visit the theme park until then (!!!) Who would want to visit the theme park when you badly needed to freshen up and have a bite to eat!!! After a long journey from England (our flight was at 6.00 a.m, so we had to travel to Stansted from Norwich at 1.30 a.m ). We were very disapointed with First Choice for not letting us know about the check in time earlier. Otherwise they could have atleast had a later flight that reached by 3 p.m.
The resort by itself was beautiful but I didn't like the rooms one bit. The bathrooms were crying for renovation and cleanliness-wise, it was just about ok. The hotel staff were friendly, prompt and helpful though communication was difficult. If you happen to be a vegetarian like us, food is the most difficult part of the holiday in Spain. By the end of 7 days, we were dying for some home-cooked food and were really looking forward to coming back home.
Among the good aspects was the theme park ofcourse which was amazing with some really cool rides, the night time entertainment was awesome and our daughter loved the mini disco. The shows at 10 pm were very good too. The characters livened up the atmosphere.
March is a wrong time to go. You can't use the outside pools or the Caribe Aquatic Park or the Beach club. 7 days seemed a long time to stay there and by the end of it we had had enough, though the time out there was relaxing.
Decent holiday but didn't meet my expectations.

This was a great value for money hotel. As we were staying in a portaventura hotel all entries into the theme park and water park were included in the cost.
There was loads to keep the kids happy however the food and drinks were a little expensive.
The only thing that let the hotel down was the room size. In the brochure the rooms looked spacious, when we got there, as a family of 4 there was no room to swing a cat! We had 2 single beds, a bed settee, and a travel cot that was in the passage way to the door and had to be pushed in to the bathroom to get the pushchair in and out.
But overall if you don't mind where you sleep it was a great, fun holiday.

1 reader found this review helpful

Spent a week in the Caribe Hotel ages of the party 15 & 2 40 year olds & 1 50 yr old (but only just!) The rooms were really spacious for 2 with a sofa bed if you had more people in the room, we were on the ground floor of the building which was great as you could use one of the pools loungers on your patio should you wish.
Plenty of space around the Hotel if you wished to sunbathe alone. The 2 Pools were fab, 1 has a sandy bottom, the best thing was there was NO fighting for a sun bed at any time there were plenty.
The buffet style food was fine always something to try, use the option of eating in the other 2 hotels just need to let them know the day before, the food for the buffet was the same but interesting to see the other hotels, you can also dine in either of the hotels other restaurants, The Caribe has a fish restaurant the others have Mexican & Italian, you are allowed 18 Euros and pay anything extra (it didn't actually cost any more just the drinks bill).
The park was bigger than I expected I have been to Florida and Disney land Paris and while it’s not Florida it’s much better than Paris, the Parks were busy but as it was peak having unlimited access meant you could choose when to go, we often went in the night for an hour or so as it was open until midnight so the queues were fine, they had a great fireworks display at 11:45 every night, the beach club was great, the trams are all laid on for you to the park and the beach club.
The water Park was fine little small but ok you don't need to purchase a Ring as they do have rings for the rides you only need this if you want to use one in the main pool but this isn't made very clear.
The Town is approx 15 mins walk away which suited us fine as it was far away enough not to bother you but there if you wanted to go to.
The only disappointment was the service at the bar in the evening at times unable to get served for that last drink of the evening.
It has something for everyone I would go again, if you have a mixed party it would suit, you can relax if you wish or go mad in the parks or paint the town red.

1 reader found this review helpful

Before going on this holiday I read some of the comments and was surprised to read some of the negative comments. This is the second time we have visited the hotel in two years and I can't fault it.
We booked originally to go to Halkidiki this year but cancelled it to return to the Caribe, as we had such a good time last year.
Upon arrival we were allocated a room at the far end of the complex, this room was ready upon arrival (usually you have to wait until 3.00pm for your room to be available). As we had stayed before we asked if we could stay in the "Barbados" building that is near to the white sand bottom pool.
The Reception staff were friendly and polite and explained that the hotel was full but would see what they could do and they did manage to grant this request. So far excellent start (gets better!!).
Last year they asked guests to complete a questionnaire and I was thrilled to see that they had actually acted on improvements suggested. The kids club is now a proper kids club and not an activity centre and there is always someone at guest services.
The food was the same as last year - very varied. However I did have one evening where a hot dish was cold but they do have microwaves available. The 3 hotels have co-ordinated themed meal evenings.
The Portaventura has a Mediterranean buffet on Saturdays, El Paso Mexican buffet on Tuesdays and Caribe Chinese buffet on Thursdays. If you want to dine in any of the above hotels restaurants at anytime during your stay - on that day visit the guest services desk in the morning and tell them where you wish to dine, they'll transfer your half board allocation over and you pay any difference.
The tour operators seem not to give all the perks of your room key so here goes: It turns lights on and air conditioning in the room, entrance into Portaventura Theme Park, after 9.00pm you can use your room key as a fast pass in the park and go on the ride over and over again. This is not to be mistaken with the fast passes you receive on arrival - use these in the day.
We didn't visit the Beach Club but am informed that it is worthwhile.
If you enjoy theme parks, have children then this is the place for you, it has everything, the pool by day, theme park by night or vice-versa. However if theme parks are not your cup of tea then maybe this is not the hotel for you!
Happy holidays - next year’s Florida for me and my family and we will definitely be re-visiting the Caribe in the future!!

1 reader found this review helpful

We have just come back from a fantastic holiday, and would recommend it to other people. Here are some points that might help you, as often you do not find out from your rep.
You cannot check in till 3pm unless they have had a quick turnaround, but you can store your luggage in a secure room. Make sure your swim gear, towels, and cream are on top, so you can hit the pool if you want.
All rooms have a card key to get in. All have great views, enough room to hold 2 ad and 2 ch. Note there is no kettle in room. No need to bring a hairdryer as there is one in the bathroom. Towels are changed every day with maid service.
You can get pool towels which you can change every day from the health spa for a cash deposit of 15 Euros each towel, which is refunded back to you on the last day plus if you need a life jacket for your children they are free of charge, as you cannot take anything in the pool apart from armbands or the hotels lift jacket.
Opening time is from 10am. We found this a great service, as this saved your own beach towels getting ruined.
Breakfast and dinner meals were great, you do have to wait to get seated. Plenty of choice we found. Remember to bring a camera for breakfast, as this is when you see the charters. Be a bit pushy as the Spanish seem to push their kids to the front.
We also used the dine round ticket to have our dinner up at the portaventura hotel, well worth a try. You can get this at the guest service desk which opens at 10am.
There are mini trains outside the hotel to take you either up to the park or the beach club, they run quite regular and saves the kids from walking everywhere.
Thumbs up for the Beach club it is beautiful but note there are no umbrellas for shade, but as the sun moves around you will find some shade around. All the pools are great different ones for all ages, or you can do a short walk down to the beach.
We had a great day at the waterpark, the day you can go is allocated to you on the day when you check in, and also this is when you are given your fast passes for some of the rides. This was great, as you by passed all the queues.
A big note we did not find out until we arrived that the park only stays open until 8pm in the mid season and opens till midnight in the first week of July onwards, which was a slight disappointment for the kids. But however they still had a great time.
Hope this information helps, and have a great time!

The hotel is very clean and tidy, some of the staff were no use what so ever, the reception staff and the porters were excellent but most of the other staff have no time for you if you are not Spanish.
The pools are good but were very cold the kid’s water play area was out of order.
We used the buffet for our meals because it was part of the package, you get a good selection but it changes very little each day, the food is not usually very warm but there was 2 microwaves.
The restaurant staff had no time for the English, the English are told that no pushchairs are allowed in the restaurant but if you are Spanish you are free to wheel them in, if you need a kids chair they just wave over to the corner and expect you to go and get it, but if a Spanish person asks the not only get it bus set it up as well.
The bar prices are expensive and there is no supermarket on site to buy anything, we went into town and bought cans of beer, crisps and coffee for the room (it does have a fridge).
The room does not have a kettle so we bought one in town; it was cheaper than hiring one from the rep.
The entertainment does not start until 10pm so it’s too late if you have small kids.
The shuttle trolley to the park runs every 20 mins but can be busy at peak times.
The private beach is nice, pebbles rather than sand, and they were doing a lot of work on it while we were there, take some water with you; the shop does not open till midday.
4 people in a taxi cost under 5 Euros to get into town; it worked out cheaper to go to town for the evening and visit some of the local bars and get a taxi back than it was to stay in the hotel.
The park itself is okay, not the best theme park I've been too, but it is fine, they only have about 8 characters for the kids to have photos with but I think that is because it is nothing to do with universal now and they have lost the rights to use them.
The Spanish and the Germans seem to think they have the right to walk to the front of any queue and this does cause a few rows.
I had a German man push my 2 year old out of the way to get to one of the characters, when I confronted him he just started shouting at me in German, I hope his insurance covers his camera because he won’t be using it again.
I found the park to be quite dirty, lots of graffiti and chewing gum stuck to nearly every post.
Make sure you use the fast passes to get on the rides this saves lots of time, the pass entitles you to jump the queue on 10 of the main rides, the operator puts a cross next to the ride as you get on but we did notice that they did not always cross off the rides on the Spanish ones, so it means they get unlimited fast passes.
The water park is not very big but was good.
My recommendation... save a bit more money and go to Florida.

Just returned from two weeks in the Hotel Caribe which was definitely by far the best holiday we have ever been on.
We have two children aged 4 and 2 and could no fault this hotel for the facilities and the staff.
There was so much to do for the children ranging from the theme park, water parks and private beach club which the hotel provide transport to very regularly.
The evening entertainment consists of a mini disco which both our children loved, followed by a show which ranged from Peter Pan, Cinderella to Mama Mia, in my opinion something for everyone.
Both morning and evenings the hotel have Disney characters walking around greeting the children, where they can have photos taken.
I would recommend this hotel to anyone with children, both ours have loved every minute and we will definitely be going back.

What can I say? Hotel was brilliant - in fact we thought it was soooo good we're going back in 2007.
The kids thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. We stayed on half board basis. The food choice was great; food was buffet style however it was cooked in front of you so you could see that it was fresh. If you didn't want to eat in that restaurant then you could transfer your dinner to any one of the hotels restaurants including the two other hotels El Paso and Port Adventura restaurants.
The room card opens your door, turns on air conditioning and allows you entry into the theme park but as an additional plus - after 9pm you can use it as a fast pass to any of the major rides! It also gives you entry into the exclusive Beach Club with loads of pools.
The only grumble I have is the kids club. It’s not a club it’s an activity centre. You sign the kids in and out but are asked to setup base camp outside the door as the doors are always open (pool outside door) so the kids can escape.
The entertainment for the kids is Spanish (disco) but we tended to go out of the hotel into the theme park at night where they have magic shows, hola dancing - everything you can imagine so in the end the kids club wasn't too important. We made our own entertainment!
Just a heads up there are no inflatables in any of the pools except arm bands or flotation ring. (not both).
This hotel is well worth a visit.

The whole family enjoyed this holiday. The Hotel was clean at all times and the staff were always very helpful.
The only downsides were that the television only had 1 English channel which was CNN News and as we have a 6 year old she was not interested also the food in the buffet restaurant was fantastic but it was not hot although there was a microwave available. The pool area is fantastic with sand and it is not too deep for younger children.
My one main criticism is that the entertainment was not in English except for one night which was fantastic but it meant going into town at night for something my child would enjoy.

Overall this holiday was fantastic, in fact we have booked to go again next year.
The hotel was lovely and the staff were very helpful and friendly. One disappointment was not getting our room till 4pm- we got there at 9.30am! No sleep and no room made the first day a nightmare.
Although I loved the hotel I would suggest it were rated a 3 star hotel. This is only due to the fact the rooms were more basic than I expected and there were no tea/coffee facilities. There were 4 of us and the room had a very big king size bed and a sofa bed. Theses took up all the floor space so you did feel a little cramped at times.
The maids came daily but there cleaning could have been improved on, but again still acceptable.
The hotel grounds were fantastic especially if you’ve got kids, plenty of room for them to run around and not get into trouble. The pools were spotless and had loads of life guards who took their jobs seriously-very safe.
The kids club was good and the staff very friendly.
The food was to die for- cant wait to go back. I must have put on at least a stone. Plenty of variety.
The location of the hotel was spot on, close enough to Salou and the park and the transport was excellent. There was a train every 15min from 9am to 1am.
We went there when the beach club opened. It was great. Some of the pools were for adults only which was annoying but understandable- folks without kids might not want to be dive-bombed and splashed all day. For us with kids we’ve got no choice? Again there was a train back and forth all day.
The park was spot on, just the right mix of rides for all ages. I would recommend avoiding it on mon-wed as it is very busy then with Spanish. Sat and sun are the best days to go- empty even in August! Overall I would recommend this hotel and holiday.