Caribe Hotel

Just home after a really great holiday at the Caribe. There was a total of 6 in our party; my in-laws, my two daughters (3 & 6) and my wife and myself. My personal opinions:
Arrival and Transfer
Landed at Ibiza around 9:45pm local time, the cases came out quickly and we soon got away in search of our transfer. There were plenty of TC reps around, and they were well-informed as to who was due in, and where your coach was. We found ours in a couple of minutes, exactly where it was meant to be (always a good thing!). The transfer from the airport took about 1-1½ hours, as there were 8-9 stops en-route, and traffic was bad - twice we had to stop for a few minutes because of the narrow roads with parking on both sides. But we got there, got checked in quickly and headed up to the rooms in two groups of 3 (my in-laws took our 6 year old, we took the 3 year old).
The Rooms
The doors are operated by electronic cards. Really easy to use, but it is worth getting more than the one per room you are allocated on arrival. Depending on which layout room you have, you will find it either decent or cramped. My inlaws had a room with 3 single beds, one small wooden unit (a wide bedsite table, basically) and a desk. Ours, in comparison, had two double beds, 3 units, and a desk. This made manouvering around tight, especially between the foot of the bed and the desk to get out on the balcony.
The balcony itself was small - enough room for two patio chairs and a small pvc table, but it was enough. The patio doors have a good lock on them - although ours broke (it shut, but wouldnt lock). We reported this to reception and it was repaired the same day. The bathroom is a decent size, although I found the bath a little narrow and a bit short. However, the shower more than made up for this. The rooms were cleaned 6 times a week, and fresh towels 7 times per week. Optional extras (like a safe in your wardrobe, or a fridge) were available for 2 or 3 euros per day respectively.
The food
Not overly great, and this is where Caribe loses its points. We stayed for 14 nights, and saw some of the same items appearing for a 3rd time before we left. Breakfast gives you a choice of cereal, buns, or a cooked breakfast with variations on eggs (scrambled, hardboiled etc) and hashbrowns. There were also machines for fruit juices and hot drinks available during the morning session (8am - 10am). All meals were buffet service.
The evening meals were good, but little choice for the younger people. There was a soup of the day, then salads, or different hot dishes. Chips were always available, but (as I found out), not all kids like chips! They did try and pep it up a bit with fish fingers, or chicken nuggets, but it didnt always work! Also, on the evening, you get no drink provided - there is a small bar in the restaurant which offers bottles of water to bottles of wine, but it can get expensive. The evening meals were available 7pm - 9:30pm.
The entertainment
We had very little qualms on this subject. The hotel has hired its own entertainment team, who lay on activities throughout the day. Examples include darts, dancing (salsa, cha-cha, etc), archery, stretching exercies, and more. These can be a bit repetitive, but for the kid-at-heart like myself, they were great fun! For the kids, there was a kids club included with the booking through TC, but my two didn't seem too keen after the first session. We then found out that the hotel staff also ran one, which was similar but apparently more satisfying for them. I didn't argue!
At half past eight there is a kids disco on the main stage, which also includes a game and prizes for the young ones. Then, at 10pm, the main show. We saw a variety during our stay, including the famed Parrot Show, drag acts, comedy, dancing etc. Again, very good, but it was repeated after the first week.
The entertainment team were very approachable, although English was sometimes not the best way to communicate with them due to their varied homelands. We had staff from Italy, Argentina, Peru and the Dominican Republic whilst I was there. Still, even during their meal, they would still be more than willing to stop and chat.
The complex
The hotel itself is only 5 floors (6 including ground, 7 including basement), so its not overly large. The bar, lobby and food areas are all good sizes, as is the outdoor terrace around the pool. There are plenty of sun-loungers and tables and chairs about to go round, so no-one is left without. The pool is a good size, and varies from 40cm up to 2.1m deep. A small play-park is also onsite for kids.
The resort
The hotel is easily placed to get about Es Canar - 2 to 3 minutes will get you to the bars, the beach, the shops... pretty much anywhere you want to go. As has been stated before, its not really for the young clubbers, but more family orientated. The beach is a good size, with loungers supplied by the adjoining bars (for a price). The sea is crystal clear and a very gentle gradient, rather than a steep slope, so it is good for kids.
There were the usual pedalo boats and glass-bottom ferries in the harbour, together with buses to adjoining resorts, however I cannot vouch for these as I never used them.
Overview
A good hotel for families, however 1 week to 10 days may be enough as they do seem to work on a 7 day cycle on the food and entertainment.

It is the second time we have visited the Caribe and are planning to go back. Everything about the hotel and the resort is beautiful, there is plenty for the children to do during the daytime to keep them occupied and is nice and relaxing for adults of all ages to laze around the pool.
The hotel rooms are just right, the staff are extremely pleasant and welcoming, you feel very secure at the Caribe both day and night. The food is fantastic giving you a wide range of choices of Spanish and English food. The prices for the food at the hotel cafe are very good and not expensive.
The Caribe is two minutes walk away from the beach and all local shops, cafes and bars, local people are very pleasant.
The first time we visited the Caribe the evening entertainment was brilliant as it was done by Thomas cook own reps, but when we went back this year the hotel had decided to use a different company. They was great but they found it difficult to organise everything properly but it was the start of the season, so they should be an awful lot better by now, but they were lovely people!
The hotel and resort is great for families, couples an older people, as my nan came with her friend and they had a better time drinking cocktails than we did!
I would highly recommend Hotel Caribe to anyone and I will definitely be visiting again in the near future.

What more can I say, probably the best holiday I have ever been on, and the Caribe is one of the main reasons.
We went with Thomas Cook, and the reps were good, there were 9 of us ranging from 13 - 60 yrs old, and in Es Cana there is something for all the family to do, it isn’t as noisy as San Antonia but plenty to do.
We went for 2 weeks, entertainment and kids reps were brilliant, games all through the day, for all the family, then shows at night, plenty of other clubs if you fancy a change, and only a couple of euro to go on a boat trip, which I totally recommend.
Met some fantastic people, and we enjoyed it that much as soon as we got home we booked to go back. So going again very soon cant wait, if you are going late in the year like we are this time, people say that everywhere is closed; don’t listen they close about 25th October, take care and hope you like the Caribe in Es Cana just like we did xx

Just arrived back from 7 days at the Caribe and had a great time. In our party there was 4 adults aged 30 - 60 and 2 children aged 3years and 5 months.

The hotel is superbly situated for the beach, bars, shops, and restaurants which are all no more than a 2 - 3 min stroll away. Hotel is really clean throughout with a really large and clean pool area which has plenty of sunbeds so no need to get up at daft o clock to get a bed.
Rooms are ok but found that they were a little cramped with 2 adults and 2 children in them (just normal hotel room size). Food was pretty good although we did find that at the evening meal on occasions, although plenty of choice, the choices didn’t seem to go together. Having said that we never left the restaurant hungry.
Es Cana is a really nice little resort with a good selection of bars, shops, and restaurants. It is not a rowdy place but there are enough people around in the bars to make a nice relaxing atmosphere which is fine if like us you have small children but may be a little boring for older kids. Price of large local beer on average 2.65 Euros, Bacardi, and coke 3.50 Euros. You can get cheaper beers but in my opinion it tasted cheaper too.
If transferring on a Wednesday to Es Cana be prepared for a longer than normal transfer. It took us the best part of 2 hours because of the traffic for the Hippy Market and thankfully we had an extra feed for the little one.
Overall a nice hotel in a nice resort and a really enjoyable holiday.

Booked a holiday looking for a quiet relaxing break, this resort is great for this as it is very small and quiet.
The beach is tiny and lots of seaweed, enough restaurants to eat in, nightlife ok if you want to relax and have a few drinks, nowhere to let your hair down if that’s what you’re looking for, we weren't so it was perfect for us.
The hotel was exceptionally clean, very laid back, and friendly, the evening meals were superb, and different every night, the breakfasts were repeated every day so a few times we ate out.
Don’t bother with the hippy market, you're lead to believe the goods they are selling are handmade, but it's just a repeat of the goods on sale in the shops.
I would recommend this resort and hotel for a relaxing break, not somewhere to take your kids, as they will soon become bored.
Overall a lovely quiet resort, if you want to see the island travel by bus, it's very cheap compared to the packages the reps try and sell you, 8/10.

Never before in the field of human endeavour has so little entertainment been provided to so many by so few.
I booked this hotel on the strength of reviews on this site and agree with the majority, the Caribe is a very clean, smart hotel with reasonable food and facilities. As has been mentioned, it wouldn't take much for it to reach 4 star status.
For example, unless you arrive for the first sitting at breakfast/dinner you have to lay your own table which could be resolved by employing a few more staff.
Where we were disappointed was in the entertainment, or lack of it. The two hotel entertainers were pretty useless and it was interesting to see the following written in the front of Jon's (the JMC rep) comments book: "Please do not write complaints about the entertainment in here, they are employed by the hotel, not JMC".
The reviews below mention the names of several people we didn't see, I can only assume that the hotel once had a great entertainment team who have recently left and been replaced by two very nice but dull people. If you do have small kids, go to the Hotel Anfora Playa just around the corner where they welcome non-residents, several families from the Caribe (including us) went there several nights.
We sent our 4 and 6 year olds to the kids club on a couple of occasions (5 Euros per hour unless you book through Thomas Cook/JMC as its run by them, not the hotel) and they were happy enough but mostly sat around drawing rather than having any activities or games organised for them.
The hotel had booked professional entertainment at 10 pm 5 nights of the week which was ok, some of the acts also appeared in the same week at local bars and other hotels.
All in all, Caribe is a good hotel and its fair to say our expectations were set very high by the other reviews. Even with better entertainment, its still pretty much the same as you would expect from any hotel in its class (although the family rooms are indeed small).
Leaving the entertainment to one side, Caribe is an 8/10 hotel. I've only downgraded it to 7 due to the fact that the previous ratings are largely based on the children's entertainment being fantastic, whereas now it is non-existent.

A big thank you to Thomas Cook for this dream holiday.
The location of the hotel was perfect. Only a 2 minute walk to the beach and the night life. The whole area seems chilled out really, ideal for families. The food was fantastic from breakfast through to tea, there was something for everyone, fish, meat, pasta, salads and the most wonderful puddings I have ever tasted; they even had rice pudding one night.
The hotel was amazingly clean, the maids were amazing. Hotel staff from reception to bar staff were not just first class they were world class, but the total star of the team is Rosa from the pool bar. She was simply wonderful; please try a Viagra cocktail from her. The two girls doing the day time entertainment were both 19 and it showed; this was the weakest part of the holiday. Only 6 out of 10. They were both great girls but didn't know what was going on from 1 day 2 the next.
The Thomas Cook staff on the other hand were fantastic. Nicki, Craig and John (even with his cheesy annoucements). They are a credit to Thomas Cook. Well Done Guys.
Cost of a pint was 2.80 euro I thought this was O.T.T., but some of the local bars cost more. I could go on and on about this place but there is no point. It was just perfect. We made some fantastic friends on this holiday around the pool and that only helped to enhance the already magical feeling of this brilliant holiday.

Second time at the Caribe this year, still very good but last year was better.
The food was nice but in my opinion there’s not alot of choice for kids.
The entertainment team this year was not a patch on Donna and Kerry and the rest of the crew last year. They didn’t know what they were meant to be doing at all, just made it up as they went along and they looked bored all the time. On the event board they had things planned which did not take place and the night entertainment this year was rubbish. Stayed to watch it once and went out after that. Last year I think we watched it 5 nights out of the 7.
Still a very clean and looked after hotel. You can never fault all the bar staff - polite and always walking round with a smile, especially Rosa she is the best.
Would always recommend this hotel. We had a brilliant holiday once again at the Caribe. Entertainment team this year not as good but with some more practice could be very good. This hotel without a doubt should be a 4*. Don’t think we will return again - the only reason being we want to explore other places.

Just returned today from 2 weeks at Caribe in Es Cana with my husband and 3 sons 16, 14, 12, we all had a fantastic holiday. The resort is safe, my older son was out till late most nights. Hotel spotlessly clean and staff cannot do enough for you, any requests instantly responded to.
Meals were all lovely with plenty of choice. Pool area kept spotlessly clean and entertainment team Laura and Sophie were fantastic, lovely and friendly. We would recommend this hotel to anyone as all ages were catered for and we met several people who refuse to go anywhere else.
Resort is small but everything is there, a few jellyfish in the sea are our only complaint, but even then there is a first aider on the beach ready with a bottle of ammonia to sort out any stings.
If you see a good deal to Hotel Caribe BOOK IT you will not be disappointed.
The Wright 5

Best hotel I have ever stayed at. Food was excellent, great variety.
Room was spotless, cleaned every day. Staff really friendly and helpful. it felt like we were staying at a 4star hotel. pool spotless. hotel overall spotless. Beautiful resort,
Would recommend this hotel a lot. Would definitely go back.