Hotel Caribe

I stayed here end of July/beginning of August for 9 nights with my partner and our two boys aged 15 and 6. We first stayed here when we were a family of three, in 2009. Back then, we received free queue jumpers for the busiest rides, a free toiletry pack for our son, free water-park entry, free shuttle bus ALL THE WAY up to the park...the second visit was in 2015 and we were slightly disappointed to receive a discounted water park ticket instead of a free pass; however, we were still given queue jumpers for PortAventura so couldn't complain too much. This time...no queue jumpers. And the shuttle bus only takes you to the foot of the park with a steep bank to negotiate in the blazing heat. We just felt like were paying more for less this time. As we wanted to enjoy our holiday as much as possible (and we were aware of how bad the queues can be in the park) we stumped up the extortionate price of 75 euros each for the express premium wristband x 4. We were absolutely appalled to discover that we couldn't use our wristbands on the new Sesame Street Ride, Street Mission, despite it having an express queue. To queue jump for this, you need to buy an ADDITIONAL fast pass. This was not explained to us by the receptionist that sold us the wristbands. The queue for this ride was consistently over an hour for the whole time we were there; difficult for small children to endure. We were in Francisquita block at Hotel Caribe which was conveniently located for using the 'sandy beach' pool. Our little one loved the pool and made some lovely friends there. The room was cleaned daily which included the floors being mopped, bedding changed and fresh towels. We couldn't work the safe although I'm sure reception would have helped had we asked. Do use the Dine Around option - you are able to use four a la carte restaurants within the park if you book at the hotel reception on the day before 6 pm. The food isn't amazing, even in the a la carte restaurants; however, we found it nice to be able to all sit down together as a family to eat - as opposed to the hotel buffet in which you're all up and down at different times. Each adult gets an allowance of 19.5 euros, children 9.5 euros to use in the a la carte restaurants. I think you can also book for a la carte restaurants at the other hotels within the resort but we didn't get round to it this time. One thing I did find frustrating was that the childrens' option for the a la carte didn't correspond to the theme of the restaurant; e.g. no child's tacos/wraps at the Mexican, no child's pizza at the Italian. We did receive a free day at Ferrari Land as part of our package; after reading other reviews I expected not to spend too much time there but we were pleasantly surprised. We got there at 11 am on a Saturday and the queue for Red Force (tallest rollercoaster in Europe) was supposed to be 20 minutes, although it was more like 40. It was worth the wait though. Later in the day, we noticed that the queuing time peaked to 1 hour 30 minutes but went down again after 3 pm. My youngest was happy going on the 'little rides' and we were all impressed with the 'Flying Dreams' simulator, I highly recommend it. We didn't get to see the Acrobat Show but I heard it was good. We finally left Ferrari Land at 4 pm so spent a good 5 hours there (both boys enjoyed the experience of being able to change an f1 wheel). We decided not to visit the water park at a discounted rate as we didn't enjoy it during our last visit - too many queues, even for lockers, resulting in a stressful day. Within the park, the closing parade and fireworks are well worth a watch - it all starts at 11.30 pm. We also recommend the Bubblebou show and the Polynesian show. I found the price of a bottle of water within the park quite shocking to be honest - over 3 euros. We went on the Barcelona V Arsenal excursion and were picked up at 3.30 pm meaning we missed out on our evening meal at the resort; I asked reception about swapping our evening meal for lunch but was told this wasn't possible. I feel they could have been a bit more flexible here, especially for a 4* hotel. Although we had a lovely time, I think that this visit will be our last due to the feeling of being squeezed for every last cent and getting 'less for more.'

I had 3 nights at the Caribe with jet2 we had a standard room which had 2 singles and a settee that transformed into a double bed which was very comfortable to my surprise,.the staff were very helpful,the pool is nice and the food is pretty good for a buffet we had half board. with this being a portadventura hotel you get free entry to the parks (not water park) and for 75 euros each we had the fastpasses for all of our stay in the hotel well worth it you can ride Shamballa 4 times before regular line people get there the parks are 10 to 15 minutes walk or there is a shuttle train about every 15 mins till 1 am.you can walk to salou from the hotel its about a 20 minute walk into the centre.park opens till 12am in august too