Woman reveals the horror of her Thomas Cook holiday from hell in Cyprus
Chelsea Stark, 26, claims fellow guests at the hotel in Ayia Napa openly had sex in the pool and left their underwear in trees
A WOMAN’S dream trip turned into a holiday from hell as oversexed guests at the hotel where she was staying left SPERM in the pool and condoms in the foyer.
Chelsea Stark, 26, travelled to Ayia Napa, Cyprus, for a week’s holiday with best friend Catherine.
But their girly getaway quickly became the stuff of nightmares as Chelsea claims she saw people having sex publicly in the pool – and a cloudy white substance she believes was sperm floating in there afterwards.
She also reported spying used condoms on the floor and underwear hanging from the trees.
Chelsea, who works as a sales advisor, explained: “We’d worked hard all year and deserved a break.
“We didn’t have a lot of cash so we booked a last-minute holiday to Ayia Napa in Cyprus through Thomas Cook.”
The break cost Chelsea £250 and she couldn’t wait to enjoy the beauty of the island.
But when the friends arrived at the Pambos Magic resort, Chelsea said she knew something was not quite right.
She explained: “We’d booked a self-catering apartment, but there were no cooking facilities, just a kettle.”
Chelsea complained to the holiday rep about it and was told that they at least “had a kettle”.
But things were about to get worse.
The same day the girls arrived, a British rep barged into their room pushing various trips.
Chelsea recalled: “He was doing the hard sell and we felt obliged as we just wanted him to leave our room.
“So we agreed to go on three trips and gave him 115 euros each.”
The girls unpacked and tried to begin enjoying their holiday.
But as they left the apartment the next day, they noticed several used condoms glinting in the sunlight.
Chelsea admitted: “I was horrified. They hadn’t been cleaned up.
“Clearly people had had sex the night before and just chucked the used condoms on the floor in public areas. It was vile.”
Then one evening as the girls came back from an evening out, Chelsea spotted an amorous couple having sex in the swimming pool.
To make matters worse, the pool had visible blobs of a suspicious-looking white substance floating on the surface.
Chelsea said: “Catherine and I exchanged looks. The pool was white and cloudy.
“We didn’t even dip a toe in it. There was no way we were risking that.”
As the pair walked around the apartments, they often saw pairs of pants and underwear hanging from trees and bushes.
Chelsea recalled: “At first I thought I was imagining it.
“But no, on one bush there’d be a pair of dirty boxer shorts, on another a skimpy thong.
“One day we opened our balcony window to look at the tree outside our apartment and it was covered with pairs of pants people had chucked there. It was surreal.”
Over the course of the week, the girls were only taken on one of the trips they’d paid for.
Chelsea said: “For one – which was meant to be a beach BBQ – we were simply taken to the pool of another hotel. It was rubbish.
“And for another trip, the driver simply didn’t turn up.”
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A couple of days before they were due to go home, the rep allegedly pushed a note under the girls’ door.
“It said we were accused of breaking a door and had to pay up,” Chelsea said.
“We’d done no such thing!”
He reportedly later came to their room and asked them for 150 euros for the ‘damage’.
When they refused to cough up, he laughed and told them he’d been joking.
Chelsea said: “Some joke! It was very unprofessional.”
By the end of the holiday in 2014 both girls could not wait to return to Glasgow.
Chelsea admitted: “Yes, the weather in Cyprus was beautiful and we had tried to enjoy ourselves.
“But the cloudy pool, oversexed tourists and condoms strewn about was just awful.
“I just couldn’t wait to get home and back to work.”
But even that didn’t happen easily.
On their last day as the girls checked out and were about to board their transfer to the airport, the manager on reception reportedly refused to give them back their passports.
“He said that we’d overused the electricity by using a fan in our room and we couldn’t have the passports back unless we gave him 77 euros,” Chelsea claimed.
“My friend Catherine was in tears. We’d had a horrible holiday and longed to get home and now there was a risk we’d miss our flight.
“The rep arrived and suggested we call our parents to transfer the money.
“But we were furious. We’d booked self-catering and had had to eat out each night due to not having cooking facilities.”
After a long altercation the girls’ passports were returned just in time for the transfer to the airport.
Chelsea said: “We broke down in tears and boarded our coach, so thankful we were leaving the horror behind.”
Once the pair was safely back in Glasgow, the girls complained to tour operator Thomas Cook about the rep taking money for trips and for the refusal to give them their passports.
Thomas Cook awarded Chelsea and her friend £50 each in compensation.
Now Chelsea vows never to go back to a ‘party’ resort ever again.
She explained: “The customer service was non-existent, the rep was pushy and didn’t provide the trips promised, there were no facilities we’d booked for self-catering and the things we saw floating in the pool and hanging from the trees have put me off party holidays forever.
“If it was a choice between a free holiday at a sex-mad party resort or a wet, grey weekend at home, I’d opt for the latter!”
Chelsea's complaint isn't the first of its kind to emerge about this particular hotel.
One - which also appears on - of the Pambos Magic Hotel reads: "The pool was disgusting , you couldn't even see the bottom as it was so cloudy and dirty.
"My pal got loads of spots on his back , and found out it was a minor skin infection from the pool.
"A guy was actually found dead one morning in the pool as we sat on the balcony and watched him get dragged out the pool."
It added: "We had already gave the hotel staff our passports so they held them ransom until we paid fines for things that were already broken when we arrived which is shocking.
"The hotel receptionist started shouting at me after I asked her for a spare key, then she actually leaned over the counter and tried to hit me with a stapler 3 times until the nightclub bouncer in the hotel came over and intervened.
"Overall the staff talk to you like dirt and have no time for any Brits.
"The entertainment/games at the pool one day of the week during the day was not bad , but they more or less forced girls to take their bras off. Even if they said no , the reps just took them off anyway."
Another review warned: "Avoid the pool you might get an STI."
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said: “We are always concerned when our customers are disappointed with their holiday.
"We apologised and offered Ms Stark and her friend a gesture of goodwill shortly after their return from Aiya Napa in 2014 which we are pleased they accepted.
"Since Ms Stark and her friend stayed at this hotel, it has undergone a major refurbishment to the rooms, pool and bar area and other communal areas."
Earlier this year we reported on an explicit video that emerged of holidaymakers in Ayia Napa engaging in sex acts and taking drugs.