Iberostar Creta Marine

Returned recently from the Creta Marine, having stayed all inclusive in a bungalow with balcony room with wife and 15yr old daughter, and felt I needed to write this review to allay any fears created by any of the less than generous reviews I've read about this resort. I am a seasoned traveller, and have stayed at many 4 and 5 star hotels in several different countries, and will try to be honest and objective in this review. We stayed in late August, during school holidays.

I make no apology for the length of this review as I always try to leave a useful review - whether good or bad.

Firstly, the grounds; The whole resort is spotless. There are teams of gardeners working constantly to keep the plants and lawns well manicured. The buildings I used/saw were all spotless also. Walkways, pool areas, corridors, etc, all spotless.

Reception area was welcoming, well staffed and eager to help. Honestly the best experience of a reception desk team that I've experienced. The whole team spoke passable or good English, and they were always keen to help. No attitudes, no speaking behind guests backs, just good, professional and approachable people trying to help make your stay enjoyable. I used them to book taxis for me (8euro to the local village), book the restaurants, ask advice, arrange late checkout, etc. On arrival late at night we were met with cocktails and roses for the ladies, and seated whilst our paperwork was dealt with. All very civilised, all felt genuinely welcoming.

The room was a refurbished one (809) well positioned near the restaurants, and overlooking the main pool, etc, but far away enough to not hear anything. We did have an issue with some ants in the bathroom, but this was sorted immediately on reporting to reception. We were all-inclusive, which meant the wine, beer and soft drinks in the fridge were all included and restocked daily. We had a kettle as well as a coffee pod machine, large TV, safe, proper hairdryer, robes and slippers. The aircon was excellent and the quietest I've ever had in a hotel room, and everything could be controlled from a digi-pad each side of the bed. The shower was large and very good water pressure, complete with hand wash, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner. Balcony was a good size, and a pleasure to sit on with a good coffee to look at the mountains or lovely sea view that I wasn't expecting!

The outside/pool bars were clean and well staffed, and every member of the bar staff was polite, courteous and attentive. There was no favouritism, no working for tips, no attitude, and the service couldn't really have been any better. Drinks were all branded - including branded (and genuine) Baileys, Bombay Sapphire, Dissarono, etc, etc, in all bars. Cocktails were all made to order, not your generic hotel "out of a carton" crap. I'd give a mention to Vikki in the beach bar as she was great, but they are all attentive and friendly. The evening bar near reception is also well staffed by an excellent team who take your orders and bring drinks to you all night, with no asking for tips, etc. It is, of course, nice to tip when you can. They appear to pool/share their tips which was great to see too, as all the waiting team were worthy of tipping although you may be served by two or three different people in the same evening as they are so efficient. There was live music in that bar every night which was also very good, and we did not even wander up to the "proper" evening entertainment as the vibe was so chilled in the bar.

Now to the restaurants; I should start by saying we have a peanut allergy in our family, but on making this known to the buffet staff, we met with the restaurant manager every evening to be shown what she could and could not eat. They even offered to make something from scratch as the desserts often included (or were made in an area that also handled) peanuts so, again, nothing was too much trouble. You do have to book a time, even in the main buffet restaurant, which means they handle the inflow of guests very well, and you can always walk in to choose an empty table. I never queued for any food as a result of this approach, and I wish more hotels adopted it. I thought the food was of a very high standard in the buffet and really struggle to understand what some people expect from their hotel stays. Plentiful, large variety at all meals, always restocked BEFORE any ran out, and more than enough choices for everyone. The fruit in particular was some of the best, ripest and tastiest fruit I've ever eaten. On seafood night, we tucked in to lobster, oysters, clams, massive prawns (also available most other nights), and mussels. This was in the main buffet restaurant!

Food is available somewhere all day, including crepes, ice creams, fruit, cakes, lunches, Giros, snacks, sandwiches, crisps (available free from all bars all day), and so on. Again, I struggle to think what some people expect.

I did not have any treatments in the spa, but it looked very nice and the spa team were not pushy (although did seem a little pricey, but it may have been an incredible massage!?).

The animation team were fun, but not pushy, and had plenty of activities on offer if you wanted to take part. They even brought round sliced watermelon and juices in the mornings to anyone already sunbathing. You do need to know the etiquette around the pool - no reserving beds before 10am. Be warned, if you do leave towels on beds before 10am and are not there with them, they will be removed. This actually works really well and means you can normally get a decent spot without having to be up at 6am! It also makes for some entertaining arguments with those guests that can't read the signs advising of no reserving when they finally drag themselves to their "reserved" bed late morning to find their stuff missing and other people enjoying their sunbeds. They soon learn though, and the system works well in truth.

The bays are beautiful. The beach food truck is great, and we had a fireworks and cocktail party put on in the cove one night too.

I would stress that I have no affiliation with this place, other than it is on my list to return to at some point in the future because of how nice it was. I do complain if/when I find it necessary and would mention any negatives I experience, but also like to point out a job well done when I see it. Iberostar Select Creta Marine gave me nothing to moan about, and plenty of memorable and enjoyable moments.

It is true that I could probably have searched for some negatives like some people seem to enjoy doing, but I genuinely did not come across any. I hope for the best like most people when booking a holiday, and am normally let down by some thing (or things) in some way however big or small. Not here though.

Don't take the word of the moaners. I understand people do have different experiences, but we were genuinely confused by the negatives some people experience during their stays. I guess I was lucky? Or maybe just chose to enjoy my holiday. Either way, I will be going back one day and hope you enjoy yours if you go. I certainly recommend it.

We visited recently for 7 days as a group of 6 adults and 2 children, staying in bungalows. We had a lovely time and would recommend. A choice of pools, the large one was very busy and difficult to get sunbeds so we tended to opt for the smaller pools which wasn't a problem. It was very slippery walking around the pool, our toddler slipped several times as did - it would be good to address this. Rooms are well appointed, the only niggle was a lack of hooks to hang robes/clothes etc Restaurant was excellent in my opinion for a self serve perspective, although very noisy. Housekeeping was my only real gripe, the bathroom floor was not properly cleaned during our stay. This is a concern as 3 of our party had a sickness bug. There's plenty of hand sanitizers dotted about but I do feel the cleaning teams need to up their game. I would recommend this hotel and would go back again which demonstrates the quality provided here.