Grecotel Creta Palace

A beautiful luxurious hotel with super friendly staff. We had a fantstic week snd enjoyed yoga, pilates, an art lesson with Paris at the Attelier, a cooking lesson with Emmanuel, wine tasting with Marie and Ionnais. Food was lovely and Angelos looked after us so well. Our room with a sea view and balcony was perfect and kept super clean by the cleaning staff. The beachside location was fantastic and we enjoyed a strip into Rethymno for lunch and shopping.

We stayed during a most unusual spell of stormy weather but the management and staff did everything they could in the most trying of circumstances to ensure we had a good time - they succededed! We encountered some issues caused by the weather but each one was dealt with quickly and, most impressively, the General Manager and other memvbers of the management team were visible and working hard throughout to ensure their guests had the best time possible in the circumstances.

All of the staff were friendly, helpful and efficient but we would particurlarly highlight the efforts of Mr Iaannis Stratakis, Food and Beverage Manager, who was always on hand to guide and assist his staff to deal with the unusual demands generated by the weather.

The sun returned for the last couple of days of our stay and we were able to enjoy the outstanding beach and pool facilities at the resport.

I probably would've given 3.5 if I could. 3 seemed a bit unfair though.

We have previously stayed at the Grecotel White (previously white palace). One I'd the frustrations of the White was the limited space around the pool. The Creta Palace looked like it had a bigger pool and we'd seem reviews saying that it has been recently refurbished. That said we should have done a bit more research. We booked the Lux Me all inclusive package.

The pool is bigger and has super comfy sunbeds but they still fill up early. Lots of people put towels out early then don't come back for ages. I'm an early riser so I'd get to pool early, I disagree with holding sun beds so if I go down there then I'll stay there. I was there early one day and 4 sun lounger already had towels on them and they were unused for at least 2 hours. Signs say no reserving for more than 30 mins but no one is managing that. I like being by the pool so it bothers me but to be fair there are a lot of sun loungers on the beach which is big and has a lot more space than the White.  There's definitely more space than the White and there's a separate children's pool where the slides are but you still have to be up at the crack of dawn if you want a spot by the main pool. I did really like the app ordering for drinks to your sun lounger, it was easy and drinks always came pretty quickly. 

We booked a superior sea view room, they are nicely done up however there was a hanging rail but no draws for clothes so we hung up wyae we could but has to live out of our suitcases for the rest. The bathroom is also quite small but with a massive showers. It was fine for us but I could see it bothering some people. My biggest issue was the balcony and view. Our room was on the second floor over the bar so it was very noisy when there was entertainment was on but there was also the flat roof of the bar below and in front of us. We could see the sea if we were stood up but if we sat on the balcony we could mainly only see the flat roof outside with a tiny glimpse of sea which is not what we paid for. Also the sliding door/window only takes up half the wall, the rear is wall, so Grecotel have basically been cheap with the glass which then limits the view from inside the room and the bed. 

Drinks - there is a good selection of international spirits and a few beers. The cocktails are made really well especially by the lady in the main bar.  I'm not particularly impressed with any of the wines I tasted. There is a weekly wine tasting on Friday but that was at the end of our week. It feels like something that should be run more often. At the White there was a wine room in the main restaurant so you can get recommendations and try the wine which seems sensible given Greek wine is generally less well known. I ended up sticking to beer and cocktails. 

Biggest annoyance for me was the restaurants. At the White there are 5 restaurants and all the a la cartes were included plus a really good quality buffet. At the Creta Palace the buffet was average although the desserts actually were always very good. The thing that annoyed me the most was 2 of the a la carte restaurants were chargeable even on the Lux Me package and the buffet is not open at lunch. Essentially the Trattoria is open for lunch but on the Lux Me package you're only given a limited menu with maybe 10 items on it. What we discovered eventually is you can order from the main menu and you get €20 towards an item on there which opens up your options a bit but not a lot. At the White theatre buffet was open for lunch with a couple of the a la cartes and if you went to the Trattoria you could order what ever you wanted. There was also a fine dining even restaurant included and not charged extra for. This weird charging and limited all inclusive seems counter to the Lux Me principles and not at all what I was expecting. 

The gym is newly done up with new equipment - cardio machines, 2 reformers, dumbbells & kettle bells, 2 benches, cable machine, smith machine, leg press, chest press and lat pulldown. It was busy the days it rained but not too bad the rest of the time. Could probably do with one more treadmill. 

One thing I will credit Creta Palace with is the service which was generally good across everyone we experienced. When it rained over the first weekend they also made sure there was coffee, juice and snacks laid out on the main bar all day.

Would I come back to Creta Palace... Unlilely but given when we booked the price was pretty similar between Creta Palace and White for the all inclusive Lux Me package I would definitely choose the White over Creta Palace. The combination of not true all inclusive, average buffet and noisy & limited sea view room really knocked a lot of points off for me.