Iberostar Creta Marine

Arriving late in the evening it was a pleasure to be advised that checking in could wait whilst we visited the restaurant where there was a selection of food and drink available, then a simple process to check in and be escorted to our family room - overlooking the pool area and sea view. The hotel itself is immaculately clean with well tended gardens and all staff that truly understand the meaning of warmth, friendliness and good customer service.The entertainment team work tirelessly all day and night with several night time shows; they strike an excellent balance between involving those who are interested in activities and allowing others to rest peacefully there is no "pushiness" they simply ask once but make everybody feel extremely welcome. It is isolated and only has the use of the sister hotel (Creta Panorama) in the immediate area but has good travel routes to the local town of Rethymon ( which itself is a must visit - 40 mins by bus ), local bus and runs every 30 mins. Both hotels are well equipped and excellently presented with all the usual amenities - Gym,massage, tennis courts,5-aside football ,on site a la carte restaurants-bookable in the hotels. The buffet restaurant has a large variety of international food this combined with afternoon cakes and fruit leads to a feeling of being pampered- watch out for the increase in waistline !! but is worth it :-) I would definitely recommend this hotel to friends as I travelled with my family -2 adults and 1 teenager , we all had a thoroughly enjoyable stay and would return for a truly enjoyable hotel based holiday

This is our second family visit to this great hotel and we have enjoyed it as much as we did the first time. We travelled with two teenagers 19 & 15 yrs. They say happy kids means happy parents well this is totally true here. The animation team make this holiday special! They have activities all day for any age! For the very young to active adult!! However away from the main busy pool are 2 quiet pools and garden areas where peace and relaxation can be sought. All nationalities are brought together here by the animation team and English is the common language albeit there are not many British here. More Brits go to the sister hotel alongside - Iberostar Panorama. That said I would choose this hotel every time. It's slightly smaller, not as busy and I think better. The complex is relaxing and kept extremely clean with well tendered gardens. The bedrooms are good and very comfortable with excellent air conditioning. The restaurant is great and the food pleased even my particularly fussy 19 yr old!!! The closest town is a short noddy train ride away or Rethymno is approx 25 mins on the bus. My son had a leg injury playing basketball when we were there, The staff were amazing, helping us seek medical assistance and lending us a wheelchair. The injury could have ruined our holiday but they couldn't do enough to help. Thank you all from the happy helpful restaurant staff to the amazing animation team. I would recommend this for a family holiday.

We stayed here for 11 nights in August. We had a lovely relaxing time. Staff: - When we arrived (at 1am) we were greeted my a grumpy man on reception. He barely gave us any information about the hotel/facilities and it seemed he just wanted to get rid of us to our room. We also noticed that when other guests arrived they were given a welcome drink/snack - we did not receive this. It would have been nice after travelling for so long. We were then taken to our room on a golf buggy by another very grumpy man. Not the best first impression of the hotel. - On the whole the staff were pleasant and attentive - however sometimes we were ignored at the pool bar and it often took a while to be served in the lobby bar. Food: - The food was great in terms of quality but it was incredibly repetitive - the same dishes everyday bar a few. - Out of 11 days there were TWO themed evenings - one Japanese and one Mexican two days apart in the last days of our trip. These were much needed as we were getting rather bored of the lack of selection. - When we have stayed at all inclusive hotels before they have a different themed evening every night - we much preferred this. Room: - We had booked 2 rooms in the main building but were given 2 garden bungalows (512 and 511). These were nice but nothing special - the gardens were really over grown (not sure why as the rest of the gardens in the hotel were being done everyday). - It was nice being that little bit separate from the main hotel - After seeing our rooms and the view from the rooms in the main building we probably would have preferred to been in the main building. - We had no bottle opener so couldn't actually open any of the drinks in our mini fridge. - Towels were changed everyday even without requesting. Entertainment: - The animation team were excellent - particularly enjoyed aqua fit / aqua dance with Jenni and Emilie. Gianni and Alex were brilliant too. - The evening entertainment was also brilliant - the team were so talented and there was a real variety of shows - where we've stayed before has been repetitive so we liked this. Particularly enjoyed the 'abba night', musical nights, 90s show and 'around the world'. - We didn't quite understand 'Kappa Club' - they didn't seem to do a lot apart from follow the others around during the day (but not help) and sit at the bar in the evening? - Would definitely recommend doing the €10 banana boat with the animation team. Excursions: - We got the little train into Panormos - would recommend. - We also got the bus into Rethymnon for €2.20 each way. Pool/Sea: - There are lots of pools to choose from, main pool with the entertainment/music. A quiet pool. Pool by the sea. And kids pool. - We used the main pool everyday - never had an issue getting sunbeds. - The lifeguard at the main pool was lovely and always spoke to us. - The private beaches are a real asset to the 2 hotels - we swam in them everyday. Overall would recommend - we had a lovely time but there were just some things lacking.