Iberostar Selection Creta Marine

We stayed in sea view family bungalow with breaktaking views. Bungalow adequate for four. Maid service excellent. Peaceful location, stunning grounds. Matea from the entertainment team was amazing. All hotel staff friendly. Food good

As a package holiday first timer, our experience at Creta Marine was just brilliant. We were welcomed into a fantastic resort and location by friendly and helpful staff. We stayed in a family waterfront bungalow and it absoluely blew me away. Gorgeous views from the balcony and right above the best swimming cove. The apartment was comfortable and spacious for 2 adults and 2 teenage boys. The rooms were kept beautifully clean and housekeeping was very flexible in their visit times, allowing us to relax in the room when we wanted. I really appreciated the fresh towels and linen each day. The beds were comfortable and there were thoughtful touches all around the accomodation. The balcony was my favourite place, day and evening. The village style layout of the bungalow complex was absolutely charming. The landscaping and planting add extra enjoyment and the opportunity to enjoy native plants. We enjoyed snorkelling in each of the coves, lots of fish to see! Comfortable loungers at every location and refreshment options too. The resort is so large and has so many facilities, even as it filled up, it never felt crowded. Lots of space around the main pool (which is gorgeous) and around the many smaller pools and areas. We visited in October so it was still comfortably warm. The water was cool, but we're Cornish and a bit hardy so that didn't faze us. The land train to nearby Panormo was charming, lots of options for eating and shopping in that little village. Rethymnon is an easy bus ride away, stopping right outside the resort. Beautiful town with the most amazing shops and places to eat. Utterly charming. Reception staff very helpful in helping us navigate and get to where we wanted. The whole atmosphere was so hospitable, we had a 5 hour wait between checkout and airport transfer on the way home. We were welcomed to use all the communal facilities with thoughtfully provisioned showers etc so we could still swim and enjoy. There's a very handy little resort shop with some basics, snacks, drinks, souveniers, books, bus tickets etc. A short walk away is a local shop which is definitely worth a visit, so many local snacks and foods, as well as gorgeous gifts, souveniers, clothes and interesting things. I cannot think of a single negative about our stay. Thank you to the brilliant staff, we were fortunate to stay for 11 nights and got to know our favourites. The smell sometimes alluded to is the bore water used to irrigate the plants at night, which has a sulphurous smell. This is due to rock composition of Crete imparting sulphide gas into the water table. Using untreated bore water to irrigate is much more sustainable than using drinking quality water, especially where water supply is under severe pressure. We drank the tap water for the whole stay, using the mini fridge to chill. The mineral content is beneficial I believe but if you can't get along with the difference in taste, bottles of spring water are readily and cheaply available f

The first six days of our seven night stay at Iberostar were very pleasant. Upon arrival we were greeted with free champagne and taken via golf cart to our "bungalow". We went half board which gives you breakfast & dinner at the main buffet restaurant and one reservation at each of the fancier restaurants at the resort. The buffet food was okay - the food resting in the hot trays was swimming in oil but if you get your food from one of the two stalls manned by Chefs cooking the food to order, it can be pretty decent. Getting drinks can be a nightmare at dinner as you have to wait for the staff to take your order and this can often be a long wait - usually after we'd finished our food. The food at Vegghera restaurant was very good. Definitely the best dining experience we had on our trip. The facilities are pretty good with numerous swimming pools/beaches to choose from and live performances every night. Cleanliness seemed to be a mixed bag with the waiting staff wearing gloves instead of washing hands. Bad practice. They did half heartedly encourage people to sanitise their hands before entering the buffet. As other people have mentioned, a strong smell of sewage wafts through the entire resort - it can be pretty pungent. Unfortunately, on our last night we dined at La Locanda, a restaurant on the site. The food was average and the aftermath was worse - overnight we both received pretty bad food poisoning with vomiting and diarrhoea. Upon notifying reception, the staff member turned nasty and literally asked "What do you want ME to do about it?" - refusing to believe we got poisoned, and then, amusingly and bizarrely, chose to pretend not to understand what we were saying, despite having perfect English moments beforehand. In the end it was clear they didn't want to hear it, wouldn't be investigating the cause and just wanted us to leave. Quite a disappointing end to an otherwise enjoyable holiday.

Two years previous we spent 10 days in the sister hotel panorama was fabulous, so on return could not get a room available so opted for the sister hotel. Bit disappointing, ..the staff are amazing .. the hotel very clean..our room was a newly refurbished one but garden view was not great and our room above bins stinks was horrible , we asked to move but rooms available not as nice as one we had so opted to stay and never used the balcony . The entertainment not great but ok..the grounds adjoining the panorama are beautiful and well kept ..lots of space to go for walks..good selection of pools..lovely little coves at beach..the food was a disappointment for us we struggled to find something appealing every night as Im vegetarian not much as it was very repetitive..so a waste of money for half board ..all in I would say book a room in panorama sister hotel as it's on a bigger and better scale ..an enjoyable holiday but room for improvement