Iberostar Selection Creta Marine

This was our second visit to the Iberostar Selection Creta Marine and although late arriving due to a flight delay, we were welcomed with a glass of champagne and a rose for my wife. The reception/lobby area is very spacious and immaculate, check in was pretty quick and we went to our room, the same room as last year, which was on the second floor in the main building with a sea view. The air conditioned room was spacious with a king size bed a couple of chairs, coffee maker, kettle with breakfast tea and Nescafe coffee and minibar. The mini bar was stocked with beer and soft drinks and there were two half bottles of red wine in the room and a plate of chocolates. The bathroom was large with walk in shower, plenty of hangers in the wardrobe and sufficient drawer and shelf space. The hotel is set on the edge of a cliff and comprises the main hotel and numerous bungalows in the grounds some with swim up pools, there are three coves at the base of the cliff with small sandy/pebbly beaches at each. There are steep paths down to the coves but there are also three pools that are accessible if you are not that mobile. One of the coves is a harbour and contains Lottie Watersports where you can hire a jet ski, go out on a banana boat, etc., but we just opted for trip round and into the caves on the coast. The hotel has the main buffet restaurant which has plenty of choice, daily "roasts of the day" plus Cretan specialities and a lot of honey. There are also three speciality restaurants, La Locanda, Italian trattoria and Vegghera, Cretan taverna, which are close to the main hotel and Thalassa, Mediterranean restaurant which overlooks the sea. We went to all three and found the food and service to be best in La Locanda, Victoria our waitress was so pleasant. The food in Thalassa and Vegghera were very good but we found that there was too much food. All the restaurants offer a selection of starters for sharing which consist of bread with dips and 4 or 5 other dishes, such as saganaki mussels, crab croquettes, calamari, prawn salad. The main course are also quite large and the whole meal is very good but very filling. For main courses in Thalassa I had beef cheeks, so tender, and sea bream, also very good, my wife had salmon on both occasions but I had to help her eat it as there was so much; in La Locanda I had porchetta saltimbocca, very nice but there were two large pieces of pork, one would have been sufficient, with gnocchi and mushrooms, my wife had Milanese chicken and in Vegghera I had Tzigariasto lamb, the lamb was so tender, I had already had this dish on two occasions in the buffet, whilst my wife had sauteed chicken with mushrooms. wed did give dessert a miss on one occasion. This year they have also added a Sushi wine bar on the terrace at the Thalassa restaurant. As my wife does not like shellfish, we went there after visiting the buffet, I only had a light meal to save space for the sushi. On our first visit the General Manager arrived at

"The location was absolutely breathtaking. The accommodation was immaculate, and the food offered a high standard with plenty of options. The animation team was fantastic, especially Shane and Victor. George and Nikki at the pool bar were always friendly. Every staff member went above and beyond to ensure our holiday was wonderful. We will definitely return!"

We are just about to leave the Creta Marine after a wonderful 7 night stay as a single parent family with my 11 year old daughter. We stayed in a garden view bungalow which was absolutely beautiful and overlooked the sea.

Great hotel and gardens. Good location and food was really delicious. For a week, there were plenty of options and enjoyed mixing the buffet for a couple of evening meals at the onsite restaurants. Did have an issue with room set up (Garden view bungalow) for 2 adults and child which was completely impractical as the sofa chair which converted into a single bed didn’t allow the balcony door to open. We moved a piece of furniture to allow for a better room layout and all hell broke loose with the reception team and manager saying we weren’t allowed to move any furniture and it would have to be moved back to the original position meaning we couldn’t practically access the balcony! This was not pragmatic at all and at the time was not a great way to start the holiday and something I’ve never experienced before from a hotel. They relented in the end but in our opinion it was completely unreasonable in the first place. Big shout out in particular to Natalia on the reception for being very kind and helpful. Victoria on the front desk for the Dias Buffet evening service was also very helpful. Do take a walk around the gardens and explore the Creta Panorama gardens too. They’re really beautifully kept and provided a nice option for walking off all the food! The swimming pools were cold at this time of year and the hammam wasn’t working and you couldn’t access the sauna unless you paid for a treatment at the spa which were priced very high. The indoor pool was nice but policed by the spa team who didn’t allow any noise! The water park was fun and great sunshine in the afternoon. All in all, we’d love to go back (and we’d move the furniture again!) Mike’s car hire is highly recommended. Much cheaper than Hertz offered through the hotel and delivered a car promptly to the hotel and picked it up on our return.

love the rooms, they are so pretty.. the stuff ist very kind they are very helpful und polite, i love the animateure programm, the service is also very well and the atmosphere is great in here