Iberostar Selection Creta Marine

"We have returned from an all inclusive 6 night stay at this hotel. The hotel itself is approx an hour drive from Heraklion airport. We booked a private transfer but the hotel would have been able to book a transfer if needed. Regarding the grounds they are absolutely beautiful, they are kept to such a high standard. As are all the common areas. Check in was relatively quick, as we arrived late around midnight they had left us some sandwiches and crisps in the room. As we were all inclusive the room had the mini bar included and was refilled daily. It contained some soft drinks and beer. The room also had a kettle with tea/coffee. The room itself was comfortable and clean. The bathroom had sufficient toiletries (shampoo, hair conditioner, shower gel, body lotion). The television had very limited channels but did have a Netflix function, so was able to watch some TV whilst in the room. The air conditioning worked really well but the only complaint here was we couldn’t work out how to switch the temperature number display off during the night. It was so bright it lit up all the room! We spent most of our day near the smaller pool by the Anatoli Ouzo bar, which was relaxing. Even though the hotel was full he never felt crowded, and we always found some sun loungers. We also meet Nicola (Nicky) at the Anatoli Ouzo bar. She really made us feel welcome and always made time to make us smile and laugh! Hats off to her! Now comes the disappointment, the food was very poorly labelled. If you haven’t got allergies then you will be fine, there’s a lot of choice and varied daily. However if you have allergies then this place is not great at all. Some food didn’t have any labelling, while some that did were incorrect! What actually upset me more was the extremely poor response from Guest Relations. We did bring this up on our first day with them. However I was told that it was our fault for not informing them? I explained that at other Iberostar we stayed at food was perfectly labelled, but Panos from Guest Relations was not interested in listening to our experience. He offered us a meeting with the chef before each sitting but all we wanted was the food labelled up correctly/ in the correct position and with the correct allergens! This is an actual EU regulation (1169/2011) so technically they are breaking the law regarding allergens! For this reason we chose ‘safe foods’ that we could tell what it was but couldn’t enjoy the desserts due to this issue. To be honest it did ruin our holiday as we were both looking forward to enjoying the all inclusive foods! As said other Iberostars we’ve stayed out have managed to do this so why can’t this one? Ultimately, if don’t have allergies then this is a perfect amazing place to stay. For us, we would love to return but whilst the food allergens are not correctly displayed then we wouldn’t return."

"Good location, relaxed vibe and excellent rooms. The staff are exceptional and made us feel welcome. Check in and check out were stress free."

"We arrived at our hotel and was greeted by a staff member who took our cases for us. We went in and dealt with paper work and tax’s we had to pay. Then we were informed that there was a Buffy still available for us for about an hour. We decided to go and eat first which the food was really really good after we had come back to pick up our cases we were taken by the golf cart and taken to our room, our room 609 was a bungalow with Seaview because It was nighttime we couldn’t see very much so we settled in for the night next morning we had a good look around rooms are spacious. They are very clean and tidy. Bathroom is very big with a walk-in shower there’s no noise level at all once you’ve closed the doors the Aircon works really really well. You can leave it on all night which we ended up doing because we ended up getting too hot. The location for everything is really good. It took awhile for us to find where everything was the only thing we didn’t visit while being there for the 10 days Was the theatre as we couldn’t find it, throughout the holiday we took many trips into Rethymno by bus. Would highly recommended this and make sure you visit the old town too. Make sure that when you goto do a trip on the bus that you buy your tickets from the supermarket within the hotel as the bus driver will not allow you without tickets. We did this trip three times and had a great time. There are three pools one very small quiet the other two more orientated for families the biggest one was the sea pool which I mean by that it is full of salty water. Very nice to swim in, the pool bar Very good could have drinks whenever you want. We decided to go to the beach bar and we met Nicola there she was very helpful. She talked us through some of the drinks that she did. She’s a very good asset to the company we talk to her every day and she is very welcoming person really so high-five to Nicola for her hard work and effort. The beach is lovely and closed from the sea with a small entrance so when the sea was to ruff we could still swim in this. Make sure you have sea shoes as there is a lot of rocks in there but still nice and warm. The restaurant are very big and lots to eat. They have the Buffet Dias which is where we eat most of the time. High selection of food and staff very welcoming all the time. We also tried the La Locanda Italian Trattoria restaurant this was very lovely food was fantastic and staff very helpful at all times. I had the Seared Tuna steak with white balsamic vinaigrette, I would highly recommend this as it was really lovely. Then later in the week we went to the Thalassa restaurant which is a Mediterranean one again I had the Seabass with garlic and lemon vinaigrette severed with creamy sweet potato with Cretan oregano. This was so nice and again the staff was so helpful with us. We stayed for 10 days so you get the chance to try to off the three restaurants they have there. The entertainment was really good of the evening and the waiter that came to your table was very good and took our orders the only thing I would recommend is that you order more then one drink as it can get busy and you will be waiting a while other then that we have no complaints. Will we be coming back? Most definitely we are looking to come back next year. On our last day you get to keep your room until 12 once you have checked out you can still use all of the hotel and there is shower to use for you to get ready to leave. Thank you for making our stay the most enjoyable time we have had in a long time."