Blue Aegean Hotel and Suites

"My wife & l are seasoned travellers to the Greek islands & mainland & when writing reviews, accept nothing is perfect. We arrived very late at the Blue Aegean, due to the UK air traffic failure. However, the warm friendly welcome from the night porter put us in a very positive mood at the start of our holiday. The resort is well maintained, kept clean & in good order throughout The main pool is a good size & again very clean. Plenty of loungers & brollies for everyone, even with the early morning towel brigade. We had a pool side first floor suite which was spacious & very clean (apart from the bathroom) with comfortable beds. The air con was very efficient with multiple settings. Apart from Sundays, the rooms are cleaned every day with fresh towels. At the start of the holiday we noticed that the floor drain in the small bathroom floor was backing up & flooding, which meant the floor was wet all the time. Also, our toilet did not refill occasionally, which meant taking the lid off the cistern to operate the refill plunger. We told the receptionist, but it wasn't fixed. Previous reviewers have mentioned the noise of planes overhead. Yes, the resort is under one of the flight paths, as Heraklion airport is 17km away. However, after settling in, we quickly got used to it & other guests we spoke to, felt the same way. Perhaps, if there were glazed windows in the bedrooms, instead of just metal roller shutters this would help? The meals were buffet style with a good choice of dishes & flavoursome. My only gripe is that there are only two small domestic toasters in the dining room, which sometimes meant a queue for toast at breakfast. AI is open to interpretation, depending on which resort you stay at. At the Blue Aegean, outside of meals, there are limited windows for ice creams & snacks and disappointingly, no cocktails included in the AI drinks menu. Having said that, the meals were more than sufficient & we only wanted light refreshments between them & there is tea & coffee available all day. The entertainment was your usual fare of dancing, singing & karaoke. Surprisingly we had no traditional Greek dancing, which we like. There is a short walk down to the main road, where there is a supermarket & a large hypermarket off to the right, to choose from & there is a small sand beach across the road, with loungers. There are also a few tavernas & bars too. If you turned left, heading in the direction of Gouves marina, a short walk away is a British bar called 'This is Anfield'. A sports bar as it's name suggests with a number of tvs showing various sports, especially football. A 20 -25 mins stroll further down this coastal road, with a rugged shore line, will take you to the first of a couple of sand beaches worth mentioning. The nearer one is in a small old fishing harbour, with a breakwater providing shelter from sea waves, meaning the water is very calm. It has a small gently sloping sand beach with loungers, which are currently 20 euros for two loungers & brolly. The big plus here is that you can use the spotless toilets & out door showers in the hotel across the road, which owns the beach. The other beach is further on, past a row of restaurants & super markets & just past the marina. This is a large sand beach, again gently sloping & with lots of loungers & water sport activities for hire. The lounger deal here is just 10 euros for two beds & a brolly. Unfortunately there was no late checkout facility available, but all is not lost asthere is a suitcase room near reception & there are clean showers in the pool side downstairs toilets, along with a changing room. Overall we enjoyed our holiday & found it peaceful & relaxing. I'd like to make a special mention for some of the staff. The night porter, the lovely Popi behind the bar. Andy who was always busy around the resort & a good laugh. And last but by no means least, the dining room waitresses, including Marianne, who was a ray of sunshine."

"Good location just 50 yards from sea. Lots of restaurants and tavernas to choose from. Rooms vary in size but are clean, beds are comfortable and maid service is daily (6 days) Food is plentiful, drink prices are very reasonable. Our room 58 although over the bar area was light and quiet. The hotel is well maintained but has a few niggles. There are no lifts so if you have mobility issues the numerous steps can be awkward to negotiate due to height of some steps and lack of hand rails. Morning receptionist is very helpful, always smiling. Friendly atmosphere. Overall we had a good stay and met some lovely people."

"We were shown to our rooms personally. Only downside for those that would need it is there is no lift. The reception staff were all lovely, we were greeted every morning and evening. Waiters/waitresses acknowledged everyone and were very pleasant we found. Bar staff were just as lovely especially Popi (absolutely loved her cocktail recommendations, my fave Pink Sprintz!) The rooms clean on arrival, cleaned everyday, towels changed every 2 days and sheets every 3 days. Spacious, comfortable, water in fridge on arrival which was a nice touch seeing as we’d travelled all day, down side only two glasses (there was 3 of us) had a sea view too which wasn’t expected. We went half board, but there is an option to have all-inc for day but pay the supplement. Food varied on hot plates day to day, however some items referred to as “samey samey” in our eyes would be the bread, salads, sauces and condiments and pickles, beef in tomato, fried potato’s, spaghetti but sauce changed each evening, then on hot plates apart from chips (as standard) were all different every evening, desserts - again some were everyday but others varied. Same with breakfast, usual Greek options, English options, continental options, cereals, bread, fruit, croissants, pancakes, some pastries were changed each morning as did fruit selection but always an option for everyone, at breakfast drinks on offer - Tea, coffee machine, water, apple juice (was more like prune juice) and orange was hit n miss (either to strong or weak) but we found something everyday and still went away satisfied. Outdoor the pool was pleasant, always clean, no panic for sunbeds we always found 3 together. Close to beach (Sirocco beach was our fave), shops, bus stop 10 min walk for trip into Heraklion, few local restaurants and cocktail bars, two places had outdoor areas for kids to play. Ride on a train round Gouves was interesting. We couldn't have found a better spot to have 12 days of glorious sunshine in, such chilled holiday. Special shoutout to Popi and Guy who served us in bucket hat (we can’t remember his name) but wore a white polo & bucket hat, such lovely hospitality from both will never forget."