"We have just returned from a 10 night holiday at the Celestial all suites hotel where we booked stay as B&B booked through EasyJet.
We had an early flight out from the UK and so arrived at around lunchtime, where we were greeted by Diana who was the early shift manager. She was fantastic from the moment we met and throughout our stay arranged car hire, a taxi and a cruise.
The reception area rolled directly into the bar area and seating areas, where breakfast, lunch and dinner were served with the long, long pool running alongside.
Diana explained that the hotel was 3 years old and she had been there from the start. It had experienced early teething problems with guests being accepted whilst it was still being built. She said that there is now a new owner who has gripped the management of the hotel- he was actually there watching and advising staff, and we spoke to him on several occasions during our stay.
We were taken to our room which was on the 2nd floor and our room was simply stunning. The bedroom dropped down a few steps to a lounge area, then outside we had our own private patio with chairs and sun loungers, and then a pool which was about 2x4 metres. A bottle of wine and platter of fresh fruit was awaiting our arrival, which was a nice touch.
There was a mini fridge, coffee machine, safe and air conditioning.
We took our own beach towels although these were provided and all towels were changed daily. The rooms were cleaned daily and bottles of water provided.
There is a mini mart about a 15 minute uphill walk (and it was steep!) from the hotel which stocked everything that we needed-we bought drinks and used the fridge in our room to keep these cold.
We had read some of the reviews complaining about wasps on the food, etc. We found none of this - the breakfast was varied and freshly prepared with breads, cereals, fried food, continental options, plus poached eggs and omelettes made to order. The only possible comment was that the coffee came out of a machine but there was never a queue and I found the taste and strength to be ideal for me.
Nicky and Fotini ran the breakfast and lunch sittings and were simply fantastic-always making us feel welcome with smiles. Despite being very busy the ladies always made time to stop and talk to us and we felt that they always went above and beyond -nothing was too much trouble and this really added to our experience.
This was a relaxation holiday for us and so we had lunch in the hotel on several occasions during our stay and found the options were more than enough for us-pizza, burgers, club sandwiches, chips, etc. The portions are very generous and we ended up sharing many meals.
We had dinner in the hotel several times as well and this service was run by Paul who really grew on us with his engagement and good humour. He was supported by Alexandra who was lovely and George who kept me in Mythos.
The menus for lunch and dinner did not change throughout our stay, and we were always given a plate of food (free pre starter) at dinner which were huge. In fact the dinner portions were so generous that we stopped having a starter and only had a main and then some ice cream if we had room.
We understand from reviews that not everyone was happy with the quality of the food but we had no complaints at all.
What the Menu described as shrimps were actually large king prawns and were delicious. My wife had the rib eye steak a couple of times which were also huge and far thicker than we would have in the UK.
The only thing we would say about dinner is that it would have been nice to have some variety-maybe a daily special, but otherwise we couldn’t fault it.
We went out a couple of days and came back late so instead of getting ready for dinner ordered room service which only cost €5 extra and arrived quickly to the same quality as having it served in the restaurant.
We used the larger hotel pool often and although the hotel was fully booked it never felt that way as there were always plenty of sun beds available. This also applies to meal services where we never had a problem getting a table.
The sun beds all had deep mattresses and were very comfortable.
My wife used the Spa and had 3 neck and shoulder massages during our stay which she said helped to alleviate stress and cost around €50 a session. The spa was for hotel guests only which was useful.
We had read that the hotel had steep roads around it as that is very true. We walked down to the beach one day which took about 15 minutes but slightly longer getting back.
Prior to travelling we had decided to book a hire car for 3 days and Diana kindly arranged this for us.
It cost €180 for 3 days and delivered to/collected from the hotel.
Driving in Kefalonia is interesting, sedate but there are no road markings at junctions so deciding who has right of way is a lottery, and the hill starts and hairpin bends are a real challenge! You also go from wide, well maintained roads to narrow villages, and coming round a bend to find goats in the road was common.
We had dinner at Denis which is by the beach and near to the hotel but found it was considerably more expensive, service was poor and the size of the prawns tiny when compared to the hotel.
We wandered down to Trapezaki beach a few times which is the closest beach to the hotel. There are sun beds and parasols at €20 and also a bar that served drink and food.
Point of note - the only beach that we found that was sandy was Lassi Beach and all of the others that we visited were stony so you need jelly shoes.
My wife wanted to go on a cruise and spoke to Diana who recommended one particular cruise which cost €100 each but this included personal pick up and return to the hotel, a whole day on a boat (7.5 hours) with a max of 22 people and included lunch and wine. We were so glad that we booked this as the other cruise ships next to us were absolutely rammed with people whereas we had 18 people on this huge boat and had plenty of room to spread out, sunbathe or sit, but did have to pay extra for beer.
One evening we experienced an earthquake which went on for a few seconds and is apparently very common so none of the staff were concerned.
We’re now home and have one regret in that we only booked 10 nights instead of 2 weeks, as this was amongst the nicest hotels we have stayed at, with our experience enhanced by the fantastic staff who looked after us.
Would we stay here again - absolutely without hesitation."
