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Agia Pelagia Hotels and Apartments A - Z Amazona - Aghia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Manos Direct) Manos--September 2005 Opinion submitted in Nov 2005 by : Graham & Allison Codling---Manchester (50,51) Resort Rating: Good Accommodation Rating: Poor My/Our Holiday Review: We hated these apartments they were dark and dingy and in need of an upgrading,it was like living in a cellar,the wardrobe smelt damp so we did not unpack and as our room was below the pool we could not see daylight. Also while we were there 12 youngsters were staying,they had been told this was a lively resort so we felt quite sorry for them and so did the owner,he kept the bar open till four and five in the morning for them!Great for them but not for us as our room was just below the bar and the noise they made clattering down the metal stairs was not good!!!We found it too uncomfortable and noisy and the rep said it was a good job we didn't come in August !!! l think she missed the point. We have stayed in many places in Greece and do not expect anything more than basic , anything more is a bonus but we do expect cleanliness and respect for fellow guests which was not the case the here. Anyhow to cut along story short we moved ourselves out in to some beautiful apartments just round the corner called dioskouroi they were like a different world,spotlessly clean,beautifully furnished and the owner George could not do enough for us and there was a fabulous roof garden with a jaccuzi!!!And great views of the bay and mountains This only cost us 35 euros anight and there was no charge for the safe or the air -con we cannot rate this place highly enough.As far as the resort goes it is a very quiet bay with a narrow beach,lovely scenery but not very much to do there apart from sunbathe in the day ,the tavernas were all on the beach road and were all fine though much of a muchness. For something different Bazaar is a small restaurant with a fabulous atmosphere and the food was excellent,a small menu which is always a good sign and run by young couple who made an effort to make everyone happy.We would go back to Aghia Pelagia if we could get cheap flights but not for a main holiday and certainly not for more than a week or at the Amazona --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amazona - Aghia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Manos Direct) Manos -September 2005 Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Graham & Allison(50,49) Resort Rating: Good Accommodation Rating: Poor My/Our Holiday Review: We hated these apartments even though we had read the reviews that said they were okay,the room we had was dark and dismal and smelt damp,it was next to the stairs that lead from the bar that were metal so we were woken up through the night with people clattering down them at all times.to be fair,a party of twelve young people were staying there and they had been told this was a lively resort,so we felt quite sorry for them as this is a very quiet fishing village!!!But the owner very kindly kept the bar open till 4&5 in the morning great for them but not for us!!!When we told the rep it was noisy she said that it was a good job that we didn't come in August!! Anyhow to cut a long story short we found alternative accomadation at some beautiful apartments spotlessly clean and lovely views of the bay and mountains,air con,safe and satellite tv,fabulous roof garden and jaccuzi all for 35euros a night an absolute bargain!!They were the Diokouroi apartments and we can highly recommend them altough they don't deal with Manos anymore so they have to be booked independently. Aghia Pelagia it'self is a lovely small village at the bottom of a valley with just the one set of tavernas and bars along the beach,lovely views and the people very friendly.The tavernas were all good to eat in but all the food was much the same,if you fancy something different Bazaar's menu was small but extemely good and had a very chilled out atmosphere we had our best meals here.All in all we eventually had a good holiday here but we would only advise a week here as it very quiet --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amazona - Aghia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Manos Direct) Manos - 2005 Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : stelmaszuk -family-glasgow Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Below Average My/Our Holiday Review: if you want a really quiet holiday then this is the resort for you we like it quiet but not that quiet there is nothing to do except excursions very few shops .the amazona its self is run by a nice family but the rooms are basic with old furniture stone based beds and no tv if you have teenagers this is not the place for you .a word of warning watch your inflatables as they tend to dissapear and appear for sale in the shop next door.the bar was closed on several occasions which was annoying as we had to go elsewere to get a snack and no use if you were at the pool this with the stairs you had to climb when at the pool was a pain we found the maid service regular but the cleaning sub-standard and the showers were small and useable but no curtain and a shower head that didnt sit right to allow standing up. In spite of all the points made we had a holiday which was made by our rep patricia who was really good and the fellow guests the amazona needs to upgrade itself to a standard offered by other apts inthe resort if it has any chance of remaining in the holiday biz our first and last visit to that resort but back to else were in crete next year --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amazona - Aghia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Manos Discounts) Manos - August 2004 Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Dave Parry - Beverley, East Yorks (51, 49) Resort Rating: Good Accommodation Rating: Excellent My/Our Holiday Review: First holiday with the missus without the kids and overall it was... great! Tour Operator: Manos (aka My Travel aka Airtours). Tour rep Ruth was fiendly and helpful. Flights and transfers worked smoothly and were all on time. Only slight grumble is the lack of leg room on the Boeing 757's - for 4hrs you get to know what a battery hen feels like. Mind you, you do have the option to pay extra for a seat with extra leg room - depends on whether you're a tightwad like me. Overall though, very impressed. Resort: We liked it a lot. Small, tranquil, set in a lovely bay, no drunks or blaring music. Only a handful of gift type shops (a bonus for me but for my wife there's no such thing as 'too many') At times though we both would have liked a place a bit larger and livelier to stroll around in. Eating out there were a dozen or so tavernas all in a line situated right on the beachfront looking out onto the beautiful bay. They were all much of a muchness serving typical Greek tourist menu food and all at reasonable prices. A decent evening meal for two with local wine could be had for £15 or so - portions are usually huge. A large beer in a bar cost 4 euros (£2.80). A coffee (Nescafe instant)was around £1.70 for a large thimble (ouch!). Be warned - our two boys who are now late teens would have hated it. Come 11 pm when they are ready to hit the town there's v little to do. You either find a friendly bar or go to bed. Accomodation: Cannot fault it. Close to the beach, clean, comfortable and everything worked. When it's particularly hot the room aircon (5 euros a day)is a must. Run by a genuinely warm and hospitable family, Georgio, Felix and Maria are not pushy types but do come across as genuinely interested that every guest enjoys their stay. When we were there, several families had been before. Say no more. In summary, we thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. No hesitation in recommending the Amazona but next time we would probably choose a bit livelier resort. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amazona - Aghia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Manos Discounts) Manos - July 2004 Opinion submitted in July 2004 by : Ian Hewitt - Hannah O'Sullivan (27,25) Resort Rating: Excellent Accommodation Rating: Excellent My/Our Holiday Review: Best holiday I have ever had in Greece lovely apartments and owners and great resort quiet but enough Taverna's for a two week stay. Amazona bar one of the nicest places in the resort for a chill out evening with a drink and great company this is the place to visit. The beach is nearby to the apartments and they have a good sized pool with plenty of room around it for all guests. The beach sandy at one end and shingle at the other the sandy part being the nearest and the water is warm and clear. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panama Hotel and Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: MedTravel June 006 Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Lynne - Wishaw 54, 53, 30 and 10 Resort Rating: Poor Accommodation Rating: Poor My/Our Holiday Review: The rooms were very small, with 2 single beds and matresses with more bumps and lumps than anything else. The view was of the next block of cells. There was a small veranda with a table and 2 chairs but you couldnt move on it. The pool was cleaned every morning, we know as one of us always hd to get up for 6.30am to try and get 2 sun-loungers. Stray cats roamed around the complex including the dining room. Sheets and towels were not changed for the full week that we were there. Air con was broke in the first room we got, eventually got moved to another room. The following day they put someone else in the room - still hadnt fixed the air con!!! Snacks and Icecream for kids was not included in the price, brochure was very misleading. The window in the bathroom of one of our rooms fell in on my mum while she was in the shower. Took it to reception -1st thing they did was try to lay blame on her!! No apology was given. One last day we were sitting at the bar waiting on going home. A worker appeared to repair the metal bar that ran around the bottom of the bar area. Out came the blow torch, the area was not cordoned off. People were standing right next to him and he didnt bat an eyelid. There was only ever 1 barman on at any one time so you had to queue up to get max of 2 drinks, however if you tipped him 10 euros at the start of the week people could walk to the front of the queue and get served straight away. Not fair on the rest of us. Entertainment - Waste of time. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Hotel and Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: (MyTravel Direct) My travel oct 2006 Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : roz perkins biggleswade Resort Rating: Excellent Accommodation Rating: Poor My/Our Holiday Review: Not recommended especially if you are a vegetarian food is recycled and then recycled!The two coves you could walk down to were beautiful the weather great but the hotel and staff were well below average and no-way could you describe it as 3* or A/I be warned !! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Olympic Direct) Olympic, October 2004 Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Lin Browner, 53,47 Resort Rating: Good Accommodation Rating: Below Average My/Our Holiday Review: The resort is fine for a relaxing holiday . Beach was lovely though as usual in Crete I was bitten by the dratted fish every time I went in the sea. Hotel Panorama is definitely not suitable for anyone with mobility problems! It is perched fairly high up and is quite a trawl to the beach. We needed to take a taxi back up every day so extra cost incurred there. Hotel rooms varied greatly, some folk got T.V's and fridges and real beds, others (us) got none of the above and concrete beds.Broken shower too. Balconies were none to safe either. The food was samey and repetative, and had a strong German flavour. (Nice if you were a German guest.) The salad was alive with flies, rolls often stale. Coffee was hot in the mornings only! So as part of our A/I, limited alcohol and cool coffee/tea all day led us to supplement our diet outside of the complex(more expenditure). For us it was a much needed break and we enjoyed the rest despite the above. Yes we would go to the resort again.....but the Panorama? No thanks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: Medhotels.com, July 2007 Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : 19 & 22 Resort Rating: Excellent Accommodation Rating: Very Good My/Our Holiday Review: Having read these reviews AFTER booking my holiday i was severely put off this resort and having never booked a holiday abroad before was very apprehensive about the accomodation. i was very very happily suprised when we arrived... Instead of a 'bus' taking us to the hotel we were in a new Mercedes Benz Taxi with air conditioning! we shared it with another couple who too had read the reviews on here and were also dubious about the resort. Upon our arrival we bought the Air conditioning (5 Euros a day) for our room. When we got into our room the A/C didn't work, after 5 minutes of fiddling i went to reception, the HELPFUL receptionist came with me and had a look and it decided it didn't work. He then put us in a better room with a supposed sea view which we didn't cost us an extra cent! It was 47 degrees outside and the a/c was so good my girlfreind slept in a jumper!! Our First morning there was plenty of sun loungers around the pool and there wasn't much activity in the pool to disrupt reading my book! The drinks were fairly watered down but the drinks at the bar after the A/I finished were very reasonably priced. I would reccomend buying the barstaff a drink on your first night (at about 2 euros) and sitting at the bar because this meant we got full (nearly pint) GLASSES and not plastic cups. it just takes to be polite, i suppose. The evening entertainer struggled but on a few evenings however on the ones where he got lots of people involved i think everyone enjoyed themselves. The food wasn't table d'hote although it was nice and there was rabbit, swordfish, real lamb kebabs etc... we didn't pay much for the holiday so we were happy with the food. It's not 5 minutes to the beach, It's closer to 15 minutes walk to the beach and quite steep on the way back up but that took about 20 minutes. The only piece of advice i can give anyone is to buy / take some swimming goggles with you as we swam with lot of tropical fish in quiet waters. It did say to look out for sea urchins in the arrival magazine. We went to the beach when it was windy & the sea was murky and you couldn't see a thing underwater! Restaurant by the beach with grass out the front does great food at amazing value for money! i can't for the life of me remember what it was called. The only real let down of the Panorama Villages was that you can't just buy stamps in the little minimart on site without buying their postcards so either get your stamps somwhere else or buy both at the minimart. All in all, reading the reviews on here put me off of this resort after i'd booked it and i was very very happy with our week away. i'm mainly on here because i was put off from the above comments and went expecting it to be very poor as most of the reviews previously say but i left suprised. suprised and very brown really... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: medhotels - Sept 2006 Opinion submitted in December 2006 by : Mark , 37,34,19,17,13,2 Resort Rating: Good Accommodation Rating: Below Average My/Our Holiday Review: Well! this hotel really isnt for the british. no offence but i think it matches the stadards of lower european countries. The staff were ok, a bit arrogant, mostly dont speak much english. however there was one english girl (waitress) and she was really nice! we requested to rooms together and they were miles apart, our pool view was more like a third of the pool view, the other room had a mountain view which consisted of a block of aprtments in front!!!!! oh and some rooms and an awful stench of sewers!... beware!!!!! The food was awful! one day we had bscon for breakfast, and let me tell you! we were so thrilled! i mean come on, to be excited for bacon???? you know somethings not right! lunch was pasta fish fingers! lol! dinner was worse the oddd ay it would be nice. no snacks during the day.. i mean come on it isnt half board! in all fairness you do get what you pay for. we didnt pay much and even though the hotel was like that in the flintstones it was not bad.... the pool area was small and you had to be up at the crack of dawn to get a sunbed! The resort is small quiet but resonable for prices. food is cheap, we ate mostly down on the beach front and in all fairness the views are stunning with most reastarants on the sea front... if your after a relaxing holiday the resort is ok, i would not recommend this for pushchairs or people with walking disablities. we had a 2 year old and pushing him up the bank was a nightmare! night life is ok, a couple of bars with good music.... overall, crete is very "commercial", and i think it may have lost it's natural charm slightly. i would visit crete again but maybe a different resort. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: complete travel - aug 2006 Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Derek Kennard- lancashire (46,45) Resort Rating: Good Accommodation Rating: Poor My/Our Holiday Review: The rooms are smelly and concrete beds. The food is catered for the Germans.The A/I is a joke.The bar when you actually got served after queuing for ages only allows you 2 drinks which are watered down.Best place to go is down to the beach and find alternative accomodation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: Imperial Travel- Aug 2006 Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Dave, Tina, Paige & Jake (39,37,11,10) Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Average My/Our Holiday Opinion: We read all the reviews before we left & expected the worst, the room was clean & was comfortable the A/C is a must @ 40 degrees+,hotel staff not friendly at all, bar staff where the worst. The 1 drink per person rule is taken to the exstream & the largest beer you can get is approx 1/3 of a pint(many trips to the bar).Both the beaches are good, we preferred the smaller one some nice friendly people in the bars outside the hotel, but they where quiet a walk down then back up the hillside! The Food was ok apart from breakfast which was rubbish! the variety was just not there at lunch & dinner. Entertainment was bad, nothing for the kids (8years & up) to do. Need to be an early riser if you want a sunbed! On the good side didn't see a cloud all week! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: Med Hotels - October 2005 Opinion submitted in Nov 2005 by : Russell - Darlington (46, 41) Resort Rating: Very Good Accommodation Rating: Below Average My/Our Holiday Review: Having just returned from holiday I must say I would return to Crete but not to this Hotel. The staff were helpfull but were unable to change anything. Upon arrival at 4am and very tired the chap on reception appologised for our room before we had even seen it. The room was basic no fridge, no TV and no balcony, the view was of a wall of mud. We had to pay an extra 70 Euros for a room which had a view. The beds were made of concrete, the shower head was broken and the shower tray all cracked but at least we had a view. The food was never hot always luke warm and always the same consisting of salads (which were ok) and fish in a sauce and some kind of stew or burger also in a sauce. If the food had been hot this would have helped. We ate out in the village and the food there was wonderful but being all inclusive you dont budget for this. The only snacks you could get during the day was madeira cake no ice creams and the tea and coffee was also only luke warm. I did enjoy my holiday but that was due to the great people we met. Had I had my children with me I think the holiday would have been a nightmare as they would not have enjoyed it due to the food and lack of any entairtainment at all. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - October 2005 Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Dave Hughes, Coventry (51, 45) Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Average My/Our Holiday Review: We were looking for a relaxing late summer break and to some extent that was what we got. Distance from airport - Take no notice of the Tariff Board inside the airport arrivals hall. Cost of taxi each way cost 30 Euro. We had been informed by holiday company that this would cost about 10 Euro, although travel was during early hours of morning. On arrival was warmly greeted by receptionist, had regulatory AI band attached to wrist and was advised that hot drinks were available in the restaurant. Good start at 3.30 in the morning. Were then given details of room and was pointed in the direction we should go in! Although it was dark and the receptionist advised us that sea view was present, we could see bythe overgrown bushes in front of the room that this was not going to be the case, and this after paying extra for the sea view. Then given an alternative room that was akin to something from a second world war bunker. We politely refused and asked for another alternative. The hotel was nowhere near full and we were quite firmly told that this was our last chance at securing a room. This room was quite adequate with a "proper" bed, others we spoke to during the holiday told of concrete beds! Food - was samey to say the least. Very concerned about number of flies around the food and no coverings to any of the containers. What was worse was the number of cats around the complex, some of whom found it good to visit the dining room during service. Sillier still, people were encouraging them by feeding them at the table. Choice was limited, salad at lunchtime and dinner. Poor choice of hot (make that warm) food, some cooked in bland sauces and not very appetising. Sweet consisted of ice cream or orange segments or "Angel Delight" or blancmange or small cakes, but not all at the same time. Perm any two from above. Bar - was adequate, although drinks seemed to me to be weak. I am not a great drinker, but felt I could drink some of the cocktails all night and not know I had been drinking. Beach, which was very narrow and shingle/sand, was situated some 15/20 minutes walk away down a winding road, ok to walk down but a challenge to get back up at the end of an exhausting day. Lots of people took to taxis for the return journey. Village centre was limited somewhat to a row of tavernas fronting the beach, two or three supermarkets, a couple of jewellery shops and a couple of gift shops. All in all, a very average holiday, although I should bear in mind that it was not the costliest holiday I had been on and YOU ONLY GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: Holiday City/Air Malta/ Med Hotels Sep 2005 Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Mia (58) Sandy (48) cousins! Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Below Average My/Our Holiday Review: The resort is small but has plenty of tavernas and tourist shops, supermarkets etc. The beach is pebbles, rocks and there is a piece of concrete in it, don't know why! The hotel Village Panorama is a long hard walk up from the beach, it took us about 20 minutes along a winding road which is narrow in places. You can get a taxi back which is about 7 euros. The hotel is all inclusive, but not that good. There is no snacks throughout the day, just breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food is lacking in flair and imagination. Vegetarians would not be happy unless they wanted to live on salads. Examples of meals: Fish stew, veal stew, grilled liver, spaghetti bolognaise (once) with pasta twirls. There was rice to go with the main meals a couple of times, and pasta. The mashed potato looked revolting so we didn't even try it. There is plenty of bread and rolls and butter and margarine. You can have as much or as little of everything as you want. Dinner starts at 7pm and there is a mad rush for tables and queues for food. It seems everyone wants to eat and 7pm, I think this is because they run out of the nicest meals early. There are not enough tables for everyone to eat at the same time. We saw people with plates loaded with food and nowhere to sit down to eat. The bar is slow service and they only allow you to get two drinks at a time, mostly, which can be frustrating when there's a long queue. The entertainment is very poor, especially for children. They teach the dance routines but there are only about 5 songs to dance to, and every day its the same songs in the same order! In the week that we were there, they had one attempt at getting people to have a go at Greek dancing, but only a handful of people tried it, they weren't good at getting us on our feet to have a go. The pool is average size but too small for the number of guests and nowhere near enough sunbeds and people really did put their towels on the beds the night before. There was very little to occupy us at the hotel, so we hired a car - 150 euros for a week through the hotel or 200 euros for car with air conditioning. We shopped around a bit and found this a fairly competitive rate. We drove to a beach called Bali beach about 30k west of Agia Pelagia and ended up going there every day. It was a nice sandy beach with plenty of tavernas and a supermarket. The hotel will give you a packed lunch but you have to request it before 8pm the day before. To sum up - I wouldn't go back to that hotel as it was too far from the beach and I wouldn't go to that resort either because of the pebbly beach. We thought we got a fairly good deal at £315 each but met others who'd paid £235 and £435. My advice would be, only go there if you get a really cheap price and be prepared to hire a car to find nice beaches. I suppose you have to bear in mind it is Greece and their 3 stars are not like our 3 stars. Having said that, you won't go hungry and we didn't hear of anyone getting ill. Definitely no good for people with walking difficulties. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: On the Beach Travel/Med Hotels - July 2005 Opinion submitted in Aug 2005 by : Paul Duddy - Essex (53,48,14,12,10) Resort Rating: Good Accommodation Rating: Poor My/Our Holiday Review: July/August 2005. Sadly I have to confirm the opinion of previous posters. The hotel seems old and badly maintained and the rooms vary enormously. We had two, one of which was modern, large and spacious, with nice bathroom, TV, fridge and a lovely view of the bay. The other was small, minimal, rough-cast walls, with nothing but two beds, wardrobe and a tiny dressing table and chair. The bathroom was cramped and although it had a shower there was no cubicle so the floor was always wet. The view from the balcony was of a sheer wall of green vegetation about 25ft high which was close enough to touch. Throughout our two weeks there always seemed to be people at the reception desk bitterly complaing about their accommodation and insisting on being moved to different rooms. There are not enough staff employed and I felt sorry for the people who work there as they have a major job on their hands. There are far too many guests for the limited hotel facilities. The dining hall (it is NOT a restaurant)is too small, with the tables very close together and, unless you went in the fist wave for lunch and dinner, invariably covered in used crockery and food, and lacking in clean cutlery (NB this is NOT the fault of the skeleton staff who do their best). A complete lack of any air conditioning in the hall made it very hot and stuffy, and we were continually plagued with flies and wasps buzzing round the tables. The food is very, very plain. The pool is nowhere near big enough for the amount of people staying and the shallow end was taken over for around 2 to 3 hours each day for volleyball and water polo. You would be well advised to sit at the deep end to avoid being splashed and hit by a ball on a regular basis. Mind you, unless you are prepared to get up in the middle of the night to deploy a towel you won't be sitting on a sunbed. We heard some people were going down at 02.00 to "book" a bed. We also saw one bed with a towel on it that remained unoccupied until the geezer sauntered down at 15.15! Quite a few guests took to walking down the road to the nearest apartment complex (just buy a couple of drinks during the day and the proprietor is happy for you to use the pool and sunbeds). There's only one bar, outdoors by the pool, and there are not enough plastic table and chairs to allow more than a handful of people to sit down in the evenings. Some guests had to use the sun loungers round the pool for seating. There's usually only one person serving at the bar so expect to be queueing for a good part of the evening for your drinks. Throughout the day we were inundated with wasps and flies that are attracted by all the spilt sweet, sticky drinks. You have been warned - if you haven't already booked, then don't! But I must say the weather was fantastic. We had wall-to-wall sunshine for two weeks with a lovely cooling breeze that stoped us overheating. Nice resort, just avoid this hotel. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - July 2005 (Travel bargains) Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Jim - Scotland (44, 20, 16) Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Poor My/Our Holiday Review: Accomodation - Very basic,'the sea view' mentioned in the brochure wasnt to be seen because of the overgrown tree's and bushes (gardner had been paid off)towels changed every 3 days. You might have been one of the lucky one to get a 'concrete' bed. The 5 minuite walk to the beach was actually 20 mins, on a very steep hill, ok if your fit and able, not the place if you have any walking difficulties, as folk had to hire cars. No air conditioning, unless you paid 5 euro's per day. All Inclusive - Limited to 1 drinks per person at any one time. By the time you got your drink, you had to queue up again. There was only 1 barman on so by the time you waited in the queue again, you where lucky to get about 7 drinks per night. Entertainment - A non event. Disco, no dance floor. This provided by the same guy to do bingo/disco/bingo/disco oh, then he gets a night off, then its bingo/disco/bingo/disco. Food - If you standing long enough in the queue, you'll be met by loads of flies. The menu consisted 'salad','salad','salad', and even more salad. The odd day chips or pasta may be on offer, with 'salad'. (lettuce tomato & raw onions) made up this 'tremendous' salad. Oh, the snacks from 4pm-6pm was tea, coffee, cake (madera), cake, cake, and cake. 7 days of cake, no ice cream for any kids. This was provided for by the barman who poured the drinks, so if he was buzy getting cake, then you were stuggling to get a drink. Pool area - Was ok, but not enough beds to go around for the amount of people. Also, if you could find one that wasnt broken, you had to be up before the birds in the morning to get one. Pool area not the place to be!!. 18-30's dont even go there, nothing for you's, all this age group had to taxi ride to the nearest hip hop place, which was 70 euro's. kids/teenagers - Young kids got dartboard game & waterpolo, but very limited. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: 2005 Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Kerri - Liverpool (25,23) Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Below Average My/Our Holiday Review: On arrival at hotel panorama we were wondering were the beach was. It is a half an hour walk down a steep mountain, not a hill. But the walk was nice and just get a taxi back for around 5 euros. The hotel itself was on the style of a complex but some of the rooms were better than others. There was one area that was called the cattle sheds, which have a double bed and not much else. Dont bother getting the air conditioning it was freezing with it on and we ended up using the blankets which had seen better days. The food was basic but edible and there were many nice restaurants around, but if your paying A/I you dont want to pay. The pool area was fun to be at with great entertainment for the kids and the big kids! but it was quite small, however in greece you can go to any pool and the hotel down the road had a gorgeus pool with fabulous scenery. All in all we did have a good holiday but I feel that was more to do with the great bunch of people we met and got on well with, than the standard of the hotel. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: media travel - 2005 Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : claire bollen- Middlesbrough (30 +24) Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Poor My/Our Holiday Review: When I booked this holiday I asked if this was a lively resort which is popular, the answer to which was Yes it is extremely popular and very lively. Arrival - The airport at Heraklion was chaos, no screens to show where you collected your luggage just pot luck, hopin to recognise someone off your flight! We were picked up pretty easily by our transfer company and felt pretty assurred things would be fine. Then off to the hotel we went and oh my god it all went downhil from there!!!! The receptionist slapped a band on our arm, you get one of these when you are all-inclusive, then he gave us some room keys, led us to a load of stairs, heavy cases in tow and pointed to the bottom of the stairs with a few left and rights and off we trekked. After our trek around the pool, down a slope we found our room ah we thought rest at last, not on your life. My first reaction in all honesty was a flood of tears it was a "cattleshed" or dodgy jailcell. It had a dirty showerroom, the shower was a handheld device covered in limescale, with a very badly cracked tiled base. spiders and webs all over and cracked and broken drains. Then the bedroom oh my god, first I had booked a double room and was given a twin, ok we can push the beds together that wasn't too bad but no fridge, tv, lights (apart from the main light) air conditioning unit or comfort. it was smelly and full of ants. i refused point blankly to sleep there it was by then 3am. I went and complained he asked if it was just because I didnt have a sea-view, I put my point across politely but firmly he said he would leave a note so that the lady could move me in the morning! He showed us where we could wait, and have a few drinks. And so we did enough to help us sleep a little in the "Cattleshed" a couple of hours was all that could we could stand, the mozzies are damn hungry. It hit and miss with the receptionsts some are quite rude and abrupt. I did get moved the next morning to a slightly better room, I got a choice of two, neither any better than the other but with a decent sea-view but it was still not the greatest, dirty sheets, towels, hundreds of ants and a very unsafe balcony, the ants must like wood. Our bed was falling apart and had to chase a few termites around. We NEVER slept in the bed, on top of it with a sheet underneath us. I still had to request a Fridge, they thought it was strange i wanted one. You had to pay for your air-con and you could only have it weekly they wouldnt let you pay for it daily, when we convinced them too we didnt even get it for a full day the maid came and took the remote!! without cleaning the room comical, I still didnt have clean sheets and towels I had request them from the Rep!! a few hours later they appeared well half of them not all clean sheets. The best was the cockroach, she appeared on our last day, it was massive, we just grabbed our stuff and ran. If it had been our first day we couldnt have hacked it. The drains are very smelly too especially as our was broken in our room. The food wasnt that bad, they did provide some english food, ie Chips, they were pretty tasty, some Greek dishes were quite nice too, and plenty to choose from and they did plenty of variation with salad things. Bread was but hit and miss sometimes stale, the biggest problem is the dining area, my god you queue for ages and there is no air-conditioning in there, and not enough tables to go around really. The bar, well there is only one poor barman,possibly two on a night and they were really nice fellas, and you were only allowed two drinks per couple, if the manager wasnt looking the barmen would try their best for you giving you a few extra, but it wasnt long before he came to keep a watchful eye on them. You need a few at a time because by the time you are served you need to start queueing again. You only get a half aswell a pint and it wouldnt be too bad. The beaches, they aren't 5 minutes away, more like 20mins. It's not too bad going there, but it very steep coming back, you do need a drnk and pray for a breeze, it just makes it more comfortable. Or you could get a Taxi but its more expense. Both beaches near the Hotel are very nice, the sea is delightful great for scuba-diving, very clean and clear. only very thin beaches though so one of them does get pretty cramped, the other Lagaria Beach is like a little hideaway very relaxing, but again a trek and a half back. The people in the resort and taverns are very friendly, we hired a Scooter, and recomend that, we got to see some lovely scenery and explore a bit more of the island and it kept us away from the hotel. The Animation team is well how can I put this, I am glad I have no kids, they would have been bored stiff, 5 songs a night is the minidisco, same somgs every night I know them off by heart, and the kids loved it, shame it wasnt on for longer. The swimming pool is a bit cloudy just needs cleaning more often, and not eough sunbeds the ones they have are broken. The best thing about this place is you are not alone, other guests all felt the same, in fact we met some very nice people on holiday there too. We will never ever go back to Crete, especially to this Hotel, I paid for a 3star Hotel, in a lively popular resort with all the trimmings, and all we got was to put it bluntly a dump that needs a lot of updating, in a quiet location full of bugs. Avoid it like the plaque unless you dont mind slumming it. If you have booked it i suggest if you cannot change it you demand a superior room upon arrival to save upset. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Golden Sun Discounts) Golden Sun - September 2004 Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Alan and friends - Devon (34,30,25,18) Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Below Average My/Our Holiday Review: Flights - Heraklion Airport is chaos (worse than Gatwick) because we were half-hour late there was no-one at the passport control so we had to wait for another half-hour out on the airfield itself (what security?). Baggage claim is chaos, not big enough. Bags took ages to arrive, given the distance we were from the airfield. Heraklion departure lounge is horrendous and potentially dangerous. It was very over-crowded, with people just sitting anywhere(stairs, doorways, walkways) cos there aren't enough chairs. The air upstairs by the duty-free and restaurant was barely breathable due to the smokers and lack of aircon. Temperature was stifling, Staff in café/duty free shops miserable and pushy. Resort - Small but nice. Basically it is a narrow beach with a row of about a dozen tavernas running along it. There are 2 main streets which run away from the beach. These have a few of the usual tourist shops and 'supermarkets' where you can get just about everything you will need, plus some nice leather, jewelry and clothes shops. Beach is a mixture of shingle and sand. Water is clear and warm, excellent for snorkelling. There are a couple of other little beaches, but these are a pain to get to so we didn't bother. The locals, particularly the taverna owners were all really friendly. The resort is a bit out of the way really and the public transport it a bit random despite what tour operators/Crete tourism websites may say, so you are a bit at the mercy of the reps selling excursions if you want to do/see anything other than pool/beach stuff, unless you are going to hire a car (Hotel does car hire but it is very expensive compared to what is available in the resort itself - compare prices). Accommodation - The Panorama is in the main OK, but we had a couple of gripes, which others may or may not experience. Service Upon arrival, we were put in two rooms which were about 100 metres away from the complex. The rooms had no phone and no aircon. We felt really isolated and vulnerable from a theft/security point of view. We complained and the friendly (not!!!) lady behind the counter first said that she would move us the following day. The following day, when we asked to be moved, she said that we could move 2 days later to 'superior rooms at no extra charge'. However we wanted to get unpacked and get on with the holiday so we said no. She then said that she could move us to some other rooms the following day, so we agreed. We spoke to about 4 other groups/couples who this had happened to. You could tell from the way the woman was talking that she had been through all of this before, and we thought that she was just trying it on, since I'm sure some people would not complain and end up lumbered in dodgy rooms. We had a light bulb in our bathroom explode which showered glass everywhere. When we asked reception for someone to come and sweep up the glass and turn the electric back on after it had tripped out, they said they had no-one available until tomorrow. After persisting, they sent someone over, but he had no sweeping brush and just changed the light bulb. We had to wait a further quarter of an hour before he came back with the brush and cleared the glass. By this time we had used a blanket as a mat and had showered ready to go out. Sheets/towels changed only about 3 times whilst we were there. Luggage seemed to get moved around a bit for no apparent reason. Food We've done a few A/I holidays and I can safely say that the food was average at best Breakfast - OK, cereals, bread+cheese+ham, beans+boiledegg+frankwurter sausage. The coffee was nice though. Lunch/Dinner very samey every day and with very little choice (one meat cooked in a non-descript sauce, one fish - cooked in a non-descript sauce, overcooked mushy veg (Chips were good though), some pasta stuff, usual salad produce, which we didn't touch much, cos we saw a load of little flies crawling all over it. Nothing to give people who stay in the hotel all the time a flavour of greek food Butter and milk - very strange, butter was 'cheesy' I stuck with the margarine, which you could only get at breakfast time, milk was full fat and tasted very malty. The food became a big joke and talking point among the British, but it shouldn't be like that, you should be able to enjoy all aspects of your holiday without having to make a joke of it. We ate out a fair few times, but if you didn't have the budget for this, then you might be a bit depressed by the hotel food come the end of your stay Bar Despite this being an A/I hotel, I think they were using the bar as a bit of a money spinner for them. Only beer (nice), wine, ouzo/raki and brandy on the A/I so if you wanted any other spirit you had to pay. A/I finished at 11pm but bar didn't close til 2-3am so that's potentially 4 hours of having to pay for drinks which you have already paid for (so find a big table and stock up before 11pm) Pool and sunbeds Nice and clean, could have been a bit bigger though for the number of guests that were sat around it. A lot of the sunbeds were broken, but you could normally find one that was OK Entertainment Pool games/shows/quizzes throughout the day. The two guys which run the entertainment were great, very friendly and amusing. Probably the highpoint of the hotel. Other guests This hotel had mainly British and german guests. The Brits were great, very friendly, always smiling, saying hello and stopping for a chat, but I don't think I heard or saw one german laugh all week. Also they were doing their usual trick of 'reserving' the sunbeds/decent positions before going to bed at night. Can't believe they still do that after all the mickey-taking that goes on about it Overall A nice relaxing break once we got the room thing sorted. You will need to hire a car if you don't want to get stung by reps for excursions. Greek driving leaves a bit to be desired though, but is ok once you get use to it (beep your horn and wave your arms a lot!). I would recommend Crete to anyone ( we will be going again soon to explore more of the island) and would even recommend the resort if you want a nice quite break, but definitely would not recommend this hotel. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: Medhotels - August 2004 Opinion submitted in Nov 2004 by : Ann Hicks - (60,64,67,66,59,57 Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Average My/Our Holiday Review: When I booked the holiday for our party I requested adjoining rooms and sea view even though the hotel information stated that ALL ROOMS HAD A SEA VIEW. On our arrival we were told that as the hotel was full and our requests had not been forwarded to the hotel until the previous day our requests could not be honoured. I thought this was only the adjoining rooms. WRONG. I was given a room on the top floor, an old room with a sea view. The second couple were given a room on the second floor with the smallest balcony ever seen with a view of a quarry which you could touch without getting out of your chair. The third couple in our party were told they had a BUNGALOW by the pool. BAD DESCRIPTION - It was situated past the pool and down a steep path where a number of chalet looking buildings were situated, the view of the front door gave no indication of the inside. I would not have stabled the horse in it. Two narrow beds two decrepid broken bed-side tables an old sink unit and an old kitchen cupboard on the wall, a flagstone floor and a light that looked as if it had come out of an old western movie. The balcony door was made of planks of wood and you didn't have to open it to see outside as there were enough gaps for a good view. the view from the balcony was the only good thing about it. We immediately complained to reception and were told that the hotel was full of police (200 of them ) due to the Olympics, we were promised that the couple in the "bungalow" would be moved the following day. We agreed to wait and the following day we were at reception with packed cases. Indeed they did move them to a much nicer room in which they were very happy all be it that it was a long walk from the main building. The couple in the room with the cliff view were moved three days later to a lovely room (The only room that looked like the brouchure) Food Unusual to say the least but edible and hot and no one was ill, if you are a fussy eater you probably won't like it but try everything you will be surprised. Entertainment Two boys are the hotel entertainment, they worked very hard day and night and tried to give you something different every day but you can get very fed up with "sketches"every night. Drinks The beer was OK so was the wine but if you don't like Raki, Ouzo or cheap brandy then you will have to pay for everything else. You also have to pay for drinks after 11.00pm. The Hotel is very clean the staff friendly but it is built on a very steep hill going down to Agia Pelagia beach takes about 10 mins but unless you are very fit get a taxi back. The views from the hotel are breathtaking and the climate is great. the hotel gardens are lovely with all kinds of fruit and flowers growing. the pool area is nice with trees for shade if you want it and the pool is a nice size. The village is quite quiet there are shops and tavernas the beach is narrow but I liked it. It had charm, the sea was lovely but stoney to get in if you swim at the end nearest to the hotel go further along and it is all sandy. I hope you have a nice holiday but DON'T BOOK A BUNGALOW --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: Holiday Bargains - August 2004 Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Adam and Lindsey - Sheffield (22,22) Resort Rating: Very Good Accommodation Rating: Good My/Our Holiday Review: RESORT - A 20 minute taxi ride from the airport costing 27 Euros, there is no need for a theme park on this island just get into a taxi and it is scarier than any big dipper. Agia Pelagia is a very quiet village with only a few bars and restaurants and one small club. An excellent resort for a relaxing holiday but would probably get very boring if you were staying for more than a week. Very good for diving and snorkelling and the shingle beach is small but nice. HOTEL - A 15 minute walk to the beach, if you go use the path down to the beach that starts behind the pool and don't walk down out of the main reception entrance as this adds an extra 10 minutes to your journey, we did this on day one and after 10 minutes walking were slightly annoyed to find that we were only 15 metres from the pool where we began. The hotel is has lovely panoramic views of the sea and some little bays (it is worth waking up early just to see the sun rise) The hotel is clean and the pool is nice, the staff are friendly with the exception of one of the receptionists. There is also the use of a computer with internet connection at a cost of 2 euros per half hour. When we arrived we payed 50 Euros for a weeks air conditioning in the room and a safe. FOOD - The food for the all inclusive was nice and for the first couple of days we were happy, however after day 3 it became very repetitive, so much so that we ate out twice. For breakfast there are boiled eggs, sausages, beans, cereal, melon and sandwiches. For lunch there is pasta, salad, pasta salad, and 2 meat dishes. Dinner is very similar to lunch but the meat changes. The meat dishes can be pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, rabbit, deer and fish. The best bit about the food is the ice-cream, there area always 2 flavours but even this became repetitive by the end of the week. Flavourless local cakes are also available with afternoon coffee. Despite the food being repetitive nobody had a dodgy tummy which is always a Brucie bonus at these places. DRINKS - The beer is actually really nice and didn't leave me with a bad head in the morning as cheap beer does, the cocktails were all Ouzo and Racki based, and the wine was drinkable if you added lemonade. The lemonade was traditional style and was delicious and refreshing, however the coke was very syrupy (is that even a word?) Filter coffee is also available throughout the day. If you are all inclusive you have to pay for drinks after 11pm, a beer at this time is 2 Euros. ENTERTAINMENT - The entertainment was run by 2 young lads who were very good, there was water polo, water volleyball, Aqua gym, darts and stretching during the day and at night we had a production of the Lion King, Bingo, quizzes and a sketch show, the prizes for competitions was a slightly better quality bottle of wine than that served at the bar. Also available was free table tennis (if you don't mind broken bats and a semi melted ball which has no desire whatsoever to bounce) satellite TV (don't be expecting Sky Sports) and Pool is also available at 2 Euros per game but the table is not that good. Overall the hotel is nice and quiet and good for a cheap relaxing week away, the food is edible but repetitive. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: Travel Bargains - July 2004 Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : 24, 26 Resort Rating: Below Average Accommodation Rating: Average My/Our Holiday Review: Food - greek cuisine, wasn't very nice. Little choice, food re-used for breakfast dinner and tea! All inclusive drinks limited to beer wine and Non alcoholic. No entertainment, 25 minute walk down a hill to a beach when brochure said 5 minute walk. No night life, no pubs, not for young couples. Unless you want to just sit by a pool for 7 days. There is a waterpark, but it's an hour and a half away. Taxi from airport cost 35 euros when was told it would be 10 euros! Overall, we won't be going back and we feel it was a waste of money. It may look like a bargain for all inclusive but this is the reason! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Olympic Direct) Olympic - May 2004 Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : Mark Coomber-Boston (40,48) Resort Rating: Very Good Accommodation Rating: Excellent My/Our Holiday Review: Arrived after a 30 minute taxi xfer from the airport-ignore the government price lists on the airport walls, a taxi to Agia Pelagia WILL cost you between 25 - 30 Euros. First impressions of Panorama Village excellent, grounds lush and green with hundreds of different plants and shrubs.Room typical Greek, a bit spartan, but clean and well maintained,balcony with nice sea view.IGNORE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE READ ABOUT THE FOOD HERE. It is superb.I have eaten all over the world, and this was just fine. Lovely salads, usually at least one tasty Greek dish, and a variety of others...BUT...the best bit...piping hot urns of freshly made filter coffee all over the complex from dawn to dusk. Yes, the resort/beach are an optimistic 5 minutes away-allow 15 and take a bottle of water with you, but the beaces are nice, and superb snorkelling to be had. Would we go back?? Booked for September matey.!!!!!!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: Med Hotels - 2004 Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Julian Grant - Keighley (44,42)): Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Average My/Our Holiday Review: We found this hotel to be clean and tidy the dinig area also,the food good & hot although too repetative,alco drinks were good and the beer of good quality. The brochure states the beach is 5mins from the beach,yes in a car, more like 15mins to and 30 mins return because of the steep climb. We had a wonderful view of the bay eventually after being put in a room that had a wonderful view of 2 bushes which was not what we asked for. It would seem to us that for the 2 weeks we were watching people being put into sub standard accom,upon complaining were then mooved to more acceptable areas. Balcony handrails were loose, the pool area had crazy paving which was starting to come loose that hoping in the close season might be sorted. The hotel is a retro 60s style but with a little work could be bought up to a higher class. The staff were 1st class the locals pleasant our rep very good who arranged a trip to santorini which was the highlight of our hol. Evening shows were very good for all the family and the sun shone for the whole 2 wks. All in all we enjoyed our stay and hope this can help you decide. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panorama Village - Agia Pelagia Operator and Date: (Olympic Direct) Olympic - 2004 Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : Rebecca Tremlett- Leeds (17,20,44,67) Resort Rating: Good Accommodation Rating: Good My/Our Holiday Review: We have just come back from a week at this all inclusive resort which we booked last minute through teletext. Rooms- We had 2 rooms. One was really nice and had a nice sea view, the other looked directly into a pile of mud e.g. a cliff face!!. However, this didn't bother us as we spent minimum time in there. Be aware you do have to pay for air conditioning (about £3.50 a day). The rooms were, however, nice and clean and the maids were v friendly Entertainment- We thought the entertainment was brill. There was lots going on around the pool all day e.g. water polo, aqua fit and the two entertainers were very good. There was stuff to do on a night e.g. quiz, shows etc. Food- Absolutely horrendous. It has gotta be the worst food ever. There was no variety, the same salads came out every day. There was a random meat dish which was literally just bones n maybe a pasta dish. Nothing had any flavour to it, it was so plain! We aren't picky eaters at all but it was revolting. My sister lost half a stone this week so if you wana lose weight it's a good hotel!!!. It became a joke amongst the English who quickly used Visas n headed to the village for nice Greek food. We booked all inclusive because we couldn't afford to eat out every night so unfortunately we had to stick with it but the food in the village which we treated ourselves to on the last night was fab!. Drink- We were ok with this because my mum and nana liked Brandy n Coke but don't go expecting a big variety on the all inclusive front. It's ouzo,raki,cognac n a few house wines n beers no other spirits and obviously soft drinks.You had to pay after 11 which is a bit stingey!. Staff- They were very short staffed but most were polite. The receptionist was extremely rude to lots of people. We left the hotel at 4am for our flight but had to check out our rooms 12am the previous day and therefore wanted somewhere to shower. She told us we had 15mins for 4 of us!. We argued with her n then when we got to the room she cut the power off n gave us lots of verbal abuse!. All the bar staff, however, were lovely and the restaurant staff nice and friendly. Resort- Nice resort but don't let them tell u it's a 5 min walk. We walked it briskly in 20 mins so unless you're a fell runner leave a good 30 mins to get down the large n winding hill to the village. The village is very picturesque and nice. You can get a taxi up and down for about 7 euros each way. All in all the general concesus was that we had a lovely relaxing week with gorgeous weather in a nice resort and met some lovely people but the food was bad! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hotel Scala Palace - Aghia Palagia Operator and Date: privately booked october 2005 Opinion submitted in Nov 2005 by : Jeff - 49 Resort Rating: Average Accommodation Rating: Good My/Our Holiday Review: Rooms were spacious and clean and modern. Air conditioning was actually included and no extra had to be paid. Bathroom was not very nice, the bath was about the size of a midget and shower just dribbled. But we could have lived with that if our toilet had not broked down after a few hours... someone (who didn't speak good english) said she would call the plumber the next day. So for nearly a full day no toilet.We were not offered another room. Next day the plumber came and made things even worse as toilet was actually overflowing then. We were then offered another room but as we were leaving the next morning we refused. In the two days were there we had no maid service. Breakfast was not very nice with cold fried eggs and other not very appetizing stuff. The only person who spoke english was the receptionist who was not there most of our stay. The familly lived in the reception area, eating their meals, kids playing, preparing food, watching TV as if it was there own home. And if you interrupted them for small problems like flooding toilets you got a dirty look. The pool was very small and freezing though it was advertised that it was heated. We only stayed two nights but those two nights spoiled the good souvenir we had of our holidays in Crete. When we complained as we were leaving all the receptionist kept saying was that she just worked there...... we were not even given a discount for the inconvenience. The resort itself is OK for a few days. The views are magnificent. But for a longer period you might get bored. It is conveniently only about 20 minutes from the airport (which is why we chose it for our last two nights). The restaurants were all very similar and only greek food was served in most of them so not an enormous choice.
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