Creta Maris Resort

I am a little surprised at the amount of 5 star reviews of this hotel….they must be all seeing different to me?! We had an ok time here for the few days we stayed, as we got on with it and had fun,,l,the things wrong are not enough to spoil the stay, but for us a number of negatives which are hard to overlook. I prefer to give a very honest review. I will start with the bad and finish on the good….. Bad- This hotel is huge, biggest in Crete apparently. This on its own is not a bad, but the trouble seems to be the size of the place to the ratio of staff. When we checked in it just seemed a right faff just getting to our room. We checked in, then had to wait for someone to come and drive us to the opposite side of the resort. We couldn’t just go to our room….i could see why after the distance! You get your daily steps in just going for lunch! On our first day we went to the pool and it was an absolute mess! Litter everywhere….drinks and food left everywhere and not cleared! And the Same the following day…..for hours I didn’t see a single staff member walking and tidying! We booked the older style room mainly as everything else was fully booked….however what we quickly noticed is that it’s not just the rooms, there appears to be a North/South divide…almost as if there was an older Creta Maris, that is now very run down and then a new hotel built the other side of the road joined by a footbridge. The old part is tired…..the communal parts of the building are hanging, lifts broken, old smelly carpets, room doors broken, balcony doors that won’t lock etc. There is a buffet in the older building we were told we could use, but chose to walk a long way to the newer building as the older restaurant is like a second thought. Drab interior, grumpy staff, and strangely half the choice. We went for breakfast in the old restaurant, and thought surely this can’t be the standard, and got up part way through and headed to the main building to finish! Our balcony had a wooden roof with pideons nesting and messing everywhere. I would expect room staff to report this to maintenance team as bird droppings are a health risk! The pool is heated a my kids had a lot of use, but it’s old and dated and no atmosphere. You don’t sit near the pool reminded you are in a 5 star resort! When you cross the footbridge to the new hotel, immediately it’s a different story. Very 5 star upmarket feel, but there is a big but! It is extremely pretentious. Everything is table/waiter service which started to annoy me. Service is so slow with an air of snobbery! Potentially this is done on purpose to save money! Being an all inclusive resort, you are lucky to get a drink without having to hunt down a waiter, let alone ask for a second! There are 6 A La Carte restaurants, but good luck getting into those! The hotel has 600 rooms and like a lottery getting a booking. The main buffet restaurant is massive and to be honest overwhelming. Typically we are not All Inclusive holiday go’ers, but have done the last couple of years having an 8 and 5 year old and eating convenience. It blew my mind in a bad way. We were there early and it was like a feeding frenzy people everywhere, just packed! As we left a huge cue just to get in! And again slow drinks service and even slower table clearance service. One thing that really annoyed is one night….we went to get a drink just before 6 slightly before evening dinner…l.there is an outdoor bar overlooking the sea….great we thought we’l go in there…..it wasn’t open but there were staff looking to opening soon. My 8 year old ran over to ask when it was opening - 6 he was told. We hung around, bearing in mind the staff could see us waiting - they finally opened up, over we walked only to be told adults only! They watched us stand and wait! We then went to the beach bar to pretty much have the shutters slammed down on us. When we walked past the so called pretentious adult only bar after dinner ironically the place was dead, maybe 3 people in there! The kids entertainment was shockingly bad! Cringe worthy! This washed up magician one night which was so bad my five year was begging to leave after 15 minutes. The dated coloured handkerchief type tricks which went out in the 80s Then there was a dance night! 2 girls playing oke Koke on a cheap stereo! And surprise surprise second night same songs same routine on repeat. Put some effort in! It was so bad it was funny…entertaining because it was bad. Now to try and finish on some good! Comfy beds, good mattress and pillows Although old and tired, clean My boys seemed tone having a good time which means as parents easier for us to ignore the bad in the hotel Excluding the old hotel, food in the main building was a good standard albeit a little samey each night Staff and drinks at pool bars good Very convenient late check out area with showers and lockers Big shout out to the staff in the golf carts, the first who escorted us to the room on check in, and the second who drove me back to fix our broken door. Really good guys friendly and really welcoming. Would we return….sorry to say no. Not great value in my opinion for a 5 star hotel. We have travelled all over the world and for the money and level you would expect, it’s just a bit sub-standard, and I just couldn’t see past all these annoying negatives. As mentioned previously we get on with our holidays, and always make sure we enjoy our time away as a family, but this hotel is not for us. That said we didn’t really like hersonissos area…. Bit tacky Brit abroad! We have been to Chania region previously and also Agios Nickolaus both nicer areas. To summarise, one side of the bridge depending on what room choice or allocation is a 3 star hotel, the snobby side a 4 star but no 5 star in sight. And you will be fit as a fiddle as you get in 10000 steps each time you feel peckish.

Irene was a very good Person. It Was a beautiful Time in the Spa. I am very relaxed.

This resort is rated 5 star, but I wouldn’t say it compares to other 5 star hotels we’ve stayed at in Turkey, Dubai and Greece (Ikos). I know you can’t compare directly with some of them. Ikos, for example, would have been around £12k more for 4 of us in the school holidays, so it’s not like-for-like. However, the service and offering here were significantly below other 5 star all-inclusives, so you can compare in some ways. For a more precise comparison, what we paid for 2 adults and 2 kids at Creta Maris over October half term 2026 (our kids finished school on 15 Oct) was almost exactly what we paid for 2 adults and 3 kids at XO Cape Arna in Turkey in October 2025. We expected the hotel to be just as good, though obviously not brand new like XO. They were WORLDS apart in terms of what was included, the design and layout, and the level of service, so I think calling this hotel 5 star is misleading. Overall it’s a lovely hotel and I’d give it 7/10. You can tell the decor is gradually being updated. The main buffet, lobby and bar have been done up really nicely, along with a few of the restaurants, but some areas are still quite old and the rooms need modernising. We never felt the need to complain about anything. The food was nice, the staff were generally helpful and the hotel was clean. But a few things meant it just didn’t compare to what I’d call a 5 star all-inclusive: 1. We arrived around 2pm on day 1 and every single sun lounger was “taken”. Not by people, by towels. All the beds at the main pool overlooking the sea, and on the beach, were reserved by 7am every day. The beach is small and the loungers are crammed in. No bar to sit in overlooking the beach during the day unless you've got the Adults Only package. 2. Not all the sun loungers are padded. The best ones are around the main pool, but they’re getting scruffy and need replacing. There are other pools further into the resort but there’s not really a view (and I’d imagine not much breeze in high summer), and the beds around the water slides are basic. 3. If you're too late for a sunbed around the main pool, you're stuck with some very odd seating options - e.g. deck chairs, concrete benches and loads of bean bags. They could have used this space for more loungers and still had space left. Seems like the designers chose style over substance. 4. The kids were disappointed with the snack bar. Basic hot dogs and not much else. 5. Beer is local only and not great. Imported beer is €5 a bottle. The included wine is basically dry or semi-sweet and that’s it, and the wine at the pool bar was particularly bad. Everything else is extra. I didn’t realise this and should have checked. The cocktails were good though. 6. Because it was school holidays, it was hard to find somewhere to sit in the evenings. It was really busy and they don’t seem to have the space for when the hotel is full. 7. There’s a lovely outdoor bar for sundowners with a beautiful view, but it was always dead because it’s over 16s only, even though there’s an adults-only section a few hundred metres away. They should let teens in. It would take the pressure off the main bar. 8. No waiter service around the pools (which we've had at other places), so it’s stand and queue at the bar. The outdoor bar only does Aperol (no beer or wine), so for anything else you have to go inside to the small bar. Like I've mentioned above, we were really disappointed that there's no beach bar to go and sit in on a late afternoon 9. Hersonissos itself isn’t picturesque or charming in the slightest, and it’s not somewhere I’d ever go back to. 10. Our one-bedroom family room was very dated and didn’t have enough storage or drawers for 4 people, especially with 2 teens and all their clothes. 11. Guy in the hire car office was very rude! It wasn’t a problem for us, but the resort is quite hilly with lots of steps, which could be an issue for some people. We decided to hire a car for a few days and did our research online. We would have preferred to use the on-site hotel car hire service, but the guy was so rude to us when we politely said we'd had a look online and asked how his offer compared. He just didn't want to know and basically shooed us out of his office! We used Monza and they were great - delivered the car to the hotel and we had it for 3 days. The hotel is fairly well-located for day trips - we went to Spinalonga and the Elounda area, which was beautiful. We also went to Knossos, Rethymno and a couple of small coves for snorkeling with lovely tavernas. I’ve written this for anyone who’s been to the newer 5 star hotels in Turkey (XO, Cullinan, Regnum etc.) or somewhere like Ikos or Sani in Greece, and is expecting even a vaguely similar “ultra all-inclusive” experience. This isn’t it. I should have done my own research rather than relying on a recommendation. I understand that it's all relative and we've been spoiled with other hotels. We had a lovely time and it’s a good hotel. Just set your alarm in the school holidays if you want a padded lounger with a sea view, and be prepared to pay for extras that would be included elsewhere. I hope this helps.

This hotel has everything you need for a family of four. It blew me away. I normally find something that bugs me but this hotel is perfect. The layout resembles more of a village theme rather than a hotel which looks extremely impressive and so relaxing to spend your holiday in. Food, Rooms, Facilities, Staff and Atmosphere is brilliant. I treated myself to a massage and facial at the spa. Eleni was fantastic 👏

It is our 2nd time at Creta Maris, previous visit 2022. There are lots of lovely things about the place and we enjoyed our stay again. This time we were in the bungalow area, the room was larger but definitely more run down (mainly bathroom, lights etc...) but our cleaner was good. We enjoyed all of the restaurants for dinner and would recommend going to book a different one each morning when you have breakfast buffet (the booking app didn't work for the entire time we were here) The buffet was overwhelming for me at times and I preferred the verandah to sit in, as it was bit quieter. The cocktail menu is great but the Vegera bar was not great this time. It does not have enough seating, it takes more than 20mins to order a drink (its table service) and they appear to actively avoid you so that you give up ordering a 2nd. It also lacked ambience this time, it has increased in size and felt like a crammed waiting room at times. The pool bars are much easier to order from and really positive, friendly staff. The pools have a sun lounger issue. We've found there is both not enough sunloungers and no policing of them. For e.g we saw one set of sunloungers with towels on til 3pm in the afternoon. It creates unnecessary conflict. I was only able to get sunloungers for the 3 of us 1 of our 7 days. This is easily sorted with a pool side organiser, we've seen many hotels employ. Food has been good overall. The fish restaurant was particularly good. The watermark lunch offerings are good as well, meaning you don't have to brave the lunch buffet if you don't want to. The hotel can organise taxi's to and from Heraklion and its old town is great to wander around for an afternoon, some lovely shops and food. The local town Chersonissos (next to Crera Maris) has sadly become more run down since the last we visited but I'd still recommend making the effort to go and have a cold beer down there. Just remember to wear trainers as the floor is very uneven.