Enorme Santanna Island

Excellent experience. The rooms very very good and the staff very polite

The hotel as a whole is really lovely, the pools and eating areas are all well appointed, and the rooms are clean and fresh. The shower in our room was fabulous and we loved the bed too.. very comfortable. Food was really great in the main buffet.. some days better than others but good on the whole. After a week it repeats but fine if you enjoyed something previously! The buffet waiting staff do like to take your plate away at any given moment.. it's quite funny but perhaps wait until people have left their seats?! Eva was so smiley and lovely during every meal we had. The a la carte restaurants were a nice break during the 12 nights we were there. The Italian restaurant serves literally 1 chip with the steak which was very amusing but not great! The starters were gorgeous but the main course was questionable.. more like a beef noodle dish than a di manzo pasta. The Japanese was yummy.. loved the food but the wait at the bottom of the stairs to be seated wasn't really okay. There was a photo shoot going on when we had booked for 7pm. Us and several other couples waited also. Surely, just don't take bookings for a time when the restaurant isn't available. The service was strange and rushed thereafter. The bar staff do a sterling job. Kara and Evans were great. I feel bad for them when there is a big queue and only one on the bar! Oresti was very attentive in bringing my husband and I drinks.. a cheeky chappy! There was a very stern looking gentleman around.. grumpy.. possibly a manager? He didn't do much for the positive vibes of the place.. which is very chilled and lovely. The staff seemed on edge when he was around! A smile always wins the day! We had such a fantastic time and would recommend the Enorme Santanna for a holiday but don't feel it is a 5* resort.. although a very good 4*!

We went during the last week of April and honestly had the best time! Everything was pretty much perfect—the only negative was that the swimming pool was absolutely icy cold. Our room was right near the end of the resort overlooking the swim-up rooms. Some people told us it was a bit of a trek, but it really wasn’t bad at all. It took less than 10 minutes to walk uphill from the coffee bar on the beach. Plus, being a bit further away meant it was super quiet and peaceful at night. The rooms and bathrooms are lovely, brand new, and really modern. We only used the pool next to the Italian restaurant. It was always super easy to grab a sunbed, and we could use the bar for food and drinks all day long. The food at the Italian restaurant was totally faultless, whether we went for lunch or dinner. The drink selection was awesome. We loved the sparkling wine, the cocktails, the Aperol bar, and the great coffee and cakes down by the beach. The outside area is also really nice for a stroll in the day. Just a quick heads-up if you have kids: we noticed there is nothing for children to do here, even though there were a few families staying. It definitely has more of a relaxing, grown-up vibe. We’d definitely recommend staying here and would love to stay again. A massive thank you to all the amazing staff for looking after us so well!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An unforgettable stay at Santanna Island, Crete! We had a wonderful stay at Santanna Island and are so happy we chose this beautiful hotel for our family holiday in Crete. This trip was extra special to us as we were celebrating my husband’s birthday — his very first birthday as a dad to our little girl, Cecilia. ❤️ The Guest Experience Team were incredibly kind and thoughtful, and we truly appreciated the effort they made to arrange a complimentary surprise to make the occasion memorable. These little touches made our stay even more meaningful and showed us how much the team genuinely cares about their guests. A very special thank you to Kleio and the Guest Experience Team for their lovely communication, kindness and thoughtful arrangements. We would also like to give a heartfelt thank you to Mary, our wonderful hostess, and MoMo (Mohammad) for their kindness, warmth and hospitality throughout our stay. You all helped make our holiday feel extra special, and we truly appreciate everything you have done for us. Travelling with a baby can sometimes be challenging, but we are so grateful to have enjoyed these precious moments together as a family. This was more than just a holiday; it was a special milestone for us as a family of three, celebrating my husband’s first birthday as a father. Thank you to the entire Santanna Island team for making us feel welcome and helping us create beautiful memories that we will treasure for years to come. Your hospitality and personal touches made a real difference to our experience. We would happily recommend Santanna Island to anyone looking for a memorable stay in Crete. We hope to return again in the future! ❤️

Beautiful location overlooking the sea. Very quiet and relaxing atmosphere just what we like , although I am sure some others would say boring and lacks atmosphere. We booked a swim up room the room was lovely spacious and clean the pool was shared by approx 8 rooms was no issues at all but it was quite cold and not in the sun very much we went to the main pools in the morning and headed back to the room later afternoon around 2ish to enjoy the sun there, I can understand why some people would be disappointed with the swim up rooms as they are expensive given they are not in the sun all day . We enjoyed the room though and it didn’t spoil the holiday or detract from the 5* feel. Bottle of fizz in fridge when we arrived nice touch a fresh bottle of water every day , we did have to keep asking the cleaners for coffee sachets and pods though every day nearly the cleaning staff obviously didn’t pay that much attention to what was used . Check in was a bit dis jointed one staff member saying don’t scan the QR and then another saying please do , be easier for the 4 staff that where all messing about helping with self check in to just be on reception and do it I don’t see the point really of scanning . Booking restaurants was a negative for me . Scanned the code in the room as soon as we got there as advised and it said we hadn’t checked in so couldn’t book went to reception and they said give it a little longer approx 4 hrs and it recognised us as checked in, so I could book , we arrived Thursday no availability in any restaurants until Monday and only 9pm available so we had to book all 3 restaurant experiences at 9pm on the last 3 days of stay would of been nice to spread them out over the week ,not sure how this would be if the place was full in height of season , the biggest frustration was the restaurants never ever looked fully booked when we walked past on the other days lots of empty tables very frustrating . Food absolutely could not be faulted , breakfast , snacks ,buffet, and all al carte restaurant’s fantastic loads of choice and really good quality . All drinks we had where nice if I was being really picky they have Pepsi which I really dislike they have no Coke cola any where , but that’s very personal preference. The staff are all very strict , there is no give in the menus at all they don’t want to swap things or be accommodating of any tweaks to what’s printed on the menu that does let it down a little from a customer service perspective also really strict on timings and different places doing different things , for instance we stayed up by the Italian restaurant walking back one night it was open so we popped in to get a drink to take back to the room , they refused wouldn’t give us a drink said it was dining only no take out and no we couldn’t sit in for just a drink , again a little disappointed really . Sunbeds well yea people go earlier and earlier to reserve them it’s a bit of a nightmare really because it’s hard not to get sucked in or you literally won’t get anything . the first day we booked breakfast on the rooftop so we where very lucky to have booked at 9am when the pool opened so we put towels down had breakfast and when straight out , this pool is manned and so people can’t go up early and get beds . But they do cue from 9am Second day I got up ealryish 820 and went for a wonder literally 3/4 beds where taken , so it’s really hard not to then get up and do the same otherwise you end up with no where . I would say by 930 lots of people are out on said reserved beds but I did see quite a few reserved and then not used till gone 11 sometimes later that’s is a bit of a nightmare . I guess the swim up rooms are not used as the hotel at hoped because of them not being in the sun so there is not enough beds nor enough space I would be worried about coming in the height of the season when the hotel is fully booked .. I can imagine it could be very hard to get a sunbed and the wars could start earlier and earlier in the morning not my idea of holiday having to get up at 6am to get a bed , as a hotel I’m really not sure how they stop this other than closing off the pool and opening it at 9am but for me that would detract from the 5* feel and vibe and would see people cueing and running for beds . If you physically work out how many people you had on site when full allowed for a small minority going on trips and days out ( which in all fairness a lot of people won’t do because your paying for the AI resort) you need to provide in excess of 400 beds so everyone can get one I would at a rough guess say there are about 100 on main pool 20 on the small middle pool and 80to 100 on the top pool so basically there isn’t enough .loads to love about this place I would come back but probably not risk it in peak season