TUI BLUE Insula Alba

Stayed at this hotel for a week with my wife. On arrival we had our suitcases and documents collected by staff and advised to head to the restaurant for food whilst they checked us in which was a nice touch and helpful after the traveling. We were then escorted to our room which was a swim up option. The room is a good size and quite clean. Bathroom facilities cleaned daily and towels replaced as and when required. Pillows were quite soft for my liking but others may find that okay. As mentioned we had the swim up pool and from photos we assumed this would be part of/directly connected to a larger pool for the whole hotel. It was actually a strip of pool with our own balcony area and sun loungers. The pool we were at on the east side of the resort was around 30m in length so was a good size and it was effectively ours only. I can imagine if you had a west facing balcony it would be quite annoying to lose the sun at midday and have to head to the often quite crowded main pool. The meals are in the same restaurant and there is plenty of hot and cold options. Deserts are a lot better than most all inclusive cream based slop. They had actual flavour and substance. Staff in the restaurant were very attentive and alcoholic drinks were offered and topped up without issue on sitting down. The pool bar and snack bar are good environments which we had the pleasure of frequenting a lot during our stay due to the weather. A lot of drink choice for the all inclusive and very potent. We only went for the à la carte option at the pizza and pasta night and were pleasantly surprised at the higher quality food served than in the all inclusive restaurant. Location is ocean front with a shop two doors down. The rest of the front appears to be hotels and similar shops. There were a few slithers of beach from what we saw.

When we arrived late night food was available and a warm welcome from staff. The room was really nice, but the stairs in the suite were quite steep. We paid quite a lot of money, but decided to upgrade our room the next day and the reception staff were really helpful in doing this for us. We had a lovely room, but unfortunately although we had a pool, we rarely had any sun on it. The hotel is lovely and clean throughout. The pool bar staff were really friendly and Manos took very good care of everyone and helps keep a great atmosphere around the pool. My main criticism would be that access to the pool was quite restricted for less abled people and I observed people finding it quite tricky negotiating the laddered steps. Most pools have wide steps leading into the pool so that people can go in gradually. The pool was extremely cold and quite deep and so maybe a shallower area would be good. On the whole, the food was pretty good, but on occasions it could have been hotter. We also discovered that to have a late check out would mean paying 120 euros, which seems a lot of money for just a few hours. This can only be confirmed the day before departure. Entertainment was very limited and although we had a very comfortable room, there did not even appear to be any English tv channels.

We arrived on the 4th of October for a week and are still here. Room 1903 swim up room. This hotel is amazing, one of the best things of many are the staff, they are amazing and their so pleasant helpful attentive and always happy to help, they are a true credit to the hotel and its owners. Anything that’s asked of them gets done as soon as possible. The hotel: it’s not massive but that’s a positive, within short walking distance is everything you need, the restaurants pools reception the three bars and à la cartel restaurants. The grounds are immaculately kept with the pools being perfect in size and kept immaculately. The food: It’s the best I’ve witnessed, Breakfast is exceptional with everyone catered for to perfection, this is the 1st holiday I’ve ever been on where I’ve eaten every single item of food I’ve put on my plate, it’s of an exceptional standard and is truly superb, both the à la cartel restaurants options are fantastic too with one free visit to each for the guest's. Analipsi is a little disappointing not enough there for us so a trip to Heraklion is planned for tomorrow which should be great. The holiday has been perfect so far with the highest praise being for the staff the food and the hotel itself, we’ve had an amazing time the weathers been fantastic and we would definitely return in the future. Fabulous stay 5* hotel.

From the moment we arrived, the team at the fantastic Insula Blue couldn’t do enough to make our stay enjoyable. From the check in staff, to the restaurant and bar staff to our lovely cleaner! The food was excellent. The drinks included in the All Inc were premium/branded. The pool bar team created an amazing evening experience! Weather during the week was stormy and maybe made the location feel a little run down / not a great deal to see, but nothing a quad bike or car wouldn’t fix. If you l’re looking to just recharge batteries, this is a great option.

I have been fortunate to stay at several 5 star hotels from ikos brands to sentido and unfortunately this hotel falls massively short in terms of facilities to cleanliness. Stayed here for 2 weeks in room 2205, the view out of my room was looking on to some kind of scrub land not a 5 star view . There wasn't hardly any storage space for clothes etc so spent 2 weeks with some of our clothes still in there suitcase. The hotel doesn't have a wow factor, when you book 5 star you expect high quality the best of the best, this was anything but. There was marks on the back of curtains and some days our floor wasn't mopped or swept and the complimentary body wash remained empty for 2 weeks. The food was varied and was ok nothing spectacular but all the restaurant staff try very hard to make sure drinks are topped up. There isn't really much to do of an evening they do some stuff at the pool bar but it's very small and the seats get taken up early on. Other than that there isn't another place to go apart from the piano bar but thats also the pasta and pizza place , I think the hotel is really missing a trick in not putting another bar or coffee station in the main lobby area where people can sit and relax after dinner or lunch. For what I paid I can't help feel like I have been short changed and I wouldn't return here.