Ikos Oceania

Thought we’d give IKOS try having done royaltons before . This is way superior. We had a sea view suite with garden and fantastic garden furniture . Loved having separate lounge , bedroom and generous bathroom . Room service for breakfast when we didn’t go out was perfect . We based ourselves at adult only pool . Eva was amazing . Missed her on her day off . All food and drink at each restaurant was amazing Was busy in lobby for evening entertainment. Sorry to say we had to walk out of the show Monday Mini bar was excellent and cleaning team too . We’d love to be back after refurbishing has taken place

Very nice vacation in a great resort. Very friendly staff, great food and lovely area. Our daughter did 6 swimming classes at the resort with Effie from Wonderfin. It was not only fun with her, our daughter made quite a progress. Highly recommended!

We stayed at Ikos Oceania for 5 nights, myself and my adult daughter. I have previously stayed at Dassia and Andalusia but this one stands out by far as the best. Mainly because ALL the staff are so hospitable, smiley and welcoming! The service has been really excellent. We have managed to eat in all the restaurants (book these as soon as you arrive or before if you can) including the dine out Atkis which was a lovely meal and again we received excellent service (contrary to other reviews). If you’re planning an ikos holiday choose Oceania!

We recently stayed for 10 days at Ikos Oceania in a Junior Suite with Sea View and overall had a very enjoyable holiday. There is a lot to like about the resort, and some aspects were genuinely excellent, particularly the staff. However, given the reputation of Ikos, we arrived with very high expectations and there were a few areas where we felt the experience didn’t quite live up to them. Arrival & Room Our arrival was excellent. Everything felt calm and organised, we were offered drinks while check-in was completed and our room was ready when we arrived. Before travelling, we’d requested a quiet room on a high floor as our young son is a light sleeper, still naps during the day and goes to bed relatively early. The hotel gave us exactly what we’d asked for, which we really appreciated. Our Junior Suite was comfortable, the sea view was lovely and the air conditioning worked very well. Housekeeping also did an amazing job throughout our stay and the room was always kept spotlessly clean. That said, the room and particularly the bathroom did feel below the standard we’d expect from a five-star hotel. They weren’t bad, just quite dated and basic and probably felt closer to a good four-star standard. We’ve since learnt that the rooms are being refurbished this winter, which we think will make a significant difference. There are also a couple of small design issues we hope are addressed during the refurbishment. The large full-length mirror didn’t feel particularly securely fixed, which wasn’t ideal with a toddler in the room. The shower controls are also positioned behind the fixed shower screen above the bath, meaning that once the shower is running you have to reach through the water to adjust the temperature. A minor issue, but an odd design, and probably only noticeable if you have a partner that showers in extremely hot or cold temperatures! The minibar service, on the other hand, was excellent. It was consistently restocked and the team were very accommodating in supplying bottles of wine that we particularly enjoyed during our dinners. Resort, Beach & Pools The resort itself is beautiful. The grounds are extremely well maintained, the views are fantastic and both the beach and pool areas are lovely. Everything was clean and the pool temperatures were very comfortable. One frustration was sunbed reserving. The hotel regularly reminds guests that reserving sunbeds isn’t permitted, yet we saw people reserving beds before 9am and, on occasions, leaving them unused for more than three hours. Some guests appeared to reserve beds at both the beach and pool and alternate between them. We completely understand people leaving their beds for an hour or so to have lunch, enjoy a drink at the bar or go for a swim — we did the same ourselves — but reserving beds in two separate areas for several hours felt unfair when other guests were looking for somewhere to sit. It would be good to see the hotel’s stated policy enforced a little more consistently and towels/ belongings removed when beds has been unoccupied for over 2 hours. Staff & Service The staff are unquestionably one of Ikos Oceania’s biggest strengths. Almost everyone we encountered was incredibly friendly, warm and helpful. They were also amazing with our son, who was constantly given attention and made a fuss of. Little touches such as always providing highchairs and children’s plastic cutlery made travelling with a toddler much easier. The e-concierge service via WhatsApp was excellent too. Responses were quick and helpful, and they were often able to arrange restaurant reservations even when the app was showing no availability. Service overall was very good, although there were occasional inconsistencies. Our first day at the beach, drinks service was particularly slow. However, this improved dramatically once Sofia and Greg were working, and we couldn’t fault the beach service from them. Provence was another occasion where the service wasn’t quite at the level we’d experienced elsewhere. There was a fairly long wait to order our mains and desserts, and our wine and water glasses remained empty for around 20 minutes at one point, so we eventually refilled them ourselves. A relatively small issue, but noticeable when the service at the other restaurants had generally been so attentive. One thing we personally weren’t particularly keen on was being approached during dinner to give feedback. We completely understand and appreciate why the hotel does this, but when you’re having dinner you really just want to relax and enjoy the evening. It can also feel slightly uncomfortable giving completely honest feedback with other guests sitting nearby. Perhaps requesting feedback through WhatsApp and then arranging an in-person conversation if required would work better. Food & Drink Unfortunately, this was probably our biggest disappointment, mainly because we’d read so many exceptional reviews about the food and drink at Ikos before arriving. There were some real highlights. Breakfast at Ouzo was excellent and our dinners at both Ouzo and Anaya were exactly the standard we’d expected. However, we also had two meals we genuinely didn’t enjoy. At The Beach Club we found the entrecôte quite bland and weren’t particularly impressed by the quality of the ribs. Our first visit to Fresco was also disappointing, with both the carbonara and garlic bread lacking flavour. We returned to Fresco later in the holiday and, to be fair, our second meal was considerably better. Flavours buffet unfortunately wasn’t for us. The actual selection of food looked very good and we’ve heard excellent things about it, so this isn’t a criticism of the food itself as we ultimately chose not to dine there. We simply found the restaurant had more of a canteen feel than the relaxed five-star dining atmosphere we enjoy on holiday. That’s obviously personal preference, but we much preferred being able to sit outside at the other restaurants, enjoy the views and make dinner part of the evening. The wine selection itself was good, although the way it was served occasionally surprised us. At Anaya in particular, some white and rosé wines were served much warmer than we’d expect, especially considering the outdoor temperature. When we mentioned that the wines weren’t chilled, we were simply offered ice cubes to put directly into our wine glasses rather than the bottle being chilled in an ice bucket. As someone who really enjoys wine, adding ice directly to a glass isn’t something I’d personally want to do, and it felt like an unusual solution for a resort with such a strong food and beverage reputation. Cocktails at the main lobby bar were generally very good, but around the beach and pools they were more inconsistent. We also felt the older/basic plastic glasses used around these areas detracted slightly from the experience. Obviously glass can’t be used around pools, but we’ve experienced nicer reusable drinkware at other five-star resorts and it’s a small detail that can make the drinks feel considerably more premium. The QR ordering system around the beach and pools could also be improved. We found it fairly clunky and, more importantly, it didn’t show the complete drinks selection. Certain cocktails such as Hugo and Aperol Spritz weren’t available to order, and for almost our entire stay we thought the beer choice was essentially Alfa or Heineken. It wasn’t until our penultimate day that I saw other guests drinking Corona and Moretti and realised there was actually a wider selection available. A complete digital drinks menu would make a significant difference, and put the system on par with similar resorts. Family Experience & Evenings We found Oceania very easy with a young child, even with the hills. This was mainly due to how good the staff were with him. The children’s entertainment wasn’t particularly to our taste, although that wasn’t really an issue for us. We actually enjoyed sitting with a drink and listening to the live music in the evenings, which was very good. The only downside was the lack of seating around the lobby and balcony. When live music was on, if you hadn’t finished your dinner and made your way to the lobby by around 7:30–8pm, it could be difficult to get a seat/ table afterwards. Some additional evening seating would be welcome. Overall Overall, we had a lovely holiday and Oceania is undoubtedly a very good resort. Perhaps our expectations were simply exceptionally high because of the reputation and prestige surrounding the Ikos brand. We’ve been fortunate enough to stay at a number of other five-star resorts offering similar ultra/beyond-all-inclusive concepts and, given everything we’d heard and read about Ikos, we expected it to noticeably raise the bar. Instead, we found the experience comparable overall, with some areas that were excellent and a few — particularly the rooms, consistency of the food and drinks, and beach/pool ordering system — where we felt other resorts have done things better. For us, that raises a question around value for money rather than simply price. We’ve stayed at resorts that were more expensive than Oceania and felt they were worth every penny because the accommodation, food, drink and overall experience justified the premium. Equally, we’ve experienced similarly priced resorts that have been stronger in some of these areas. Ultimately, it’s not about how much a resort costs, but whether the overall experience feels worth the price paid — and that’s something we’re still undecided on with our first Ikos experience. Would we return? Possibly. We’d certainly consider Oceania again, particularly following the room refurbishments, but we’d also be interested in trying another Ikos property to see how the experience compares. Finally, we have to give a very special thank you to Asimina, the Food & Beverage Manager, and Nikolaos, the Front Office Manager. Both were absolutely amazing throughout our stay and genuinely couldn’t do enough for us. They went above and beyond on numerous occasions, were incredibly kind to our family and always made time for our son. Most importantly, their care never felt forced — they genuinely seemed to care about us and our experience. They are a huge credit to Oceania and the Ikos brand, and Ikos should be extremely proud to have people like them representing the hotel. They, along with the many other fantastic members of staff we met, were a major part of why we enjoyed our holiday and ultimately why we would consider returning.

We had our first Ikos holiday this year and over all we had a lovely time. We had really high expectations are hearing lots of positive reviews. The arrival/ welcome was amazing, couldn’t fault it. We were staying deluxe so had our own concierge who went through everything with us and offered cold drinks and towels on arrival. We were taken to our room which was on block 5. It was a lovely room but maybe not quite the standard we were expecting at a 5 star resort and being deluxe. The shower leaked quite badly, we had to leave a good 15 mins between showing each time to allow the water the drain otherwise it flooded. We did report it, maintenance did come to fix, we were told it was sorted but the same happened for the remainder of our holiday. Not the end of the world but quite annoying when a whole family trying to get ready to go out in the evening. One concern we did have were with the cats, they are very cute but it can be quite difficult when eating at the beach club. On one occasion my daughter was eating her lunch when a stray cat jumped up and scratched her hands. I am sure the cat was just playing but my daughter wasn’t aware the cat was under her so was quite shocked when it scratched her hands and made her bleed. We washed it and reported to reception. We were told the cats are friendly and not to worry but of course we did. We were offered to see the onsite dr the next day but there would have been a charge for that. Overall it was a very lovely holiday. The beach was lovely, friendly staff but for the price you pay I wouldn’t expect to have showers which don’t drain and cats jumping up at you whilst eating.