Sol Marina Beach Crete

Stayed here for 2 weeks in room 1111, 10th-24th october. Fantastic room, only issue being we feel requires a few sunbeds on the terrace, as it is so big, and really a lot of wasted space, but the sun is on it all day. Also the drain in the bathroom comes up when running water in the sink. Although these didn't cause any issues to us. The Animation team are all fantsactic, big thank you to Laura , John (unga bunga) George (katastrof), and Gina, who have all been amazing, our kids have loved every minute with these people, from kids club, mini disco, and just seeing them all about, they make such a fuss! ( S&F xxx) The hotel staff are so friendly, big shout to Niki at the swim up pool bar, always smiling, and also Asta in the indoor bar, always so polite and kind. The food, was very plentiful, and we always found something to eat. The restaurant staff were amazing too, always showed us to a table especially at busy times. The restaurant got busy as the ju jitsu teams started to arrive, and it was annoying at times as food was being cooked fresh for them and customers were not allowed that food. Isla restaurant was very nice, we got 2 visits. Both times were exceptional however if you don't like seafood then this is probably not for you, as you have a set menu, mostly seafood. Very pleasant experience throughout, all staff are very helpful and I have not come across a rude or unhelpful member. Only one recommendation, the gate at the start of the building was always locked, meaning we had to walk round, not a big issue but when coming back with lots of bags of shopping it would have been nice to just walk straight in. The hotel itself caters for a lot of german guests, (who albeit are sometimes a tad rude.) The final week, we interacted with the French Animation team, they were also great. Sorry I cannot remember names but thank you for including our children in the Looky disco. The photographs are the only thing that let this down, they are so expensive! We had a free photo shoot, then when the prices came, we decided we would only take 2 at €13 each as the packages are ridiculously priced at €195 for the small package upto €489 for the largest package We went out of the hotel and hired a beach buggy for 2 days from Okay car rentals , this is a must. We went right up into the mountains, drove to heronissos and visited beaches there. We visited Cretaquarium, saw the sharks, turtles, lots of fish. We took a trip on the land train also, this was a nice little family activity and not expensive. We will return to this hotel in the future, we have all had the best 2 weeks! Thank you to all the staff.

Firstly - since you might only get this far.....THIS IS NOT A 4 STAR HOTEL. I feel extremely ripped off. I feel cheated by the reviews on this place. I always check trip advisor extensively before booking a hotel. How this obtained #2 Hotel in Kato Gouves is beyond me. I can only presume this is an anomaly based on people wanting different things from their holiday. I have written a very detailed review as I don't recognise my own experience in the positive reviews on Trip advisor. I have been to Crete before - to a Sensatori and it was far superior. There are so many better hotels. This is just a rip off. On walking around the area there are also at least 3 other hotels that look better. I'll be fair and start with the good aspects - The front desk, bar and animation staff, are very very good. They really seem to care. The rooms seemed to be clean, no bugs or anything like that, so that's a plus. They have a small arcade for small kids, ping pong, bocce, 1 pool table and mini golf. All good. but perhaps a couple more ping pong and pool tables (like on the website) Looks like they have a good kids club, but most of the entertainment of an evening is based around kids & toddlers. I was fooled by the Melia connection to this hotel and assumed it would be on a par with other Melia hotels that I have visited. It is not. You can see where certain parts of the hotel and decor have been slightly adjusted or upgraded when Melia got involved, for example, really nice chairs in the bar, but with old, mismatching sticky tables that are too small. Some nice wall decor in common areas but old grubby floors. You can see they've tried to update the decor in some of the bedrooms, but left the old bathrooms (honestly look like they're from the 80's) In general the overall impression is inconsistent and shabby. 1. Not enough public toilets, there is one WC in the lobby and one outside, to be shared by the pool and beach. The former is shabby and not well maintained, smells and sometimes that spills out into the lobby. The outside one has only two toilets (3 or 4 changing rooms) old slatted doors and one didn't lock at all. Not clean and constantly smelly and floor covered in water and sand. These were the only toilets I found, our room was quite near the pool so frequently went there during the day. 2. The food is atrocious. Special shout out to the poolside Gyros and the daily Baklava. Those are literally the only things worth eating. There was no omelette station in the morning (every other hotel I've stayed in offers this, even 3 star) Rubber scrambled eggs or fried eggs swimming in oil. PLEASE invest in a second toaster. It's carnage waiting on toast, and we all know that there are some people in buffets that just will not wait their turn. Please sort out the music in the buffet area. It is a long narrow buffet with two ramps up and down to the seating area, creating lovely bottlenecks, please, please don't also blast really loud rock music into t

Had an amazing stay at the Marina beach . Tbh the photos on the website doesn’t do it justice so much bigger than I thought. If I had to have a little moan it would be for the kids food my 2 are fussy eaters however they always managed to find something

Absolute amazing week away, far surpassed our expectations. Highlights: Gorgeous sea/Marina view room with the most stunning sunsets on the beach Hotel clean throughout and staff constantly working hard to maintain this Animation team were fab and really had our children laughing- particularly John Unga Bunga who went out of his way to involve us The BEST bar staff in the lobby bar - Aspa, Antonio and Popi made our night every night and made us feel so welcome Live singer had us all up dancing on the Wednesday night Great range of activities for the children who never got bored Water sports available at the beach Shops and bars on the doorstep Isla A la Carte restaurant was stunning and the food lovely We have had the best week no complaints at all! We will return! Only thing to note- be careful walking around the pool we have seen so many people slip and slide!!

This year we dared to go to Greece again, and we chose Crete instead of Halkidiki. We stayed at this 4-star hotel, but again it was confirmed to me that 4 stars are actually 3 stars. We were 4 people, 2 adults and 2 children, 13 and 6 years old, and we received a rather small room, with an even smaller bathroom that barely fit 2 people inside. I will do a review based on our experience. Considering that 40% of the tourists are Romanian, even now I have not noticed that anyone from the staff, animators know the Romanian language and I was disappointed. Everywhere you went you heard Romanian because there were many of us on the island including this hotel. The first impression was a bad one, the bathroom was not cleaned, there were traces of urine and hair on the toilet roll, I called to come and clean, as he came, he left, only on the 2nd call did 2 maids come and then they cleaned and since then every day they cleaned and changed the towels and sheets, but the room was not the one we expected, simple without anything that would take me to Greece, it was like I was in a hospital, small and completely white . (pictures attached). The walls were full of dead mosquitoes because they were full of them. The biggest plus that this hotel had was food, to our surprise, tasty and diverse, fresh. The ice cream was at discretion and was very tasty. The rest of the drinks, weak as with all inclusive. The rest of the pools, playgrounds, restaurants, terraces were clean. The beach was across the road, clean with very fine sand and cold all the time (something I have never seen anywhere at sea). You had sunbeds with umbrellas, 2 volleyball courts and one for football. For the children there was a mini golf course. I was disappointed that they didn't have big TVs in the lobby or bars considering that it was the European championship, except for a small one where we gathered about 30 people. There was an amphitheater with a projector where they played the matches as they wanted. All in all, we felt good because we were 6 families with children and we had activities, and for the amount paid, I recommend it to those who don't have high expectations. At this hotel, the tourist tax is 7 euros/day

Sol Marina Beach hotel offered everything our family needed. The hotel has different pools but we chose always to be at the main pool because of the TopAnimation team and their excellent entertainment. Katastrofa is a very good team leader and his team is really amazing! Gabi, Michaela, Unga Bunga, Marco and the rest of the team really did an amazing job entertaining children and adults with Sports activities during the day and mini disco and other shows in the evening. They were always smiling, taking time to talk with kids and adults and they made the stay very pleasant. The hotel is nice and clean, and our room had a good size. Lots of food with changing themes at dinner time ex Italian night or Asian. The pool is a bit crowded but one of the lifeguards at main pool did an amazing job moving the towels which ‘reserved’ spots but wasn’t used! So thank you! An amazing stay with a beautiful view, very good entertainment and a lot of fun and nice staff !