Наверное, лучший отель на Крите Probably the best hotel in Crete

We rested with a family of 3 on July 15-22.2019. Perhaps the discrepancy between the title of the review and the rating of the hotel will immediately catch your eye? There is no error here. The hotel is really one of the best in Crete, because all hotels in Crete, and in general in Greece, are significantly inferior to Spanish or Italian ones. In May 2019, my wife was in an "advertiser" in Crete and brought an objective opinion - "The nature is beautiful, but the hotels and service are poor. " But you still need to visit Crete!
We are longtime supporters of the Iberostar network, which has never disappointed our expectations, so we decided that it would keep its brand in Crete as well. Booked Iberostar Creta Panorama 4*. A couple of days before the flight, the tour operator TUI made us nervous. 07/12/19, around 17-30 we were informed about Overbooking!
“Overbooking is a strategy for the sale of goods (services), in which the supplier of goods (services) assumes more obligations to supply goods (provision of services) than he can fulfill, in the expectation that not all of the obligations actually have to be fulfilled. Also, overbooking is a possible unfortunate result of applying this strategy, arising due to errors or a combination of circumstances.

Briefly speaking. We have to check in on July 15, and our room is vacated only on July 16. At the tour operator's office, in response to our request, to redo the vouchers so that we have guaranteed reasons for traveling to another hotel, they began to freeze, and taking into account Friday evening, they stopped answering at all.
Our nerves were saved by the travel agency "On Turgenevskaya" in Irpin. Its director, Lyudmila (a beautiful woman in every respect), directly contacted the Iberostar office, for which she has the greatest respect! They did not refer to non-working hours and confirmed Overbooking, guaranteeing a settlement for the day at grecotel white palace 5 * on “all inclusive”. As an apology, Iberostar changed our Iberostar Creta Panorama 4 * board from HB to all inclusive, and also provided free sunbeds in paid places. BRAVO IBEROSTAR! BRAVO TA "On Turgenevskaya"!! ! The next day, and the operator "was born" by sending the vouchers we requested!
The holiday started at grecotel white palace 5*. To be honest, the hotel does not pull on either a five or even a four. There is almost no territory, so there is nowhere to walk. There is nowhere to leave the hotel. Left and right fields and wastelands. Despite the fact that we had a “sea view” number on the voucher, we were settled in a room overlooking a field cultivated by a tractor that raised columns of dust. Also "didn't pay attention to our" all inclusive ". We quickly restored the "status quo" by moving to a spacious room with a sea view and receiving "all inclusive" bracelets.
The hotel is right on the beach and the view from the sea view room is amazing. The view from the rooms on the other side, described above, is depressing. The hotel is very shabby. The carpeting in the corridor is obscenely faded, the ceiling is cracked, the upholstered furniture is crushed by long-term use, the plumbing is alive, but, as for the five, has long been obsolete. The keys to the doors of the room and safes are metal on wooden key chains.
Unpleasantly surprised by the food. As for the European five - very meager. Very!
The sea is very cool! Warm! Transparent! Fairly shallow depths. The entrance is on stones, which is somewhat inconvenient, but then the bottom is sandy.

Having moved to Iberostar Creta Panorama on July 16, we felt the difference between five and four. Moreover, the Iberostar four was an order of magnitude cooler in every way! Large landscaped green area! A lot of plants! Paved walkways along the sea.
If white palace stands right on the beach, then Iberostar is on a plateau rising above the sea. You need to go down to the sea, and accordingly, you need to stomp back up. It didn't bother us at all. The climbs are neither steep nor tiring. When descending to the sea, artificially created bays. Everything is much prettier and brighter. The sea, due to the rocks, looks more colorful. There are places to stay in the green zone with a gorgeous view of the sea and rocks from the top of the plateau!
But the first night was a NIGHTMARE! It was a bloody night! We were just "eaten" by mosquitoes! Midnight could not fall asleep under their nasty squeak and ringing! But the "Morning of the Streltsy Execution" has come! The vile insects were finished, and only multiple bloody footprints on the white walls reminded of them. However, the bites all over the body also did not allow them to be forgotten! After complaints, we were given a fumigator at the reception. We also bought the spray and cream. The following nights, the disgraced mosquitoes did not bother us much. But such mosquito-beaten vacationers walked around the hotel that it was painful for the eyes to look at them. I tried to find out why the hotel does not poison mosquitoes, but I did not get a coherent answer.
I thought of a possible reason myself, already at the end of the holiday. Many cicadas live in the greenery of the hotel, which create a certain flavor with their unbearable horn. Perhaps the mosquitoes are not poisoned so as not to kill the cicadas. I do not even rule out that they are protected by law. Cicadas, not mosquitoes.
The hotel rooms are also somewhat tired. Room keys and safe also metal with key chains. To turn on the light you need a magnetic key - a big metal plaque!
Food in Iberostar Creta Panorama is incomparably better than in the five white palaces, although it is still inferior to Spanish and even Montenegrin Iberostar. But this, apparently, is a feature of Greece.

We are not fans of booze, but I can say that the red Greek wine is weak and the white is pretty good!
So why is the hotel rated low! ? 1) Mosquitoes! This is the main disadvantage. A person on vacation should not walk around swollen from their bites. This is a mass phenomenon here! 2) Safety on the beach! Lifeguards are not observed, and the coast is rocky and the sea is restless. 3) Safety during the descent to the sea is not guaranteed. Despite the steep dangerous cliffs, their fence looks conditional. The cliffs are overgrown with bushes and grass and are poorly visible. I urge parents to be very attentive to their children in order to protect them from misfortune.
Let this review be useful to someone.
Finally, I want to say that we ourselves are the creators of our mood! On the positive - and in the hut the rest will be gorgeous !!!
I will answer questions at lawprotections@gmail. com