Bars and pool bar staff were fantastic,very friendly service and joined in the experience of a fun time.

We tended to have a drink in the Veranda bar most evenings after dinner, and Christina was a joy.

but they are great quality and well worth the money (and less expensive than at a nearby bar and restaurant).

Very good location close to all the bars and restaurants on the strip.

Outside the hotel there are many bars and restaurants right on the doorstep.

The bar by the pool made a variety of amazing cocktails and we had lunch twice as well which was tasty.

A few nice restaurants locally, all within walking distance a couple of bars also, some with live music some that show sports.

Theres a few restaurants and bars just outside the hotel , no need for walking far or if you want to go to Gouves main town its €7 in a taxi or if you want more action Hersonnisis is a busy spot and €17 in a taxi.

The pools, bar and grounds were pretty, and with the beach 20m away over the road, it was a really nice setting.

Oh yeah and the entertainment in the hotel is boring best just going out to one of the cocktail bars the atmosphere is so much better.

Rooms are immaculately cleaned every day, Veranda and Stone Bar staff are very friendly and attentive and the food here is great.

Thankyou to all the staff who made our stay one to remember we loved it here the only disappointment for me was the Monday night rnb night being cancelled due to the dj being a no show and not being able to pay for drinks at the bar there and then

Numerous excellent bars and restaurants nearby many overlooking the beach. Lunches by the pool were very nice (one between two was more than enough!)

but would recommend going out of the hotel a few nights for a change of scene, and there are some very nice bars and restaurants within a short walk.

The men and women at the restaurant, at the bar and the great staff at the Spa Bathhouse: your smiles and genuine kindness brightened up our days.

The The Island Hotel is near these landmarks: Aquaworld Aquarium & Reptile Rescue Centre, Stalis Beach, Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Milatos Cave, Poseidon Diving Club, Ligaria Beach, Star Beach, Zervas Beach, Castello del Molo (Koules), Archaeological Museum of Archanes, Minoan Peak Sanctuary, Kretasurf - Water Sports Crete, Cave Of Zeus, Milatos Beach, Agia Pelagia Beach, Althaea, The Whisky Bar, Acqua Plus Water Park, Crete Safari, Winery Stilianou, The Natural History Museum of Crete, Panagia Beach, Psaromoura Beach, Petra Beach, Surf in Crete, Lychnostatis Open Air Museum, Amarillis Stable, Lyrarakis Winery, Mononaftis Beach, Gournes Beach, Labyrinth Theme Park, Slainte Irish Bar, Cathedral of St. Minas, Happy Train Sissi, Winery Sinadinakis, Ancient Apollonia, Panagias Keras Church, Rebekka store, Starbeach Bungy Jump, Themis Beach Bar, Cretan Thematic Park, Historical Museum of Crete, Sissi Mini Golf, ELA Quad Safari, Roman Archaeological Remains, Supermarket Dictamos, Koronekes, Sailingtrips Zuiderzee, Agios Titos Church, Peggy Gordon's Irish Bar, Quad Safari Peninsula, Irish House, Morosini Fountain (Lion's Fountain), Josef, Stay Wet Diving Center, Cycling Creta, Cretan Tennis Academy, Old Venetian Harbor of Heraklion, Idols Art, Blue Water Club RENT A BOAT, Fantasia Yachting, Evexia Spa, I Archana, Douloufakis Winery, Luxurious Furs, Horse Riding, Stefanos Bar, Domaine Paterianakis, Excursion Expert Agia Pelagia, Buggy Safari Motoxperience, Diver's Club Crete, HayTours, Loggia, Kera Bar, Seahorse Rent a Boat, Maria Sanoudaki Ceramic - Art Studio, Cretan Flavor, Kera Kardiotissa Monastery, Jewel Art, Katharo Plataeu, Whisper Music Cocktail Bar, Sunset Bar, Arion Stables, Passion, MYSTIC CRETAN ROAD TRIP, Crete Boats, Scalarea Estate (Boutari Winery Crete), Cretan Family, Hersonissos Cruises, Church and the Museum of St. Aikaterini, Ekklisia Analipsi, Heraklion Diving Center, Nemo Cafe Bar, Argo Rent Boats Yachts & Watersports, Solo  Brewery, Nail me up, The Crete Golf Club, Discovery Dive Centre, Vasiliki Agios Markos Municipal Art Gallery, HOTEL KASTRO, Aura Fashion Shop, Church of Agios Mathaios Sinaites, Paliokastro, Mystic Cretan Road Trip, Hatzis Leather, Palm Beach Club Restaurant, Vassiliki's Votanopoleio (Botanical Store), Scubakreta, AQUADIVE unique scuba experience, New York Beach Club Hersonissos, Star Beach, Diamantakis Winery, Y.O.L.O.

The pool bar is a good spot for lunch and after dinner drinks,

The bar men do an amazing job bringing you your drinks/food to you on your sunbed.

Yes the pools are nice and the beach and views over the sea were good. Downside is:
1.)

The hotel is unusual composition of scattered small buildings grouped around a pool, right in the beach, simplistic naturalistic design and incredibly comfortable and clean.

The beach is sandy (not pebbles) and is probably one of the best I've been to.

The breakfast was just right, enough selection of food and the view was stunning every morning looking out onto the beach.

Good access to the beach directly over the road with free loungers for hotel guests.

Lovely beach across the road with free sun beds .. on site shop good value for money .

The 3 large pools serving different needs are surrounded by Bali beds and umbrellas a plenty and with the beach as a back drop you can’t ask for anything more.

Wouldn’t recommend going to The Island Restaurant up the road on the beach front either staff was disgusting in there and the food was gross.

The dining area is right beside the beach, eating dinner while the sun sets was gorgeous.

The convenient door to the beach meant you could be on the beach in minutes

The views from the hotel restaurant to the beach are breathtaking!

Beautiful hotel, excellent beachfront location with free sun beds on own beach.

Hotel is very clean, 3 lovely pools, nice size gym and fantastic location right opposite a pleasant sandy beach.

The private beach just across the road from the hotel is a lovely bonus.

The hotel and rooms are spotlessly clean, the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful, and best of all it’s a few steps across a quiet road to a gorgeous beach.

Pros / +: Lots of food choice at the hotel, staff are excellent (especially Eni at the main pool), love the DJ beets around the pool on some days, great small private beach, great location €30 taxi to airport.

It’s been so relaxing, we loved the day beds, chilling by the pool and heading to the beach in 1 min to have a dip.

The food was delicious, the staff were super friendly, and I loved every minute of our time there.

A lovely setting next to the main pool with some friendly waiters like Eni.

The staff were friendly every morning walking to breakfast and arriving.

Every single member of staff so friendly and polite and cant do enough for you.

All the staff were very friendly and couldn't have been more helpful during the whole stay.

Good:
Friendly front of house staff
Good amenities

Bad:
Management
Dealing with issues

We had an okay stay.

but there are lovely friendly places to eat and drink nearby.

Staff so very friendly and accommodating.

Exceptional staff - they're always friendly,  polite despite working very hard to ensure the smooth running of the hotel .

Staff were very friendly and our room was cleaned to a high standard as were all areas of the hotel.

but if you want a hotel with exceptionally friendly staff, very clean, fabulous food i would struggle to beat this, with the convenience of being close to the airport.

The staff have been faultless and consistently helpful and friendly 24/7 with great attitude and so welcoming.

The hotel was clean, great facilities (the pools are great, there's a little minimarket for snacks and drinks), the staff is super friendly and nice (especially Julia at the dining room!).

All the staff were excellent and always friendly.

Generally is to say that we had 2 wonderful stays and staff which are always friendly, smiling and helpful, making it very easy to enjoy your holidays.

You have to wait to be taken to a table, which can cause a queue and you don’t get to choose where you are seated.

We arrived late on our first night and there was a sandwich waiting for us which was white bread with a slice of cheese and ham, disappointing as a first impression,

Was very busy always queues to get into restaurant most nights.

but this sometimes led to queues, and it could be irritating having to go in one line for toast and another for butter.

People were queuing up not knowing what they were going to see until the staff lifted EVERY lid along the way.

There is no social distancing at breakfast and long queues to get in.

Routinely, also, queuing was the norm for breakfast and dinner.

Also the amount of people waiting to get into the dinner area was a bit off putting.

The dining hall is chaotic with queues to be seated??

They also tried to book three couples in at once, wich unfortunately meant a lot of waiting around.

No shaver point, so now even your electric toothbrush is queuing  for the only power point.

The only problem is dinner/lunch is manic with no one managing to queue and running out of food. !

The serving area is quite cramped for the number of people using it, which meant small queues,

There was no such thing as an orderly queue so trying to get your food and back to your table without being knocked was a nightmare.

but there's always a looong queue to get an omelette, and a looong queue to get a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Some of the food wasn't to our taste and we were waiting for our main plates to be cleared up for about half an hour.

We found over the 10 days we picked out better times to eat as it could be busy and as it’s help yourself people weren’t so polite and queuing seems to have gone out the window.

We also realised early on that you either dined early or had to queue.

There are more outside tables than inside tables at the restaurant and this caused queues on the one occasion that outside tables were not in favour because of the weather conditions.

The hotel chefs and their team were very efficient in keeping the food replenished and hot.

apart from that side of it the hotel Is fab and the food  was excellent every day .

but the breakfasts and the lunches we had were a delight.

Stone Restaurant - 
Great for drinks and snacks during the day.

however, after the Island Hotel's buffet I am completely converted - the food was amazing and different every day; the breakfasts were rich and with a wide variety of choice.

The staff, the services and the food - superlative.

Gouves itself is nice, lots of little restaurants along the front.

Other than that, the buffet food was nice (not more than that) and the Wi-Fi was no good, disconnecting half of the time.

We ventured outside every evening to try all the different restaurants.

The location was pretty good - lots of small bars and restaurants from 1 to 20 mins walk away.

Great hotel for relaxing ,close to airport .Hotel & grounds are kept immaculate .. 
food was of a good standard with good service .

we payed the hotel extra to move up to half board and the food was beautiful with many options every evening.

There is a beautiful Greek Orthodox chapel,  a range of places to eat and relax and a mini market with prices comparable to the those on the adjoining strip.

We had asked about a voucher for the restaurant

Waiters and waitress's very efficient throughout our stay.

Especially if Manos was serving, with his cheeky smile!

.please as a tourist who pays a lot of money to get there sort out the reception staff

The staff are just as helpful as they can possibly be; from the Reception staff to the pool cleaner and every other member of waiting and domestic staff, they all do whatever they can to make your holiday as good as can be.

The reservation staff are very helpful and will accommodate where they can.

The staff are amazing, super professional, smiley and attentive.They will always take the extra step to make your stay exceptional.

but this seems to have been addressed quite quickly by the hotel staff.

The staff LIED TO US saying that this is how the AC works in the entire hotel (=not actually cooling).

There is a gym on the complex which has everything you need to do a workout and also there is a lovely fitness instructor who comes several days a week to do yoga, pilates and full body work outs etc, she is great and very knowledgeable.

Every member of staff is courteous and professional.

Stayed here with my boyfriend last week, the staff was awful, the cleaners and one member of staff from the kitchen was the nicest staff members there.

On arrival there was a nice welcome gift waiting for us which highlights the way guests are treated by the lovely staff.

(we paid £1200 for 6 nights including dinner and breakfast)

The staff were charming and welcoming throughout.

And during the night we generally sleep with open windows, and we have been very surprised that the noise from the street or from the Island Restaurant nearby is not too loud.

I have seen many comments about the open view into the bathrooms and the hotel is being marked down because of this, there is a blind that can be pulled down to make it private.

We closed the roller blind, so no problem.

There was a door on the loo and a pull down blind

The bathroom is minute with a roller blind between it and the room.

The opening could be covered by a flimsy roller blind on the bedroom side.

There are only eight sun loungers around the pool and the leafy palms and bricks behind the water curtain make it spa like and serene.

Only grump here is that there is no door to the bathroom, only a blind that pulls down behind the bathroom sink for modesty's sake.

I can see why some people may take issue with the bathrooms (you can lower a blind for more privacy),

although a pull down blind is provided for privacy,but I can imagine this being slightly embarrassing for young couples maybe on their first holiday together.

but no curtains or covers on the sides if you're looking for some shadow, but both the on-site shop and the supermarkets sell beach towels and sarongs/wraps, as well as pins that are perfect for hanging them - I suspect the topic has come up before.

Only one thing was we had a bath with hand held shower which was a bit difficult as no shower screen or curtain and no wall connection for shower which meant we had to hold it ourself and water sprayed all over floor!

but that was it noticed a blind you could pull down for a bit of privacy on the 2nd day , but anyway wasn't that much of a big deal after .

although our block of rooms suffered poor air conditioning with doors and windows being left open to try to increase air flow, not possible to do this at night as little biting insects have a nibble if you do!

This could  be solved or helped a little by putting a shower curtain up instead of half a glass screen which let out most of the water.

The sea view room was slightly larger and if booking one of these rooms, we would recommend the second floor as they have balconies and are not at eye level with the guests using the pool, which means curtains do not need to be drawn most of the day for privacy.

When you want to get back you go to the ticket window and ask for Gouves bus stop 15.

but if you aren't comfortable with this don't let it put you off as there is a blind that you can pull down to cover the bathroom while you are in there and there is also a frosted glass door to the toilet.

There isn't a door for the bathing area just a blind to give privacy so you need to be very comfortable with your room mate to avoid embarrassment.

The Island Hotel

window

queue

restaurant

beach

On arrival, we were greeted at the front of the hotel by staff and were asked to leave our bags at the door.

We asked if we could purchase a day pass for the Adults only hotel (Stella Island) next door and they wanted 200 euros for the day!

This is a family friendly resort so there are lots of children everywhere and you should expect the noise that generally accompanies young families (apart from a 19 year old we have 2 other children in their 20's so we're used to it); there is the adults only spa resort next door if young families is not your jam when on holiday.

however when we opened the door we couldn’t believe the improvement.

My DIL was concerned about the sliding glass door that goes to the patio/pool.

The lock on our door was a little faulty upon arrival and we had to call reception.

Gave a 3 star review on the hotel app where with was queried with a private note through our door and upon querying with front desk it was to dicuss our room rating of 3* explained that room set up was not as expected and was told that it was advertised as a family 'open plan' so I apologised as didn't realise I had booked this.

However there is no privacy whatsoever apart from the toilet cubical or inside the shower being a frosted glass door.

Also the door did seem to keep banging because of the wind of a nighttime so was having to sleep with bathroom door shut and aircon off to stop the banging noise.

Music was so loud it thumped through the doors.

We had to block the door with the buggy to stop it and thankfully didn’t have any issues at night.

but we were in the mid 600s and we had the noise from the poolside bar until 11 and then from the adult only hotel next door until super late.

can’t get a sunbed  unless your up at 7 am and most of the village guests next door regularly sneaked in to use the pools .

One issue with the curtain not covering the whole door was sorted out straight away.

but I believe their sister hotel next door is fabulous and Adults Only (Stella Island).

Next day we left the resort at 09h30 and returned  at 15h30 to find our door lying unlocked and left open!!

The drainage system in the bathroom constantly left a pungent smell of rotten eggs that if you left the bathroom door open would fill the entire suite, the golf buggies that all staff use to get around were shooting up and down the road with no consideration for guests until around 5am in the morning.

Everyone had a note through the door saying sunbeds can only be reserved if you are physically there (before 10am).

There was always some entertainment during the evening and usually it was very good and always places to sit, The good thing with this hotel is you can use the facilities at the hotel next door the Stella Village so that opened up some extra options for us in terms of bars etc.

The walls are really thin and I have listened to a baby cry most nights and the minute someone gets up next door you hear it.

We then checked in on the app that we were asked to download and were given a code the friendly and polite staff walked us through the app and we can find all activities and entertainment for our stay.

We have never experienced such a dedicated and friendly bartender.

but 90% of it is very private - yes there’s a room above but they can see half of the pool - not a problem
The staff were friendly and food was truly amazing.

She was super helpful and friendly in getting this booked in for us and even arranged for a surprise cake and birthday banner for, which was a lovely touch and massively appreciated.

Positives:
Hotel staff very friendly 
3 of the Restaurants were great 
Water park is really enjoyable 

Negatives:
Rooms are terrible
Not much upkeep to the grounds 
Pool area is awaiting an accident!

We had a really good time, the room was amazing(deluxe sharing pool) staff was friendly cocktails were terrific and everything was clean and well kept.

It was always cleaned very well, and the cleaners were friendly and always happily said hello.

Very friendly and professional staff, amazing atmosphere and excellent experience would definitely recommend to everyone who hasn’t been to Stella place before.

The staff is amazing, very friendly and helpful.

First of all the good bits:
- Staff are all excellent, friendly and helpful
-Pool area is really lovely, loungers are extremely comfy and plush.

The food is top class, staff are extremely friendly, rooms clean.

The staff are still friendly as ever and work very hard to get you seated quickly,

The holiday was just what we needed, beautiful hotel and area, lovely, friendly staff and felt totally relaxed.

The positives, lovely clean grounds, excellent pools and sunbeds, waterpark is amazing, good al a carte options and friendly staff.

A lovely clean hotel, with very friendly staff.

The staff throughout are very friendly and willing to help, particularly the Maitre D within the dining area, who was quite simply, amazing.

Luckily everyone we met was lovely, friendly and chilled.

That all being said, the hotel has some very good positives:

The majority of the team of people that work here are amazing, they are extremely friendly, work so incredibly hard and are great to take a few moments to talk to.

We can recommend this hotel to everyone, especially if you have kids!

though it was repeated in our second week and my daughter liked the mini disco and she enjoyed going to the kids club too.

My wife and I stayed here for a week along with our 19 year old son on the All Inclusive package in September (the temperatures were perfect).

This is obviously a slip hazard especially for young children.

They also have mini sun loungers for children!

On arrival we could see the slides and my son could not wait to get involved, they looked amazing and they did not disappoint!

The next day they offered us 5 euros each back for the children and 10 euros for the adults.

This was very convenient as our little baby was sick.

It was ideal for our family with 2 teens though -

We spent some time over in Stella Palace which was a very short walk from Stella Island (literally about a minute or two walk) which has the water park and had so much fun there too with the kids in our group.

Our son wanted to go everyday which we did for 2/3 hours in the afternoon.

We went with 2 other families we had 7 children of mixed ages between us and we all had a great time.

I reccomend Stella palace to take a look on Lyttos minidisco, my kid just LOVED IT in our stay there last year. 3.

We are a family ( 2 adults, 2 kids aged 9 and 6 with 2 grandparents) who usually do villa holidays

My kids went to the kids club a few times and they liked it

Entertainment in the evening is great for the kids!

but also lots of slides etc for my 5 and 3 year old niece and nephew.

We had a room with a private pool which I would recommend to anyone even families the beach is across the street with lonely clear blue water the rooms are immaculate and cleaned everyday food is good and there are other restaurants onsite that you can book to eat at and these are all included if you choose to come all-inclusive as we did

The best thing about the stay was the inclusive water park which is just awesome due to the many different water slides (about 30) and the best "Pool" bar ever.

Lots of variety food wise, and plenty of pools.

We upgraded our room to one of the new rooms by the waterpark that had a sharing pool.

We had a suite with private pool, which was modern clean and well maintained.

Huge pool areas with lots of sunbeds (of which we didn't use either).

The nicer rooms look to be at the back of the water park or private pools.

In fact, all the staff are great (apart from the rude guy policing the pool on our last day).

The live singing was lovely next ti the pool.

Pool areas were well maintained and clean.

The pools area is lovely - very comfy sunbeds (although the reservers are out in force quite early).

From the moment we arrived on the 26th August, everything’s been nothing less than superb; from front desk arrival, accommodation standard, pool bar, maid service, restaurant service, food quality, food variety, and of course to the amazing, really amazing on site water park.

One of the days we went out for the day on a speed boat trip and returned in the afternoon, we were still able to get sun beds, there are a few pools to choose from as-well as the aqua park and beach, the main pools are policed, if you put your towel out and it is unattended for 1hr, it did get removed.

We booked a suite room with private pool, and the room met our expectations.

We were in this queue for over 45 minutes and were then told that we were behind schedule and had to leave Knossos for Heraklion.

Never queued for more than a couple or minutes.

It could get busy at times with queues to get in sometimes, we avoided this by going at other times and entering from the hotel lobby and walking straight in.

Pool bars -  On our first day we walked down to the pool bar and stood in a queue of people for 15minutes before we finally ordered a drink.

Bars - offering variety of drinks - yes if you were willing to wait over 20 mins to get served because of lack of staff.

Lots of time spent making sure they are well mae  Only downside is that the bars are understaffed so can be waiting a while for drinks..even  for a coffee.

• couldn’t get any bottled water after you have used the ones in your room so maybe the hotel could look in to getting fridges around the resort for water bottles so people can help themselves as sometimes you could be queuing at the bar for ages if people in front are ordering cocktails.

Also queing for atleast 10 minutes for dinner was a pain as they take you to your seats so when it's busy you have to wait for a table.

There are also people who don't bother waiting to be seated so the staff aren't able to control who sits where.

9 - There tends to only ever be one person serving drinks at the bar at any one time which means you can be waiting a fair amount of time for drinks, especially in the evenings.

queuing at bars gets frustrating as again no order and people constantly queue jumping.

5 star with not a branded spirit in sight, cocktails included were poor aswell as limited, water was warm and soft drinks horrible, plus you had to queue everywhere so under staffed.

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