I would describe Creta Maris as a very good 4-star resort with some genuine 5-star qualities, rather than a true luxury 5-star experience. We paid around £6,000 including flights for a family of four in a One Bedroom Family Suite during the peak summer holidays. Overall, we had a lovely family holiday and made some wonderful memories, but unfortunately the resort didn’t quite live up to what we’ve experienced at similarly priced family resorts over the past few years. The Positives We were allocated a spacious One Bedroom Family Suite with a beautiful garden, which was ideal for travelling with young children. As we’d booked late and paid a premium, I do think I would have been disappointed had the room been any smaller, but thankfully it was a lovely size. The staff deserve enormous credit. The reception team were genuinely warm, welcoming and accommodating from the moment we arrived. They kindly assisted with my request for a late checkout during one of the busiest weeks of the summer, which was hugely appreciated. Guest Relations were equally excellent throughout our stay—always friendly, approachable and happy to help. The hotel itself is spotlessly clean. The housekeeping and maintenance teams clearly work incredibly hard and the entire resort is beautifully maintained. The water park was fantastic for children of all ages and became one of the highlights of the holiday. Having food available there was convenient and meant we could spend most of the day without needing to leave. The reception terrace quickly became our favourite place in the resort. The coffee was excellent, the drinks selection was good and it was a lovely place to sit, read or play games with the children. The newer side of the hotel also offered better quality lunch options and had a fresher, more modern feel. I also really appreciated the thoughtful personal touches—a welcome gift, a beach bag to use during our stay and a lovely postcard presented on departure celebrating the hotel’s 59th anniversary. Small details like these really do make a difference. The beach location is excellent, with easy access from the main pool area, and our children genuinely enjoyed the Kids Club, happily attending on two mornings. As a parent, that’s always reassuring. Where It Fell Short Although Creta Maris has a charming Cretan village concept, I couldn’t help feeling that many aspects of the resort haven’t evolved alongside the expectations of today’s luxury family traveller. The biggest disappointment for us was the food. The à la carte restaurants all felt remarkably similar. While each had a different setting, many dishes overlapped with the buffet and there wasn’t enough individuality between them. After several evenings, it felt as though we were eating variations of the same menu. The themed buffet nights also lacked authenticity. For example, the Asian evening was disappointing—the stir-fried noodles were unexpectedly sweet, the sweet and sour vegetables tasted neither sweet nor sour, and the sushi was fairly mediocre with very little fish. I really wanted it to be good, but unfortunately it just missed the mark. As vegetarians, we found the overall choice repetitive. Every day there seemed to be the same soya bolognese, pasta and focaccia pizza, with many of the other dishes lacking flavour or imagination. The hotel kindly offered to arrange a discussion with the chef, but on holiday I don’t really want to have to organise my meals in advance. The quality at the water park snack bar was inconsistent too. On our first visit the vegetarian burger was freshly cooked and delicious. On later visits we were repeatedly served pre-cooked burgers that were reheated, one of which was still cold in the middle. When I requested one to be cooked fresh, it was simply fried again rather than prepared from frozen. More disappointing was discovering it had been cooked in the same oil as the chicken. For a resort that rightly promotes fresh produce and quality ingredients, this felt at odds with the message. Similarly, healthier options for children felt limited. There was plenty of pizza, chips and fast food, but fresh fruit wasn’t readily available at the water park. Parents today increasingly look for nutritious options alongside treats, and this felt like a missed opportunity. One particular dessert on the Asian evening—a battered pineapple—was unfortunately inedible. The frying oil appeared extremely dark and old, leaving the batter greasy and discoloured. It wasn’t something I felt comfortable eating. Overall, the dessert selection throughout the week was rather underwhelming. Drinks also felt behind the standard I’d expect from a resort at this price point. Fresh orange juice wasn’t available at breakfast, proper barista coffee wasn’t consistently available across restaurants, cocktails couldn’t be ordered with dinner, and there were no fresh milkshakes for children—only artificially flavoured slushies. Entertainment was enjoyable enough but fairly average. Most evenings consisted of live music, a children’s disco and occasional performances. Compared with similarly priced resorts in Crete or Turkey, it lacked the wow factor. The resort itself is also extremely spread out. While golf buggies are available, they didn’t seem readily offered beyond arrival and departure. This became frustrating because the newer reception-side pools—where the better smoothie bar, fruit, salads and modern lunch options were located—were often full by 9am, while the family water park area mainly offered fast food. Walking 10–12 minutes each way simply to collect a fresh smoothie before returning to the children’s pool wasn’t especially practical. Likewise, towel stations were located at different parts of the resort and only available during certain hours, making what should have been a simple luxury feel unnecessarily inconvenient. The arcade was probably my biggest disappointment. Positioned right in the middle of the resort, it felt completely at odds with Creta Maris’ otherwise strong sustainability message. It encouraged children towards expensive plastic prizes and repetitive gaming, which personally isn’t something I look for in a family holiday. Unfortunately, it would genuinely make me think twice before returning. I was also concerned to see the arcade attendant using an electronic cigarette inside the arcade while children were present. Although it’s operated by an external company, I do feel the hotel still has responsibility for the standards of businesses operating within the resort. Finally, our television never worked properly despite reporting the issue. We eventually streamed the football using our own UK mobile data late one evening rather than chasing the issue again. Overall Creta Maris certainly has many strengths. The staff are wonderful, the resort is immaculately maintained, the children loved the water park and we genuinely enjoyed spending quality time together as a family. However, for us, the food simply wasn’t good enough to justify the price we paid, and ultimately that’s the biggest factor when choosing an all-inclusive holiday. With more modern dining, better vegetarian options, stronger entertainment and a few improvements to the overall guest experience, I think this resort could comfortably compete with the very best family resorts in Crete. For our personal preferences, we would currently choose somewhere like Lyttos Beach or Daios Cove instead, where we feel the overall experience, entertainment and dining are stronger. Creta Maris undoubtedly has some genuine 5-star qualities, particularly its staff and hospitality. But taken as a whole, I personally feel it delivers more of a very good 4-star experience than a luxury 5-star one. That said, we still had a lovely week together as a family, made wonderful memories in the sunshine, and for that I sincerely thank everyone at Creta Maris.

We chose this hotel because i have a disability and it had good access and facilities. The staff were very friendly and super helpful Hotel grounds were beautiful and well maintained..Food choices were amazing fresh and varied. Al la carte food was very good. While there i had an accident in the hotel with my hired scooter. It was handled very well by Ani Kerobyan the guest service manager she was excellant making sure i was okay.She is an fabulous manager very good at her job.The kindness and professionlism she showed was outstanding. I just want to thank not just Ani but the whole team for making it so special for us . Thank you so much.

Creta Maris is amazing, we come here for our summer holidays every year for 4 years now and every time is wonderful. Everyone loves it, my husband and I, my niece and nephew, and even Grandma. We have a favourite room and they are kind enough to offer it to us ????. The food is flavourful and variety is top, multiple restaurants on the grounds with offering for any palate. The beach is a blue flag beach (best water ever). And for some romance try watching the moon rising in the adult only Adama bar, while sipping on a cocktail. There is kids club and multiple activities on offer and they have a transfer company working directly with them, which are absolute gems to use. Sometimes it's the simple things done exceptionally well, combined with an amazing location, that make a place truly special. Creta Maris gets it right every time, and we can't wait to return. A special thank you to Emmanouela, Adriana, Manolis, Flutura, Bablu, and Eutyhia. We appreciate the attention to detail, and genuine hospitality. You all are wonderful ambassadors for Creta Maris and deserve to be recognised for the exceptional experience you create.

Sneha - she look so small but so strong! It was so good and relaxing just like I wanted it.

הכל היה מעולה .החדר היה במיקום מעולה מול הבריכה והים .האוכל טעים ,מגוון ובשפע. השרות מעולה וכל הצוות מסביר פנים ונותן מענה לכל צורך. פעילויות לאורך היום ללא צורך לצאת מהמקום. במקום מסעדות ברמה גבוה. ממליץ בחום להזמין שם מקום לנופש - - -

Location, ristoranti, piscine e mare, servizio - - -

Luxus felszereltség - - Többször a személyzet, elfelejtette amit kértünk az étteremben. -

The staff was excellent food was great very clean - - Football pitch can be bit bigger -

נוחות ומיקום החדר,הבריכה נעימה ויפה ,חוף הים קרוב וגישה נוחה,יחס כל הצוות במלון,האוכל ברמה גבוהה ומבחר גדול,הקינוחים ברמת פטיסרי צרפתי משובח,אין מילים,נחזור שוב וגם נמליץ לילדים שלנו ולחברים - - -

Les restaurants, les activités. Personnel sympathique sauf le gars qui gère l’agence de location de voitures qui est inbuvable - - -

טובה מאוד - - אהבנו הכל -

We had an amazing experience with the hotel's photography team coming from Romania ❤️???????? Every member of the team was absolutely wonderful! A special thank you to our photographer Ana for being so patient, kind, friendly, and professional. From the very first moment, she made us feel relaxed, and genuinely cared for. She made us feel comfortable throughout the session and captured the most beautiful moments of our family vacation. We absolutely love the photos and will cherish these memories forever. Thank you for your wonderful work! Thank you also to the entire photography team for your outstanding work, patience, warm smiles and for giving us such precious memories from our stay. We highly recommend your services to anyone visiting the hotel!❤️

We are truly grateful for the kindness, care, and genuine hospitality we have experienced throughout our stay. Every member of your staff has made us feel welcome, valued, and at home from the very first day.It is easy to see how much passion and dedication your team puts into creating special moments for your guests.Thank you again for everything you have done for us.

Todo, lugar muy bonito - - nada que no me gusta -

The GOOD - There really isn't much that can be said about this hotel that hasn't already been mentioned in the reviews. We stayed in the adult exclusive area, which allowed for a special seating area in the main buffet and access to the adult exclusive pools. Exclusive adult area are all refurbished rooms that I could see, spotlessly clean and well maintained A la carte restaurants - didn't have a bad meal in any of the restaurants. Cats could be a little annoying but welcome to Crete. You get complementary access to each of the restaurants once in seven days and if you stay longer then this rolls over and you can book again after the seventh day. App was very easy and they even had someone outside the main buffet in the morning that could help you book if you had issues. You can only book restaurants one day in advance. bookings opened at 8am. I liked this service as it stops people from booking up the whole week in advance (Sandals take note). Need a special mention to Eva and Kopi in the main buffet. Looked after us and wouldn't let us go without a big hug at the end. Ive become a little partial to Raki as well. The Great - This resort enforces their own policies. I would wander down to the adult pool area around 8am, get a couple of beds and then relax and watch some of the commotion as people that had put their towels out at the crack of dawn realise that the pool team had removed them and any belongings. Many signs around all of the pools stating that beds cannot be reserved outside of pool opening hours. As the pool opens at around 9am, the pool team did a great job of being the enforcers. once bitten people realised and hence sat on their beds until the allotted time and then went for breakfast. Come changeover days, you got to see it all over again. Also, the life-guards were hot on people not allowed in the area and when behavior got a little to boisterous. As an example, a party of over zealous young adults who had enjoyed  too many margaritas were simply told to calm down a little in the main pool. They were not the fun police but judged the mood of the pool at the time and acted accordingly. Same with the cocktail bar, adults only and people tried to sneak in with young children. The staff politely advised that they needed to go to another area. BUTT, why we cannot return. This was mentioned in the reviews on several occasions but we chose to ignore. Our bad. Smoking is for the majority and I will explain. It was like going backward 20 years in the UK. Sunbeds - in the adults area, it was very difficult not to be within 2 beds of someone smoking. It got to the stage where you knew the towels of a 'non smoking' family and I would purposely sit alongside them. At one glance the entirety of the top area of the pool and down one side were all smoking. it was absolutely disgusting. Even going to get a drink at the pool bar. Someone sitting there with a huge cigar. I felt sorry for the serving staff. I took a walk to the mail heated pool where the vast majority of families with children are present and this was just as bad. What makes it worse is that children are now exposed to cigarette smoke. As a minimum, ban it around the children areas. Vegera lounge. Of a nighttime its was nice to sit outside and listen to the entertainment. Unfortunately there was only a handful of non-smoking tables (about 5) compared to about twenty allocated smoking tables. If you were lucky to get a seat, you would look down towards the cocktail bar and see a haze of cigarette smoke drifting. Even worse, you would see families with children sitting amongst this as they couldn't get a table. I fully appreciate that inside the air conditioned Vegera Bar there are plenty of seats for families with piped music playing. This isn't what I came to this resort for. Cocktail Bar - this is probably my biggest gripe. This is a terrace split over two levels with some really pretty and more importantly comfortable furniture. Swing loungers etc. Unfortunately, this is 100% allocated for smoking. We tried sitting there but literally every other table was a smoker. For non smokers, they have about 5 tables with stools allocated at the bar only. if you choose to sit on the bench area at the front of the cocktail bar its virtually the same as being in the smoking area, smoke drifts.  Why would you not do what other hotels do in Spain, Mexico and other countries. Make the resort essentially non-smoking and have designated smoking stations scattered around the resort. Children should not be exposed to cigarette smoke. I'm really surprised Creta Maris allow this. Lastly - Go visit the onsite museum. Creta Maris recently celebrated their 50 years and its a great place to visit.

שירות מעולה. אוכל טוב, הדגים והסטיקים פחות. האוכל המרומי מעולה. חגרים מרווחים ונקיים. לנו היה נוף לים. הפעילויות לילדים היו טובות. - - את המנות העיקריות במסעדות. -

stafe behavior and following up for requests - - intertaiment was very weak and I prefer to have sports activitt in main pool and night shows can be more attractive. -

Super toller Aufenthalt! Alle freundlich - alles sauber gepflegt; familienfreundlich! Wir haben als Krönung zum Ende hin ein tolles Foto Shooting gemacht ☺️

Very nice resort. 2nd best All inclusive resort we have stayed in. Food was lovely, restaurants were great. Pools & Waterpark was perfect for.our daughter. Kids club was A1. My daughter didnt want to leave. Big shout out to Robert who took our photos and all the kids club. You were all lovely. Also didnt get her name but Omelete chef in the smaller buffet (Estia). Very tasty. - - Only big thing was lack of flexibility from staff - wouldnt let us into Adults area when our child was in kids club. Just wanted a drink and to relax. Lady at main buffet wouldnt let me take a slice of cake back to room when daughter was feeling a tad unwell. Nothing wrong with resort - just staff lacking common sense! One recommendation - main pool beside beach is a mess. Not 1 free sunbed for our entire 12 day stay. (We didnt mind as we were at different part of hotel) but anytime we went down - it was wild west. At least half the sunbeds had a blue towel (clean) and nobody near it. Just get lifeguard to take them away! -

This is our second visit to Creta Maris Resort and it exceeded our expectations. The territory is amazingly beautiful, the food is delicious and various. Also great for little children. Our 3 year old son enjoyed the water park so much, as well as the game club and the evening shows ???? The beach and the sea is so beautiful, the colour of the water’s just breathtaking! It also seems that some of the big stones have been moved away as the entrance to the sea was easy and comfortable this time. If once again in Crete, we will choose Creta Maris. The resort is in our heart. - - We did not find an ice cream spot at the beach side this year. At the aqua park side only. Which is not a big deal but not really nice when stay most of the time at the beach with children. -