Stella Palace Aqua Park Resort

Had a 2 week stay in Stella Palace in July, family room open plan. Had a terrific time and lots of positives, few gripes but not enough to put me off returning. Pros Check in was seamless. Unusual not to be greeted with refreshments though. Room was very clean and spacious. Family room open plan. Great location 634 overlooking pool, no sun on terrace which we were hoping for in the afternoons. Location made up for it though. Staff and service were excellent. Choice of food was excellent, would have liked some more child friendly cereals/fruit but overall couldn’t fault it. I was worried about food after reading some very bad reviews but we didn’t have a bad meal. Managed to book all of the a la cartes twice. Skipped second visit to Alymaria as it didn’t suit the children. There were 8 in our group so we had to pre order food which was a bit annoying but it did make for better/quicker service so I can see the logic. Lovely little beach across the road, sea was warm and safe to swim in. Small town within 10 min walk. Other villages 10/15 min drive. Waterpark was very good and staff great given how busy it is all day. Juliana, Michaels x 2, all the staff at Enzo deserve special mentions for making our stay really enjoyable. Cons Sunbed wars - an absolute pain having to get up at 7am to get beds at the pool. Most beds gone by 8am. Booked a swim up to avoid this next year. Prosecco was awful. Worst I’ve had in any hotel - an easy one to fix!! No lifeguards on any of the pools except the water park. Seemed strange compared to other 5star hotels we’ve been to. Didn’t mind queuing for drinks but self serve water stations or bottled water would be handier. Entertainment was the big negative for us and the thing that was putting us off returning. The amphitheater set up is awful and way too small for two hotels. Compared to what we’ve experienced elsewhere it was a real let down. In the end the benefits out weighed this. The cons aren’t huge so I wouldn’t let this put anyone off. We booked for next year again.

The hotel is very nice , rooms are nice and big also . I had a family room in front of the pool , it was perfect . They should clean pool side a little more . But food is 0 quality for a hotel in this standard !! Not a lot of choice and cheap choice . Water park is also nice . Towels cabine is quite far from the room .

Just returned from 11 nights at the Stella Palace resort with hubby and 2 kids aged 17 & 15. There are not enough positives I could write for this hotel but here are a few * Looked after from start to finish, * Rooms clean and bright - We had connecting Family room in the 700's near the water park. Massive balcony and plenty of room for 4. * Pool areas always immaculate. Despite reservations on previous reviews never found getting sunbeds a problem always some about even at 10 am. Food was top notch always something to eat, tried 3 of the A La Carte and the family favourite was most definitely the Mexican. * Waterpark fab for amusing the teenagers for a couple of hours each day * Area - lovely prom walk each day to a little area with shops, took the train trip and spent some time in Hersonissos Port which was beautiful and def recommend a visit. Boat trip with Zorba for £30 pp worth a go 3 hours visiting some beaches and having a dip in the sea. Beautiful Hotel in a beautiful part of the world and I can't wait to explore more of Crete

This was the best hotel we have ever had so far! Next to the amazing swimming pools and the extraordinary water park, it's the service (the staff, the people) that makes the big difference. Big shout out to Sandy from the Enzo restaurant, who went the extra mile to please our daughter. And as well to Manos and Thanasis from the Thalassa bar, they made our stay remarkable. Everyone is super friendly and super willing to help to make your holidays unforgetable. The food in the restaurants is amazing. You have 5 à la carte restaurants, and especially Veranda (meet) is amazing. But also the lain restaurant, Poseidon, has amazing food. The animatie is great. Enough activities for all ages and Zulu is a top entertainer. For day trips, it's easy to rent a car (in the hotel or next door - Autobonus) and visit the nice beaches or Heraklion, Agios Nikolaus, etc We are definitely coming back!

Writing this review on my last day of being here after 14 days. We stayed here as a family of four with two teenagers at the Stella Palace. I have lots of positives and negatives about our stay here and am just giving my honest opinion on our experience. We booked a two bedroom family room with pool view. We was given number 513. Our room was a beautiful refurbished room with a sliding door. The rooms are small and don’t offer much privacy with teenagers we had a real problem with no bathroom door and the shower door been glass and mirrors being opposite. Everyone had to go into the kids bedroom whilst anyone was showering. With younger kids I’m sure this works fine but with teenagers not so great. I should have booked a family suite which have two totally seperate bedrooms and two bathrooms. Fresh towels and bedding every day. If you needed anything milk, toilet rolls….. you can ring reception and they’ll be round within tens mins with it. Very good service. Free safe, not that you really need it, it’s seems pretty safe place. What makes this hotel is the waterpark and the a la cartes. We used all ten a la carte reservations, which we booked in on arrival with guest relations. My favourites were the Veranda and Almyra. Almyra being a fish restaurant I wasn’t going to go but so glad we did. They have a steak dish and a chicken dish and these were excellent, best steak I’ve ever had, cooked to perfection. The waterpark is very good, with a good selection of slides for all ages, lots of lifeguards keeping everyone safe. The food here I didn’t think was great really bland. Due to people getting up early to reserve sunbeds we headed to the waterpark most days which opens at 10am and got sunbeds there. I also liked the beach which is like a little bay with walls around it and shallow really far out perfect for kids, only negative is there should be a beach bar serving all inclusive drinks. Not great when your on own with kids leaving them and coming back to hotel across road for drinks or toilet. We did go around the main pools some days when I could be bothered to be up and out by 7/7.30am to reserve sunbeds. This is the first hotel I’ve stayed at where there’s no lifeguards around the pools! The toilets at the kochili bar are probably the worst toilets I’ve ever been to, like a dirty dungeon, grim, and boiling hot. I found myself walking back to our room to use the toilets a lot. Another negative is hardly any air conditioning anywhere! Non in the a la cartes or reception it was hot! The air con in the rooms was fab! Also went into the spa and asked whether we could use the indoor pool, this is charged at 20 euros each for the day. At every other 4/5 star hotel I’ve stayed at spa pools have always been included to use very strange that you are charged for this. The buffet restaurant Poseidon was always really busy and chaotic, we’re not fussy eaters at all but even I struggled some days, I didn’t think there was a lot of variety at all.