Sol Marina Beach Crete

“Wonderful holiday!”

A fantastic week at Sol Melia Marina Beach, we travelled together with four families of 4. Before we arrived I emailed the hotel with queries and requests and they were very quick to respond and really helpful. All the staff in resort were really friendly, happy and helpful. The animation team we… more

A fantastic week at Sol Melia Marina Beach, we travelled together with four families of 4. Before we arrived I emailed the hotel with queries and requests and they were very quick to respond and really helpful. All the staff in resort were really friendly, happy and helpful. The animation team were brilliant, special mention to Chicken man George and John Unga Bunga, lots of enthusiasm and energy and fun activities and mini disco! Hotel was very clean and plenty of pools to choose from, only negative was the temperature of the pools in October. If there was to be an improvement it would only be to heat the indoor pool. Food was delicious and plenty to choose from, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Drinks were good too, plenty of cocktails to choose from! Thanks for a fabulous week, location was great being so close to the beach. The kids loved the waves and lovely soft sandy beach.

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“Great hotel, with lots to do!”

We were a party of 16; 4 families with children aged 6-12. The hotel and its entertainment were perfect for our group, everyday there was something to do which suited all the children and adults alike. Big thanks to George aka ‘chicken man’ and John for all their games throughout the week, our kids… more

We were a party of 16; 4 families with children aged 6-12. The hotel and its entertainment were perfect for our group, everyday there was something to do which suited all the children and adults alike. Big thanks to George aka ‘chicken man’ and John for all their games throughout the week, our kids thought they were both great! The food was lovely, nice restaurant area, always plenty available. The beach was so close, literally 1min walk from the hotel. The waves in the sea were a big hit with our children! The only down side would be the cold indoor pool. Having this heated would make this hotel even better! Thanks for a great stay!

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“Lovely resort made better by the kids' entertainment ”

Lovely stay at a lovely resort, amazing kids entertainment and a well appointed hotel Kids activities Lots for the kids to do, George and John were amazing entertainers and engaged with the children (and adults) all day and every day, their enthusiasm was infectious,their humour was superb and the… more

Lovely stay at a lovely resort, amazing kids entertainment and a well appointed hotel Kids activities Lots for the kids to do, George and John were amazing entertainers and engaged with the children (and adults) all day and every day, their enthusiasm was infectious,their humour was superb and their ability to command several languages instantly was awes-inspiring. Loved the water sport activities which are a one minute walk away at the beach, reasonably priced and well run. The beach waves were fantastic fun and the calmer alcove next door was lovely to swim and snorkel in Food and beverage The restaurant was excellent all seven days, and the pool side bar was very well stacked with Gyros, Pizza, chips, nuggets and fish fingers! Staff - lots of friendly staff from bar waiters to entertainers, beach staff and reception staff. They couldn't do enough for you and made our stay memorable in everyday. Towels- refreshed towels every day or so! The only downside was the unheated pools - this would have made this holiday even more perfect

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“First class for younger kids and great food, but some service issues”

There were some surprisingly good things about this hotel and equally some disappointing parts. Resort - We went there from Oct 22-27th and though it was 22 degrees every day with the wind it could feel chilly. The beach was not the prettiest but our kids loved it, the hotel had its own part and fe… more

There were some surprisingly good things about this hotel and equally some disappointing parts. Resort - We went there from Oct 22-27th and though it was 22 degrees every day with the wind it could feel chilly. The beach was not the prettiest but our kids loved it, the hotel had its own part and felt quite connected to the hotel. There were two parts this hotel excels in, first its the kids offerings, (though we could only rate this for younger kids), kids club was excellent, thank you Laura and Raf (chicken man!), and the evening discos were great in their amphitheatre. We went to bed after this so can’t comment on the later entertainment but I would imagine it was good. Our kids really had a great time. The hotel feels very middle of the road and my first impression weren’t good, reception staff were quite sharp and not massively customer friendly. Facilities are ok, the gym is passable although not that well equipped. The snack bar is very average and the drinks are self use and all unbranded fizzy drinks. Pools are good albeit nothing amazing and kids pool area is nice but very much for young kids. There is an indoor pool that they don’t heat which was odd. We had a bungalow and it was very basic, no mini bar and more space than furniture, it had an entrance area that was about a third of the room and a total waste of space - very bizarre. The other part this hotel is great at is the food. It takes you by surprise as the buffet is manic, busy and not well managed but the quality of the actual food is better than some more expensive hotels we’ve stayed at. The food and the kids offerings are paramount to us and due to this I would give the hotel top ratings in relation to its price but we had two instances where the reception staff/management weren’t great, which was disappointing. Our son had an accident and wet the bed one night, we asked for new sheets (and said not to worry we’d remake the bed ourselves), and it took 45 minutes to turn up with the sheets. Then on our last day our bathroom flooded due to some drain issue, and I had to phone reception twice to get an engineer to turn up and agin this took about 30 minutes, which left us to try and stop water from getting to our belongings for what seemed an eternity. Then we didn’t even get an apology.

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