Dessole Blue Star

“Late summer relax”

There are fewer guests in October but weather is still very good especially in southern Crete. Hotel in remote location and not for the party goers although evening entertainment is provided and noisier crowds prefer the smaller, side pool. Main pool is more relaxed and shares the bar with the beac… more

There are fewer guests in October but weather is still very good especially in southern Crete. Hotel in remote location and not for the party goers although evening entertainment is provided and noisier crowds prefer the smaller, side pool. Main pool is more relaxed and shares the bar with the beach. No problems with loungers, especially at the end of the season. Food good but not very varied. Tried one evening at the a'la carte restaurant but not not overwhelmed by the experience. Good choice of excursions but most of them ar day trips due to Ierapetra location and the southernmost tip of the island. Airport transfer also takes a long time. Generally, relaxing holidays in nicely located hotel. Luxury seekers should look elsewhere, but most travellers should be satisfied. Again, I can't choose travel time earlier than 2019 and my trip took place in October 2018.

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“Great stay and beautiful location”

The stay in this hotel was really nice! It was our first time in Dessole Blue Star and we think about return there once again because we really liked it there (we were two people there). Services, location, the hotel itself and the staff was excellent! Of course, there is always something to impr… more

The stay in this hotel was really nice! It was our first time in Dessole Blue Star and we think about return there once again because we really liked it there (we were two people there). Services, location, the hotel itself and the staff was excellent! Of course, there is always something to improve but we haven´t experienced any big troubles to solve. What I don´t understand was a superior room which we paid for some extra money - the room was beautiful and clean but was divided by doors with another room which was very bad because we could hear everything that our neighbors were doing or talking about, so it was a little bit annoying. I would mention also the cleaning-room service which was not always very good - sometimes the maid forgot to give us clean towels and we had to ask for it - so it would be nice from the hotel if it would take bigger care about this :) And the staff! Guys, you were excellent! :) I especially need to mention receptionist Max, the guest relationship manager Jakub - the absolute treasure! and the waiter Leftaris - you were the best, guys :) and also Maria from the bar by the pool, always smiley and kind. The hotel was very beautifully furnished and the surrounding by olive trees and a small mountain made a perfect scenery for walking trips or sightseeing! The closest city Ierapetra is app 5 km far away but the bus stop is located right by the hotel so it was really good. Thank you guys for making our holiday and stay in the hotel so pleasant, see you again once! :) with love, Nikol and Andrea

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“Great holiday!”

We traveled as a couple and booked a last minute deal, thus we did not have high expectations for the room, however we were really lucky as we received a family room with a great sea view. The best part of this hotel was the animation team, as the hotel is 5 km to the nearest town, thus animation… more

We traveled as a couple and booked a last minute deal, thus we did not have high expectations for the room, however we were really lucky as we received a family room with a great sea view. The best part of this hotel was the animation team, as the hotel is 5 km to the nearest town, thus animation is very important. We were really having great time during the whole holiday, recommend taking part in all of the various activities as volleyball, water polo, gymnastics, evening shows, discos and etc. The animation staff also asks personally about your hobbies/likes and adapts accordingly in order to carry out these activities and have fun. So a huge shout out to Nico, Misa and Ula! These guys are the greatest. Other points: *Great location, it is beach front hotel, thus it is a 50 m walk down to the sea. The beach shore is quite rocky, but this is natural for the whole south region and other parts of Crete and you can also buy special shoes for kids and adults for a reasonable 8 euro price (for adults) at their souvenirs market next to the hotel (even these shoes cost around 10 euro back home in Lithuania at large retail stores, thus the prices are very reasonable, the same counts for souvenirs, we went to different local markets and found out that it is not cheaper in local stores). *The sunbeds and umbrellas are free at the pool and on the beach! However, there is not enough sunbeds for every guest, especially when the hotel is fully booked, thus you have to come out early to reserve them by leaving your towels or other personal belongings. I would really recommend the management to solving this issue by providing more sunbeds or monitoring their use as some people come out at 6 in the morning and spend up to 3 hours on these sunbeds during the whole day while other people cannot use them in between, because sometimes you come at the beach or the pool and it is almost empty, however all of the sunbeds and umbrellas are reserved and you cannot use them. *Great pools, clean, 4 separate: one for very small kids, other one for swimming, two other main ones next to the beach, just for cooling down or relaxing. *The package is all inclusive (with local drinks). Food is good, there are two themed evenings (greek and italian) also you can get one free evening reservation at their Olives restaurant with full course meals to try out various of different dishes. I am not a big fun of Ouzo or Rakki, however I found local whiskey and wine quite good, you can also get beer, vodka, rum or have various cocktails mixed with sodas and syrups. *Across the road and next to Blue star hotel, there is Blue Sky hotel (owned by the same people) where you can rent a car and the agency (DriveNow) will bring the car directly to that hotel, tested the provider and everything went perfectly. The only drawback was that I actually found out the car rent location myself on google, the front desk staff was not able to help me with car lease. I understand that the business is seasonal, and new staff is hired each season, however they should be informed about these options by the management (especially when these hotels are owned by the same people). *There is a bust stop next to the hotel, thus it is easy to visit the near by town Ierepetra. However, I would recommend to rent a car, there are lots of places to visit in Crete and the environment is beautiful, with all of these mountains and breathtaking views/ the roads are very good and safe. *The staff is multilingual and most of them are really friendly. Maria from the bar even one evening showed the guests how to dance Sirtaki and I mean real, proper Greek Sirtaki, not that one that we have seen in Lithuania. *The internet is free and works really good at the pool area. Points for improvement: *The fitness room has a bike, which you cannot properly use as it almost broken and there are some weights, thus they could work on that a little bit on expanding and renewing the equipment, because some times there are some crazy people which like to work out during their vacation. In my case I had a knee injury and I had to work out on the bike daily. The drawback was also that I was not allowed to use the bike till the responsible SPA person working hours (from 10 a.m.), even though the fitness room is completely separated from the SPA, I explained the condition to the front desk with no success. *The check out time is 12 o'clock, as our bus had to pick us up at midnight, we asked a late check out, and we were quoted 80 euro (for a check out after 6 p.m.) as we had a family room, however a standard room qoute is 50 euro and we were staying only 2 people in the room, thus it was strange that there was a price difference. The front desk manager Lena disagreed to move us to a different room to have the 50 euro option and did not give us any other other options. So my recommendation is to be more flexible, I understand the higher charge when there are more people in the family room, but paying extra when only 2 people are staying does not make sense, even when we were not allowed to move to any other room for the day even the hotel had lots of availability from 12 till 11 p.m. as most of the guests come from Poland on late night flights. So what we did, we went and booked a room at Blue Sky (the same hotel across the road) for 30 euro till 11 p.m. All in all the vacation was great, I would definitely recommend it to other people, please say hi to Nico, Misa and Ula when you see them ! :)

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