I would like to separately note that the hotel carefully preserves its reputation. Neither in 2013 nor in this year did the quality and cleanliness of the rooms change. Nothing to complain about. All at the highest level. Separately, I want to say that the check-in itself in the room is very fast. We arrived at the hotel at 10:30. We were asked to wait 20 minutes and were seated immediately. We didn't have to wait for check-in or check-out! Although this, perhaps, is largely the merit of our individual guide, who met us at the hotel and himself handed over our documents to the reception while we comfortably settled down on the sofas.
Before that, we already had the experience of getting to know Greece.
We rested on the island of Corfu. But a few were disappointed with the food at the hotel. Despite the fact that we had "all inclusive" there, it was quite problematic to feed the child. There is only HB or FB here, but despite this, our family was satisfied. A small assortment of dishes, but their impeccable quality and taste is what the hotel conquered us with. I would like to say a special thank you to the restaurant staff. Very sensitive and attentive.
In general, it is pleasant to return to places that won our hearts from the first meeting. Often our imagination finishes (embellishes) our memories, and therefore they warm our soul even more. Therefore, when returning, you can not see what is imprinted in our minds. Albatros Hotel even years later gave us a feeling of "dé jà vu". Thank you very much! We will definitely be back again!
Rooms: took Superior Double Room Seaview (overlooking the sea). A room for 9 nights with breakfast and dinner cost 590 euros for two. The room is small but new and very clean. Bathroom, toilet, air conditioning, hair dryer, refrigerator, TV.
There is no minibar, but there are a lot of shops nearby where you can buy everything you need (the Spar supermarket has excellent freshly squeezed juice for 2 rubles 1.5 liters). The room has a huge balcony with a table, chairs and sunbeds. The view is good. At night you can hear the sound of the sea. There are blackout curtains at night, which is very important if you have gone too far at night and need to sleep off in the morning : )
According to numerous reviews, they did not take Standard rooms, they write that the building in which they are located is not the newest and the rooms are not very comfortable.
Food: on the level. Breakfast, lunch, dinner - buffet. Drinks during lunch are paid. Not to say that the food is very diverse, but you can always find something to your liking. In addition, taking dinner at the hotel is not at all necessary, there are a huge number of restaurants in the city where you can have a great dinner for little money.
Staff and service: all top notch. The staff is very attentive.
My acquaintance with him began with correspondence by e-mail when ordering a room, where they answered all my questions in detail and took into account all my wishes for the room and accommodation. If you do not speak English, there are Russian-speaking staff in each shift of the hotel.
SPA, swimming pool, animation: SPA is expensive. In Moscow, you can find + - for the same price and a professional massage therapist. The pools are small. In the central pool, the water is very cool, slightly warmer than the sea. The only good thing is that it chains all foreign tourists of the hotel to its sunbeds, due to which the sea is freer : ) There is almost no animation. In the mornings 30 minutes of aqua and several evenings a week an impromptu show "dances of the peoples of the world".
Bottom line: there are certainly pluses, there are minuses. But, animation and a large hotel area are not the most important thing on a sea holiday. I tried to evaluate objectively, so I noted all the minuses. But the impressions are the most positive.
In terms of price-quality ratio - the highest rating.
And one more piece of advice: if you contact the hotel directly, the room will cost less than on booking. com.
Before choosing a hotel, I studied all the hotel reviews for a very long time. Crete in Hersonissos, so I decided to write briefly for future tourists of this hotel myself. Why Hersonissos? ! Because the city is located not far from the airport, party places and local attractions : )
The travel agency sold us a tour to a 4 * hotel, on some sites it is listed as 3 *. But in fact it turns out to be 5 * and is called Albatros Spa & Resort.
It takes 40 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel, including all arrivals at other hotels.
The hotel is great! Consists of three buildings, two of which are new. We asked for a room in the new build (new tower) in advance in Moscow. Which is exactly what we got.
The rooms are large with large balconies with chairs and a table for a wonderful time, there is a clothes dryer. The rooms have everything you need to relax. I especially note the hair dryer, free safe and refrigerator. There are two small swimming pools on site.
The service at the hotel is amazing! The staff is polite and pleasant.
The hotel operates on the HB system (breakfast and dinner). Continental breakfasts are delicious and varied (cereals, yoghurts, sausage, cheese, fruits, sausages, scrambled eggs with bacon, pancakes, cakes). Tea-coffee-juices-milk for breakfast for free. Coffee is poured by the waiters, while saying “Kalimera! " ("Good morning").
Dinners are very good tasty and high quality. There are sweet cakes, meat, fish, Greek salad, fruit, pizza, pasta, fries, rice, grill, ice cream, all free and always replenished. At dinner, all drinks are paid.
The sea is next to the hotel, the beach is sandy. But the entrance to the sea right in front of the hotel is not very good, a lot of boulders. It’s worth moving a little to the left, that’s where the entrance is what you need! Umbrellas-chaise lounges for a fee. It didn't bother us to lie on towels : )
Near the hotel there are many different shops, souvenirs and products, ATV/motorbike/car rental, many taverns.
Supermarkets sell everything you need. For example, from 2.5 euros wine; )
The hotel is within walking distance to the party street of Hersonissos. Young people hang out all night, moving from one club to another. We liked the club for Russians "Tiger" the most. The hotel has an ideal location for those who are looking for evening fun and at the same time are not ready to fully plunge into the bustling life of the young! Although the streets are always noisy, day and night, because everyone rides bikes. By the way, the fine for those who do not ride in a helmet is 300 euros.
We rented a car for 4 days, a quad bike for 2 days and a motorbike for 1 day. We ourselves went to the cave of Zeus, Malia, Knossos Palace, Ierapetra, Heraklion, Crete Aquarium, Bali village, Aquapark, Agios Nicholas. In Crete, many rent cars and travel around the island according to the guidebook. We bought the guide in Moscow, but here are the detailed maps of Fr.
Crete can be taken for free at the hotel reception, or from those from whom you rent a car. You can park your car anywhere, we left right under the windows of our room. Car rental from 35 euros / day, motobike / quad bike 25 euros / day. The more days you take, the better. Tip: before renting a vehicle, go through several companies and find out the price. In principle, they are not very different, but for those who care about it, it will come in handy.
Excursions from a tour operator are expensive. For example, the Palace of Knossos costs 40 euros per person. And we went on a day off on Sunday, and the entrance was free. It turns out that they spent only on gasoline. For those who do not have the opportunity to rent a car, then at the bus station in Heraklion you can buy tickets to all directions of the island. And in general it is convenient to plan your vacation yourself and not depend on anyone!
We called up with relatives through a payphone. There are payphones on every corner. Communication is very cheap.
At the bottom of the hotel, in the supermarket, we bought a payphone card called "Dynamite" for 5 euros 2000 minutes. During the rest, we talked a little more than a thousand minutes ...: ) How to call is written on the back of the card.
As a gift, of course, olive oil was brought to relatives (in a tin, which is very convenient to carry in a suitcase), olives, soap, etc.
In taverns you can always eat tasty and inexpensive. The advice “take one serving for two” was very useful to us! Portions are big! For lunch for two, we got from 17 to 30 euros, along with cocktails / beer / wine. The traditional Greek dish "Moussaka" costs from 6 to 8 euros in taverns. Grape snails 12 euros large portion. In taverns, while waiting for an order, they serve either grapes, or nuts, or crackers (which are put in a Greek salad), and after a meal they can bring ouzo : )
The Cretan people are measured, friendly, smiling and treat the Russian people well.
The island of Crete has very beautiful landscapes, especially in the mountains, it takes your breath away!
I note that all the reviews about this hotel turned out to be true.
Would love to come back to Crete again! I liked absolutely everything!
The hotel has a small but cozy territory, 2 pools, although both are small, a large restaurant, friendly waiters (one knows Russian a little). No one else knows Russian except her, so get ready to practice your English : ) At the reception they were friendly, sympathized that we missed our dinner due to a late arrival (sorry, I really wanted to eat : ), and gave a voucher for one lunch, which we took on the day of departure (we had half board - breakfast-dinner).
Meals: breakfasts are monotonous, every day the same thing - fried eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, potatoes, sausages, sausages, cheeses, pancakes, vegetables, tea, coffee (instant), juices, yogurts, muesli. It seems that the assortment is not bad, but after 3 days I got tired : ) But the dinners pleased us, we went to them with interest, but what about today? Great choice, every day something different, and very tasty. True, drinks are paid: for example - tea - 3.5 euros (damn, packaged! ), fresh orange - 3.5 euros (well, very tasty, sweet-sweet), Greek coffee - 3.5, wine was not ordered - they drank in the room own, bought in a supermarket.
Vacationers are mostly elderly foreigners, there are very few of us.
Cleaning in the room, in principle, is not bad, but still 1 euro left by us every other day significantly improved the quality : ))) The room has a free safe, a small refrigerator, air conditioning, TV (only 2 Russian channels - ort-international and rtr- planet) The disadvantages include the fact that the double bed consists of two single beds, tiles on the floor, and their legs are wooden, because the beds were constantly moving apart and we seemed to sleep separately from each other : (
There is no beach of its own, as in all other hotels, sunbed + umbrella 4.5 euros per person. But we bought a towel for 3 euros, and lay on it (by the way, beach towels can be taken at the reception - a deposit of 5 euros, and changed at least every day, but we found out about it already at the end of our stay there) The sea is very clean, emerald, but much saltier than Chernoye, dived only with goggles. Go to it for 2 minutes, but it is better to turn and go a little to the left. immediately there are stones in the water, and there are sea urchins on them, and a little further the bottom is sandy, you can see everything.
I think that the location of the hotel is very good. to a hectic life, and this is the embankment and the main street with a large supermarket and a bunch of shops, go very close. There you will find bars, restaurants, discos, shops, souvenirs, etc. etc. And sleep is very quiet, nothing interferes, which is what I wanted : )
There is no animation at the hotel, but there is aqua aerobics (in English, of course: ) Twice a week they have themed evenings - Brazilian and Greek dances (at least there were such in our week). We watched them from the balcony of our room, sipping delicious Cretan wine. . .
It turned out to be a long review, but it seems to have described everything.
I want more in Crete! I advise everyone.