Phaea Blue, a member of SLH | Elounda, Crete — Hotel in Municipality of Agios Nikolaos

Blue Palace Resort and Spa, Elounda

Well, let’s start by introducing myself and the trip. My wife and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We travel overseas about once a year with additional trips to a sun destination most winters. I also travel frequently for work. On average I do about 40 business trips a year that involve air travel. I consider us fairly well traveled having visited over 50 countries.

Past trips to this area of Europe have included Turkey, Greece and Italy. While we have been to a number of the Greek islands, we had not previously been to Crete.

The sole purpose of the trip was a vacation and time to relax. Our plan was to use the Blue Palace as a base. We spent 5 nights at the Blue Palace.

Drove to the Elounda where our hotel was. (Actually, the hotel is a short distance past Elounda near Plaka.) Greeted very promptly on arrival by the bellman and was given all the help we needed with our luggage. Valet parking was efficient and whenever we requested our care it was promptly brought to us. Walked to the front desk. Was immediately identified by the desk person as Starwood Platinum. The person checking us in excused herself and picked up the phone and called someone. The hotel director came out and personally welcomed us and wanted to ensure us that he and his staff were there to ensure our stay exceed expectations. Very efficient, warm and friendly check in process.

We booked the room on points for 5 nights. I never expect more than what I book. That way upgrades are a bonus. Being late June, I wasn’t expecting an upgrade (although privately hopeful for a room with a pool). We were walked to our room and had been upgraded to a suite on 1 level with a pool. Very lovely bedroom and living room. Separate shower and Jacuzzi tub. Appreciated. The room was spotless. There was a bottle of raki and a fruit plate to welcome us with a card form the hotel thanking us for choosing the property. The room was tastefully furnished and plain. (I mean this in a positive way.) I have read mixed comments on the private pools. Ours was not heated and could be seen clearly from the adjacent room. This being said, we thought it was a great addition to our stay. Very refreshing way to start and end the day. For us being unheated was fine. If paying, I recommend the pool, but that is a personal choice. It certainly added to our stay.

Each day we had breakfast on our deck overlooking Spinalonga Island. We enjoyed picking up some fruit and yogurt and had this on our deck that was for us. Ordered coffee which was promptly delivered with a choice of hot milk, milk to cream. We like lots of coffee, so day 2 and for the balance of the stay a larger thermos was provided. We never had breakfast in the hotel; however did check out the buffet. Looked like a good buffet; however we always prefer al a carte and would never chose a buffet. Plus, the room was a great place for breakfast. Did get up early one day, my wife slept in, the coffee bar wasn’t open yet. Went to the restaurant and asked for a coffee to go. Was given one and told it was no charge. Nice gesture.

One day our toilet backed up. Called for assistance. Someone arrived promptly and fixed the problem. So no concern.

There is an internet station by the front desk. As platinum, they gave me a code so it was complimentary. However for most there was a charge. Note, there is complimentary internet a short walk away in a secondary lobby that has a reading and sort of business area. So not sure why one would be free and the other be charged for!

Front desk staff were excellent and welcoming whenever we walked by. There to help without being over the top. Chatted a few times with the front desk manager. She was great help. Had the ability to combine a professional approach with being personable I took the time to drop off a note thanking her for the positive guest experience received before we left. She thanked us for taking the time to share our experience with a kind note and a local cook book. Seemed really interested in my thoughts on service etc.

The property never felt busy. I think this was by design. While upscale in service and quality, I would describe the experience as casual elegance rather than formal. Have stayed at a number of hotels that are fancier/more formal such as various The Danali in Venice and The St Regis in Rome. If you are looking for that type of experience, this place may disappoint. However each has its place. The Blue Palace is relaxed and casual in a warm and caring way. We love the St Regis in Rome and the St Regis in Florence; however this is a different type of experience and one we certainly enjoyed and will repeat.

We saw some young families enjoying the large common pool by the beach. The pool was never crowded and was warm. Not sure if it was heated or not though. For families, have to know what to expect. Was not really a busy family place, although the families we spoke to enjoyed the quiet setting. Never saw many teenagers.

One disappointment at the hotel was our meal at the Blue Door an onsite Greek Taverna. Awesome location and setting on the beach front. This is an old stone fisherman's house with lots of lanterns, white and blue tablecloths, and bright blue chairs. The food was excellent; however the service was rushed and while technically fine, it was not warm. My perspective, this should be a slow pace to eat. So if I was there again, I would order each course after one was completed. While our experience may not be representative of the norm, we would bypass this for local tavernas such as Ferryman's. Worth walking by to see the setting though as this was very good and full of possibilities! Price was higher than in town but not unlike what I would expect at the hotel. Some evenings we had a drink by the pool by the lobby. I think this is the Arsenali Bar, but not sure. Anyway, this was great relaxing setting that we enjoyed a couple of times before going out for dinner.

Never saw anyone swimming in this pool in the evening. Was used a bit during the day. Had sun beds, but as a pool to relax by or sun bath, recommend the beach. The hotel had a private pebble beach that was about 300 feet long. Lots of wooden walk ways to get around, so the pebbles weren’t a problem. We had planned to travel more of the island that we did; however time on the beach was relaxing and a great way to unwind for the beginning our 3 week vacation. Great service on the beach. Ordered wine and snacks on a number of occasions serve was friendly and fast. Also well priced for a hotel. Would strongly recommend time on the beach. Ski boats offered trips to Spinalongia however cheaper to make the shot walk to Plaka for the trip. Also could take diving lessons or water ski etc. from the beach. Swimming was good; however not the fish and marine life we often see in other parts of the Mediterranean, Caribbean or parts of Hawaii. There are sea urchins not far off shore, so watch for these and wear water shoes. Was a breeze most of the time on the beach. From our perspective, this was a plus. Could swim off a small floating dock that was not used by boats.

Overall, a wonderful experience. Would highly recommend this property for its ambience, setting, service and most of all for the people that work there. Casual, warm caring and focused on providing a positive experience that exceed expectations. Not a formal property. Know what you are going to and enjoy all it has to offer.

I guess a good way to end our review is to say, we are booked at the property for 10 days in...

To start, I must say we rarely visit anywhere more than once, so many places in the world to see and visit, however we had a lovely stay here 6 years ago and thought we’d give it another go for a weeks stay under its re-branding.||Prices have risen significantly since our last visit but we were offered a “returners” discount for our seaview “bungalow” which softened the blow a little. We booked our taxi transfers through Herakliotaxi dot com which I highly recommend, on time, clean cars and €150 return.||We were allocated the same room as last time which had experienced a little re-furb though nothing significant but the raffia type doors on the cupboards had some light staining on the door and were worn in areas. The air-conditioning worked very well, great quality linens and very comfy bed and pillows. The fridge is now bigger and had room to store any of your own purchases like wine or soft drinks from the supermarket in Plaka. A more powerful hairdryer would be appreciated and like an earlier reviewer mentioned there’s no real area to do hair and make up other than standing at the bathroom mirror. We only had one proper bedside table (with drawers) and only one side of the bed had a USB socket, a minor gripe but not really what you’d expect at this price point. Another irritation was the gap below the shower screen means water floods into the adjacent toilet cubicle unless you block it with a towel, it’s slow to clear down the toilet drain and takes ages for the floor to dry however the rooms were kept spotless by the twice daily visits by the friendly housekeepers and the gardens/grounds were well looked after. ||We still had a nice view across the bay towards Plaka 5-10 minutes walk away but like many reviews have stated there IS ongoing building development across at the other part of the Blue Palace which is VERY audible at times if you’re sitting outside on your terrace. Being honest it didn’t affect us too much as we couldn’t hear it inside the room, we were out of the room most of the day after breakfast and it had finished by the time we returned late afternoon but I’d have been pretty annoyed if I’d booked one the pool rooms below us expecting to spend my days quietly around it! I suspect the building works will carry on for the rest of the season as it’s due to re-open next year.||Beach – we spent a lot of time at the very breezy beach, yes it’s very stony and shelves steeply into the sea but there are a couple of pontoons for entry into the sea to swim. The sun shades could do with being a bit bigger as it’s nigh on impossible for both sunbeds to be under the shade completely but the beach was very quiet first week in June so you can easily just use another sunbed and shade each. The loungers are well spaced out on a wooden platform so a decent distance between you and your neighbours. It will be interesting to see how the sunbeds and shades are allocated or the beach split when the larger Blue Palace re-opens, hopefully there will still be enough sunbeds for all Phaea guests without having to get up at silly o’clock to reserve them! You are well looked after by Illas and Vassos (apologies if spelling incorrect) for drinks, food and towels and there is a bar and small shaded seating area for food at the back of the beach (with toilets behind) if you don’t want to eat at your lounger. Selection of beach food isn’t huge, mainly salads but the club gyros pita is delicious and easily serves 2 as does the trio of burgers! We didn’t use the pool area but did note there wasn’t much shade around it and there isn’t a shallow end/children’s pool. On this point I wouldn’t really recommend this hotel to families with small children; although high chairs are supplied and children’s menus available, the beach is not child friendly, it’s a very hilly layout to push a stroller/buggy and the playground is in full sun most of the day. ||Food – There was a big improvement in both the quality of food and service from our last visit, breakfast was a small buffet with delicious local pastries, breads and fruits and cooked to order items served til 11am. There is no full English on the menu but we tried a large selection, (omelettes, roasted tomatoes with eggs and feta, pancakes, eggs benny, local avocado) and all were delicious served by the lovely Maria and her friendly team. We ate dinner once at Anthos (the lamb was fabulous but with the potatoes and veg it would easily serve 3/4, not the 2 as stated!) and once at the Blue Door which was also delicious with great service - the lady (who I think was in charge) remembered us from our last visit! Yes the prices are a bit higher than you’d pay in Plaka 10 minutes walk away or Elounda ( about an hour’s walk or approx €10 in a taxi) but the food is lovely, portion sizes generous and menus and prices are all on the app (which is set up for you on your phone when you arrive) or you can request them to be emailed to you beforehand so you make your choice. Speaking of the app, it was really useful to order a golf buggy through it to take us down/back up the steep hill to the beach or to pick us up from the main road to take us back to our room after dinner in Plaka - never had to wait more than a minute or 2. ||To conclude although there were some minor irritations we still had a great stay, made all the better for the excellent service from all the...

Booked an Island Luxury Suite Sea View Private Heated Pool for 4 people and a Deluxe Suite Sea View Private Pool for 2 people.

The private pool was NOT heated, as advertised plainly on the site.

When booking, site says this particular room can sleep 4; however, be aware, the extra beds added are not comfortable. Site should have been explicit in stating the additional beds would be cots, we would have otherwise made a two bedroom booking instead. Even if the cots were better, I would be fine. However, in actual fact, they are worse than a hospital cot, one of them was slanted even.

Asked for an iron and board, took about 30 mins; when arrived it was broken (leaked water) and permanently attached to the ironing board so couldn't use properly. Had to ask for another one, but took so long that I had to leave to start my day without ironing my clothes.

The enhanced breakfast offerings as part of booking this type of room is mediocre at best; only one item, the greek pancake was cheese was good (probably because of all the honey), the rest of the special order items are not worth it, just stick with the regular buffet selection. Not worth booking this type of room for the enhanced breakfast.

The sheets were not changed during our whole time there; not sure why. Even if a guest does not request for sheets to be changed, the standard is/should be that the sheets get changed after 2 nights, but that did not happen. We stayed three nights.

I received the most egregious attitude from the beach staff. Having never visited the beach before, we didn't know where to go/how to check in or reserve a beach chair. We passed by the entrance beach staff with no acknowledgement. That's fine, no big deal. I understood that we had access to The Haven section, so headed that way. Saw that there were some private cabanas in the back and sat down. Staff finally came around and asked our room number. I admit, by my mistake, I didn't realize that we didn't have access to these cabanas as they are only for the private villas. That's fine, I would happily move, however, the attitude with which I was asked to move was unacceptable. The tone was "you don't deserve to be here", whereas it should have been a clarification/kind explanation that this section was reserved for villas patrons. Instead, we got "if you want to use this section, you have to pay".

The Haven section also advertises: where personalized Cretan baskets of complimentary goodies are delivered, such as fresh towels, the latest magazines or aromatherapy spritzes. Spent about roughly 2 hours on the beach, did not see any of these "benefits/goodies" during our time there. Again, an enhanced feature for booking this room type that wasn't met.

Went for a massage and selected the Indian Head Massage. Weakest massage ever, basically pinched at neck and rub/patted my head, didn't seem like the person was actually qualified massage therapist as later I noticed he gave a tour of the facility to a guest. At these prices, I expect all treatments to be performed by trained massage therapists.

The daily housekeeping needs to be improved, details are not taken into consideration, which is unacceptable for this SPG level.

Upon arrival, we discovered that the bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash weren't new/half empty. UNACCEPTABLE! As a newly arrived guest, upon seeing this you are left with an awful feeling that you are using USED toiletries.

We had two rooms booked, I had very clearly defined online in my SPG account which guest name was associated with each room. A few weeks before, a reservation agent had email to confirm as well. At check in, again, we had confirmed who was staying in which room. However, upon going to the room, still managed to get the rooms confused. As the traveller with the enhanced SPG account, the room I was actually staying in had a regular welcome gift, while the other room got a huge platter of fruit, which I expect should have actually been in my room.

Some Positives

the driver that picked us up from the airport and took us on a private tour of Crete was FANTASTIC. Super patient with our questions, professional, gave insights of sights whenever possible, offered water all day, drove fantastically and safely. Booked through hotel, recommend!

The concierge that checked us in was great; recommended dining at our late hour or arrival; drove a cart for the elder members to the restaurant.

The best food was at ISOLA, the Italian beach dining. Do not miss it, the restaurant manager and his staff member that served us two days in a row was accommodating, professional and always had a smile on their face.

The Bell Hops were fantastic. Admittedly, we had a lot of luggage. They showed up on time and quickly whenever we asked for help. Loaded our bags efficiently and gently when we arrived and when we departed. Kudos...