Stella Island Resort & Spa (Adults Only) — Hotel in Municipality of Chersonissos

When we arrived at Stella we received a very warm welcome and the lady checking us in was lovely and we had a really good experience, this obviously set a standard that this would be the level of service throughout. Sadly it wasnt. We were taken by golf cart to our room, the room which was a luxury swim up was nice, the bathroom area was very basic and the window in the toilet was broken you couldn't close it (this made a difference as 100 meters behind our room was a huge kids water park so you could constantly hear screaming kids in the bedroom even though we chose this resort due to it being adults only) Being all inclusive they offer you one time in each of there 5 restaurants, but you can only book on arrival and the 1st 2 nights all the restaurants were fully booked so they force you into buffet. if you want any privacy forget it, those who dont have swim ups make use of the pool beds which face directly into your private terrace, the pools are full of blow up lilos which brings it from luxury hotel to a 3 star, sometimes we could barely get into the pool with the amount of people floating around on them. To get a drink from the bar most days we were waiting 30 minutes for a cocktail which is pre mixed already and has trace amounts of alcohol, all the cocktails tastes the same and were basically juice with a slither or actual alcohol. Many couples complained about the watered down drinks and how long it took to get one. One barman per section is ridiculous. And never have i been to a luxury resort that serves a cosmopolitan in a Prosecco glass! On day 3 of our stay we received new neighbors in the room next to us, 3 men aged early 20’s they were local boys and seemed to know some of the other staff working there. They invited another 4 men to there room for the day so they ended up being 7 men on a small terrace which is only ideal for 2 people. They were drinking smoking shisha, watching loud football on there phones, then they proceeded to all get into the pool and started lining up rubber rings ontop of each other and proceeded to jump through them one by one each time drenching us on our Terrace, after hours of this behavior we called the reception to ask someone to come and ask them to stop, the reception were really rude and said in not so many words that they arent bothering anyone and there aren’t jumping in the pool basically saying we were lying. Fortunately we took a video of them jumping and when we told them we had a video then they changed there story and said they will send security. Because they then were told to stop they started trying to intimidate us so we ended up having to go inside our room, however we then found some of them trying to look through our curtains at us getting changed! I went to the reception to speak to the manager and was promised that a manager would come to speak to us to which they never did. We were told that they are allowed as many people in the room as they like so basically having a luxury swim up room comes with the risk of having large groups taking over your private terrace area. Its so called luxury resort but they allow people swimming topless, people smoking weed, people in skimpy swim wear into the restaurants even though apparently there is a dress code. On our last day i called the reception to ask for the bell boy to help us with our luggage as they did on arrival i was told yes absolutely he will be at your door in a few minutes, 20 minutes later i called reception again and she said they same thing that he will be there in a minute. Another 10 mins passed and no one came. Our taxi driver was waiting for us at reception so we ended up having to lug our luggage up the hill in scorching heat only to half way be passed by the boy who was meant to pick up and but he kept driving and didn't stop. They market this resort in a way where you think your expectations will be met but in reality they market it this way so they can put a huge price tag to stay here bit once your here you realize that it’s mediocre. if you want luxury go to...

Both myself & my wife stayed at Stella Island for our 10th Wedding Anniversary, we stayed in one of the private villas with pool rooms which for the most part was a great choice.

The area benefitted from all-day long sunshine so having the 2 loungers & shaded seating area was a lovely touch and after seeing how sunbeds around the rest of the complex where either reserved from first thing or being used, we felt quite relieved we didn’t need to be involved in any nonsense in trying to get our beds each day!

One thing that did irk us a little was the maintenance guys seems to just wander in through the back of the private area when you were outside, not good given the accommodation was supposed to be private! The maids were very courteous and knocked a few times to see if it was convenient them doing their room services each day, I would have expected that maintenance could do something as non-intrusive when they wanted to go about their business too.

Certain things in the room just fell a little short too, the sink had quite a lot of soap scum around the drainage area & we also had an electric blind over the ceiling of the bath that was supposed to be opened to let light in – which didn’t work. There was a shaving mirror that needed replacement batteries for the light to work... just lots of little things that you’d expect a 5* resort to check & double-check prior to guests staying, it just took the gloss off things. The minibar in the room was also a let down, having 2 cans of local beer & a handful of fizzy drinks felt a bit sub-standard each day, we’ve stayed in far less grand places that offer a much more thoughtful daily refill, a lot of the emphasis on these villas is for you to spend time in them so the lack of drink options within kinda left you feeling a bit short-changed.

We stayed on an all-inclusive basis too but felt a little disappointed with the way the drinks were served at the various bars – the emphasis on our stay was to make the most of our private facilities (which is what we paid to do!) yet every time we went to the bar for drinks it was geared for table service, so you had to sit at a table for 15 minutes and wait for the drinks before going back to your room, it just felt odd. It felt like you had to plan to be away for 15 minutes at a time to get them. We did use the room service a few times when ordering lunch and the option to order drinks through that is possible, but at €8 per tray cost it isn’t really a feasible option to continually order drinks through the day, especially as waiting times were around the 45 minute mark

The ‘main’ evening entertainment was rather flat too, each night had a different theme although essentially it was the same performance set to different music. It felt dated and for the price tag you’d expect something higher end than what was on offer. The additional musicians that frequent the other parts of the complex are more in keeping with the resort, they just seem a bit scattered!

The biggest highlight was the food, we ate in 3 of the 5 restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed them all – equally the buffet restaurant was top notch too, the staff in all these (infact ALL the staff across the resort) couldn’t do enough to help you, we felt looked after each time we dined in them.

The final thing to comment on is the way the hotel pushes you to use the app – everything from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave is geared around it... even checking yourself in when you arrive! Obviously not a problem for us but if you’re not too tech savvy then there are certain things you may struggle with. Booking the A La Carte restaurants for example was finicky, it just didn’t have that 5* gloss that you’d expect.

All in all, we’d give it a 7/10... there’s some nice touches, some lovely food and a (kinda-ish) private villa room with pool isn’t to be sniffed at, just scratch away a bit at the glossy surface and it doesn’t feel as luxurious as you’d come to expect...

Stayed at Stella Island for our honeymoon. The entire resort is stunning, the pools and restaurants are all very gorgeous. I can’t fault that. But that’s where my great experience ends.

We decided as we arrived to change our stay to the all-inclusive option, big mistake. Do NOT do the all inclusive option. It felt like a huge waste of money as the food was average, and every single alcoholic was watered down badly and overly sweet. Basically all cocktails are premixed too with their watered down alcohol, there is nothing special or “expensive” about it. We eventually had to order shots just to feel something, but shots were very small, and also very watered down. I want to preface, we are not trying to get obliterated drunk, but when you order a margarita at an expensive 5 star resort, you expect a margarita with tequila, not sugar water. We heard multiple other couples complaining about this also. It is bizarre, we have stayed at plenty of other all inclusive resorts, and we sort of expected it in places like Mexico, which we actually had a better experience at, but not here. You pay a lot of money, but for what? For the venue to cheap out on you, it feels very much like a money grab. We went to some of the events in the evening and most of the bar staff seemed drunk, I wonder if they had the real deal, I also wondered how they got home safely…

Speaking of these events, while they were nice to have, they were not great. Almost every night was awkward, all of the entertainers tried hard and seemed lovely, but they were dressed in cheap SHEIN garb and culturally appropriated durags for when they performed to rap music etc etc. Some of the singers honestly were just not good. It all felt cheap. There was other entertainment like a sax player which was great.

Now to the food, very average. Not much else to say, the buffet sometimes was just straight up bad. Our favourite was the Italian restaurant, although the service was up and down, sometimes we did or didn’t receive the focaccia for example.

The location is in the middle of nowhere. So if you’re coming all the way to Greece to not really be able to go to anywhere decent quickly, don’t bother. And what not many people talk about is while this venue is adults only, it is directly next to a family resort, if you stay on the left side of the resort (where the hot tubs / beach views are) you can often hear the screaming cries of children, it’s not that relaxing.

The rooms were nice, but not nice enough to warrant the price. The bathrooms, especially toilets are poorly designed, your toilet room and window often faces another guests toilet room, and you can hear everything…. Yep everything… We were awoken twice by two totally different sets of guests using their toilets.

We were informed that your check out day included all-inclusive, that was a nice touch. No restaurants though, even on your arrival, despite them actually having plenty of availability. Felt like another money grab… But another nice touch was the ability to be able to shower before your departure if you checked out late, I thought that was a great addition. And then I went into the room, it was disgusting. There was one tiny and absolutely soaked bath mat. The showers were rusty and had no ventilation for the steam, so it was extremely warm there. I felt like I needed a shower after my shower.

The staff were all very lovely, we even generously tipped some staff for their service. But on some of the busier nights like the white party, some staff just straight up would ignore you. Again, the the venue itself is gorgeous, I really mean it, but other than that, it never felt truly 5 Star. It felt like a 3 star resort with a pretty outdoor area pretending to be 5 Star. I can’t recommend Stella Island at all.

Tip: If you are going to stay, and in peak season don’t stay Friday-Sunday, it is too busy. Every pool chair etc is taken. Monday night, the white party is the best, then get...