Mareblue Beach Resort — Hotel in Municipality of Northern Corfu

All the reviews you will read are correct both the good and the bad. You can rarely agree with all the statements /opinions. I am going to go through the bad first. The Bad: The mosquitoes are horrendous, it is really really bad. Please take this from someone who has lived in a country where mosquitoes can literally kill you. I had read the other reviews and bought bug spray with me and it wasn’t enough. Walking around in the daytime you can see how many of the guests have been mauled. If you decide to go to the Mareblue take spray, a plugin machine and cream for when you are bitten. Room aircon doesn’t chase them away at all. The evening entertainment at the pool bar, eating at the Pizzeria and Olives is spoilt by getting eaten alive. This is probably the reason why people hide in the lobby bar in the evenings. The hotel does not provide any deterrents except for a couple of citronella candles in Olives. The hotel blames the local lake for the infestation. It isn’t the lake, they are breeding in the drains which stink and aircons. I know it might be expensive but if they just fumigated the drains and aircons I am sure it would improve the mosquitoes issue. Rooms: We are a family of five, two adults and three children. When we arrived we were put into two rooms as requested however they weren’t adjourning, we were separated by a room. We only realized this when we got down to the room. One of these bathroom floors had been recently cleaned and was ‘underwater’. I had to go back to reception and request a change. After two days in our ‘new’ room the bathroom drain stank so much we had to keep the door closed at all times, we didn’t mind so much as we believed the mosquitoes were coming from the drains. We covered these with towels. They also don’t provide any complimentary shampoo or soap in the room. They do provide a cheap all-in-one hand, shower soap. The rooms are basically serviced by that I mean the beds are made and the towels are changed. The surfaces are not cleaned, the used coffee cups were not replaced and neither were the coffee, sugar sachets or creamers. For the amount you are paying, these are small things that you expect .As mentioned in other reviews the floor around the pool and bar needs a good powerwash, they haven’t been deep cleaned in a long time. The open drain between the bar and the pool really stinks. The bins also get filled quickly because the drinks are served in small plastic cups. I suggest bringing a larger plastic cup with you, the bar staff were happy for us to use them. The Good: The food is generally excellent at all meal times. With a large selection catering to everybody, we always left each meal happy and stuffed. The ice cream by the pool was delicious. The Pizzeria and Olive restaurants. You get a chance to go to both once during your stay but you need to book well in advance. The Pizzeria was excellent but Olives didn’t live up to the hype in other reviews, the only thing going for it was the view. There is an adult (relax) pool, that is quiet and serviced by a small bar if you have had enough of the main pool. Both pools are very clean (salt water chlorinated ) and at a perfect temperature. There are three beaches that we found in walking distance. The best in my opinion was just past the Pyramid bar, it is very small but the water and views are beautiful. There is a larger beach with sun loungers to the left of the hotel. Please bear in mind that if you want beach towels you need to pay a 10 euro deposit in cash per towel. The staff are really friendly and for the most part helpful. In Summary we had a great time, would we ever go back to this resort? NO. The hotel is trying to save money by skimping on small things. Only providing one bottle of water, not replacing the used coffee cups or re-stocking. Not providing bathroom amenities. They could clean the drains and power wash the area around the pool, empty the cigarette bins outside of the buildings. Something else to bear in mind is that the airport transfer is at the very minimum an hour and a...

Just returned from a ten day holiday. The staff here are great, the restaurant manager is very well organised and friendly and accommodated our every need. The chef even supplied a cake for our anniversary! The animation team are very friendly and Ibo, Zak, Mike and John will walk about in the morning down near the pool and make an effort to engage people and invite you to take part in activities such as water polo, darts, volleyball etc with absolutely no pressure. They put a lot of effort into their water aerobics class and it was clear people really enjoyed it and had a fun time with wacky Ibo in the pool. It wasn't really my thing but it was fun to watch. The bar staff are engaging and intuitive and before long will generally have memorised your order. People mention tips... I was not once asked for a tip and wondered if I went to the same resort as them!! I would say, however, that with these people bending over backwards for you for your whole stay, why wouldn't you show appreciation by bunging a tenner in their tip box at some point during the week, they definitely deserve it but would never ask. The guy with a beard at the main bar, who's name I have forgotten, makes a great cappuccino, and will make it to your taste, this is chargeable but for a couple of euros this was great for me as I am a bit of a coffee snob and don't like filter coffee. The all inclusive drinks are plentiful and include a good variety of soft drinks, beer, local red and white, some cocktails and the main spirits, it's true that the branded stuff is chargeable, but this is like most other resorts. We thought the food was amazing for all inclusive and the staff are quick to clear tables and provide coffee at breakfast etc, the food is changed over quickly and the staff are very attentive. Chefs generally don't get much limelight, but they work incredibly hard behind the scenes and the kitchens appear clean. The Olives restaurant and the pizzeria, which you get to book once on your all inclusive are excellent. The staff will engage you in kind, if you walk past them staring at the floor or your phone, you will generally get a friendly hello and they will leave you to it, if you actively engage in conversation they are very friendly and will get to know you and the lady serving ice-cream is always very polite and with a smile on her face. The rooms are of a good standard, We generally only sleep and shower in the room anyway. The cleaners were quick and of a good standard with regular towel changes. The pools are great and cleaned often. Our friends had a premium double room near the bottom pool and this was a lovely standard of accommodation. Mosquitoes... Yes they do exist, especially on a resort near a nature reserve (which is lovely to walk through by the way) but we had a repellant plug in our room which did the trick in there and we also used the strength 4 jungle formula deet spray which did the trick, came home with 3 or 4 bites but not the end of the world. Cheap repellant won't work! The resort really can't do anything more about the mosquitoes, they keep the place clean and it's not like they can put up a magical forcefield. It was not really an issue on our holiday because we took ample precautions. The views over the sea to Albania are stunning and the sunsets are beautiful. There are a few shops and taverners nearby but we didn't really need to use them, you can also rent boats and pedalos nearby and also the hotel gets a discount on car rental if that's your thing. The hotel lays on transport to nearby towns for a low price. Kassiopi nearby is a lovely little harbour village with lots of nick knack shops and eateries. The evening entertainment is good (we really enjoyed the 3 tenors night which was a bit different, three very talented South African men! Either relax in quiet contentment or get involved in everything, the choices is definitely yours! We will definitely return here, as our friends...

Our room was very dated, as in 70s decor, old furniture & questionable wallpaper which was a bit of a shock after entering a very modern and impressive reception area. The room next to us had my mum and step daughter in and their room was much more modern and obviously fairly newly refurbed. The shower was awful and barely attached to the wall. It was rusty and full of limescale and it flooded the bathroom everytime we used it. Safety deposit box didn't work, we were told at reception to follow the instructions, but there weren't any. Not at all sound proof, you could hear people scraping furniture, slamming their doors, foot steps from other apartments and wardrobes slamming. This is one of my biggest bug bears in resorts. People nowadays are not considerate to others and it is not nice having to listen to people above or below you slamming around at all hours, even more so when you have children trying to sleep. This should be something hotels make a priority as far as I'm concerned. We paid for a sea view room, which was a bit of a push in what we were given as directly in front of us was another block of apartments, but we could see the sea to the left, sort of. Beautiful views of Albania from the main walk way down to the pool. Reception area very impressive, which as i said above, made the style of our room an even bigger blow. The grounds are beautiful, very well kept, clean green and luscious, no rubbish anywhere. Free WiFi for guests which worked OK. The pool was absolutely freezing!! I hated it! Wasps are absolutely everywhere all day which is exasperated by sugary drink cups and food plates being left by the pool. Absolute nuisance and 2 out of 5 of our party got stung. There are also mosquitos everywhere as, so we all got absolutely eaten alive. Some activities on during the day. Excellent food, very surprised considering some of the reviews I've seen. Breakfast selection is plentiful, so much choice. Lunch at the pool bar is great, fresh salads, pastas, rice, orzo, pizza, pasta sauces, pork, chicken. Food on our last day however was appalling. We were returning the day before the end of the season, so I assume it was because of that, but it was just not at all pleasant. Dinner excellent, the food is so flavourful and fresh. Desserts a bit sickly for me but again plentiful choice, plus fresh fruit and ice cream. I fail to see how there isn't something for everyone. A bit of a bum fight, but if you take it as it is and queue patiently you can get exactly what you want. I'm not 100% sure which beach is the hotel beach. The one we used was to the left of the back gate and past a mini market and small church. Beautiful white sandy beach with sun beds and umbrellas available to hire for a minimal fee. Pedalos and boat hire is also available. I loved it there and we had some of our best days on that beach. The sea was warmer than the pool at the hotel and it was calm and quieter and just gorgeous. I recommend. We also had a lovely lunch at a place directly opposite the beach (Finakas I think). Entertainment - mehhh. For a resort this big it failed to hit the mark for me. There seems to be only one gentleman running the entertainment, both at the lobby bar and the pool bar where the main "entertainment" appears to take place. I feel for him as he's very good at what he does but is let down by a very mediocre technical set up. The highs were the live band and the Greek night for us. The pool bar is not big enough to cater for the number of guests this hotel can hold and on many occasions we had to hunt down chairs and/or a table to piece together. The Italian restaurant is run from the food court in the pool bar, so tables are utilised for those eating there on some evenings, which makes space even more of a premium. All in all, we really enjoyed our week here. But there are definitely some areas I think could be worked on to improve the overall...