Chilling in Crete
October 2018
So we've just arrived back this week from Greece's largest of Island's, Crete and what a lovely week we had. The days leading up to our holiday we was unsure if we had made the right decision to choose Crete for our October holiday as the weather forecast was looking awful... but with a little hope and our fingers crossed the rain stayed away! A few cloudy days but also plenty of sun and the tan was well and truly topped up!
We booked our flights for the 15th - 21st October with Ryanair using Skyscanner for £543 for the 4 of us flying from London Stansted. We had early flights going out at 6.40 which was great as it meant we arrived by midday. We flew into Chania airport, North of the Island, a small airport which was easy to get through and within minutes we had found our transfer taxi driver. We booked our private transfer with SkyTransfers which only cost £72 for a return trip 40 minutes down the road in Malame, a quiet part of Platanias.
We wanted a relaxing holiday where the boys would be happy playing together and the water slides and freshwater pools were what tempted us to book Louis Creta Princess Hotel.
This 4* All Inclusive hotel was a secluded little bit of luxury. The gardens were amazingly looked after and the palm trees which surrounded the pools were just stunning. The pool areas were immaculately clean as were the toilets and restaurant areas. The Staff really do go out of their way to make sure everything is spot on. The pool areas consisted of 5 water slides, 2 splash parks for younger children (although my 10 and 11 year old still enjoyed playing in these!) and 1 main pool.
There were always plenty of sunbeds available but we did find people reserved them with towels each morning at the crack of dawn so we were quick to do the same to get the sunbeds close to the pool and the bar!
The beach was a mix of stones, pebbles and sand but it was a nice quiet relaxing stretch to go and have a walk or listen to the waves lapping the shore. And yes they really were lapping the shore...unfortunately that was our one and only downfall.The sea was so rough. My husband had a dip in and said it was warmer than the pools but you had to be a confident swimmer to ride the waves. I decided to just watch from a distance from one of the sunbeds!
The hotel has a main buffet restaurant which hold themed nights every night and for an all inclusive, the variety and choice was fantastic. We especially loved the Carbonara on the Italian night and Apple Crumble. My husband especially liked the soup's, his favourite being Minestrone.
Also in the hotel complex is the Mua Japanese restaurant. Unfortunately we left it too late to book this one but the menu looked amazingly good. And if the buffet restaurant was anything to go by i'm sure it is just as tasty.
The Snack Bar by the pool served daily between 12 and 3 a selection of chips, nuggets, salad, fruit and the 'best pizza ever' according to my son. Plus they had many cocktails and soft/hot drinks on tap so you hardly have to lift a muscle.
Talking about muscle, i did join in the aerobics with Urte! Boy, that was hard work in the heat, but great fun and some good tunes too. Urte was lovely and really made us feel so welcome right from the start. Our conversations continued into the week and by the end we felt like we had made a new friend.
The boys joined in with Bocca and Football most days which was run by Gaby. He was so much fun and the boys took a real liking to him too. Gaby made a joke of trying to wheel my husband off on his sunbed to persuade him to join in with activities and even threw my eldest in the pool on the last day! There are many other activities which the entertainment team offer such as Volleyball and Water Polo, they do come round and ask you to join in, its their job, but they dont hassle you.
Also on site there is a Mini Golf course (which could really do with an update but only us adults pick up on these things, the children are happy as long as they are playing!) Tennis Courts, Table Tennis, Kids Club, Fish Spa, Nail bar, Hairdressers, Mini Market and a giant Pirate Ship play area.
Directly opposite the hotel entrance there is a bus stop, the bus from here takes you straight through to Chania Town within 30 minutes. We did this on the 3rd day of our holiday just to break up the week a bit which made a nice change. Chania is such a lovely little place with many tourist shops, restaurants and a picturesque harbour. It has a very relaxed atmosphere about it. We sat in the sun on the harbour and had a drink and some lunch whilst people watching and admiring the architecture of the buildings.
The bus also stops at Platanias which is only 10 minutes down the road from the hotel and again has many shops to browse round and restaurants to choose from if you fancy a change of scenery.
Back at the Hotel, they hold evening entertainment every night from kids discos, karaoke,
fire show, dance acts, bingo and much more.
We spent most evenings in the lounge bar which had free WiFi and computers for the children to play on, we would play games of cards or even a few rounds of Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch before turning in to our rooms for the night.
The rooms were small but the beds were comfortable. After a hard day sunbathing,eating and drinking all you look forward to is a good night sleep!
There are tea making facilities in the room but no coffee, which we found unusual and one thing the hotel could improve on is perhaps an iron and ironing board in the rooms. Thankfully we took our own travel iron.
We paid £655 for the 4 of us for the week with Ebookers using a 10% discount code also which is no doubt about it, it was great for the value of money.
We had a great family holiday at Louis Creta Princess and we would definitely recommend to other families who fancy a peaceful break with the kids, without breaking the bank! The hotel was awarded a Travellers Choice Award for 2018 on Trip Advisor and was very deserved. Ignore the negative reviews. You can't please everyone... but they certainly pleased us!
Check out the Trip Advisor Reviews here - https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g189419-d253906-Reviews-Louis_Creta_Princess_Beach_Hotel-Maleme_Chania_Prefecture_Crete.html
Louis Creta Princess website - https://louiscretaprincess.com
Skyscanner - www.skyscanner.net
Ebookers - www.ebookers.com
