Cactus Royal-Our 1-Week Stay Okay, Where do I start? We stayed at Cactus Royal for one week and, to be honest, I was glad it was only a week. The room was clean and tidy, but nothing particularly special. Essentially, it was just two beds pushed together to make a double. Trying to find a sun lounger after breakfast was ridiculous. Towels were left on loungers that nobody was actually using. I suppose it's a case of "you snooze,you lose " but personally, I think this is something the hotel needs to address. There should be some kind of system to prevent loungers from being reserved for hours when people aren't actually there. Food wise I wasn't impressed. During our stay i don't think I had a single genuinely hot meal. Perhaps I was simply unlucky with what I chose, butfor me, the quality and temperature didn't meet the standard I expected. The desserts,however, were very good and I couldn't fault them. The drinks at the pool bar were okay, but because I could never find a sun lounger, I ended up sitting around the pool bar area instead. I wasn't impressed that I still had to drink from plastic glasses when I wasn't even sitting close to the pool. Overall this is just my personal opinion and experience, but based on our stay, I wouldn't consider Cactus Royal to be a five-star hotel. There were some positives _ the room was clean there was plenty of food choice, and the desserts were excellent_ but too many things fell short of my expectations for a five-star resort. And for the environmental charge introduced by the government, I'll leave that one alone ???? Would I return? Personally, no I'm glad we experienced it,but one week was enough for us. If your looking for a traditional Greek experience, this personally wouldn't be my choice of hotel.

Das Hotel ist hübsch. Das Personal ist sehr nett und hilfsbereit, sowohl im Hotel selber als auch im Spa Bereich. Die Verpflegung ist abwechslungsreich. Wir haben eine Spa Massage bei Alma gebucht und sehr professionelle Leistung erhalten. Der Kaffee im Hotel hat uns persönlich nicht so gut gefallen.

The positives are the staff and the food which are both excellent. Forget the Al-a-carte it is average and the dress code was not adhered to.The steakhouse offers one steak. My wife’s steak was so fatty she couldn’t eat it. The same was true of the Mediterranean where she ordered the veal and again it was inedible. All the staff could say was “we know it happens “. In fact when we left to return to the main restaurant a couple who had been sitting at the next table were coming out of the main hotel dining area. There is one pool bar which is average. The entertainment was again average, sited by the poolside it meant that if you wanted to go back to your room you couldn’t escape the noise.We also found out on the first day that despite the policy of not reserving poolside beds there were towels everywhere, so we just joined the game and made sure we were there early. For a so called 5 star hotel the poolside beds were horrendously uncomfortable.But the main gripe for us is that if you are a non smoker forget coming to this hotel. We were surrounded by people from other European countries who clearly haven’t got the message about the effects of smoking. Then to cap it all despite having asked for a late checkout on our arrival we were told to wait until the day before leaving to enquire. We did this at the allotted time they requested. The manager had left and we were told nothing was available. In fact if we had been accommodated they were going to charge 70 euros. My suggestion would be forget Crete and go to Cyprus and the wonderful Constantine Bros Athena Royal Beach. There was no smoking allowed in the grounds and the rooms for a late checkout are complimentary. We cannot comment on the spa because we didn’t use it.

Nach 10 Jahren leider deutlich weniger als erwartet Wir waren nach rund 10 Jahren wieder in diesem Hotel und hatten uns aufgrund unserer positiven Erinnerungen sehr auf den Aufenthalt gefreut. Leider mussten wir feststellen, dass der Service im Vergleich zu früher deutlich nachgelassen hat. Ich kann mich daher den anderen Bewertungen anschließen, die der Meinung sind, dass das Hotel dem Anspruch eines 5-Sterne-Hotels nicht mehr gerecht wird. Aus meiner Sicht entspricht das Niveau mittlerweile eher einem guten 4-Sterne-Hotel. Besonders beim Frühstück ist uns aufgefallen, dass bereits gegen 9:30 Uhr, obwohl das Frühstück bis 10:00 Uhr angeboten wird, eine gewisse Unruhe und schlechte Stimmung beim Servicepersonal zu spüren ist. Das vermittelt leider nicht das Gefühl eines entspannten 5-Sterne-Frühstücks. Auch beim Abendessen hat sich im Vergleich zu früher einiges verändert. Früher wurde man vom Maître bzw. Restaurantleiter freundlich empfangen und zum Tisch begleitet. Dieser persönliche Service ist inzwischen nicht mehr vorhanden. Auch Getränke werden nicht mehr an den Tisch gebracht – diese muss man sich teilweise selbst holen. Der Maître war während unseres Aufenthalts leider grundsätzlich nicht besonders freundlich oder herzlich, was den Gesamteindruck zusätzlich beeinträchtigt hat. Besonders enttäuschend war für uns der Umgang mit meiner Allergie in den À-la-carte-Restaurants. Obwohl wir bereits bei der Anmeldung ausdrücklich darauf hingewiesen hatten, wurde bei drei Besuchen keine ausreichende Rücksicht darauf genommen. Die Lösung bestand letztendlich jedes Mal darin, mir einen Teller Obst als Nachspeise zu bringen, da offenbar nicht genau bekannt war, welche Inhaltsstoffe in verschiedenen Törtchen und Desserts enthalten sind. Gerade bei einem 5-Sterne-Hotel hätten wir hier deutlich mehr Aufmerksamkeit und Sicherheit erwartet. Ein weiteres Problem waren die Liegen am Pool. Während unseres gesamten 10-tägigen Aufenthalts waren praktisch nie freie Liegen verfügbar. Außerdem waren die Betten im Zimmer bereits deutlich durchgelegen. Das Zimmer war zudem relativ hellhörig. Geräusche vom Gang und aus den Nachbarzimmern waren sehr deutlich zu hören, was gerade in den frühen Morgen- und späten Abendstunden störend sein kann. Positiv hervorheben möchte ich ausdrücklich die Reinigungskräfte. Diese waren durchgehend sehr freundlich, aufmerksam und zuvorkommend. Auch die Mitarbeiter in der Lobby sowie das Bar-Team am Pool und am Abend haben einen sehr guten Eindruck hinterlassen und waren stets freundlich und bemüht. Insgesamt ist es für uns besonders schade, weil wir dieses Hotel von früher deutlich besser in Erinnerung hatten. Man hat durchaus den Eindruck, dass eigentlich bekannt ist, wie ein entsprechender Service funktionieren könnte – schließlich haben wir es bei unserem früheren Aufenthalt selbst erlebt. Das Hotel selbst ist nach wie vor sehr schön, hat eine gute Lage und wir haben unseren Aufenthalt insgesamt genossen. Gerade deshalb ist es schade, dass der Service inzwischen nicht mehr dem Niveau entspricht, das wir von einem 5-Sterne-Hotel erwarten würden. Fazit: Schönes Hotel in guter Lage, aber beim Service und teilweise bei den Leistungen aus unserer Sicht deutlich Luft nach oben. Die 5 Sterne spiegeln das derzeitige Service-Niveau für uns nicht mehr wider.

Ioanna hat mich sehr gut massiert. Ich habe mich während der gesamten Massage sehr wohl und entspannt gefühlt. Danach fühlte ich mich richtig erholt und wie neu. Vielen Dank, Ioanna! ????

While on holiday for a week at the cactus royal spa resort, my partner and I used the spa facilities and received a couples massage, the Cretan Spa package. I received a massage from Sergio while my partner received hers from Eleni. The were both amazing, very professional and did everything they could to ensure we were comfortable and relaxed. Highly recommend if staying at the hotel.

Myself and my partner came on holiday here for a week and had the Cretan spa package during our stay. Eleni and Sergio were so professional and attentive, checked in on us through our session we were so relaxed my partner fell asleep! ???? It was honestly the best massage I’ve had in a while with lovely products, all the staff were so friendly and always checked in to ensure you had the best experience! Thank you so much! X

It was great, best masage i had in my life

There are positives and negatives to this hotel Positive: Food is good The bar service is good, the staff are nice and friendly It's clean The Gym is very good There are three pools so easy to get a sun bed Negative: The AC in the room, is at best, absolutely useless. Woke up through the night drenched in sweat. Although we asked for a double bed we had two singles pushed together which moved apart if you got too close The hotel has a lot of German guest, I have nothing against German people, but a far higher percentage smoke than Brits. There is no bar or outside area that is no smoking. The pool bar is particularly unpleasant if you are not a smoker The sunbeds around the pool are very poor quality and you can feel the plastic when you sit or lie on them, could do with the mattress toppers most hotels have The bar which is supposed to be all inclusive has a fair few cocktails not included For me I have stayed in far better hotels and won't rebook here

Very rude woman who was in charge of the sunbeds on the beach. I pointed out that she should have a nicer attitude towards customers but then she said that she works nine hours every day and doesn't have time and also said to us that dont touch the sunbeds. So we moved on to a nicer sunbeds rental company further down the beach. Maybe she just had a bad day but it ruined our morning with that attitude.