Blue Bay Resort Hotel

Positives - Hotel was lovely. Very clean and tidy and the staff were very helpful and friendly. Food was brilliant and varied. A 14 day cycle menu with so many options. Fresh cooked every day, loads of salad, fruit and grilled items being done while you wait. Vegan and vegetarian options along with soups and bread and fantastic desserts. A useful small shop on site, Hotel was busy but not full so we got sunbeds every day (until the last day). Varied evening entertainment either at the pool bar or in the on site amphitheatre. Managers always floating around to ensure everything running smoothly. Many staff quickly clearing tables and ensuring communal areas were clean and tidy. Housekeeping were lovely and very approachable/accommodating. Bar and reception staff friendly and nothing was too much. Public bus into Heraklion was good - stop right outside hotel. You pay on the bus (or online) going into city but either online or at the bus station coming back. We thought we could pay on the bus again but this is only an option if collected in the street. Worth booking as we nearly didn't get seats - they supply more transport if they are aware of demand. Negatives - very steep walk down to the beach (no minibus in the evening). Beach at Agia Pelagia heaving and no sunbeds available by 10am. Limited excursions through rep as too far (I do believe the hotel run their own but we preferred to go though Jet2). No issues until the last day with sunbeds - seemed to get incredibly busy overnight (English schools breaking up?) - checked out of the room by 11am and then had to sit in the pool bar all day as no sunbeds - families reserving them with towels and going off for lunch (despite signs saying not to) and this was not enforced. Glad we were there the two weeks we were and not any later! A great trip all around :-)

Important info:

• not suitable for people with more significant mobility issues (I sprained my ankle whilst out and about mid trip and managed fine going slow and steady, but had it been a broken ankle, it would have been very hard to get to the pool areas)
• if you can, it is worth paying additional to get a room in the main building
• free shuttle to the close by beach is a great perk, the hill is not for the faint hearted!

Location Hotel is around 30mins from the airport and a few minute walk down to a lovely beach area - get there no later than 9:30 to guarantee sunloungers. About 10 euros in a taxi to Agia Pelagia centre, lots of places to eat and drink there as well as a decent sized beach front.

Food My husband and I thought the food in the main restaurant was great in terms of quality and variety. Everything was warm and fresh enough. My only issue is I have a nut allergy and almost every dessert had a nut allergy warning. They should perhaps consider removing pistachio from the ice-cream section so they can label ice-cream nut free? I appreciate I am a minority though so it isn't a complaint 🙂

Decent sandwiches for snacks at the pool bar. Some small pieces of pizza, donuts and ice-cream also available. Good for us!

Drinks Good range of drinks, but no real cocktails on the all inclusive. A list of 'cocktails' is included, but these are mostly just spritzers and shandies. There are some that include Ouzo and Raki, so if you like these then you'll be happy! There are proper cocktails that you can purchase - these are lovely. All inclusive drinks finish at 11pm - more than fine for us. Water refill stations are available and this water is fine 🙂. The shop sells bottled water if you prefer.

Staff The staff are ALL fabulous. After I injured myself (not at the hotel) several staff came to check on me the next day or so to see if I needed anything. We weren't very good at remembering names, but Jay at the indoor bar was one of the stand outs for us. It is also nice that staff friendliness does not depend on tips like it often does in places like Turkey/Egypt (from our experience).

Pool Areas This is the only slightly negative part. The pools are not very big, so they have a rule posted about no inflatables... but this isn't even slightly enforced, so the main pool area can often be over crowded. Also, loads of people throwing balls around and overtaking large areas of the small pool to throw these around. This (and the inflatables) was preventing people like us from going in to swim. To us it is common sense to not behave selfishly, but sadly too many people have little to no common sense. Balls would be quite regularly accidentally thrown out of the pool and hitting people on sunloungers.

We found the pool and pool bar in one of the building blocks away from the main building to be calmer. The bar area here is much nicer too.

Rooms Basic, but fine! Not very sound proof and again, same problem with people not using their brains and being quiet in corridors. This isn't the fault of the hotel though, it is just a fact that noise travels easily.

Entertainment We found the shows we saw to be a real highlight! One or two we were less bothered about, but saw some very impressive acts, probably the best all inclusive Entertainment we have had! Definitely see the acrobatics if you get a chance! They were our favourite act. Top tip - get there no later than 9:15 for a 9:30 start, perhaps a touch earlier if you need the bottom row.

All in all we had a lovely holiday and would recommend the hotel. The option of the alternative pool and the beach being nearby meant that we could have an alternative to the quite crowded pool in the main building.