The Royal Blue Resort

Just back from our 2 weeks. The bar / restaurant staff are incredible and work so hard. They deserve a pay rise! Rooms are cleaned daily and there is everything you want from a holiday Whilst we would have preferred an adult only experience in a “spa resort” we would still come back as there is enough space to avoid noisier spots. Fantastic food. To all tastes and preferences. Could not knock the food at all. Especially the À la carte restaurants in particular Elia. We treated ourselves and the food, ambience and atmosphere was incredible. Tiny suggestion for the these two more special restaurants spaces is to have an earlier time slot for families who want to bring their tiny ones time with them …. Spa treatments are reasonably priced. Drinks are a little on the expensive side and water we think should be provided at the table free of charge in our opinion. The cocktail bar is also a lovely spot to end the evening (however, we do suggest it should not be for the tiny ones esp late in evening when you simply want to enjoy the music the sights and the sound of the sea , please ) Overall it’s still a great location and central enough to get around. We hired a car and hit the sightseeing spots under our own steam. Getting to Santorini in a day was a challenge but doable. An early start, definitely requires walking shoes and we hired a quad and got round (just) most places and back on the afternoon ferry - whistle stop tour but achievable! Cave of Zeus is well worth the 15 minute walk to it. (Tip: walk up to it via the old route. Bumpy and stepped but in the shade and plenty of resting spots under the trees and walk down the new route only in the sun) Incredible and also welcomed cool air of deep cave. Enjoy your holiday here

Finding Crete splendid is perfectly natural. The Royal Blue, however, is the very definition of excellence!

The luxurious atmosphere is something you usually only see or imagine in books or films. The staff were always helpful, attentive, and exceptionally kind.

The food was also very impressive — the quality was truly at a very high level, something I have rarely experienced in a buffet setting. Bravo to the chefs!

Every day, we would go for a swim at sunset. The view from the hotel’s private beach is the real hidden gem. And the shared pool is simply incredible — you can take a dip whenever you like and be back in your room within seconds if you want to escape the sun.

We loved the hotel so much that we have already “sold” it to two couples of friends, who are now planning to stay there in October!

I highly recommend this hotel. We felt truly pampered throughout our stay, thanks in no small part to the availability, kindness, and professionalism of the entire staff.

3.5-4 stars overall 4 stars: restaurant food was very good and wait staff was fantastic. We especially enjoyed Alati. We arrived later in the evening near closing after a beach day and still received superb service and food was very good. 4 stars: views are stunning and resort is pretty 3.5 stars: Appearance/cleanliness. While the resort was beautiful, it just felt a bit grungy. Our room was lack luster and smelled musty. No mini bar, just water and a few tiny snacks like nuts. A bit dated. Roly-poly bugs in the bathroom. Do you research on where your room will be located and if you want an ocean view you really need to go with the ocean front rooms or you don’t see much from your room. (TBF this can be the case at most hotels and I should have looked into this more.) For a 5 star resort I would expect the place to be modern, gleaming clean and feel well… luxurious. 3.5 stars: overall service is not 5 star. Average at best. At other 5 star resorts you would expect over the top service especially at check in and check out, housekeeping twice a day, turndown service etc. Check in was very protracted and between check in and check out they took my credit card 6 times. Everything was broken down into different transactions. It was very confusing. Take my card number once and put everything on the one card. I’m still confused on the payment process… No valet parking. You’re told to park wherever you can find a spot. We did get a golf cart ride down to our room, however my husband was left behind parking the car and we where never told our room number at check-in so he had no idea where to find us!

Here’s my take on this resort, we noted the same staff from one restaurant to the next (they are not all open and available at the same time so limited food options.) While it was August the place still felt very sleepy. I don’t think they are operating at capacity or have the staff to accommodate a 5 star experience.

Was it awful? Not at all. Was it good. Yes. Was it a 5 star experience worth over $5000 for 5 nights? No way.