I cannot help you with room types but just to say you have made a good choice with this hotel! We stayed at the sister hotel the Creta marine next door on half board a couple of years ago and it was the last two weeks of the season and the kids club was closed so they let us use the panorama club for our son, we spent alot of time up at the hotel. Problem was with it being an all- inclusive we could not drink there. We were bitterly regretting not choosing this hotel.It is very good,unless you plan to spend alot of time in your room i would choose the best price option, you can see the sea from many areas of the hotel anyway. We are booked to go in july for two weeks at the Panorma in the main hotel, in a standard room, it is so much more for the view and we will be only using it to sleep and to wash and change. The food here is brilliant, we had the same food at our hotel and the cakes are sooo good. When do you plan to travel? we are booked with first choice and have got premium seats on our east midland flight for very little extra, so we may get some sleep on the night flight. hope you get some advise on your rooms.

Thanks very much Violet.

We've booked now, staying in a Family Bungalow with a side sea view and will email the hotel to request a seafront bungalow!

Glad the hotel comes recommended, we'll be staying at the end of May. Have a great time when you visit.

Hi Totp - sorry I did not read your post until today...please read my review on this hotel - hopefully it will answer some questions for you re : the rooms and hotel booking :

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/(Iberostar)/

To get the sea view bungalows you really need to book through the Creta Panorama. But you may find these two hotels (The Mare and the Panorama) are still being run together (they were when we went last Oct) - and having already booked, I suggest you do what we did and that is to talk REALLY NICELY to the receptionist and see if they have a vacant room along the front rows of the bungalows that look directly out to sea.

They swapped our garden room to one on the front at no cost, and when I offered to pay they just said " its OK - we just want our guests to be happy" - excellent customer service !!!! Although they initially told us the sea view bungalow would be smaller, it was definitely slightly bigger if anything, and it made our holiday.

This hotel is really fantastic - the quality of the food & drink was superb - its the only hotel that I have even considered going back to, as we never generally like going to the same places no matter how good.

After staying at this Iberostar on Crete, and the Iberostar Kipriotis Panorama on Kos the year before, we have become Iberostar addicts and have already booked the Iberostar Grand Azur in Marmaris ,Turkey for this year - great hotel chain !!!

You will have a great time !

Thanks so much jdybnsn.

I can't seem to access that link at the moment, will try again later and look forward to reading it.

We wanted a bungalow and it appears the Panorama only had rooms in the main building. I was after booking a seafront room but the only room types available only mentioned a 'view'. On further investigation I found this to be a side sea view. So we upgraded from the bungalow that sleeps 2 with an extra bed to the family bungalow.

Anyway, I will also speak (very nicely of course) to the receptionist at check-in and ask for the seafront room. (I'm a travel agent and have sent a lot of people to Iberostar hotels, the only one I've had complaints on was one in Tunisia).

Thanks again for your assistance, it's much appreciated.

Hi -

Perhaps they are changing things round a bit at these two hotels then ...it did seem strange to us that these two hotels are listed separately at all, as the Reception for the Creta Mare was completely empty/shut and the whole complex was being run effectively from the Creta Panorama (all the facilities were in joint use ). That said, we were just 2 weeks from the end of season...perhaps they were just consolidating their staff because of this ?

It may depend how you are booking this holiday too - we booked our flights separately and then booked through an accommodation only agent which was Findme accom.com ; though it is also listed on Broadway Travel's site and Medhotels (Medhotels gave a much dearer price on their site but they turned out to be the supplier of our accommodation as Findmeaccom.com were acting as their agents !).

From my experience I don't think you will go too far wrong just by asking for a room change if you are not happy with the first one they assign you - we weren't that unhappy with our garden view ...just spoilt by previous holidays I'm afraid !

If you can't open my link you can access it by going to the Hotel Reviews section on this site (its under Crete of course ! )

Funny,.... the only bad Iberostar I have ever heard of is the one at Skanes in Tunisia too !

Ah, now I can see it. Thanks very much for that review, it's really helpful. I could only find reviews for the Creta Panorama on tripadvisor (comes in top on there) and none for the Creta Mare so that would explain why.

We booked with Thomas Cook as a package as I get staff discount. But that accommodation only sites looks very good. Where did you get your flights from (for future reference)

I usually shop around for flights as it varies who is cheapest at the time.

I usually try these;

-XL.com (generally have a sale on in Jan - use promotion code 'divers'or 'telegraph' for a discount any time),
- Flydeals
- Travel Republic
- Various Coop travel sites (though beware their advertised price is rarely their actual ...its always 'just gone up' when I've rung !), &
- Freedom Flights (agents for XL)
- occasionally Broadway Travel (very rarely the cheapest).

I normally book flights very early ..about 12 months ahead (which does not suit everyone obviously) and this generally pays off (though this time XL.s flights worked out cheaper in the sales). Its nearly always an XL flight (but not always directly from their own website) that comes out cheapest. We have never had problems flying with them - but being part of Air Atlanta, they don't always get a good press !

Unfortunately I don't tend to find Thomsons or Thomas Cook (sorry !) are ever cheapest - but if you have staff discount you may be better off.

You will have a great time - don't forget to post a hotel review when you get back !

Thanks again for the information. I'll certainly add a review when I return.

Hi,

Can anyone provide some detail about the beaches at this hotel, sandy, safe etc.

Also, is it worth paying a bit more to upgrade the room, we are a family with a 3yr old daughter travelling 31/05/06.

Cheers,
Mike.

Hi Mike

Have you looked at their website, there's quite a bit of info about the room types, facilities etc. http://www.iberostar.com

Hi totp,

I did look on their site but couldn't see much about the beach, we've plumped for a room in the main hotel block now!

If anyone has been to the hotel could they provide some comments on the beach?

Cheers,
Mike.

Hi Mike

Have you looked on tripadvisor.com just type in Iberostar Panorama as it is the same for the Creta Mare. I'm sure you'll find some comments on the beaches. I don't think they're up to much to be honest, but at least they are there. As long as there's sea views I'm happy with the swimming pools.

The Pools look lovely, spoilt for choice!!!

Hi

There are 4 or 5 SMALL man made beaches, within small man made coves.
Despite their size we did not find them to be excessively crowded as there are so many other places to hang out in the complex - we were there at Oct half term - that said the hotel was obviously not operating at capacity then.

There is not a great deal of sand on any of them (and a couple are just rocks/concrete), but my kids still made use of their buckets and spades !

As stated, the beaches are within the man made coves, and whilst not making them partucularly picturesque, it does make them safe to bathe and/or have inflatables. The middle cove has a lifeguard post - though we never saw a lifeguard when we went, I presume that they must have one during their busier periods perhaps ? You can also use inflatables in the pools. There is a small dedicated splash pool outside the kids club which is nice if you have none swimming little un's.... but I noticed that there was no shade on it (perhaps you could have a word with the staff about this though?)

Right next to the hotel, on the Rethymnon side...and with a pretty pathway going to it from the hotel, is a much larger public beach which is sand-shingle. There was no one on it when we went in Oct but there was the reminants of a cafe/shop which lead us to believe it may be operational in the Spring/ Summer . There was a rather slimey green river near this beach inhabited by ducks - it didn't look too nice but didn't smell or interfer with the beach too much.
There is a nice little beach at nearby Panormo which has a bit more sand on it , but again a little on the small side - there is a frequent noddy train down to it from the hotel - just a short ride.
There is a big sandy beach across the bay at Rethymnon itself and a regular bus service from right outside the hotel complex.

We did ask for an upgrade for our room (as you may have read in my report) but really there wasn't anything wrong with our garden view room - we had just been spoilt by previous holidays and had become acustomed to a sea view. I must say the sea view bungalow we had was very very nice - though there isn't a great deal of room for sitting out as the terraces are quite small.

This is a great hotel - I'm sure you will enjoy it - its the first place I have ever felt I 'd quite like to go back to (normally I'd always pick somewhere new and different every time).

Thanks to Jdybnsn and violet123 for their replies.

We've not long got back from the Creta Mare/Panorama and had a wonderful time. It was everything you both said. Food was probably the best buffet food we've had and the AI drinks list was very comprehensive. No queing, plenty of space (and we went during the May half term). Kids club was excellent, our 11 year old was near to crying when we left.

We had a seafront bungalow with amazing views and our own little patio, it was heaven! Looking at booking for next Summer!

totp -
So glad you enjoyed it ! I look forward to reading your review.

We are real Iberostar addicts now after staying at the Creta Mare/ Panorama and the Kipriotis Panorama on Kos - we are off to try the Iberostar Grand Azur in Marmaris , Turkey this October (take alook at the indoor to out door pool slide !) and can't decide whether to chose an Iberostar on Zante or Corfu next.

We love this chain of hotels....they might be slightly more expensive than some, but they know how to do good quality family holidays.

Hi jdybnsn

Can recommend the Grand Azur in Marmaris, I worked with someone who went there twice! She loved it.

I've priced up the Creta Panorama for next August, can't afford the Creta Mare as it costs around a £1,000 extra for the Family Bungalow room! I'm sure the Panorama rooms will be fine though. Will miss our wonderful seafront location though, it was idylic and our daily basket of fruit and wine.

I'm very tempted to book as there's a free child place, plus children's prices (and free places) are up to age 14 which is unusual. It's just so early for booking for next August before we've even been away this August (off to the Bahia Principe in Tenerife for 2 weeks of lovely AI)!

Thanks again for all your help.

Hi All
Thanks for all who have posted on this site. We have just booked the Panaroma for next August as got a free child place for a 14 year old, which I thought was great value. Also got good flight times from Gatwick and booked a superior double room with a sea view. I nearly went for a superior bungalow with sea view but didn't know which to pick. Hope I made the right choice. If anyone can help let me know, as I could probably still change it.
Sounds like a great hotel.

Don't worry you have made an excellent choice...the reports on here and Trip Advisor UK speak for themselves !

We ended up with a sea view bungalow which was great (it had a small separate back bedroom which was great for our 9 year old) ..I'm sure you will not be disappointed with the room you booked however - the sea views from the main hotel are wonderful.
Should you decide differently, I'm sure they will change it if they can....they were more than obliging with us.

If you have any further questions then just post here or PM me.

Enjoy !