JUST got back
I an honestly say I had a great time and we thought the hotel was great. I'll post a full review asap
The rooms were basic but spacious and clean - although the cleaners left windows open which let loads of insects in. Our balcony railing were unstable but repaired within hours of me reporting it. Food was good - it is a multinational hotel so they cater to english, french, german and scandinavian and eastern european.
There are 5 pools in 4 different areas - a kids paradise which is a splash zone with snack bar (Marianna runs it she's delightful) a family pool with shallow kids pool and 2 small slides and larger swimming pool, a water park with bigger slides for adults/older kids and and adults only pool. They seemed to check the chlorine levels etc daily
Location wise it's up the hill from hersonissos. A shuttle bus runs to star beach and back 6 times a day - from there you can walk to shops etc very easily. Hersonissos is big enough to have everything you would need at reasonable prices. the shop on site at mareblue hotel is expensive but convenient. We walked to the other end town after dinner one night - it took us about an hour-hour and a half but we stopped in shops etc, a taxi back was 8 euro
the thomas cook kids club was good but there is also a kids club and a kids disco and entertainment programme run by the neckerman team - neckerman & thomas cook are part of the same group and the neckerman team are there for all guests. They speak several languages but much of what they do is in english as most other nationalities understand it.