We just came back from a two week holiday in the Porto Elounda Deluxe Resort, and it was a wonderfull, relaxing and very beautifull holiday. The room was spacious and had an astonishing view. The staff was very friendly and the food exquise. We are lucky to have been travelling a lot and have stayed in many hotels. This one is in our top 3 list! The comments about the noise from the buildingsite are very overdone. There was no noise at all, not outside the hotel and not inside. We visited the Spa and experienced a very relaxing massage. The swimmingpool and sauna's are the best ever. For golf-lovers: the par 3 course was more than challenging. We enjoyed the hotel and all the facilities very much and recommend it to anyone.

We have just returned from the Porto, and I can assure anyone going out there shortly that the major building works all appear to have been completed for the season. Apparently the noise was a problem earlier this year when they were demolishing old buildings and constructing the new ones, but from what we could see they are now mainly painting and finishing off. Yes, you can hear the odd drill, but from where we were it was bearly discernable over the chirp of the cicadas and the gurgle of our shared pool. The area under construction has been screened off from view, and it certainly didn't affect our enjoyment of the hotel. The view of the sea from some of the lower hotel rooms has been reduced because the new buildings are a storey higher than the bungalows they replace, but I guess that's expansion for you. If I hadn't been before I wouldn't know how great the view used to be, and it's still lovely to overlook the golf course and see a bit of the med above the rooftops. The staff remain as friendly as ever, especially in the main restaurant, and the food on the half board buffet option was plentiful and varied. We were treated very well indeed and would love to have stayed longer than a week. If you're about to go there please don't worry about the negative reviews concerning the building works - I read them before I left and panicked that the noise would be awful. But I honestly barely noticed a thing, and I'm really fussy!! Have a fab time - I wish I was still there!!

Have just returned from our second visit to this hotel. Our first visit was 3 years ago, when they had no notice of our reservation, so upgraded us to a bungalow. Although we don't often return to hotels, we had enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back this year and are glad that we did. The hotel is in a beautiful setting on Mirabello Bay, where the light over the hills constantly changes. We had a spacious room with a large balcony on the 4th floor of the wing that was being built the last time we were there. We wanted a relaxing holiday and had that with thanks to the staff, who couldn't be more helpful and friendly. The head waiter remembered that we had been there before, as did a man on reception. We appreciated the little touches of being invited for cocktails and the gift we received before leaving. I would certainly go back again.

We spent a week at the hotel with two small children, having selected it because of the creche facilities and because we like Elounda. The staff were terrific, patient and kind with our kids and helpful for us. The creche was also good, but the hotel itself had problems: a major area of the hotel is under construction, and there was the noise of drilling and heavy machinery all day every day. On our first night, a team began work right outside our room at 9.30pm, complete with a large cement mixer. Added to this din, there was a very noisy air vent next to the room. Any responsible hotel ought to let potential clients know about construction work, and several of the guests complained. The hotel has two pools adjacent to the beach area, yet for three days in our stay these were empty. We were told that they would be working later that day each time we enquired, yet nothing was done. For pool swimmers and for kids who wanted a children's pool this was bad news. Finally, the hotel owner had a large party for his neices during our stay, which meant closure of the beach-side restaurant for two days and, more seriously, a children's party was held with defeaningly loud music all day, so that guests had to either go elswhere or back to their rooms. It was not easy to explain to our children that the bouncy castle and trampoline that the party guests' children were enjoying right in the main guest area were not for their use. This was very insensitive. The hotel food is typical buffet fare, what you'd expect although the salt content was excessive. We also had several spa treatments: the facilities are marvellous, the therapists not as skilled as in other spas, so all in all average treatments. The reception staff were always helpful and excellent, despite problems with some of our bookings. So all in all, if there had been no construction work, swimming pools with water in them and a more discreet party things would have been a lot better. We would still go back to the hotel, as they were so good with the kids and we felt that they were doing their best despite these factors.

I just returned from 7 days in Porto Elounda Deluxe with my man and 22-month old daughter. First, the positive sides: the hotel is very well located, with beautiful view on the deep blue sea, it's quite impressive when you arrive from Heraklion as the road goes down the hill to the creek. Inside, the hotel is immaculate, we had a room with shared swimming pool, directly accessible from our terrace. The bathroom was large, the baby cot was there upon our arrival (I did send a mail to the hotel in advance asking for confirmation), the cleaning lady comes back before the night to prepare the bed etc.. nothing to say on that side., except that rooms could be better acoustically insulated. Staff was very friendly, they all seem to enjoy having babies around, especially the staff in the main restaurant (breakfast and diner) was very kind and helpfull. They proactively bring a babychair at your table, and never refuse to warm a baby's milk bottle. Food is ok but not very diverse, I would have expected to get much more fish instead of chicken or pork. We did not use the Children's Ark, though it looked nice. Our travel agent told us it was included in the price, while it was not and appeared to be quite expensive (32 euros for half a day, without lunch). Beach area is nice and very clean, with lots of beach chairs. Now, the negative sides.... Hotel is expanding, meaning the main building (where most of the rooms are located) is surrounded by two construction sites. Seven days a week, from morning till end of afternoon (they don't even stop during the nap, so forget about siesta!), there were noisy trucks passing along the building, cranes digging, jackhammers, jigsaws... The only way to let our baby sleep after lunch was to close all windows very carefully. It is for me unacceptable that the hotel management considers it as normal to do heavy works while the high season begins. This hotel pretends to be "luxe category", so I would expect to be able to sit and relax without the permanent trouble of works! The family beside us asked for another room, and only get it after escalation to the manager of their italian travel agent; frontdesk told them (and us) that the hotel was fully booked, while it looked like only be at 40% of its capacity as the beach area and restaurant were far from crowded! Another negative point: check out is at noon, while our taxi back to the airport was at 5pm. The day before our departure, we asked the frontdesk to keep our room. They said our room was already reserved for people arriving the next day, so we could not keep it. They offered to move us to a single room (again, pretending the hotel was fully booked which I absolutely can not believe), from 2pm to 4pm only! Can you imagine how funny it is, with a baby, to have to pack your luggage for noon, then wait for 2 hours in the lobby, then get another room for a couple of hours, then have to wait for 1 more hour in the lobby! Finally, they proposed us to keep our room (??) for a consideration of... 100 euros!!!! Making extra money on every occasion is a real leitmotiv. Not acceptable. I guess the hotel management will respond with lots of arguments, like the fact that we did not use the wonderful spa etc etc (maybe I should have had some massages to relax a bit from the noisy environment!), but I would like them to consider that, while paying for an expensive stay at this so-called luxe hotel, the least we expect is tranquility and maybe some "extra mile" in the service offered. This was absolutely not the case at Porto Elounda. I will not recommend it to friends nor go back again.