Stella Island Luxury Resort & Spa (Adults Only)

Day 6, first time in Crete as a 40plus couple. I was a little hesitant as thought only for young rich and beautiful, but the vibe is super chill and relaxed . The staff are fantastic, nothing is too much and the hotel is beautiful. We walked to the beach and the little villages locally, so quaint and pretty. The food is the best I’ve had at an all inclusive. Our room was on the small side but beautiful view. Some cocktails are not made from scratch which is the only minor observation

We’ve just returned from a 5 night stay at Stella island and to be perfectly honest it was really disappointing!! Good bits - it’s aesthetically pleasing, very clean and the staff around the pool are really attentive. The shampoo/shower gel/conditioner in the rooms are really nice touches. Bad points - the food is very samey day in/night out, if you’re a fussy eater you may struggle! Drinks are really disappointing, they are very very slow at bringing them and when you go to the bar they tell you to go back to your seat. It’s not unusual to wait 30mims plus for a drink, I think this is because they don’t want merry people walking around the place. It’s in the middle of nowhere amongst derelict land and you really can’t walk anywhere to do anything. We got a taxi in to hersonissos to go for tea one evening €15 per way. If you like a change of scenery then this probably isn’t the best place for you. It’s right under a flight path which didn’t bother us but some people may find low flying aeroplanes every 15/20 mins during the day annoying. The constant selfie taking by people there does become rather annoying at times especially when your trying to relax and there on every walk way, leaning against every palm tree/wall/water fountain/sun bed there in the pools taking pics/videos. We stayed in a pool view room and it was very standard nothing special at all!! All in all it was a relaxing place but massively overpriced, £3k for a 5 night stay with hardly any drinks and rubbish food is ridiculous. Would I recommend this place…….. absolutely NOT Will we be returning ………. Absolutely NOT Would rather spend my money on other hotels we’ve visited that are far nicer and cheaper 👌

Me and the wife came here for my wifes suprise 40th birthday The hotel is amazing The food is out of this world The staff are first class We had a swim up room 327 Got the sun at around 12pm Such a nice place to relax and enjoy luxury If you want a great time away with your partner this is the place to come

People drool over this hotel on Instagram and it comes up well in photos. But the aesthetics only go so far and to be honest what they offer for the price is quite disappointing. When we arrived at reception we were ushered to the desk on the right, whereas checkin is on the left. It took ages for anyone to even come and talk to us to explain what was going on, and when they did it was just to give us a wifi code to download the Stella Island app. We didn’t know why they were stalling and if it was because our room wasn’t ready, they could have just told us. All you want to do when you get to the hotel is check in, not be messed around. There was a lot of schmoozing and we were thinking can we get on with it. After a big spiel about booking restaurants we asked if we can check in. Oh no, had to wait longer and then be escorted to the desk on the other side of reception. What a palaver! I’m a seasoned traveller and have been to many hotels with exceptional food and Stella Island just doesn’t cut it. The food was not up to standard. The fish restaurant, Oceania’s offerings were inedible. The one thing we wanted, the lobster linguine, obviously the dish everyone wants, had run out by 8.30pm and we were told that if you wanted that, you had to reserve that prior to going to the restaurant as we were sitting at the restaurant. Thanks for the heads up… Then they “found” me one after I kicked up a fuss and it was inedible. It literally tasted like sewage. My friend’s meal, the seabass, was swamped in a gelatinous black spinach sauce which ruined the fish underneath. We ended up walking out after the servers kept ignoring us, starving. The breakfast buffet, was very lacking and small. Hardly any fruit. Not even any watermelon. Just oranges, grapefruit and some pineapple occasionally. The scrambled egg was vile. It looked so appealing but even dished up fresh, tasted of bitter burnt cinders. It was unfathomable how it tasted like this without looking burnt! I thought this was a one off so tried it the next day, but exactly the same thing happened. By looking around and seeing the left overs on other people’s plates, I was not the only one experiencing this! The scrambled egg chef needs to sort themselves out. The omelettes were also very poor, burnt to a crisp in over excessive flaming oil. Cremated by a very grumpy older female omelette chef who’s probably been there since the hotel’s inception. Lunch at the buffet was equally lacking with few choices and I mainly opted for chips/potato wedges or pasta on rotation. And not a blob of hummus in sight! This is a Greek hotel! Even on Greek Night, no hummus! I couldn’t believe it. After the appalling fish restaurant we opted for the steak restaurant, La Parilla. We started off on the wrong foot, literally, when the restaurant manager asked me if I could go and change my shoes as they “weren’t appropriate”. And customers had complained about people’s footwear previously so now they have a shoe policy. I

The rooms were spacious and spotless, with a great feel and crisp bed sheets. The restaurants were great, so much choice of fresh, local ingredients and culinary dishes! The staff were lovely, attentive and went out of their way to ensure that we had everything we needed! Couldn’t recommend enough!

Absolutely loved our stay here. We loved everything, the place is gorgeous, the staff are what makes the place, Food was amazing both in the buffet and in all the restaurants. The lovely Maria in the cabana bar and her fabulous staff were awesome. Nothing was too much trouble, ……thank you Maria for helping to make this place one of the few we would come back too. We had a villa with a private pool. It was gorgeous. I’m so glad we took this option. Sun all day and although the pool was cold, too cold for me, I loved the privacy these rooms afforded. The ladies that clean the room were really thorough. Thank you Stella Island. Hope to be back in the future xxxxx

This our fifth holiday at the unsurpassable Stella Island. And we are hoping to come again next year! The first year we came, in 2019, we fell in love with the resort. Difficult to put into words how much we enjoyed the facilities, the beautiful food, the pools, the area, and, most of all, the wonderful staff. We are an older couple and the level of care, helpfulness, genuine concern and attention is beyond anything we have ever experienced in our long lives. Of course, now on our fifth visit, we should no longer be surprised at the quality of service, but it still astonishes us how our every need is remembered and attended to. Each year we visit the restaurants, where one can choose from Asian, Cretan, Mexican and other speciality restaurants such as steak and fish. The buffet restaurant is our favourite; we love its variety, its informality and its exquisite quality. But the very best asset of Stella is the staff team, from the management to the service staff. We are treated like much loved family, and though we meet new Stella friends every year, it is always a joy to reunite with friends from previous years. We could not recommend this hotel highly enough. All the other guests we have spoken to this year tell us they intend to return. All comment on the high standards of food, cleanliness, generosity and lovely environment. Thank you to the entire Stella team for enriching our lives with these precious holidays, where we have made so many joyful memories. To the entire amazing team, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Sue and Jeff Stratton