Just back from a wonderful 10 days here, very impressed with the hotel, the grounds are huge and beautiful, full of flowers and trees, the feel is like a little village, and although it got quite full of people at times, it never felt busy, and was never noisy. Rooms are clean and look newly painted and furnished, i particularly appreciated the fact that you could control your room temperature, i get really chilly at night, and in many hotels at this time of the year there is no option for heating, but here you had full control over the air con and heating, and a blast of heat at the end of the day when it started to get a bit chilly made it all the more comfortable. We had a standard room near the beach on the ground floor which was exactly as i requested, it did mean a 6 min walk up to the restaurant for breakfast, but that was no big deal for us. The in room products were really good quality and replaced daily. We did have a few issues with leaky shower and bath as others have reported, but just meant the use of a hand towel to do a bit of mopping up, again no big deal for us! The bathroom was large with both a full shower, and a bath with an overhead shower, useful for hair washing! There was a hairdryer and in room safe, and robes and slippers too. On arrival there was a bottle of wine, mineral water and some sweets, which was a nice touch. The maid service every day was SUPER quick, thorough and efficient. There was free WiFi throughout, great connectivity, speed and access. The two pools set aside for general use (ie if you didn't have a sharing pool) were large, clean, with plenty of padded sunbeds and parasols, and free beach towels which you could change every day. We had a hire car and you can either park up by the spa, or in a car park located near to the main reception, and accessible down a side street, you need to ask for a car park pass for this one as there are large secured locked gates, so you felt your car was very safe either way.

TIP: DON'T buy anything in the hotel! Food, drinks, and the supermarket were SO expensive!! There is a supermarket RIGHT outside the car park entrance (the one by reception, not by the spa) I would get yourself a car park pass and walk out from reception, literally a 2 min walk across the car park, a HUGE supermarket with loads of cheap water, food and booze and nice souveniers, you can get it all there!

All in all the hotel was FAB! Agree with some others, in other countries this would not be a 5 star hotel, its just not THAT luxurious! But for Greece it probably is top of the pile! My only negative comment is less about the hotel and more about Crete, it wasn't really what i expected in that it was a lot more built up / touristy than i thought, i had visions of tiny fishing villages and chilled out driving, but it was more traffic jams, and the Greek driving ! !?!?!? words FAIL me!! I went to Cyprus this time last year and really really enjoyed this, whereas Crete for me, was an "ok but no plans to ever return" type place. Horses for courses i guess.

This was the 4th time I have been to Royal Mare and every time is outstanding, this is not just because we have been before because the 1st time was as outstanding as the last time, the staff are excellent and can't do enough for you they certainly make sure that your holiday is special and anything that they can do for you they do the very best they can do for you.
The food is excellent and plentiful with a great variation of choice for everyone, it simply can not fail to please you there are a couple of restaurants within the Royal Mare for you to choose from and all are well worth the visit and again you wont be disappointed.To sum up my feelings for Royal Mare I would include that if choosing anywhere to stay or go it would most definitely be Crete and Royal Mare, such a great combination fantastic people and a fantastic Hotel.

Whilst the hotel itself and grounds are very nice, I don't class this as a 5 star resort by normal standards but for a holiday resort in Greece it probably is although I have stayed in one 5 star and a 4 star which, in my opinion, far exceeded this hotel from both value for money and service. Service from staff is mixed, restaurant staff especially, most of the male waiters were very stand-offiish. Bar Minos staff were not very pleasant at times (maybe as I was a female solo traveller) and tended to not be as attentive as they were to other couples or groups of guests. The rooms are fine with everything you need and beds are comfy. I had a sea view room in the main building which was very comfortable.

The food in the main restaurant Symposium, was repetitive and irrespective of what time you ate, lukewarm. I don't think I had a "hot" meal in the fortnight I was there. If you want to eat in another restaurant, you only get a discount of 12 euros from the bill so its not a like for like swap. Lobster night with the discount in Candida is 50 euros and the BBQ at Greek Tavern wasn't much cheaper. Bar prices are higher than outside (word of warning, don't buy bottled water from the mini market cost 3.5 euro when it costs only 70 cents from the supermarket at the top of the road).

Taxis into Hersonnissos are 7 euros which is necessary as the bus stop is a bit of a walk from the hotel and generally uphill. Beach is sand/pebbles and there appears to be plenty of sun loungers however I wasn't there in high season. Watch out for the waves!

Nice swimming pools, pleasant guest rooms,free wi fi throughout hotel,pleasant and helpful staff throughout, drink prices in keeping with a 5 star hotel eg half litre of beer 5.90E but food in the main buffet restaurant was quite ordinary at dinner I felt. There is a choice of 3 other restaurants within the hotel, sushi, greek taverna, and a la carte.