We had a great time at the Mareblue.

Like mentioned in other reviews, it is a little way out of Skala, which adds to the appeal because it is quieter and not full of children. This is truely an adult holiday!

The food choices were excellent with the food being very tasty - my partner hasn't stopped talking about the desserts!! The staff are friendly and the hotel was lovely and clean.

We arrived very late and the manager was very accommodationg, keeping the restaurant open past its hours to ensure we could all get dinner. We had a problem on one day with the toilet not flushing. We rang reception and it was repaired with 2 hours!!

Lovely hotel. Beautiful island. Friendly staff. Relaxing and lovely holiday.

Firstly, it has taken almost 2 months to write this review. Our honeymoon was a sincere let down. We spent almost £4000 for 2 weeks all inclusive at a supposed 5* hotel. It is a watered down 5*, making it more of a basic 3*. Throughout our stay, we found that people staying in a basic room, using the main pool and on h/b basis, has a much better time than us. We booked a shared pool room to give us that extra privacy and to make our trip extra special...but were we ever wrong.

Our Welcome
When we arrived at the hotel, we were not wished 'Happy Honeymoon' despite prior emailing them at least 2 months before our trip. As we arrived between the buffet lunch and dinner, we were quite hungry. We were not told about the cafe by the pool and that we could get something to eat there on our all inclusive basis. We were however promised, by a prior confirmation email, flowers, sparking wine, fruit and water in the room. What we did get was a water and fruit. When I went to ask about the sparkling wine, they said that they would send it, I had to go back a second time and remind them that we still had not received it. I showed them the email and also mentioned the flowers. The receptionist said that they couldn't do that. This was clearly stated in the Olympic Holidays brochure. It is not an oversight that a 5* hotel should be making.

Location
We didn't mind the location because we had booked a shared pool, so we didn't have to bother with the stairs going up and down to the pool. We did rent a car for 3 days for 150 euros which was amazingly worth it. The rest of the island is simple beautiful (Assos, Myrtos Beach, Fiscardo, Antisamos Bay).

Shared Pool Room
Please take a look at my pictures as I am showing the true view from outside the room door. It now makes complete sense why no one had shown the true view, because it is a dumping ground for the hotel with bits of roofing, tubes, chairs, bricks, air conditioning units being strewn about. Once every few days, a hotel truck drives in where 1 or 2 guys dumps some more stuff.
Also, there is no definitive line for the lower-half of the pool (coming off of the hotel lobby for use by ALL guests) and the shared-pool (for use ONLY by guests with that room). I had to complain time and time again. Once when I went to the hotel reception, which I really shouldn't have to even complain about something in a 5*, the girls asked me if they were bothering me. Well yes, they were, because we paid for the shared-pool room and they were using our pool. The only way to convince the girl was to say 'Ok, so I can go and use the villa pools because it doesn't matter'. They got the bartender to ask the guests to move. This happened at least 3 times within the first week.
Unfortunately, our air conditioning unit would also often smell of feces at any given time of the day. There was also a general untidiness surrounding our room (stains on sheets, mold all over bathroom floor, outdated furniture/tv), pool area (on a poster by our pool, it said, vacate the pool at 6pm each night for maintenance...we only saw this twice, bugs floating all around) and our terrace (never properly cleaned as at 10am each day we were already outside).

All Inclusive Basis
I have lots of experience in all inclusive hotels, especially in the Carribean, and this did not make the cut. Yes, overall the food was good, and no we didn't ever go hungry but we did notice something very interesting. The food quality in the second week (last week of August) significantly decreased. We noticed less staff and less food (ie. no risotto chef, less waiting staff). The value was in the drinks. They do make you feel very awkward though if you are constantly at the bar. Also, they make you feel awkward when ordering a bottle of sparking wine during the day/night, which is allowed according to their poorly-written in English leaflet in the room. Also, during the second week, we noticed changes with the lobby bar (the closest bar to us in the shared-pool rooms). It was now going to be closed until 5pm, meaning we would have to walk 20-25 minutes (we timed it, down and back up stairs carrying drinks, just to keep us hydrated during the day). My husband had to write a review in their lobby guest book just for them to realise. So from then on, it was open every other day after that. This is when the bar staff started to be extremely rude to us, insinuating that our room wasn't a honeymoon suite....well, it was OUR honeymoon suite.
The biggest shame of the eating facilities is the massive wasp problem. We tried eating outside for breakfast 2 times and resorted to eating inside for the other days. Lunches we ate outside, not sitting beside the shrubs and with my husband frequently putting them underneath his glass. Upon noticing this problem, it was VERY obvious to us that there were at least 10 very large wasps nests around. This also resulted in us not drinking outside our room, we had to keep the drinks inside or run about with wasps flying after you.
It's probably better if you own/manage the hotel...because when you go to eat in the main dining area, you get heightened service of bread brought to you in a basket and 2 or 3 waiters taking care of your table.
As we rented a car for 3 days, it says that All Inclusive basis guests can order a takeaway lunch. The first day, we ordered 2 tuna lunches between the options of ham and tuna. When it came time to eat, we were given 2 greek-style PORK tin cans of spam. Needless to say, we did not order after that. What a waste.

Entertainment
Most 5* hotels are spot-on with their entertainment. During the first week, there was a guy in the hotel lobby area bar singing to backing tracks with a horrible speaker. A karaoke-singing couple, a horrible excuse for a "Greek Night" by the pool. The second week was much the same but everything was by the lobby.
In terms of daily entertainment, there was absolutely nothing. The 2 people hired as 'Animation Team' looked frequently hungover and angry (see picture of them in the morning). They were never seen doing any activities, instead they were often serving drinks around the pool.

Honeymoon Upgrade?
Since day 1, I was inquiring about a possible honeymoon upgrade. They told me that they would get back to me. Which after 7 days they didn't, so I re-inquired. Nothing. What happened next truly RUINED our trip. As we were in a more private area of the hotel that was quieter and more sheltered from others, it seems a great place for couples. Unfortunately, we knew our neighbours were leaving 1 week into our trip, but what we didn't know is who was coming in. We had 1 day of pure relaxation, no one around and then that night, there was big commotion around their balcony with the Manager/Owner (someone looking important) fussing about outside. Little did we know that who were moving in was a family with a special needs adult child. As a Teacher, I am completely aware of special needs and disabilities, but to knowingly place a family beside a honeymoon couple is more than rude. They were upgraded to that room free whereas we PAID for our room. Well, I had to complain time and time again about our neighbours. They were especially noisy, rude, splashed a lot in the pool and at one point, the son was touching his private parts while lying in his sun lounger and staring at me. My husband and I felt absolutely disgusted. I complained to reception who just said 'oh yes, the couple with the special needs child'.
It was only at that point where we were offered 2 choices.
1) We change rooms (for 5nights of our 14) to another room in the shared-pool area.
2) Pay 100 euros a day to move rooms into a villa room.

I can just say that I told them no, we are not paying to move rooms and also, that we would not be moving 2 rooms down as it is more hassle for us. Instead, it resulted in us blaring our music when they left their balcony door open with the tv blazing and also saying rude comments.

No true 5* hotel would have their guests being as visibly stressed as we were...ESPECIALLY on our honeymoon.

I have been reading the past reviews, and I am sure that we were at the same hotel, just that we had heightened expectations...yes, we know 5* in Greece isn't always 5* but it wasn't even close. They did nothing special to enhance our vacation and were often reluctant to help. I had requested to speak to the manager on countless occasions, and he was conveniently never around.

Please send me an email for more pictures and more information.

If we were to ever return to Kefallonia, we would very obviously not stay there but instead stay in a self-catering residence on the more-beautiful Eastern side of the island.

Just returned from a visit to Mareblue Apostolata Resort outside of Skala, 02/10/2011 to 09/10/2011 we stayed on a half board basis which was OK for us because we spend most days on the beach. Weather was very good and everything was fine, food and all services was excellent.
We stayed in a Superior Room (602) with a view of the sea which was just perfect. The Superior room had a bath and two showers and the room was big and well fitted out

All the staff at the Apostolata work very hard but were all happy and pleased to assist

Things you should remember:-
1)This hotel is 2 or 3km outside Skala so having a car is I think neccessary
2)We had to purchase a kettle for morning tea maybe the hotel should provide this, it does have room service but this is expensive if you only want tea first thing in the morning or last thing at night.

We spent a week at the Mare Blue Apostolata in September for a week's rest and relaxation and were not disappointed. It is certainly the most luxurious hotel we have ever stayed at in Greece.

From the moment we arrived and walked into the wonderful reception area with lots of soft seating areas, a glass floor with views to the indoor swimming pool and saw the simply stunning views from the fabulous terrace we knew we were going to enjoy every minute. The journey from reception to our room in one of the hotel's buggy's was a real treat and the room itself just stunning. The room was large and airy with a balcony overlooking the sea. It also had a lovely large bathroom with an unusual sliding louvered panel next to bath which could be opened to allow you to laze in the bath while looking out to sea. Bliss!

The hotel is wonderfully situated on a hillside with lots of different blocks of accommodation on different levels, giving a much more pleasant and open feel than a traditional hotel. I personally loved all the little paths and stairways and gardens which I felt gave the feeling more of a village rather than a large nondescript hotel. The situation on the hillside also means having fabulous views of the sea from almost anywhere in the hotel grounds. There are 3 dining rooms - we only ate in the main dining room because we just loved the outside terrace and the stunning views of the bay. The food was very varied and very enjoyable. The staff were all very friendly. The pool is quite large and beautifully situated with more views over the sea and certainly when we were there it was a pleasure to have a swim as it was never full and never noisy.

The hotel is a few kilometres out of Skala town but there is a courtesy bus which runs to both Skala and Poros every day except Sunday. We walked into Skala each morning as it isn't too bad going downhill but obviously caught the bus back! We also went into Poros although it isn't a large place.

All in all we had a great week in a wonderful hotel in a simply stunning location. I would not recommend the Mare Blue for young people wanting an exciting nightlife but for families and couples wanting a week of luxury and peace and quiet it is ideal. I still remember sitting on our balcony each evening watching the moon rise and then waking up the next morning to watch an equably fabulous sunrise.

A week was not long enough!