First Choice | The Thumbs Up

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Mrs C | 6 September, 2010

The Creta Panorama Hotel With First Choice

Just got back from a brill All Inclusive First Choice Holiday at The Creta Panorama in Crete. Never been to Crete before although we’ve been to Greece a few times now. I was expecting it to be hot obviously but Gordon flippin’ Bennett, it was absolutely boiling.

Fortunately the hotel had plenty of palm trees under whose leafy shade I could plant my sunbed and just lounge around reading all day. And when I needed a bit of cooling down, well I could take my pick from any one of 5 salt-water pools. I probably sound well stupid here but when I read that the pools were salt-water on the First Choice site I don’t think I realised that they would be chlorinated too. I think I just kind of imagined a swimming-pool shaped hole full of sea-water. But no that wasn’t the case – they were pretty normal hotel pools which just tasted a bit salty! There were loads of sunbeds incidentally which meant that there was NEVER a fight for a sunbed and there was none of that ‘plonking a towel on a sunbed at dawn to guarantee one’ nonsense.

Anyway, I digress. The hotel grounds were immaculate and our room was lovely and clean with a fantastic sea view. We’d only ever done the All-Inclusive thing once before so didn’t quite know how that was going to pan out but I tell you… any deal that lets you have as many freshly made-to-order cocktails as you want without handing over a penny (oops Euro) gets ‘The Thumbs Up’ from me. One evening we were having so much fun drinking Pina Coladas that we ‘forgot’ to go for dinner. Mind you, we had had a decent lunch so it’s not like we needed any more food. That’s another thing about the All Inclusive thing at The Iberostar Creta Panorama, there’s food on tap literally all day. Wherever you are and whatever time it is, you can always get something to eat and drink.

First Choice made everything very easy for us with our door-to-door coach pick-up and drop-off from airport to hotel and back. Check-in at our local airport Cardiff was smooth and simple, the plane left early unbelievably and the staff onboard were all lovely. Our Rep at the hotel was very easy to get on with though we had little need to speak with him as our entire stay went without any hitches.

The staff in the Creta Panorama were spot-on too. The bar staff, in particular, deserve a pat on the back. They were able to converse easily with all of us guests and there appeared to be at least a dozen nationalities there in the week we were there. The bar staff were always happy and smiley and made cocktails to order in a jiffy. Restaurant staff too were unobtrusive and kept all the food fresh and topped-up and the tables all clean and tidy.

We had a really lovely, relaxing holiday and will almost definitely go back there one day although will probably spend a few more evenings in Rethymnon next time as we thoroughly enjoyed our one evening there spent wandering the streets after a romantic, harbour-side meal.

Have a look and see what you think …. FIRST CHOICE CRETA PANORAMA

Mrs. C

Category: Travel, Holidays and Hotels | Tags: Creta Panorama, Crete, First Choice, Greece, holiday

Mr C | 14 August, 2010

One comment

Premier Inn – Our First Choice at Gatwick

That lovely time of the year, when we set off for our annual summer holiday, is one of the most exciting times in our calendar. I don’t subscribe to the view that holidays are stressful. After many months in the office I can switch off from the moment we close our front door.

However, when you’ve got an early flight to catch, it can be a bit nerve-racking doing battle with the UK’s motorways, knowing that one hold-up can jeopardise your chance of getting the flight, so the obvious answer is the ‘overnighter’!

We’ve done them loads of times; get to the airport the evening before, get the car safely stowed for its fortnight of rest and corrosion, unwind over a beer or two, and generally get as well into the holiday spirit as you can before actually flying to wherever you’re going. We’ve done expensive, where the G&T costs as much as a three course meal just down the road, and we’ve done cheap, where you get hot and cold running water….. (down the walls!). Both served a purpose, but on a couple of occasions now, we’ve used Premier Inn‘s facilities at Gatwick.

It’s an absolute breeze! Drive into their car park, check in, put hanging ticket inside car window and that’s it! Nothing more. The car park was actually at the hotel, so there was no need to move it once we had arrived. They’ve a really nice bar area for the aforementioned refreshment, a restaurant, where we were served a most hearty!!! portion of Steak Pie and an air conditioning unit that brought icicles to the end of my eyelashes. Our waiter was most accommodating though, and he kindly turned the Arctic chill off for a while. Once Mrs C had regained her ‘boiling’ mode again we retired for the obligatory night-cap. Our room was perfect: roomy, air conditioned, comfortable, quiet. Everything you’d want and expect from a good hotel, but the prices are absolutely amazing! We have nothing but praise for the staff who were all, without exception, pleasant, helpful and friendly. Each room can accommodate Mum, Dad and two kids, but they also have interconnecting rooms available for even larger tribes.

Everything is so convenient. You can either walk the short distance across to the North Terminal or you can take one of the frequent shuttle buses to either terminal. The following morning saw us into the South Terminal, doing battle with the holiday hordes in ample time to rest and relax again in departures. Mrs Duty Free advised us that we’d won a mega-sized family pack of Chocolate Eclairs when we handed in one of those “You Have Won” bits of paper we found. What a pain, we had to stuff a few of these down to ensure we weren’t contravening the cabin baggage allowances. Mind you, looking at the size of the cases that some other passengers were dragging around, I think they were taking additional family members in luggage instead of on seats, so we had nothing to worry about!

We do this ‘enjoying ourselves’ big-style when we go on holiday and can’t understand what causes all the fights, ill feeling, divorce, assault, murder that we read about in the popular press. Even when we arrived back tired, weary and ready to sleep, we popped back over to the hotel to pick up the car, and even then, it was a breath of fresh air. No wonder Lenny goes there! Everything was so well organised and the staff were so pleasant that we were reluctant to leave. However, duty had to be done and we set off ready to prepare for next year.