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