We arrived on October the 5th and stayed for two weeks, there was a problem at the hotel as confirmed by First Choice. We have since recieved compensation for them. First Choice have been excellent in handling our problem, including the rep Mikey. We will return to the hotel next year, as you can go anywhere and be ill, but this was a first for any of us and we have travelled all over with the children.

hi
i went to the petra mare in june,it was a last minute change as i had booked to go to the holiday village but cancelled this as the beach club was still not completed .i was not disapointed with the petra mare .food was not the best but was adequate and we never failed to find a meal.drink was plentiful, my 4 kids and one of their friends enjoyed the entertainment,me and the wife preferred to sit in either the piano bar or the mexican bar which both played music...
if mikey was the spikey haired geordie rep his attitude was just as poor in june as it was later in the year.nobody in our party was ill whilst we were there and we wasn't aware that any other guest's were ill either
we all enjoyed the hotel and have since booked to return there springbank for 2 weeks

I am relieved to read that holidaymakers are booking to go back to the hotel after reading some of the negative reviews that have come through. I will be finding out for myself in July and am still looking forward to it

Shell

I am so glad that someone agrees with me about Mikey, yes he was the spikey haired one and judging from the letter I got from First Choice, he has hopefully parted company from them. He did the company no good at all and let down the whole team. We have been lokking for somewhere that we can return to each year, while our children are still young and ( beside the ' ilness' ) this is ideal. I am quite glad that the prices have risen a little, as I do think the more you pay the more you expect, which can only reflect in the food and service, we recieve in the future.

hi
they will probably have a different team of reps at the hotel this year so the entertaiment might be first class
there is onlly a few small gripes for the first chioce group to sort out but i'll sure you'll all have a wonderful time anyway....
remember lifes what YOU make it

we had no grips about the entertainment, only about the hotel rep Mikey. We enjoyed the entertainment.
I would not class the health issue at the time we were there, as a small gripe. Especially when health inspectors were present and around 70 people were ill at the time we were there. Fortunatly only three of our group were ill and first choice have been excellent in handling this. I think they have a superb hotel here, with everything to offer, we liked the food, we liked the setting, we also liked the hotel and staff were lovely.
We didnt like teenages screeching up and down the hallways at 2/3 in the morning, follwed by toddlers around 6.30/ 7 in the morning. We have tennagers, we went to the mexican bar, returning around 2/3 am but we also had respect for others and kept the noise down, we also have young children and applied the same rule.
Life is what you make it, but when 3 people are experiencing the ultimate detox, one of which lasted for 5 days, it is hard to smile, unless at a health spa, especially when the hotel rep is incredibly rude.
Like I said before, hopefully a price hike, will sort out a lot of problems.

We went in June of 2004. It was our first holiday abroad with 2 young children and also our first all inclusive. I really enjoyed it there. The weather was fabulous and the kids spent most of the day in the pools. I would say the entertainment was a bit iffy and also on my second day there went to visit the toilets near to the snack bar. You have to go down marble stairs and even though I was treading carefully as I knew they would be wet I slipt very badly from top to bottom. The whole side of my leg was black and blue for over a week. So take care when walking around. I found the food to be ok but was a bit bored with it in the middle of the second week. It depends what you want out of a holiday and we all had a good time.

Oh and watch out for the wasps... they are everywhere!

Transfer time was around 2 hours and we had night flights.

We have booked to go to Petra Mare for two weeks on 23rd August 2005, after originally booking to go to Coral Sea Resort Hotel in Red Sea Riviera, Egypt.

After booking this, we found out the Hotel is still being built. We wer'nt prepared to take the chance of it not being ready, and so opted for the Petra Mare! Never been before to this Hotel or Crete, and just hope we wo'nt be disappointed. Is there anybody else going around the same time?

Hi Joanyy, I'm off there on 26th July so I will let you know how I got on on my return

Have a look at this http://www.petramare.com

Shell

Thanks Shell,

having seen those pics, I'm looking forward to my hol already. There's five of us going. Myself, my partner and three children 13, 13, and 5. one of the 13 year old's is my partner's son and he has'nt been abroad since he was 3. they should have a whale of a time on all those slides. I'm pleased with most of the reports for this hotel, having read back.

just hope it lives upto expectations and we keep getting reports from anyone going before us!
cheers Joanyy!!!.

Your welcome Joanyy, the water park is a good attraction for the kid's and no doubt I will be giving it a go myself I will definately let you know how I got on when I get back and pass on any hints or tips that I may pick up

Shell

I will be very interested to find out who the Hotel rep is this year, even though we had problems last year, we liked the hotel and resort, so will avidly be watching the reports this year, with regards to next years holiday.

going to the petra mare 12july for 2 weeks. would like to hire a car but not sure about driving in crete. i'ev heard that it's like wacky races not bothered about me just don't want to spoil the kids holiday any driving related information would be helpfull.

cheers knoxy

We hired a car last year and drove from Irepetra up to Knossos. The driving seemed ok... a bit mad in Heraklion but manageable. The mountain route is slow and very scenic but scared me to death along some of the roads which had quite a drop on the side. The journey was also doubled.

cheers for the driving update firefliesuk. what is it that runs round the water slide area? it looks like a lazy river or is it just still water. is there another water park on the island and how far is it.

Hi knoxy, according to the description by first choice it's a Lazy River The pools are also sea water.

Shell

Yes... it is a lazy river and I spent a lot of time in it!

There is another waterpark.. a big one I believe. I think it's near to Heraklion (don't quote me on that.. not entirely sure). First Choice organise a day out there. Well they did when we were there. You could also hire a car to get there

Pip

booked two weeks here at the end of june beginning of july, hope problems have been sorted, looking for fresh reviews when the season gets going

im going to the hotel in may and it will be my first trip there ive read a lot of bad reveiws but every one hear seams to like it so im not sure now what to expect, im going on the 17th may for 2 week so i hoping its ok ive got 2 kids ages 7 & 8 so my main concern is the food and cleanliness of the rooms and pools, has anyone been or will be going before i go to reasure me its fine? i would be good to hear from someone.