Admiral De Luxe

We spent 2+2 weeks with our family at the Admiral Hotel in early July. The hotel is close to the airport – the transfer takes about 20 minutes. We arrived at the hotel at 8 am and were immediately given wristbands, allowing us to make use of the facilities – that is, to have breakfast and use the swimming pool and bar. Although check-in isn’t until 3 pm, our room was already ready by 11 am. A room with a private pool is a real hit. The pool is 1.4 metres deep – perfect for the kids. Although the main pool wasn’t particularly crowded, having your own pool gives a sense of privacy and you can use it whenever you like. The hotel guests are quite a mix – Poles, English, Scandinavians, lots of young couples, and plenty of families. The room is spacious. The TV displays key hotel information in case you’ve forgotten what time a particular meal is served. There’s no proper wardrobe, just coat hangers, so our bags were lying on the floor, half-unpacked. A fridge with water (topped up daily), and a free safe. A large bed plus two extra beds for the kids. The air conditioning worked well, no complaints there. Bed linen changed once a week. The room was given a quick tidy every day. Breakfasts were basically the same every day, but there’s something for everyone. Rolls, cold cuts, cheeses. Full English breakfast. Scrambled eggs, various omelettes, fried eggs, sausages, salami, salads, vegetables, yoghurts, porridge, juices. Live cooking station – usually some cuts of meat and fish. Plus, a themed vibe every evening. And, as usual, chips, pizzas and pasta for the kids. I must admit that the dishes were very tasty and well-seasoned. There was plenty of food, and we always managed to find a seat. We never had to wait for a table. Bottled water on the table, fizzy drinks on tap. The coffee from the machine is okay. The service was a plus. You could tell they were making an effort, whether it was the waiters or the bar staff. Generally, there weren’t any long queues at the bar. Argassi is a small resort. The hotel is situated on a gentle slope. There’s a nice little pub – the Meating Place – nearby. Plus, just a few steps away is a mini-golf course, brilliantly lit up in the evening. Then there’s the Beer Academy – styled like an English pub, but with about eight pool tables. Apart from that, there’s a mix of souvenir shops, quad bike hire places, bars, tour operators and tavernas. You’ll find a few clubs too. Generally speaking, there’s no chance of getting bored. We went to the beach to see the Venetian bridge, but apart from that we weren’t really drawn there. The beaches are rather poor – narrow and stony – but there are buses heading towards Vasiliko (city buses) or free buses to Banana Beach or St Nicholas, where you’ll find a sandy beach with a very long, gentle slope into the sea. Sun loungers cost €20–30 per set, and waiters bring your order straight to your loungers. There’s also a city bus to the capital – it takes about 15 minutes. A ticket costs €2.20 There isn’t much to see there, but there’s a nice promenade with cafés and a few places worth visiting. There aren’t any entertainment staff as such at the hotel. The swimming pool has a separate area for little ones. As we had a room with a private pool, we really didn’t need anything else.

We have had the best 2 week holiday either of us have ever had in a double room with a private pools. We turned up a little apprehensive after reading some of the negative reviews, but for our experience, they simply weren’t true. The staff couldn’t have been any better. Hotel in general - The hotel is on the small side but we didn’t find this much of an issue, it’s close enough to walk to plenty of bars and restaurants if you were to get bored in the day. Food- The food is better than other all inclusive we have been to before, whilst the choice isn’t vast, every meal we both managed to find something we enjoyed. However, it did sometimes feel repetitive but of course it would if you stayed for 14 days. The drinks offered were amazing, a very large cocktail menu (that were made by hand), different choices of wine, soft drinks, mocktails and smoothies. A special thank you to Olena and Anatolii for fantastic service. The snack bar is not great at all we didn’t know it was even there for a good few days. It’s just a hot hold with chicken nuggets and sandwiches. Pool- The main pool was pleasant (small but not an issue for us) lots of sunbeds the atmosphere is quieter the higher up the “hill” you go. Background music played all day but it was usually quiet unless there was an activity like pool yoga or volley ball. Snacks. Ice cream are brought round the main pool once or twice a day this was a lovely extra. Our room & pool - We stayed in a double room with a private pool. Originally there were a few concerns I had about the room the night we arrived and were shown 2 other alternatives however we chose to stay in room 110 as those concerns I had about the noise of the main pool being an issue was absolutely not a problem at all. (preconceptions I had regarding reading negative reviews) . The pool was absolutely amazing and seemed to be much larger than the other rooms with pools we looked around. We only had neighbours on the left side. The room was next to a patio where maintenance people appeared early in the morning to put chemicals in the pool but this was absolutely fine and due to them needing access it gave us a short cut kind of private patio to get to the main pool and bar which was a bonus. The private pools aren’t very private and you are overlooked from people from all other angles (balconies) and separating our pool and the main pool was just a bush so sometimes it was noisy with conversation from people on sunbeds but it wasn’t overly loud. If you get room 110 you are extremely lucky with the pool (see pictures). The room its self was good, spacious and most importantly clean! The only downside was actually trying to sleep. The beds were not amazingly comfy but the noise from upstairs was slightly irritating, every morning at about 8:45 a bed or heavy piece of furniture would be dragged across the floor and woke us up. The last day was unusual we were happy to pay and extend the room but due to building work happening in the corridor to fix a tile we had people/ builders on three occasions let themselves into our room early in the morning without knocking this was annoying and then made us question how they had access to a key card to our room. If this had happened earlier in the holiday I would have been extremely bothered by this. We presumed it was just human error and the builders had a key to a storage room and they had been told that was our room. Outside the hotel- Within a 5 minute walk there are plenty of bars and restaurants that are open late. For a couple who like a few drinks but not looking for a clubbing location this was wonderful. Beach - There isn’t one - we struggled to locate any sandy areas and to access sunbeds you have to do it through a bar and buy drinks. Overall- We have both stayed in 5* hotels before and this hotel beats them by miles. It is a perfect 4* and the only reason I would say it’s not a 5* is due to its size and little things like the snack bar. We will definitely be returning for another holiday.

We are 10 days in to a 2 week stay here at Admiral De Luxe and we absolutely love it. Don’t listen to the reviews that say it should be a 3 star. In all honesty it’s closer to a five star as long as you aren’t really silly and pick up on silly little things that you would find at any hotel. There has always been something for both of us every time we have ate. The drink and cocktail menu is brilliant and made by hand not machine. The staff from Manager down are always really pleasant and friendly and will try and do anything for you. We are staying in room 110 and it’s a perfect private pool room. We can’t recommend this place enough. If you aren’t looking for issues in this place, you won’t find one.

On our arrival we were greeted by the staff, drinks were brought over and we were shown to our rooms which I thinks amazing. The hotel is a small hotel with only one main pool however it is very nice and kept clean. We stayed for a week all inclusive and to be totally honest the food was such a let down, we ate out most nights. The rooms are lovely and spacious. The only thing I would say about the room is the bathroom was not ideal, our shower head was in the middle of the bath which just ment the water went all over the floor. Staff were nice, we accidentally locked our safe and couldn’t get it open, when we told reception we had someone at our room within 5 minutes to open it for us. Overall it was a nice hotel but I wouldn’t come back as all inclusive if I ever did.

We got a welcome drink on arrival, we weren’t told what it was, but it ended up being non alcoholic mango and delicious. We were shown to our room which was nice. Our room unfortunately had somebodies dirty underwear in the bin… and the toilet seat was broken, we got a new bin bag put in and toilet seat fixed within half an hour, but the toilet seat broke again when it was sat on so we just put up with it. We got 1 litre bottles of water everyday which was nice, towels replaced if you left them in the bath which was nice. The glasses and cups in our room weren’t even clean, they had coffee stains and lip stains on!! All but one glass had been used. Thin walls, can hear peoples alarms and walking down the corridors. Floor not swept once in the room, yes it was mopped but never swept, there was sand and hair and just general dirt from the week, a very simple task that could improve the hotel a lot. No wet floor signs when walking through the hotel corridors, only on the main area, safety hazard. The cleaners didn’t really acknowledge you, never been somewhere where they don’t say hello, which is fine but something I’m not use to when abroad. Pool towels would be taken if no one was on the sub beds when staff did a walk around which is amazing, this should be done at every hotel, you shouldn’t be able to hog a sunbed if you’re not going to be on it there and then. I noticed a few times a family took up 3 of the big beds, they would have 1 person sat there and keeping the beds, I get it, but also every single day this happened, and quite often no one would be on the other 2 beds for a good hour or two. No one else had chance to use the beds & the attitude when the staff went to take towels off one bed was horrible! No way to speak to someone doing their job. Quite a few sunbeds had holes in from cigarette burns. We didn’t go in the pool as it was quite small for how many people were in it, especially with the pool inflatables, not a lot of room at all. Around the pool up the hill section was very shabby, the cover under the stones was visible, simple things like sweeping the stones every evening to cover this would make such a huge difference to the hotel!!! Make it look like the effort is there and the hotel cared about. It was nice to sit up at the top as it was quite private, you didn’t feel like you were right next to a stranger. The drink selection in the restaurant was okay, unbranded cola, diet cola, lemon and lime, soda, orangeade, apple juice, orange juice and pineapple juice - quite often watery or syrup ran out completely but pineapple juice was delicious, as was orange juice (not fresh orange more like diluting orange juice) Tables not being set quick enough, quite often had to sit on a table of 4 due to no tables being set, one time we sat by 5x tables that were not set for the whole time we were eating, approx 20 mins. Quick clearing them but not resetting and nowhere to get your own cutlery or napkins. Also there were only large desert spoons available, no teaspoons when some deserts came in little pots so it was hard to get the desert out, sometimes we were able to get a teaspoon from the coffee station. I was eating one of the cakes and I was chewing on Polystyrene which was not a great surprise! Sometimes hairs in the food, which could’ve easily been other guests with it being a buffet help your self style layout. I was also really put off when seeing flies around the food and landing on the food, there needs to be something done to prevent this. Cold food, tasteless deserts which were basically coloured cream deserts, occasionally there were delicious deserts, beans were always cold, very rare the food was hot, warm occasionally but never hot which really let it down considering they had the heat lamps and were sat on hot plates! A lack of Greek food, which was so disappointing, would’ve loved to have had Greek food! There were gyros for the snack on the Saturday lunch time but that was it. They gave out ice cream a few days and alcoholic drinks, props to the waiters doing this up and down in the heat. Loud music on an evening by other guests, we had a room opposite the restaurant which was absolutely fine, but halfway through a group of young adults arrived and were blasting music and jumping in their swim up pool from around 10:30pm until 1am, very surprised the hotel did not put a stop to this, especially after 11pm. Overall it’s disappointing for a 4 star hotel as advertised from Tui, I’d say it’s more a 3 star hotel, it’s a shame because if there was just that little bit more effort, care and time put into it, it would be such a fantastic hotel! If the little changes were made if definitely consider returning, this hotel has so much potential, it’s just a shame the little things add up and show a lack of effort.