Clubhotel Magic Life Candia Maris Imperial
Hotel review Clubhotel Magic Life Candia Maris Imperial
Age: 31-35
Travel time: in August 10
I travelled as: Solo/single
Children: none
Duration: 1 week
Type of trip: Beach Holiday
Recommendation: No
Average rating of this review: 2.8
New owners, bad standards, not value for money
Enlarge letters A A Downsize letters A AI travel extensively and only stay in 5* resorts and by experience I would rate the Candia Maris Resort 3* max. This hotel very recently changed hands and most of the reviews on here reflect the standards of the previous owners. Although the room rates are not unreasonable; the hotel is clearly understaffed, the food is appalling with a severe lack of local cuisine and everything is grossly over priced.
Per person, one week cost £1,350 (£664 for 7 nights with breakfast + a daily average of £100 for 2 coffees, 2 small bottle of water, 1 small fruit juice, a 2 course dinner and 2 alcoholic beverages), compared to £1,350 for 2 weeks at a true 5* resort in Cancun with all the luxurious trimmings you could dream of.
Excluding the rooms, the hotel is generally well maintained and clean - don’t sit on the sofas on the lobby bar balcony though unless you enjoy being eaten alive!
Location
Amoudara is central on the northern coast of the island and is perfect if you are planning on sight-seeing. However, it is not the kind of area I would feel safe or comfortable strolling around alone. The Cretan Sea is lovely and the beach was okay, directly on the resort.
The staff are absolutely fantastic; friendly, very helpful and they work really hard. The facilities are reasonably good but it is predominantly self-service, no pampering, no luxury – not 5* at all. Unfortunately, the housekeeping is atrocious, basically folding the towels and straightening the bed covers. During the entire week, the floors were cleaned once, only the sink area in the bathroom was cleaned and the bed sheets were not changed at all. Room service trays were left sitting outside the room for almost 24hrs and I had a ridiculous collection of dirty glasses on the desk by the end of the week.
Gastronomy
1 greek taverna with a whopping choice of 3 greek dishes, 1 italian/french restaurant, 1 sloppy buffet.
Extremely expensive with more emphasis on quantity than quality, e.g. €3 for a small bottle of Coca-Cola brand water, €4.50 for a coffee, €7 for a small fruit juice and the cheapest meal is €30 for a sloppy buffet saturated in dill. Great if you plan on killing yourself with substandard food, not so good if you expect 5*, as that is what you are paying for, nor if you enjoy sampling the culinary delights of the country you are visiting (if you are not prepared to even try it then stay at home with your fish and chips).
Sport & Entertainment
Nice pools, reasonable beach close by, no sports activities via the resort.
Room
Comfortable but basic. The beds are quite hard, but not uncomfortable. Unfortunately the room doors are not sound-proof - so don’t count on a relaxing lie-in.
Tips and recommendations
Windy but hot and sunny.
Mobile phone coverage is intermittent, internet is not unreasonable at €3.5 for 1 hour.
Additional info concerning your hotel review Clubhotel Magic Life Candia Maris Imperial
| What type of room did you review? | Double room Standard with view Pool |
| Did the hotel meet the standards of its official catalogue description? | No, worse |
| Does the hotel deserve its official star rating? | No, worse |
| How would you describe the value for money? | Very poor |
| Which tour operator did you travel with? | No details |
