Semiramis Village Hotel

I can only review the Semiramis hotel in hersonissos as I saw it. Okay, firstly the hotel is very very clean. There was always enough sunbeds to go round and never struggled to get one. The pool is clean and is also medium sized but is salty although this means you stay afloat easier. If you have walking difficulties DO NOT book this hotel. It is about 200m from the main road that leads into Hersonnisos or Stalida(Stalida being closer) and this is also 15-20 mins walk into the centre. If you are unlucky to be given a room in the third block(at the back) there are 94 steps from reception to the top but as we are quite young and fit it wasn't a problem. The bar does close at 11pm. Not much good for children either as there is only a swimming pool. As for the food it is up to you to decide but personally thought it was ok but they do cater for the Europeans more than the British. The milk is terrible. I suppose they have to got to cater for the masses because there are over 190 rooms. Overall though we had a great holiday but the food could do with looking at but I would definitely stay there again but maybe not all inclusive as there isn't much choice in the way of drinks (pop,coffee,tea,beer,raki,ouzo,metaxa).

Just came back after staying all inclusive 24th October for a week. Well, I can confirm most of the previous reviews; it really was like Fawlty Towers. Although there were few guests left, we were allocated a room on the third floor, and the lift only goes to the first. The reception guy did help us with our cases though. Also, it is not anywhere near Hersonissos, but on the extreme outskirts. However, we bought the holiday extremely cheaply, and we went in with eyes wide open, having read previous reviews. Two days before we left, workmen were ripping other rooms apart, then dumping the destroyed furniture on the side of the road leading to the hotel! Don't know how far they're going but quite frankly, the whole hotel needs demolishing and starting again. It could be a lovely location if the road was made a little more user friendly (it's pretty steep), overlooking the sea. The whole complex needs a lot of tlc, and the inside areas, especially the dining room, very gloomy and dark. Concrete everywhere, including our bedroom ceiling which was unpainted concrete! The bed was incredibly hard and uncomfortable and the pillows rock hard. The swimming pool and pool area was pleasant, but also needs a refurb, a rusty filter was removed and not replaced in the last two days. At the beginning of the week, there was more of a choice foodwise, but still very limited; at the end, hardly any choice at all! It was, in the main, eatable and we never saw any black hairs as mentioned in previous reviews. The fruit juice was in a dispenser and disgusting. There wasn't even one of those rotary toasters, so it was bread or nothing at breakfast. The wine offered was red, white or rose plonk but drinkable. At the end of the week, there was no rose to be had, and a waitress happily informed us that rose and red wine were the same thing! Tea and coffee were in urns, and in the last two days tasted like mud. It must have just sat there stewing for the duration. The metaxa available was undrinkable, and we had strong suspicions that it was made with the cheap and nasty fake spirits we've been warned about in Greece. We didn't bother with the raki! As we had only paid the price of an airline ticket each, we could afford to eat out all the time and chose to do so mostly in Stalis, a 20 minute stroll away. Emmas taverna has good food, and a special mention for Yanni's Golden Heart Taverna - superb! Also worth a visit, Koutaloufari village, lovely unusual jewellery shop there and good tavernas, and Old Hersonissos. The latter has a charming village square, there is a free Greek evening every Monday (rather than paying the very pricy 45 euros to the holiday company to go somewhere far less nice), and the locals eat at the charming tavernas found there. You can walk, but it's a bit of a trek to both, and we'd recommend cabbing it. Finally, the hotel staff. We have to say, we found everyone, with the exception of the day barman who never seemed to smile, perfectly charming. If you treat people pleasantly, they normally respond, and this was the case here. They all worked incredibly long hours and looked absolutely exhausted, but always greeted us with smiles. On the last day, whilst we were waiting for the coach to pick us up, which was forty minutes late, we were offered free greek coffees by the guy on reception, which we gratefully accepted. Then, which has never happened to us anywhere before, he offered us a free lunch, as we had missed this on our first day, owing to arriving late afternoon! We politely declined, but were touched at this nice gesture. Well, I don't know what the future of this hotel will be, but there is no way that it can be considered a four star. I hope they turn it around.

I have just returned from a 2 week all inclusive holiday to crete staying at the semiramis village hotel, booked with olympic holidays. The only way to discribe both are a disgrace. The holiday in total cost me £2500 for myself and family and i have been left feeling robbed after looking forward to a well earned break for so long. To start with i was told on booking this hol that transfer times from the airport was only 25mins. A good thing considering young children and night flights, but the transfer took 1and1/2 hours. Still not warrenting a major complaint! Keep quiet we're British and don't like to make a scene after all; but other things taken into account i say complain like hell! The semiramis was clean(the only good point) The rooms basic but livable. Apart from the large patch of black mould growing in the toilet in my childrens bathroom and the decoration in my room being incomplete. There was a window in my shower so you where in full view of anyone passing if the window was open. The olympic rep we never saw until 2 days before departure. I was present in the reception and dining area for at least an hour of the arranged recption meeting and she never arrived. I also made a point of being in the reception area at the times specified for her visits on her schedule and not on one occasion did she arrive. When i finally bumped into her, by chance she showed no concern about my complaints, made a point of telling me she didn't push herself on guests; then quickly quoted that olympic hols and her colleagues would cover for her anyway! Surely in introduction to guests is not pushy and at least should be attempted! The food at the semiramis was disgusting to say the least! I personally doubt even cooked on the premises. There was never any smell of cooking until just before food was put out on display in the baine maries. Food was just kept warmed in these and was always luke warm! Chopped up small portions of meat and chicken with plenty bones; cheap scag end cuts of meat where always available with plenty salads and dry bread. Along with unidentifyable dips and eggs done in similar disguises! Dark hairs found in these on at least 2 occassions. Myself and children are not fussy eaters and would prefer to try a medertarian dish than be supplied with burger and chips, but after a week we could't face any more of the semiramis food and ate out for the following week. The all inclusive drinks are limited and strict time limits apply. For example i witnessed one gent half fill his glass and the bar man swithched the pump off telling him it was 11 o'clock! Red and white wine was kept in the fridge for self service in plastic jugs, rather like hospital specimens! These too promptly removed at 11'o clock. I am not a big drinker but was relutant to pay for drinks after 11 just with the clock watching rude attitude with which 11o'clock was broached by the staff. The all inclusive snacks where dry bread with either spam or processed cheese, left in the fride for you to help youself. There would be riots in prisons in England if this was suppied to prisoners! But we tourists pay for the pleasure! The staff at the semiramis that thats a different matter! What a bunch of unhelpful, bad mannered, downright rude people! One paticular barman was boarding on scary with his rude attitide.We never so much as even witnessed a smile off him in the whole 2 weeks we were there! We were refused service of greek coffee and food because we were all inclusive, even though we made it obvious we had the money and willing to pay for them! I say sod being British and keeping the stiff upper lip and apologizing when we've done nothing wrong! Complain like hell! I for one feel totally robbed! I paid a lot of money for this holiday and feel i am entitled to a decent service. Nither proved by semiramis or olympic. I have had all inclusive holidys in the past {not with olympic} to counties that are classed as 3rd world for similar costs to receive excellent treatment and food. The Greeks boast of their hospitality; i, and my family will not be returning and if this is an example we will return to 3rd world anyday!!!!

Well to begin if you are reading this in hope of booking to stay there don’t, that may be the best advice you will ever receive in your lifetime!!! I travelled with my mum, older sister, younger brother and younger sister, and although one of the points of booking to this hotel was because of the promised 25 minutes transfer time this somehow managed to turn to one and half hours!!! However on arriving to the hotel and seeing that it seemed nice we didn’t mind. On arriving at the hotel we were dropped by a rep and the night receptionist simply give us our key put our suitcases in the lift and pointed us in the direction of our rooms, now as we were on the second floor we were not too bad at getting our cases, but as the lift only went to the first floor if you were on the seventh level you were sure to struggle as no help what so ever was given!!! No one in my family is a picky eater, even the young children will attempt to eat different foods, but I have to say had I been at home I would not have even fed that food to my dog, for the first few days we tolerated it, but there is only so much cucumber, plain pasta and greasy meat with endless bones a person can eat. Also after learning the routine of the order in which the food was served in we also noticed that the food not used at breakfast was simply "recycled" to make egg mayo, or omelettes with the German sausages left from breakfast too!! Also for extra flavouring there seemed to be many black hairs added to the food!! On two occasions there was actually chips for breakfast, and even the children were questioning who gives chips for breakfast!!! This soon resulted in us eating out on many occasions!! The hotel was cleaned regularly by the maids, and I can only fault the large patch of mould growing on the wall in our bathroom!! However my mums room the decorating had not been finished! Also in our room the shower had a tendency to flood the entire bathroom and therefore spent most of the time trying to get dressed without falling, and used all the clean towels to dry the water from the floor to stop my younger brother falling when he entered!! The staff at the hotel were rude, bad mannered, and to be honest unless you were German I don’t think they even noticed you were staying there!! My all time favourite was when our family of 5 got moved off a table that we could all sit at,to a table for 4, so another German family who were eating in two separate groups anyway could seat there!! Having our drinks returned to us half way through the meal, with no apology!! One man in particular, I don’t think I saw him smile once in my whole two weeks there, the only words he knew was "no" and "its 11 o’clock" which indicated that all inclusive had stopped!! as for the all inclusive you would probably get more selection at MacDonald’s, the drinks included soft drinks, soda water, white and red wine(stored in plastic jugs!!) raki, ouzo, cheap lager (to be drank from a plastic cup) and brandy, these stopped prompt on 11pm and not a minute after as a gent staying was half way though pouring his half pint, and the man turned off the pump and informed him he would have to pay for the rest of the plastic tumbler full if he wanted it filling!! Snacks that were provided between allocated times included cheese, or cheese and ham sandwiches on dry bread with no butter!! Even if asked for!! These were kept in the same fridge as the wine and raki! During the holiday it was my sisters birthday, and another couple bought her a cake, as it was a large cake after sharing it between our group there was still some remaining, we therefore asked if it could be placed in the fridge inside the kitchen until the next day, they allowed this but on returning to ask for the cake it appears that we had imagined this cake as none of the staff seemed to know what we were talking about!! Throughout the two weeks holiday, we saw our OLYMPIC rep once, and this was two days before our departure!! when asked why she had not been available before now, she simply stated "I do not spend my time chasing holiday makers, my colleagues will back me that I have been available" after that she seemed to be living in our hotel!! on our last day we had to check out of our rooms at 12 o’clock noon, only to be picked up and 1am the following morning with nowhere to change! so as a result had to sit around all day with our travelling clothes on, my mum lay down on the sofa for a rest and was told "you can not sleep here, you must go sleep on a sun bed outside" and I was also told that I could not sit at my chair with my flip flops underneath, I think this was the first time I was spoke to for the whole two weeks stay!!! In all I feel I have been robbed and I didn’t even pay for the holiday I would not return to semi ramis if some one paid me to do so!! I feel I need another holiday to recover from the shock of being kept in a prison!! Only being entertained by a scratched cd each night unless you fancied the 2 mile walk each way to the nearest towns, which you had to walk in fear you were going to be run over. And on return having to climb the mountain style hill the hotel was based on!!

After reading the reviews on the Semiramis Village hotel, my girlfriend and i were naturally expecting the worst but decided to give it a try anyway. In my opinion, the hotel does not deserve all the criticism it gets and is nowhere near as bad as it has been made out to be. If i got two weeks all inclusive in the Semiramis for the same price next year, i would go again as we had a brilliant holiday this year apart from the first night which was not the Semiramis' fault. NEVER TRAVEL WITH HELLENIC VOYAGES!!!!!!!!!!!!! On landing in Heraklion airport we were informed that the Semiramis Village had been overbooked, and that we would have to spend our first night in the Dimitrion Hotel in Hersonissos, with no guarantee when we would be transferred, if at all. The Rep didnt even get on our bus and it was left to the driver, who spoke no English, to tell people which hotels they had to get off at. The Dimitrion should be closed down as it is absolutely terrible in every way. We lay awake for the whole first night with the noise, and the next morning we got the worst breakfast ever. Luckily we were told after breakfast by the receptionist that we, and three other couples were the "Lucky Ones" and would be transferred to Semiramis that day. One couple on our flight were not so lucky and were told that they would be staying in the Dimitrion for the duration of their holiday. We recieved no welcome meeting from Hellenic Voyages and it was a further ten days before we caught sight of another Hellenic Rep who kindly gave us FIVE MINUTES of his time. Back to the Semiramis! LOCATION: The hotel is at the top of a hill which isn't half as bad as its made out. Maybe 40 metres long and only steep towards top end of it. We were up and down it all the time without a bother. 15 minute walk to stalis which is nice. ROOMS: On arriving there, we realised that it was completely luxurious compared to the Dimitrion. The Receptionist was very helpful and quickly gave us our room keys, and led us to our doors. Our room was in a single row of 6 which was situated away from the main hotel block. It felt like we had our own little apartment and it was immaculatley clean, as well as havin a brilliant view. Towels were changed every 2 days and sheets every day in between. POOL: The pool is as good as ive been in and it wasn't overly difficult to get sun loungers every day if you wanted one. Salt water pool which was big and never overcrowded. BAR: I don't understand the complaints about the bar or the staff that work in it. The morning/afternoon/evening/night barman did tend to be grumpy at times but so would i if i was working a 14 hour day, every day!Two more bar staff started at 18:00 and both were a good laugh. I made good use of the self service Heningberg beer pump at the bar and the beer was always nice and cold. White wine ok, red not so good, ouzo nice. FOOD: Unless you're a really fussy eater you should be ok! Always a good selection of dishes which both my girlfriend and i had no problems with. As with every all inclusive, it can get a bit repetitive and we did find ourselves eating out in the second week. The food in the hotel however wasn't bad and we always found something we liked if we wanted to. ENTERTAINMENT: The hotel doesn't really have any but we didnt care as we discoverd ZORBAS TAVERN at the bottom of the hill across the road. Friendliest people ever! Daniel the barman, Ariss the cook, and Costas the character were all a good laugh and we were sorry when we had to go. Their pool is free and they don't hold back when it comes to free shots of ouzo. Anyone staying at Semiramis should go there. We met a couple from strabane during our stay so the four of us had plenty of craic either at Zorbas or in RELAX cocktail bar in Stalis, owned by Antonis and Panos who are brothers. Two cocktails for five euro and they are loaded with booze while still being damn tasty. Jasmine House Chinese in Stalis is also beautiful and reasonabley priced so go there to!:-) Lastly but not leastly: A big shout out to Anthony and Edel from strabane who made the holiday fun. Keep it real dudes and we'll be seeing use again. Also to Ron and Liz from Bangor who were good craic. All those mentioned also enjoyed their stay at the Semiramis and couldn't understand the negative reprts it had recieved.

Where do we start..... the room was spotless for a dungeon it was 10ft square and no windows, to get to our dungeon we had to climb 68 steps, staff very rude if your english. all inclusive drinks consisted of cheap house wine in jugs,raki, and cheap beer,soft drinks were cheap replicas all served in cheap plastic cups, any spirits or decent beer you had to pay for. And now for the food, breakfast consisted of cauliflower carrots potato fritters scrambled egg which had the texture of blue tack and tasted like it too, coffee like sludge, the rest of the meals consisted of pasta with black hairs, dry bits of chicken and fish, cauliflower german sausages and dry crusty bread and no butter. None of the english guest were happy with the meals and we ended up eating out for the rest of our holiday, which took up all our spending money. The pool was salt water which our son didn't like. We have stayed in crete many times and absolutley love it but we feel sorry for the first timers who will be put off a beautiful island and lovely people by this hotel. We are already booked for next year to crete and are staying in Stalis which is absolutley beautiful and will be going back to self catering we will never go all inclusive again after staying at the Semiramis.

arrived at hotel early morning - luckily we had read reports on line and asked for a room on 1st or second floor as donkeys ( to carry luggage ) and oxygen not supplied. The lift holds 2 people with luggage goes to 1st floor only so if you are on the top (7th floor) expect to carry cases another 6 floors The gentleman on reception is very helpful and all staff are relatively pleasant. However, as mentioned on previous reports on this accomodation, their version of all inclusive is very limited. When you want a drink, you are limited to only (and I mean only!!) lager, ouzo, raki, and local brandy (a little rough but drinkable) pop and red or white wine tea and coffee . food wise its just curly ham or cheese sanwiches Other than this, I'm afraid you will have to pay for it. as for The meals are limited and basic but traditional greek fare.don't expect chips as they didn't apear throughout the week we were there - food not suitable for picky eaters especially kids. The pasta and salads on at lunchtime and evening are lovely and if you want a change there is a reasonably priced bar snack menu ( is this the reason food limited so you HAVE to pay for burgers etc) The rooms are immaculately clean with bedding and towels changed daily. The view from all the rooms are beautiful from their position high over the hills of Iraklio. If you want to get out and about, walking into stalis (right at the bottom of the hill) is really quite pleasant as all downhill and provided you stick to the beach road, there are a number of little hotels and appartments with bars available for a stop off en route. If you do so, pop into the Irida Appartments - the staff (Clio, Mikis and Harris) are a delight and music is varied. In stalis town, lots to do and see and if you dont want to manage the walk, taxi's can be booked from reception for 6 euros (just over £4). Recommend the chinese - Jasine house - beautiful food and the most fantastic service you could imagine. Also if going down for just a drink and a snack, lots of places to stop. We had traditional Giros plate from Eden - gorgeous!! If you want to do a spot of shopping, recommend Hersonisus. Taxi around 8 euros (about £6) and lots of places to see and eateries. If you go to this hotel expecting to spend nothing, you will be disappointed. Had we had to pay full book price instead of offer on internet (£129.00 each) I would have had a fit - not worth paying over around £175. The pool is beautiful and salt water - was very wam and the tan as a result of the saltwater is marvellous!! Be aware however, the only entertainment is cards or sitting poolside listening to abba from the hotel next door- all damned week!! Never want to here waterloo again!! When we asked about entertainment, the manager advised that he had arranged a karoke monday night which was ok if you like getting drunk on rough brandy and singing your lungs out!! if you want to drink until the end of the entertainment however, the free drinks stopped at 10.50 so ensure that you get some in if you plan to stay to the end or you will end up paying over the bar. The hotel is international so you have your fair share of english, german, austrian and italian families. Made communication fun but everyone got on well despite the language barrier. Lots of sunbeds but they go very early in the morning so make sure you make brekkie otherwise, not a chance of a seat!! One small word of warning if a photographer (who isnt connected to hotel as manager said but staff said he was and had to ask manager if it was ok to pay by card ) asks you to pose for photographs for hotel magazine expect to pay 25 euro's for 5 photo's and you will be bullied into buying them - he said we had ruined the magazine shoot but told us nght before they were free. Nice photos but expensive for what they are. All in all we have had a great time thanks to the other holiday makers and would definately go there again but only under the proviso were getting it at a really cheap rate.

I have just come back from a week at the Semiramis Village in Hersonissos, Crete. The weather was fantastic apart from a few days that were cloudy (but still hot when the sun came out) We are two girls in our mid twenties and had a really chilled out week and met lots of nice people. The hotel itself - When we arrived we were pleased with the hotel, it looked lovely and was very clean. The hotel is off one of the main roads and up a steep hill which i believe was a problem for some people. We checked into the hotel and the receptionist was nice and friendly. The hotel has 7 different floors. It is basically split into 3 tiers of rooms which have two floors in each. We ended up on the sixth floor (typical!) There is one lift in the hotel which goes up to the first floor only. If you are somebody who struggles with stairs ask for a lower room when you check in or tell them you have some reason why you need one. Getting to your room with heavy suitcases was a definite struggle and nobody helps you but on the bright side you only need to carry it up there once and coming down wasn't too bad. There is a road which goes around so you can avoid all but two of the flights of stairs if you are high up. The room was basic as is normal for greece and very clean and we had a great view from being so high up. There was majority German people staying in the hotel but quite a mixture of french, italian and english aswell. We found a lot of things were catered towards German guests. The staff were not as you would expect in Greece. My past experience they've always been friendly and happy to help. One of the receptionists (male) was great and friendly. The man who looked after the bar during the day never smiled or talked even when you asked for things. He said the minimum possible. I suppose he gets no tips as its all inclusive. One man who worked the bar in the evening was lovely and very chatty but only to some people. In general they didn't speak much really, I think our cleaner spoke more than the daytime barman!! (By the way the rooms are cleaned daily and towels replaced regularly) Food/Drink - We were all inclusive and you are issued with wrist bands when you check in. Breakfast is 7.30 - 9.30, lunch 12.30 - 2.00 and dinner 7.30 - 9.30. Snacks and drinks are not available before 11am and drinks stop at 11pm. If you are all inclusive you can have soft drinks like 7up, pepsi and fanta and water which you have to fetch yourself from a drinks machine on the bar. Plastic cups are put out for you on a tray on the bar not a minute before 11am. There is also one lager pump on the bar which serves Mythos a greek lager. (Its not bad if you like lager) The only other drinks you can have for free are Ouzo (like pernod), Raki and Metaxa (greek brandy) and white or red wine. The wine is kept in a fridge in jugs and was a bit grim. They do not serve free drinks a minute after 11pm and occasionally closed the bar 10 minutes early and made people pay. If you are after vodka or something similar you'll pay 3 euros for a shot (which is about a double at home) or 4 euros for a cocktail. The food is served buffet style and is self service. Breakfast - They serve bread rolls/biscuits every day and also a selection of salads (which was available for every meal) A lot of the breakfast catered towards German guests or was greek. It does change daily but is always very similar. Omelette was available everyday and usually some kind of german sausage. They have cheese and spam (greek version of ham) and sometimes had things like potatoes etc. There are usually about 8 different things to choose from and you can have as much as you like. Tea/coffee is served and orange juice is available aswell. It wasn't bad but wasn't great either, you certainly wouldn't starve though as there's generally something you could eat. Lunch - Again varied daily and was mainly greek dishes (which i like) They served things like Gyros (greek style kebab) souvlaki (skewered meat) moussaka, goulash, meatballs etc and there was permanently a salad bar and lots of bread. (you have to ask for butter) They also always had some kind of pasta available and sauce was seperate so if worst came to the worst you could have that. Dinner - Very similar to lunch and always varied. If you are a fussy eater or don't like greek food you will be stuck eating bread and pasta/salad all week. I personally thought that the food was nice even though could be a bit bland. There were some days it wasn't nice but there is always something to have. Snacks were basically sandwiches which are put in the fridge and aren't covered up. Not bad if you get them quick but later on are hard and curled over. They also have biscuits/croissants etc. Some people referred to them as dog biscuits but we didn't try the snacks so can't say. If you really don't like the all inclusive food they also offer a snack menu at the bar where you can buy lunch and breakfast. We did that twice and they serve things like pizza, burgers, toasties etc which were nice aswell as greek dishes. Entertainment - Basically there isn't any. During our stay they had karoake on for one night but apart from that it was just a cd playing in the background and people talking or playing cards. It was very quiet in that respect. We went there expecting some kind of entertainment and planning to have a cheap holiday with the all inclusive but ended up going out for meals a few nights and drinks for something to do. If you are happy in your own company you'll be ok but if you like it lively you'll have to go out. Stalis and Hersonissos were the nearest resorts and lovely and both cost 6 euros in a taxi each way. Reception will order taxi's for you and they are very quick. Lots to do in both resorts, bars/clubs and lots of shops and places to eat. I would recommend you look at both while you're there. If you are after something super lively go to Malia. Its where lots of the 18-30's go and full of lively bars/clubs and places to eat. One thing to beware of and I don't know if this is a regular thing or a one off. On our last full day we were waiting to go out in the evening and a man approached us with a camera. He said they were doing a hotel magazine and asked if he could take our pictures as they only wanted english, irish and scottish. He said he'd be there the next day and we could see the pictures and if we liked them buy them. He also said we would receive free magazines sent to our home address in return for having our picture taken. We said yes and he took us out to the pool where we had pictures taken. The next day we came down for breakfast and he was there with the pictures of everyone from the night before on a big board. We looked at our pictures and to be honest they weren't that nice. There were some nice ones for other people but we didn't like ours. We handed them back and said do you want our address for the magazine. To cut a long story short he basically said that we 'HAD' to buy the pictures and only got the magazines when we paid for these pictures. There were four in total and he wanted 20 euro's. The full price was 25 but he said we were the last ones (we weren't) We didn't want the pictures and told him so politely, he then started arguing with us saying he'd told us the night before and we'd agreed to buy them and we'd now ruined his whole program etc. We were going to take three of them to be nice and he said 15 euro's. It was our last day and we were out of cash, we only had ten euro's to last the day. We told him so and he got quite aggressive saying well then have two for ten euro's. We explained we needed the money for water etc at the airport later on and the only way i could have them was to pay by card. He checked with the hotel manager and came back saying yes. I said ok we want these three pictures. He then said oh no if you are paying by card you have to have all four. It went on like this and me and my friend were getting annoyed. We basically ended up saying we didn't want them at all if that was the case as he was being very pushy and rude by this point. We walked away into the restaurant for breakfast and he swore at us and was muttering under his breath. He then stood watching us while we ate breakfast, obviously trying to intimidate us. Luckily for us we are quite strong characters but if that had been two younger girls or people who scare more easily they'd have been forced into having them. It wasn't a pleasant experience really and left us very angry as he'd lied the night before about what the pictures were for and tried to push us into buying them saying we'd ruined the whole program because we wouldn't have the pictures. If you aren't prepared to have the pictures (or an arguement) then don't have them taken in the first place. Bugs - There are some mosquitos around the hotel as there are lots of tree's. Some people got bitten a lot and some people not at all so take something with you just incase. There were a lot of ants around the pool area and if you put a cup down they'll be all over it. We also found some in our room too. I did get a few bites which I think were from ants not mosquitos but they aren't bad enough to ruin the holiday or anything like that. Anyway, all in all we had a lovely holiday and met some fantastic people. We got a good last minute deal so the all inclusive (or lack of) wasn't a problem for us. If we'd have paid a lot for the holiday we'd have been annoyed at the lack of entertainment etc too. Some people did leave because they didn't like the food/hotel while we were there. I would definitely go back to Crete as its great and if I got a good deal I would go back to the hotel as I know what to expect now. I would never pay full price to go there in a million years. If you have any questions or want to know nice places to go feel free to ask.

Hotel is on top of a steep hill (see photo) there's a lift which only goes to the first floor .the hotel is built in 3 seperate tiers up the hill, we were on the bottom floor of top building, 77 steep steps to the room.by the time we got to our room we needed oxygen just to speak.The rooms were clean & decent size , the telly had BBC world news & after 7 pm a movie channel with english speaking movies. The food was edable mostly Greek & lacked variety.So be warned if you want british food forget it.The people staying at the hotel were Dutch who I found quite friendly, Brits. Belgians & Greek.Swimming pool good & clean with plenty of of sun loungers.Now Drinks. we booked all inclusive, which to me means all drinks made in Greece .I know from being to Greece before that they make vodka, rum (clear & dark) & gin .You ask for one of these drinks & you are told ,If you want, you pay & at a price of 3 Euros.The only drinks that are all inclusive are Lager Uzo Rakie Brandy wine & soft drinks.This hotel is not for families, no ice cream at all in between meal times & for adults it's dry cheese & ham sandwiches.The last day you must hand your room keys in for 12 noon ,Thats when your fully inclusive ends .They give you a coupon for lunch & one drink from the restraunt .So if you fly out late you will have to pay for food & drink for the rest of the day. The staff were very friendly & helpful .We enjoyed Crete but to go back to this hotel i don't think so. By the way the price of lager is 2 euros for a half.

Upon arriving at the hotel we were very pleased - the staff seemed nice enough, the hotel itself was spotless and the view from the outside if the hotel was fantastic. We struggled with our cases up to the room - I am 21 years of age and I really struggled with the steps up to our room - the lift only goes to the 1st floor. Not recommended for people with walking difficulties! The pool and surrounding areas are kept clean but I would not recommend the hotel to couples with children as there are no activities for them. The rooms were very basic but, again spotlessly clean - towels and sheets changed on a daily basis. We had a fantastic sea view from our balcony. When we ventured out of the hotel we realised just how far Stalis and Hersonissos were. We decided to hire a car for the rest of the week. The hill that leads up to the hotel is extremely steep and a complete nightmare in the heat of the day and quite scary at night as it isn’t well lit at all and the cars come flying down it at high speeds. Apart from a one member of the reception staff and one barman the staff were rude, ignorant and unhelpful. When dinnertime came I was completely disgusted at the food that was on offer - cold soup and food that was unidentifiable!! My partner and I are not fussy eaters and we had only one meal at the hotel - we ate out the rest of the time which ate into our spending money. The breakfast wasn’t much better - greasy sausage and egg - no toast and tea that had been stewing in the urn for god knows how long!! The majority of the guests at the hotel are German and the hotel seemed to only cater for their tastes. On the evening there was no entertainment at all, just a cd playing very quietly in the background. The most popular activities seemed to be playing cards and reading!! This drove me completely mad and we decided to venture down the hill to a small bar situated at the bottom. Lovely people, great music and cheap drinks! There are plenty of nice restaurants in Stalis - The Robin Hood in particular is fantastic - good prices and lovely people (I can personally recommend the omelettes!) Crete is a beautiful island and I would return there again without hesitation - I wouldn’t, however go back to the Semiramis Village Hotel if I was paid to do so!