Holiday disappointment - trying to enjoy it but honestly so upset

[OnTheRoll]

Now I know that this is not really a big problem - but it certainly feels like it when I have spent over 4k on 8 days for all-inclusive hotel and it's just meh...
it wasn't the cheapest option by far, a 4-star hotel and excellent reviews on Booking.com and Triparvisor - but I just don't see how they were rated so good.
The beach is abysmal, very little parasols so we had to do without. Same with lounges around the pool. The AL bar serves 5 cocktails that consist 90% of lemonade. The AC is the room is not cool enough.
I have been to all-inclusives before, same price range or even cheaper and they were miles better.
This is our only family holiday in the year and I was so looking forward to it. I want to enjoy it but it's lacking in the very basics.
How to get over the disappointment and try to have a good time? I am at the beach right now and it's just depressing

Are there no Google map images of the beach? I would have checked that sort of thing before booking.

Oh what a shame! I loved Crete! Though it was so hot when I went that I only went on one excursion to Spinalonga as read about it in Victoria Hislop's book.

I am not a beach person so spent a lot of time in the pool just chatting!

Looking at your picture of the beach I’m
really worried you’re where we are going in a few weeks!

Can you get up mega early to reserve a sunbed and parasol? Can have a snooze on the sunbed then, I love sleeping near the sea, sound of the waves. It does sound very disappointing, can you go out for a few drinks some nights, I know that’s extra money but you don’t want a thoroughly miserable holiday

sorry to be this person but it’s super unfair on the hotel to keep the ac running all day when you’re not in the room, so please don’t follow this advice about the supermarket card. Greece has some of the highest electricity prices in Europe with one of the worst economies and the cost of living crisis just like in the UK has absolutely brutalised so many small businesses here, with hotels closing left right and centre. For an example, I’m currently using my AC in Athens about three hours a day every weekday during this heatwave whilst I work, and my bill was around €250 Euro this month (up from c.€50/60 when I don’t use the aircon). Please think about what these kind of actions mean.

That’s without even considering the fact that it’s a mega fire hazard to try and rig an electrical system like this, and we’re all looking at the devastating news this week on our islands.

I dont want to come across as preachy or rude and I hope I haven’t, but for these reasons please advise OP to get someone to check AC or provide extra fans rather than making this suggestion of hacking it so it runs when you’re not in the room.

Where are you going/staying?

My advice as an ex director of the commercial arm of a multi international AI:

Get your self a big bottle of local gin/vodka and lots of tonic.
Go to recpetion, say your teen has twisted a foot and needs a big bucket of ice.
Go to reception a bit later and say you want the name and email of a) the food and beverage manager and b) the general manager. Ask for their email addressess. Do not deal with the surly local teenager at the desk.
Put all of this is an email now.

Sit back and relax on the balcony with a G&T

For all those saying "go out and mooch around" I live in Spain, you would not do this. The temperature is hell and all museums and markets etc are shut in the afternoons, for good reason.

Temperatures are hottest at 8pm more or less.

Too late now, but I'd never do AI in Greece or the Greek Islands. We always go self catering or B&B, at a push. We went to Crete this year, so I can recommend Sissi...very pretty town and harbour and there's a taverna just outside the harbour there called 'Tavern Amelia', which serves great food and has a fab atmosphere...not expensive either (unless you drink loads of cocktails!).

We had a similarly awful experience last year....our 1st holiday in decades and we had never spent so much on a holiday before either (5* platinum AI)...nearly £6K for 2 people for 2 weeks longhaul.
On the 2nd day they started building works, which pretty much ruined the holiday. We had to decide to just make the best of it, rather than let it ruin everything as the money was already gone either way. The holiday company (TUI) were no help whilst on the holiday and refused us any compensation even once home, so it's just as well we made the best of it at the time.

Hope you sort something out 💐

Sorry all, this was intended as a specific reply to someone who suggested using a supermarket loyalty card to force the AC to run when the OP wasn’t in the room, but I clearly didn’t send it to the right place and it just randomly popped up here looking all out of context! doh!

£4K for 8 days for four people isn't very expensive... I wouldn't expect much for that money but maybe that's just me.

I was really surprised in Portugal to get back after a day out on day 2 to find a cleaner had used a piece of card inside my sunglasses case to keep the electricity running! We didn’t even use the AC when there as we couldn’t find the remote so said we’d go to reception only we didn’t need the AC even though it was June so quite warm. I do struggle with AC as my ex used to put it on full and would leave the second card in so it would be freezing when we got back in.

Some good advice here OP.
I must admit it doesn’t sound all that bad.
just try to make the best of it.
There’s no point thinking about what you could have had , it’s just a complete waste of time.

complain about stuff that’s not right of course, otherwise things will never improve. I think it’s a bit of a British thing to moan without actually complaining, so everything stays the same and the cycle continues. Appreciate not very much can be done about natural features though!

I agree there is a lot to be said about returning to a place that ticks all the boxes. When I was younger I couldn’t understand why people did that but as you get older you realise how precious every summer is I suppose, especially if you don’t have the level of income that allows multiple holidays per year (therefore being able to afford to kiss a few holiday frogs)

if you fancy some trips spinalonga is very manageable in the heat as it’s a small island and the sea breeze kept it manageable despite being a very hot 40 degrees when we were there. There is a very interesting air conditioned museum in Heraklion and the fort on the harbour nice, interesting and nice and cool. Knossos is interesting but will be boiling. We did walk around it in 40 degree heat as id already booked the trip days before when it had been quite a bit cooler. So wouldn’t advise that one at present.

I’d buy a parasol to take to the beach myself, but myself some top up booze and try somewhere nice for dinner (funds allowing). Just try not make the best of it and be happy you’re not here in the U.K. where it’s about 15 degrees and pouring with rain!

Crete is the biggest of the Greek islands. It’s got a lot going for it, the White Mountains are superb, there’s the Samaria Gorge, a great museum in Heraklion, Knossos and other marvellous ancient sites, some terrific beaches, particularly in the south and east, and if you don’t do AI, the local Cretan food is, can be, very good. And as to ‘similar to other Greek islands’, they are actually pretty varied: the Sporades are quite different to the Dodecanese, to the Ionian Islands, to the Cyclades.
I wonder why some people bother leaving the UK when they seem not to notice, or have any curiosity about, the places they go to.

Why do people think 15 degrees and pouring with rain is not preferable to 4 degrees and 90 % humidity and unable to breathe.

I do not get it.

*40 degrees

Because if it was 40 degrees right now here I would have sweated my butt off at work and then headed straight down to the beach.

today I sweated my arse off at work (it’s always hot), got soaked on the way home and now am sat here miserably scrolling mumsnet watching the rain fall.

I know which is preferable to me!!!

I don’t struggle in the heat so 40 degrees with a beach and a pool to cool off seems great!

I haven’t been to Crete but I want to and have been doing some research about the best snorkelling spots. Apparently Chrysi, Matala beach, Kedrodasos beach and Elafonisi are well worth visiting. As I say I haven’t been yet though!

If you are anywhere near Rethymnon, it's a pretty little town and Venetian harbour, with waterside restaurants for a lunch to cheer you up, and narrow shady streets to wander along before the day gets too hot.

Ask at the hotel bar for one of the young lads to help you to get a beach parasol if you get no joy from the reception desk. Or there's often an old boy in charge of the beach stuff, so look out for him too!

Crete is a wonderful place, so I hope your holiday improves soon! 🍹 🍹 🍹

Agreed with you re Heraklion, the museum is the main archeological one and is air conditioned.

Knossos is very hot with hardly any shade, when I was there the first time you’re wandering around in boiling hot temperatures and it’s mostly overcrowded and the inside parts are cool but can be busy.

The coolest parts I found were by the sea/bays, so z Chania for one.

We spent lots of time doing water sports, sunbathing or in the pool and off to local villages or towns for something to do, the markets and shops aren’t bad for dresses etc. or we ate out.

It’s worth considering that even the Cretans consider 35 degrees to be hot, but this may got hotter or be the norm in recent years. The cretans unless they’re working tend to do the siesta like Spaniards from what I recall but their shops and restaurants do tend to be open during the day because that’s when the tourists want it!

@FoodieToo That looks great and so cheap! We are gong to Chania later in the year, any other suggestions? (Just DH and me, self catering staying in the old town)

Because it's almost always fucking pissing rain and 15 degrees! We're sick of that!

Not read whole thread but I would not just suck this up - why don’t you complain to the hotel about AC and lack of parasols? It’s really poor for this to be an issue.

as for the beach - what about the pool area, is that any better? Room balcony?

for what it’s worth we went to Crete last year, not AI but a v expensive hotel and I didn’t enjoy it. The beach and pool areas were lovely but very windy so it was hard to sit outside and relax. We did some water sports (£££) and I spent time relaxing on the balcony / room terrace which were lovely.

I also wanted to see some of the ruins and cultural stuff in Crete as well as take the kids to a waterpark but we were too far from everything and taxis were crazy expensive.

I will say though we organised our own fishing trip (nothing to do with the hotel) and it was great value and absolutely brilliant fun - best day on that holiday. Can you do something like that?

Chania is so beautiful , very Italian . You will love it .
We also went to a great lake near Chania . I think it's called Kournas . You can hire kayaks, pedaloes etc . Again , nice fish to see if you go out a bit .

https://www.tripadvisor.ie/Attraction_Review-g660486-d1755392-Reviews-Lake_Kournas-Kournas_Apokoronas_Chania_Prefecture_Crete.html

Please do the boat trip, it's wonderful !

Rethymno is also great !

I think you have to try and make the most of it and have the mindset that you could have been caught up in the fires having a much worse time of it. I suspect you’ve now paid a premium for a last minute booking so the value of what you’re getting won’t be as good as what you’d have got for the price a year ago.

I once went to the shittest AI known to man. Even as a student we didn’t actually eat at the buffet but used it as a cheap place too sleep and it worked quite well. I think prices in general have just gone up and the offering at a low-mid budget AI is probably going to struggle to meet expectations now. Even Ikos who are charging £10k plus for a week seem to be struggling a bit with meeting expectations for the price paid.