Posted By: tiger79
Vritomartis Naturist Resort in Crete Report 2011 - 01/04/2018 12:54 PM
It's not a great place to visit. My wife and I went in 2011 and would never go back. Here's our TripAdvisor report...
"We were looking forward to staying at Vritomartis, and had made an internet booking for a Grand Bungalow, because these rooms have private terraces on 3 sides. When we arrived, the room we were allocated only had 1 terrace, but the receptionist insisted it was a Grand Bungalow, and even suggested that the small area at the top of the communal staircase was a terrace! On escalating the complaint to the manager, and referring him to the floor plan of the 3-terrace Grand Bungalow on the hotel's website, he finally admitted that our room wasn't a Grand Bungalow, and that it should not have been allocated to someone booking one on the internet (which raises a question about people who book one through other means!). As there wasn't a Grand Bungalow available, he offered to credit our account with the additional cost of the Grand Bungalow, and we accepted this. Just unfortunate that the receptionist tried to fob us off with lies.
On our third day, we took the shuttle bus to the beach. We were followed on to the beach by the waiter from the hotel's beach bar, who demanded our room number, wrote out a charge slip for the €7.50 charge for sunbeds, and asked me to sign it, which I did. Later, after lunch, he again came to the beach and demanded payment in cash, which I naturally refused as I'd already signed a hotel charge slip. He stormed off, saying that he'd bring the manager within 5 minutes. This was extremely embarrassing for us. The manager didn't appear, of course, but when we went to board the shuttle bus back to the hotel, I was refused boarding and told I had to speak with some girl who said she was the manager's sister. I repeated that, having signed a charge slip as requested, I would definitely not pay cash. She insisted that all sunbeds should be paid in cash, but I said we'd take our complaint to the manager. Subsequently, my wife complained to the manager, who apologised for our embarrassment and didn't know why we'd been asked to sign a charge slip. We never got a proper explanation.
Vritomartis only sells half-board accommodation. As others have said, the breakfast buffet is OK, but the dinner buffet is disappointing. The salad bar looks appealing, but flies can be a problem (as in any outside location). The hot food was generally unappealing. My wife is a vegetarian, and virtually lived on salads the whole time we were there. I'm not a big meat eater, and had no appetite for "Rabbit Stew", or even the intriguing "[censored] in Wine Sauce". When fish was available, it was generally unappealing, although the "Sole Meuniere" was OK - except that it wasn't Sole Meuniere, it was deep-fried battered fish.
Others have noted that there's a bit of a rush to eat when the dinner buffet opens at 1930. That's an understatement! Sometimes, the queue was really impressive. This might be a result of the fact that most of the clients are elderly, or it might be a reflection on the availability of food later in the service.
The pool bar/taverna was a whole different experience though; good food, freshly prepared, nicely presented. But extra cost of course, and not inexpensive - prices were about the same as I'd expect in the UK. The service however was excellent.
The on-site minimarket was useful for bottles of water, fruit juice, etc. And it was the only source of ice creams too - but bizarrely it closed all afternoon, just when you might yearn for an ice cream!
Similarly, having stayed in many naturist resorts in Europe and the Caribbean, we found it odd that, at Vritomartis, guests have to dress in the hotel buildings at all times.
The rooms were clean and presentable, with aircon and a mini-fridge. Although the bed was comfortable, it's worth noting that all the beds are built on a concrete base next to a wall, so if you're sleeping on the wall side you need to be agile enough to climb in.
The swimming pool is quite large and very clean. The showers next to the pool are plagued by wasps, and we saw one elderly guy stung as he showered. There's a separate shallow children's pool, too, although this can get very noisy as kids jump in and out whilst shouting loudly. There are free sunbeds around the pool and surrounding grass, but they are mainly old and tired and rather uncomfortable. And there are too few of them - to the extent that the hotel even put up signs telling people not to leave their towels on them if they weren't using them! On several days, we saw people having to lie on the grass.
The grounds around the pool are well-maintained; nicely planted, colourful and attractive. There's a little army of housekeepers who sweep the paths early in the morning.
The "activities coordinator", Irini, is lovely and tries very hard to get the guests to join in with pool aerobics, etc, and with trips. We were hoping to go on a boat trip, but thought that €178 per couple for a short day trip was a bit expensive, so didn't book it. As it happens, I think the trip was cancelled anyway as the sea was too rough.
So, on balance, very disappointing. Was it good value? No. Would we go again? No."
"We were looking forward to staying at Vritomartis, and had made an internet booking for a Grand Bungalow, because these rooms have private terraces on 3 sides. When we arrived, the room we were allocated only had 1 terrace, but the receptionist insisted it was a Grand Bungalow, and even suggested that the small area at the top of the communal staircase was a terrace! On escalating the complaint to the manager, and referring him to the floor plan of the 3-terrace Grand Bungalow on the hotel's website, he finally admitted that our room wasn't a Grand Bungalow, and that it should not have been allocated to someone booking one on the internet (which raises a question about people who book one through other means!). As there wasn't a Grand Bungalow available, he offered to credit our account with the additional cost of the Grand Bungalow, and we accepted this. Just unfortunate that the receptionist tried to fob us off with lies.
On our third day, we took the shuttle bus to the beach. We were followed on to the beach by the waiter from the hotel's beach bar, who demanded our room number, wrote out a charge slip for the €7.50 charge for sunbeds, and asked me to sign it, which I did. Later, after lunch, he again came to the beach and demanded payment in cash, which I naturally refused as I'd already signed a hotel charge slip. He stormed off, saying that he'd bring the manager within 5 minutes. This was extremely embarrassing for us. The manager didn't appear, of course, but when we went to board the shuttle bus back to the hotel, I was refused boarding and told I had to speak with some girl who said she was the manager's sister. I repeated that, having signed a charge slip as requested, I would definitely not pay cash. She insisted that all sunbeds should be paid in cash, but I said we'd take our complaint to the manager. Subsequently, my wife complained to the manager, who apologised for our embarrassment and didn't know why we'd been asked to sign a charge slip. We never got a proper explanation.
Vritomartis only sells half-board accommodation. As others have said, the breakfast buffet is OK, but the dinner buffet is disappointing. The salad bar looks appealing, but flies can be a problem (as in any outside location). The hot food was generally unappealing. My wife is a vegetarian, and virtually lived on salads the whole time we were there. I'm not a big meat eater, and had no appetite for "Rabbit Stew", or even the intriguing "[censored] in Wine Sauce". When fish was available, it was generally unappealing, although the "Sole Meuniere" was OK - except that it wasn't Sole Meuniere, it was deep-fried battered fish.
Others have noted that there's a bit of a rush to eat when the dinner buffet opens at 1930. That's an understatement! Sometimes, the queue was really impressive. This might be a result of the fact that most of the clients are elderly, or it might be a reflection on the availability of food later in the service.
The pool bar/taverna was a whole different experience though; good food, freshly prepared, nicely presented. But extra cost of course, and not inexpensive - prices were about the same as I'd expect in the UK. The service however was excellent.
The on-site minimarket was useful for bottles of water, fruit juice, etc. And it was the only source of ice creams too - but bizarrely it closed all afternoon, just when you might yearn for an ice cream!
Similarly, having stayed in many naturist resorts in Europe and the Caribbean, we found it odd that, at Vritomartis, guests have to dress in the hotel buildings at all times.
The rooms were clean and presentable, with aircon and a mini-fridge. Although the bed was comfortable, it's worth noting that all the beds are built on a concrete base next to a wall, so if you're sleeping on the wall side you need to be agile enough to climb in.
The swimming pool is quite large and very clean. The showers next to the pool are plagued by wasps, and we saw one elderly guy stung as he showered. There's a separate shallow children's pool, too, although this can get very noisy as kids jump in and out whilst shouting loudly. There are free sunbeds around the pool and surrounding grass, but they are mainly old and tired and rather uncomfortable. And there are too few of them - to the extent that the hotel even put up signs telling people not to leave their towels on them if they weren't using them! On several days, we saw people having to lie on the grass.
The grounds around the pool are well-maintained; nicely planted, colourful and attractive. There's a little army of housekeepers who sweep the paths early in the morning.
The "activities coordinator", Irini, is lovely and tries very hard to get the guests to join in with pool aerobics, etc, and with trips. We were hoping to go on a boat trip, but thought that €178 per couple for a short day trip was a bit expensive, so didn't book it. As it happens, I think the trip was cancelled anyway as the sea was too rough.
So, on balance, very disappointing. Was it good value? No. Would we go again? No."