After many months away from FT, a quick pop in .... too much real world yet again distracting me from keeping up!

IC Crete is solid enough but not a typical IC. It's nicely finished and service is maybe a little slower than you might be used to but very friendly and genuine. You adjust to it.

Upgrades are generous. A base room (or near base room) got us a 1 BR Suite with Private Plunge pool as RA. At least a 3 maybe 4 level upgrade. I think there is a 2 BR suite end of same level and a large feature suite with much larger private pool and deck area on floor 5. The rooms are elegantly finished in Oak and white if with a slightly 'too open' bathroom & WC area. Excellent wardrobes and case storage. Great temperature control .... for once one I can actually use. And as you would hope being only 4 months old, everything is fresh and intact. Housekeeping is good.

Room amenities were very nice and replenished several times including decent quality deserts, sparking wine and nice quality fruit. Mini bar a little thin on content but OK. The breakfast all day diner was very healthy and content and quality of ingredients nice. Strangely no hummus or pitta bread but a nice spread otherwise. For me personally I've been dramatically improving the quality of my eating. The local yogurt and selection of seeds and nuts was impressive. Many IC's are now starting to do this sort of thing which is really good. They were missing blueberries, raspberries and strawberries but a gentle ask soon fixed that.

The pool area was busy without being overwhelming. Lots of very red bodies glued to sun loungers for many hours! Ouch!. Lots of families but it didn't suffer much as such unlike some locations.

No club lounge as mentioned in earlier posts and no club experience. In discussion with GM he confirmed that many folks have been asking but no plans to do anything. The lobby bar is very quiet. Brely anyone using it. And this links to the CL ..... essentially there are just so many cheap bars and eating places within 3-5 minutes that bar and restaurant in house are exceptionally quiet. Everyone goes out to dine by the lake and side street bars and restaurants .... even we did. It does dilute the ambience some. The rooftop bar/pool was a little busier. I think more could be made of it and likely will be for next opening season. But far from bad.

Prices inhouse were very typical of middle Europe .... no great bargains, not over priced either. External drinks and food pricing were noticeably more than the surrounding area to IC Porto we were at a few weeks earlier .... but still good value.

There's a rooftop pool on 9 which is nice enough and a bar by night. But there was a total lack of sun shades. We concluded that would maybe be due to winds taking then over. Having seen a couple take to flight at IC Istanbul and the potential mess that that could cause, I sort of get it.

Having said staff are a tad slow moving (and they are .... getting a first coffee or even a second isn't exactly ICPLG or ICDFC) but once you got over that, staff are helpful enough.

The rooms are sublimely relaxing. Well those on 8 with a great view are. I don't think we ever spent so long in a suite. Really elevated. We created our own "smallest club lounge in the world" on the balcony. The balcony area opens out bedroom and living room side and unlike some balconies was properly usable although the metal chairs were not what you might call comfortable. They need some base cushions. Crete was a new area for me and a little slower moving. The wife (who had been in the past) explained it's the character of the place in general. No huge problem with that but some might be a little frustrated.

I arrived not expecting so much but left feeling relaxed and quite enjoying this slightly more relaxed MO. I would not resist a go back.

For those with small folk, they will add a kids club when they reopen late April. Overall I found it good value as well. The pricing varies a lot mind.

One small suggestion aside from the obvious Spinalonga Island and Placa is to visit the Olive Oil farm/Production place (about 25 mins and a 30 euro E class ride out) .... very interesting, informative and some nice quality products there.

No Greek required .... folks in bars, restaurants and hotel arranged taxis are all very communicative and friendly. Surrounding area is full of walk past restaurants and bars. They tout for business but gently not pressured. Unlike you would see say in Barcelona Port Olympic. The town area is small but pleasant enough. And all the modest street level restaurants we tried were quite acceptable .... better than they might look in fact.