Westin Resort and The Romanos, Costa Navarino, Greece [Master Thread]

Yes, it is true - no free breakfast when on a points stay.

Hi All,

Up to now it has only been possible to book with Cash & Points over the phone however we have now remedied this and you can now book online...

In case you're wondering both resorts are category 5 which means a free night is 12,000 - 16,000 Starpoints whilst Cash & Points is 4,800 Points + $90 USD per night...

Feel free to contact me for more information,

Kind regards,

Leah Lenihan
on behalf of Starwood Costa Navarino

Greetings from Costa Navarino,

Our opening dates for 2011 have now been confirmed as follows;

The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino
Opening Date : April 15th 2011


The Romanos, Costa Navarino
Opening Date : May 4th 2011

Please be advised that both resorts are fully booked from May 5th to 8th 2011

I hope this information will be of use to you,

Warm regards,

Leah Lenihan
on behalf of Starwood Costa Navarino

Can anybody here comment on the size (width) of the single beds in either of the two hotels. It appears they have updated their children policy, it now says children up to 12 for free in existing bedding, but I wonder if any of the 'singles' would be large enough to fit 2 people ?

On the pictures the singles in the Westin look smallish, but the ones in the LC look almost Queen-ish. Appreciate any comments.

Just in case anybody is interested, I was in touch with the Romanos today and they confirmed the size of a single bed is 140*200 - indeed almost Queensize.

I was able to secure a fantastic prepaid rate for 182,- EUR for an entire week in early July...can't wait

I would just like to confirm that The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort has been changed to a Category 6 property, the change will apply to reservations made from March 1st 2011.

The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino will remain as a Category 5 property.

Number of Points Required to book a free night:

• The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino : 12,000 - 16,000 Starpoints
• The Romanos, Costa Navarino : 20,000 - 25,000 Starpoints

Number of points required to book with Cash & Points

• The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino : 4,800 Starpoints +$90
• The Romanos, Costa Navarino : 8,000 Starpoints +$150

Please feel free to contact me if you require any further clarification.
Warm regards,
Leah Lenihan
on behalf of Starwood Resorts, Costa Navarino

Just booked my summer holidays with C&P at the Romanos...just on time to save a lot of points and $$$...thanks for the reminder!! ^

Glad to be of help - and happy to hear you're planning a trip!!

We look forward to welcoming you to Costa Navarino.

Leah Lenihan
on behalf of Starwood Costa Navarino

Leah,

We are so excited about our stay in late June/early July!

What would you suggest is the best (fastest) route to the Romanos from the Athens Airport? Unfortunately, we won't be landing until 6:45pm, but plan to rent a car and drive straight to the resort!

Thanks so much!
Dina

Hi dina4,

You have two options when driving from Athens, however the route is the same until you pass the mountains in Tripoli. Please don't worry too much about the number of directions and turn offs below - for the most part you will find you are simply following the road. You can of course call the resort for more information or directions at any point on your trip : the number is +30 272 3097 000.

• From Athens Airport you follow the signs west towards Pireaus (the harbour).
• Once you arrive on Route 8, follow the signs for Korinthos (the canal)
• Continue onto Route 8A/E94 following the signs for Tripoli
• Continue on the E65 which will take you through the mountains of Tripoli which is the halfway point.
• At this point you need to start following the signs for Kalamata/Tripoleos (not to be confused with Tripoli) - The Road will still be the E65.

This is when you have a choice of routes to take, I personally prefer the second option via Kyparissia and the coast road, however if you look at it from a distance perspective the Kalamata route is shorter.

Option 1 will take you via Kalamata and Kalamata Airport
Option 2 will take you down the coast road via Kyparissia

Option 1:

• Follow the E65 towards Kalamata and Pylos.
• Once you reach Kalamata follow the road signs towards the airport, this will take you through to the other side of the town.
• Once you leave Kalamata keep following the signs for Pylos until you are 4km outside of the town when you will reach a junction in the road with a brown sign marked "Navarino Dunes" - this will take you to the right down towards the sea.
• At the bottom of the hill take the right turn towards the town of Gialova. Follow the main road through Gialova - again you will see the brown road signs for Navarino Dunes.
• You will come to a junction marked left for Navarino Dunes or right for Tragana - go left and follow the road until you come to a sign for the village of Romanos (where the resort takes it's name from), just after the turn off for Romanos village is the turn off for Navarino Dunes.
• If you reach the town of Tragana you will know you have gone too far.

Option 2:

• From the E65 you turn right onto the E55 and continue 33km until you reach the town of Kalo Nero which is on the coast, you will then turn left keeping the sea on your right, following the signs first for Kyparissia and then for Pylos. (The other towns you will be passing if you would like to look out for them are Filatra and Marathopoli.)
• Tragana is the last town you go through before you reach the resort, once you go through you will see brown sign posts for "Navarino Dunes" but the resort is down the first road to the right after Tragana. (about 1.5km after the town).
• [I]You will know you have gone too far if you reach the town of Gialova.[I]

I hope this helps, and if you would like me to clarify anything just let me know.

Kind regards
Leah Lenihan
on behalf of Starwood Resorts Costa Navarino

Leah,

Thank you so much!

That is very helpful. I figure we will take the "faster" route in to the resort.

Do you think that because we will be arriving so late in the evening (maybe as late as midnight), that I should try to request a platinum upgrade in advance?

Thanks again,
Dina

Hi Dina,

You are very welcome and I'm happy to help where I can.

Can you please drop me a private message with your reservation details so I can put a note on your reservation of your late arrival (as regards an upgrade that will depend on availability but I will of course flag your platinum status to my colleagues).

If I can help you with anything else just let me know,

Kind regards,
Leah

The Drive ...

I just drove there and back and a couple of little things that made the directions from the airport easier:

Follow the signs toward Elefsina straight away from the airport. When the directions say E65, what the signs will say are A7 - that is toward Kalamata Tripoli. Follow A7 as far as you can.

But yes, basically it's quite simple. Tolls were about 12.50 Euro going and a tad less returning. The first part of the trip is quite fast due to the A7 being so nice. It's the last 45 km or so that will add another hour. Once the A7 is completed I would guess the drive will go from 4 hours to 3.5 or so.

The Stay...

As for the stay, it was quite nice. I'm not much for resorts and doubt I would care for it when it is full, but in the beginning of June, when no one else is there, it's amazing. I did not want to leave ...not just the resort ...I didn't want to leave my suite!

I had an upgrade to a Grand Suite - this is the second-floor suite without the infinity pool. There is nothing in the room I could ever say is cheap or skimpy. Everything is lovely and of exceptional quality, down to the waterproof television on the remote-controlled articulating arm over the top-filling infinity bathtub. There were 42 switches in the room (yes, I counted) and 5-6 remotes. I have no clue what all I could have done! (That infinity tub takes about an hour to fill, btw, plan accordingly.)

There was a bottle of wine in the room and I requested another bottle as my amenity. It was a 2008 cabernet. The welcome bottle was drinkable; the amenity bottle was quite good.

The staff was very friendly and delightful at every turn. I cannot say a negative word about any I came in contact with. All were warm, friendly and helpful. Many are not native to Greece, and honestly I could have been at a resort anywhere. I'm not sure there's anything distinctly Greek about it, not that that's a problem.

The spa is amazing. I have never seen one quite like it. There are three swimming pool-sized jetted pools, varying from 32-36C in temp. One has jets in loungers, another has three jets that blast you from above and the third has such powerful underwater jets you have to hold on to handles to stay in place. There are four steam rooms, including the ice room, a standard steam, a brine-scented one (this was turned up too high and burned my feet in the seconds I stayed in) and an herbal one, and a dry sauna. There are also several showers including a Scottish dump bucket (pull the chain and the bucket of water tips over). The bi-thermal shower with jets all around was turned up too hard and was quite painful. The spa was the weakest area with regard to staff as I didn't not get an orientation/tour prior to my treatment. I ended up finding their many relaxation areas as well as the pools/steams/showers on my own. Insist on a tour if you use the spa as you don't want to miss anything.

My massage was excellent. The best deal on the menu is a four-hands massage for the same price as a two-hands massage. I thought it was a typo, but the spa confirmed it was not. Schedule this early as only a few of their therapists are trained to give the treatment.

The dessert outlet, Kayak, has good and varied flavors of ice cream (had about 20 flavors). The signature cocktails at the pool were creative and tasty and slightly pricey at ~12-13 Euros each.

I had room service a couple of nights and ate at a couple of the restaurants and found them all good in quality. The Italian restaurant was a little too permissive in allowing children to ride their bikes through the outdoor dining area, having some close calls with a few diners and some candles on tables.

During the slow season there is no charge for the pool cabanas, which is quite nice, especially as I don't think I saw more than about half a dozen people at the pool.

There were a few glitches - what you'd typically find at any newer property and none that detracted from my stay. It took a few calls to get my a/c operating. A front desk manager called to follow up and said someone else would do so in the morning (it still wasn't fixed), but there was no call. When I called again and it was ultimately fixed, the manager sent up a nice fruit plate.

I ordered the same pasta dish from room service a few nights and one night it arrived without the veggies described on the menu and the next night the veggies were there. Not a big deal, but just an example of not quite having it down.

The menu in the Italian restaurant had a legend on the bottom for SuperFoodsRX, gluten-free, etc., but did not mark the cooresponding items on the menu.

People arrived sometimes with things I never called for - an additional key, for example, or to pick up room service items that had already been picked up.

The women's bathrobes - in the spa and the rooms - are apparently made for someone who is a size 1, really. I managed to make use of mine, but they were ridiculously small.

A few of the electric cart drivers need to be cautioned to slow down. I had to jump into a planter to avoid being hit when a driver was coming around a curve in the dark one night.

Excursions ...

I did the hike to the waterfalls/pools - Polimnos. They're about a 20-minute drive and the hike is 30 minutes or so. They're quite beautiful. The trail is well defined. And the pools have a beautiful color like glacial lakes, and they're about the same temperature.

I also hiked to the Paleo Castro above the beautiful crescent-shaped Voidokilia. This is an easier hike than it appears (the castle looks way up there) and only takes about 30 minutes to the top. It's a bit more grueling than the waterfall hike, but worth it. It is fiercely guarded by seemingly hundreds of giant spiders along the way that always manage to greet you at eye level. There's also a cave along the way. There was no one else there and you can walk along the castle walls a bit (the inside is overgrown). Apparently, during spring flamingos come around sunset to the wetlands by the bay, but I never went around dusk.

Overall, a lovely place I will eagerly return to.

Thanks for your great information! Sounds like you had an amazing trip!

I'm curious.. Do you know if there is a charge for just using the spa if you don't have any treatments? The spa sounds wonderful!

Thanks again,
Dina

Dina,

I don't recall seeing that as an option on the menu, but I'm sure StarwoodCostaNavarino would know. I wonder if it's also a possibility that you could get the lowest-priced treatment on the menu - a manicure, perhaps - and have use of the spa with that.