Or a water slide! :D

That's great. So many of the reviews are so positive. It's amazing that the property couldn't have been more unprofessional when I stayed. They basically dropped the ball on every possible occasion (ignore requests, ignore DND signs, ignore Platinum recognition, hideously incompetent service, etc.).

But, clearly, I am in the minority. The summer weather is insanely nice and I loved eating in the small town. I doubt I would go back but there is no denying it is a great place.

How is the weather there now? I am arriving on Saturday. SPG shows that I've been upgraded to a Maisonette suite already. I'm very excited to stay there after everything that I've read.

Quick Review- Tyra Banks was there
 

The wife and I went for a long weekend last week. Some quick thoughts...First, those may have seen my other thread about the dishonesty of the staff and the front desk. I wont go too deep into detail, but as a Plat I asked about upgrades and was told they are sold out all weekend. I showed them my iPad which said otherwise (showed many available room types and suites for all 3 nights). They just looked at each other stupidly and mumbled through excuses about people who booked these rooms online would have to change rooms every night because they are so full (this, obviously, cant be true). But I digress, I wanted to enjoy our stay and not bother with the dishonesty. If thats how they want to treat Plats, then fine...It's a beautiful property. Has to be one of the nicest SPG resorts given its unique perch on the cliffs. It is also fairly affordable given the meltdown in Greece. In other parts of europe these rooms could go for 600 euro. We had a room with a private pool (not really private because you share the same with 10 other rooms, with little walls dividing-- so everyone can see you. Be sure to ask for a heated pool. The regular pools are unswimably cold...The restaurants are all very nice. We really enjoyed the Italian and the Asian places (though be aware I was scolded and sent back to my room for wearing -nice- shorts at the Asian place, which apparently thinks its nicer than it actually is?). Anyway, no real beach here, just rocks, but beautiful views. And the selection of pools is great. Very nice and heated...Be aware this is about a 90 min drive from the airport on treacherous roads. We rented a convertible and it was great. Free parking at the hotel...Now for the highlight (at least for my wife), while we were there the TV show Americas Next Top Model was shooting the finals for the upcoming season, so she got to meet several members of the cast, which was exhilarating for her (guess like me vacationing with the cast of Lost). So if this place is good enough for Tyra Banks...Overall, beautiful and I would go back. But dont expect an upgrade -- or be prepared to fight a lot...

One should never expect an upgrade. But as most of the above posts show, they are pretty good at upgrading Plats, generally speaking. Given the prices, I think it would be a good time for me to return. :)

No love for me at this property, either
 

Unfortunately, I have to say that this sounds just like my own experience at this resort, which was close to the end of last season. Given all the glowing reports on FT, I was excited about staying here and the morning of arrival there were any number of room and suite categories available on their website, so I was optimistic about a nice upgrade (again, especially given the reports here).

When we arrived, the woman checking me in said, "Welcome Mr. AZ Travels. I see that you are a Platinum member. Unfortunately, we were not able to upgrade you as our hotel is fully committed throughout your stay." Great. What a lovely welcome. :(

I said to her, "Really -- wow -- fully committed?" She said, "Yes, completely full."

I was bummed when I got to my basic room with no pool. I looked online again and there were at least seven categories of rooms above mine that were available for booking from that night through the duration of my stay. I sent a note to Starwood expressing my dissatisfaction.

The next day, I received a call from the front desk manager, who told me that he understands from Starwood that I'm not happy with my room. I told him what I was told at check-in and the different picture his website presents. He told me that they were, in fact, fully committed, but that he has had a cancellation and could move me up one category to a room identical to mine, but with a pool. However, it could not have been further from where we were, and since we were next door to the couple we were traveling with, I politely declined the offer.

Curiously, a little while later, the couple we were traveling with found that they had a sizable problem with ants in their room. They called housekeeping for assistance. After a bit of time working on the problem, the front desk called and suggested that given the magnitude of the issue, "we would like to move you to another room -- a larger suite, with a private pool."

Hmmmmm. Must have suddenly had another cancellation. :(

The next day, another friend of mine arrived, also a Platinum member. She was upgraded straight-away into a large two-level suite with a pool. And a different one than was offered to our friends with the ant problem.

Wow. From "fully committed for the duration of your stay," to large suites opening up left and right. Go figure. :(

Typically, I live by the mantra, "Book the room that you want and don't count on an upgrade." Given our late-in-the-season timing, extraordinary availability and the incredible reports about upgrades, I didn't do that in this case. The result was one of the most disappointing Starwood experiences I've ever had at an international resort.

Otherwise, we also enjoyed the property very much. The spa is excellent. The Greek Tavern down by the water was exceptional -- we ate there twice. We found the Italian restaurant horrendous. The food was especially poor, the service was poor and it's poolside, but with canvas covering all the openings. That gave it the feel of dining in a tent. We regretted that we chose to eat there.

In the little neighboring town closest to the hotel (Plaka, as I recall) we found an excellent restaurant with exceptionally fun staff -- Giovanni's. It faces the water, to the left of where you board the boat to Spinalonga. We ate here three times and loved every one of them. A fraction of the price of the resort, and excellent Greek food.

We cooked stuffed squash blossoms last week, and I printed a couple photos from our afternoon snack at one of the restaurants in Plaka where we first had them. I'm not certain if it is Giovanni's since I think that there were a couple restaurants there. We also ate breakfast in Plaka a couple times at an outdoor table at the cafe closer to the road.

A view from the restaurant in Plaka:
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/27/dsc01972w.jpg

That is indeed Giovanni's. In fact, for one dinner, we sat right out at one of those very tables.

Fond memories. . . :)

Huh? Did you see my reports? :confused:

I had massive upgrade and other issues. I found the staff to be mostly unprofessional/incompetent.

Perhaps you did, but that is the opposite opinion of a good many others in this thread.

unfortunate attitude
 

I know to never expect an upgrade, but sucks when you know they aren't being honest with you. Beautiful place; terrible attitude.

Umm...okay. :confused:

I have 10 nites planned between Blue Palace and Vendema.
Question is, how should I split it?
Any advice?

Is it possible to hire a taxi for the day, or perhaps hire a private driver?

Staying on paid nights, FRNs, or some other type of award? Does 5th Night Free come into play?

How are you getting to/from each island?

What are your interests? Spa, beaches, pools, museums, touring the countryside, hiking, diving, spending a lot of time in the hotel room?

I have no doubt that it's possible. I have no idea what it costs.

I also have no idea what the cost would be, except that it would be a whole lot more than renting a car from Avis or Hertz, etc., and driving yourself.

8 FRNs and 2 C&P.

Mostly likely will be taking the ferry from Athens to Santorini, or is flying a better option?
From Santorini to Crete will be taking a ferry.

Beaches, Pools are a definite.
Museums (maybe 1 or 2)
Love to check out great food.
What are the must-visit attractions?

Are there anything much to do near the hotels?

We just returned from a 3 night stay here. We arrived in HER to learn that the taxi drivers had been on strike for going on 3 weeks. There went our plan of taking a cab to the hotel. After some asking around, we bought a calling card and called the hotel. The hotel arranged their 90 euro shared ride for us and we had to wait an hour for the ride but that was fine with us. On the way to the hotel, our ride was a small shared van. On our return we took the same 90 euro shared ride but this time we had a huge charter bus. We arranged to leave the hotel by 6:45 am for our 9:30 am flight (ride takes 1 hour), but later the hotel contacted us to say the shared ride would leave at 7:15 am, take it or pay 175 euros for a private ride. The bus ended up leaving at 7:30 am and thankfully we made our flight although we were nervous. Renting a car probably would've been much cheaper than all of this, but I'm not very confident in my skills in driving a manual car on unmarked Greek roads so we opted to pay for the ride.

We had reserved a room with an infinity pool and requested it to be away from the furnicular based on reports here. We got exactly that and were given the "we are fully booked" line when asked about upgrades. Maybe they were, I didn't press the issue. Our assigned room was 248 and this section really is far away from the furnicular and has great views. We were also shown a room 500-something which was the same room type but there is a building partially blocking your ocean view. My husband has this issue with wanting to stay in a "high" floor but by the end he admit that our given room was great. The infinity pool was not heated but we were able to get in especially while the sun is out. At least a portion of the pool stayed in the sun until about 5:30. (I'm adding this detail since reports on TripAdvisor have people complaining about their pools being in the shade by noon.) I guess the location of your infinity pool is important. It appeared that the rooms with the truly private pools are the in the newer section of the hotel while the ones with the inifinity pools are in the part of the hotel with the furnicular.

Our rate included breakfast. This was the first time we've been to a breakfast buffet of this size with no host at the entrance marking your room number. We enjoyed breakfast 2 days and since we had to leave early before breakfast started on the third day, we got the 4.50 euro room service option with coffee and a bread basket and watched the sunrise over Spinalonga. Pretty cool.

We had dinner one night at Isola, one of the best preparations of lobster we've ever had. Due to the taxi strike, we ended up walking to Elounda one night just to check it out. The hotel tells you it is 20 minutes, but 20 minutes is just to the start of the sidewalk that leads to Elounda. It took us 40 minutes to get to the center of town. We hustled back to hotel before dark since part of the road is not very well lit and cars whiz by. On the other hand, the hotel will tell you Plaka is a 7 minute walk and it really is 7 minutes, and only about 1 minute of it is on a non-lit portion of the road. We met some guests who never left the hotel. I think they missed out since both dinners we had in Plaka were delicious and easy on the wallet.

Mostly our stay was fine and fun. Getting in and out of the pebble-rock sea was a challenge, and I recommend water shoes if you plan to go into the sea. I didn't know what I was stepping around while trying to move around in the sea and as a result, we didn't move very much from a patch of sand we found in the water. The pool in our room was fun as was the main pool. We did sprint to the furnicular a few times so we wouldn't miss it and have to wait 10 minutes for it to return. We didn't have time to check out the spa or work out facility, but we got enough of a workout navigating around the huge property and to the towns. The free internet can be accessed in the indoor portion of Arsenali bar, but the hotel didn't tell us this until we specifically asked about it.

The only issue I had was making a collect call to Capital One when my credit card didn't work in Plaka. The hotel assured me I wouldn't be charged for a collect call, but when the charge appeared, they told me it wasn't a collect call since the number I dialed wasn't "800" and only "800" numbers are collect calls. I don't know if this was a language issue or the hotel being petty over a 6 euro charge.

Since I've returned, I noticed my points have not posted correctly. It appears they only credited me points for what I spent on food. My room rate points have not appeared maybe because I prepaid the stay. I'm sure it will be corrected but it goes to show you have to watch these things carefully.

Nice, useful post, sent! Thanks for sharing this info and impressions.

I have to agree with those who say the resort really wonderful, given that it's in the Starwood family.

As Plats on an all-point stay, we were upgraded from a standard balcony room to a standard patio with pool room (306). Far from the greatest upgrade we've ever received as Plats but totally acceptable given the high season.

Unlike apparently some, we used the private pool quite a bit and found it private and warm enough for a dip skinny whenever the spirit moved. Might have felt differently if we were near/under the funicular, but we weren't. And if a neighbor was nosey enough to look around or over our wall, well, what they get is what they get! It's MY pool and I'll use it as I see fit! ;)

We had breakfast in front of our pool every morning looking at Spinalonga (one 'healthy breakfast' on the menu, we quickly discovered, was more than enough food for the two of us!). Moved down to the beach in the afternoons. The towel and drinks service down there were friendly and efficient. I get the gripes about the funicular, but it sure beat the heck out of walking down...and back up, right!? ;)

I took a massage at the spa and it was acceptable but not fantastic. Then again, I am spoilt by cheap, fantastic massages in SE Asia and Eastern Europe so take that for what it's worth.

We only had dinner at the hotel once at the Greek place, and the octopus was the best we've had anywhere. The rest was...meh.

Instead, we became regulars at Giovanni's in Plaka, and the table in the photo above on the left was a regular spot for sundowners and/or dinner. One thought there, though: order off the menu and skip the Posideon combination: way too much food for 2 and too much of it breaded. I can't describe how fresh the vegetables are, and I developed an unhealthy addiction to the tzatziki there. Giovanni's house red and white wines were delicious and only 5 euro for a half carafe! I also tried the Retsina and it was piney goodness. ^

Anyway, back to the hotel, it's a resort and resort prices rule. Our free stay ended up costing over 500 euro. So I don't recommend the place as a way to achieve luxury on the cheap (although I did see plenty of folks trudging back from the little store in Plaka with breakfast foods, water and other foodstuffs...seemed sad). But well worth the expense if you are willing to pay for the experience.

As for transfers, we arranged a taxi each way via online bookings (google being our friend). We arrived at the port and departed from the airport, and our fare was 84 euro each way in a Mercedes taxi cab.

Just got back from a nice trip to the Greek Isles. Used 2 FRNs at Blue Palace. As a SPG Gld, I was upgraded from a standard bungalow to a bungalow with a veranda, private pool, and seaview.

The pool is fairly cold because there's only morning sun for most of the rooms at the resort. There aren't really privacy barriers between pools.

Received some welcome fruit, a bottle of Ouzo, and some jam.

Rooms are nice and modern with nice views. Pebble beach is nice. Didn't have problems finding chairs as it seemed the resort was pretty empty. Keep in mind the beach is quite windy, so the rocks come in handy to hold stuff down. Lots of fish near a small reef right of the beach, which makes for a nice snorkeling experience. Water was warm and nice for swimming when it wasn't too windy.

Free valet parking. We took a ferry from Santorini to Heraklion and rented a car. Drive is around 1 hour 10 minutes. Nice to have a car to visit Elounda and Agios Nikoalas. Car cost us 175 euros for 3 days + 30 euros in gas. Plaka is 10 minute walk nearby. Meals are 10-20 euros there, which is better than the hotel. Ate at the greek restuarant (Blue Door) one night. Beef filet was tasty (31 euros). Not much a fan of Greek wines (much prefer their beer - Alpha or Mythos).

All in all a nice, relaxing short stay. Nice facilities (tennis courts, spa, pools, workout facilities, bars). Staff was friendly. Allowed me to have 4 PM checkout although they initially said it wasn't possible to stay in the same room. SPG members are treated well, especially if you're there slightly out of season when the resort isn't at or near capacity. Crete is beautiful.

Not sure I'd pay 500 euros a night, but a great deal if using C&P (I think I looked and found $150 + 10,000 points). Quite a few honeymooners and families.

I am trying to decide where to go on vacation and am looking at one of two options. I would appreciate any opinions.

The first option is to have four full days in Crete at the BP and two full days in Athens at the Astir Arion.

The second option is seven full days in Crete at the BP.

I am looking in October, so off season as I understand things. I would have a car in Crete but not in Athens. I have not been to Greece but will undoubtedly go back. I will be traveling alone. I need a few days of total R&R but I do want to get out and see interesting things. I would prefer to limit the amount of traveling, but I am concerned about whether there's enough to do in Crete for seven days, albeit at a slow pace. My other option is the same schedule between Crete at the BP and Cyprus at the LM Limmesol.

Opinions would be appreciated greatly.

Crete is the 2nd largest island in the Med and you would need a year to see it all. I once rented a car and did a couple day trips from Iraklion which were interesting.

However note that in October most everything is closed.

Fifth after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica...

Ah, well. I trusted what I was told instead of looking it up.

I trusted Wikipedia (an equal no-no), but further research confirmed it :p

Whether second or fifth, still sounds like I will have more than enough to do for six or seven days! Thanks for the input!

You really would not want to plan to explore much of the western half of Crete while based in the eastern half at BP.

Great stay at the Blue Palace. The hotel is lovely with great views of the bay and Spinalonga Island. My stay was with promo nights. Upon arrival I was upgraded to the Maisonette Suite. As others have described, it's two levels with a European king on the second level and a living area on the first. Both levels had a balcony/terrace with a (cold) private plunge pool on the first level. In the room was a nice bowl of fruit, a jar of honey and some tsipouro.

The resort was clean and nicely kept. It's a labyrinth of hallways, tunnels, elevators and caves that can be a pain in the neck to navigate before a cup of coffee or six.

The hotel is right outside of Plaka (5 min walk), about 4 miles outside Elounda (10-15 min drive), and about 12 miles outside of Agios Nikolaos (20-25 min drive). Driving in Crete is slow, even on the main highways. The Plaka-Elounda route is mostly along the water with sidewalks. But that's about the extent of the sidewalks. Fortunately, traffic on the road was light in the evening.

Plaka is a lovely little town with a number of restaurants and high end shops. There is a small roadway along the water with several fish restaurants including the restaurant mentioned by a couple of people above as Giovanni's, which is now called Giorgos. It's owned by a nice Russian family. The food was good but pricey.

Elounda is a lot bigger and touristy. There are a few different food streets with a range of good to average to bad. Most of the restaurants serve a combo of western tourist food (pizza, spaghetti, fried things), greek (moussaka, gyro) to local fare (octopus, snails, fish). The fish is extremely expensive. The octopus, snails, and squid were reasonable, good quantity and tasty. I was a bit surprised that there was less lamb and more pork on the menu. The fresh herbs on the island made everything smell and taste great.

Finally, a car was a necessity in my opinion. The rental was inexpensive and included all insurance. Petrol was extremely expensive so I was glad I got a small car. The island is deceptively large and driving is slow.

I don't know if I will go back simply because been-there-done-that, but I am very glad I chose to stay there and also very glad that I stayed the whole week.

Thanks. This seals it for me. I was going to try this place in the summer, but i think i'll go back to Costa Navarino instead. I cannot abide being treated like this.

I just booked my husband and I for 3 nights at the Blue Palace as part of a 12 night trip to Greece and Italy for my sister-in-law's wedding and to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. After reading through all the reviews I have a few questions I was hoping you could help with:

1) After reading about the transportation options from the airport, I think I've decided on getting a rental car. It seems like it might actually be cheaper, and knowing my husband and I...we like to explore. We may be completely content lounging at the resort all 3 days too, but we'll want options if the weather isn't nice. Anyhow....it sounds like most have said it's relatively easy to find your way, but did you have GPS or maps, and how is it reading the signs? Do they post them only with the greek symbols? I know them all, but I"m a bit rusty, so reading it in the alphabet I'm familiar with would certainly be easier. I'm going ot see if we'll be able to use either of our smartphones (Droid, and iPhone) over there as our navigation, but haven't figured that out yet.

2) Along those same lines with driving a rental, I'm looking at a departing flight for 8:25 or 9:05am from HER so that we can get into Athens and explore some during the day before taking our connecting flight on to Florence. I've read the drive to he airport is about an hour, but do you think that will work out OK leaving the hotel at like 6:00-6:30am or am I crazy for thinking that will work?

3) Oh, and I read that the airport is sometimes crazy that time of year. Any thoughts on if it will be at that time of day on 9/22?

4) We will be there in mid-September. Any thoughts on our upgrade potential? We are currently booked on award points into a Bungalow, which I believe is basically standard room with no pool, right? I'd like one of the private heated pools if posible. Any thoughts on the best way to approach asking for that? I plan to send an email to them mentioning our 10 year anniversary, but wasn't sure if there was a particular room type I should mention. I like the idea of the infinity pool, but it sounds like most aren't heated? Or some are and some aren'? Sounds like if you don't have heated that it will be pretty chilly that time of year, right?

5) One more that is related to our day trip in Athens...as mentioned, we'll fly into Athens that morning, head down to the Accropolis and poke around some and then head back to the airport. Since it's a flight from Greece to Italy, I'm guessing I still need to allow 2 hours or so for check-in, right? Anyone done anything similar and have any pointers?

I think that's it for now. Thanks so much for any feedback you can provide!
Susan

The signs are easy, and they have plenty with the Roman alphabet. No GPS necessary. You basically follow the north coast to the east end of the island.

September is busy with people leaving. No worries about arrivals at that time. To me it is the best time to go to the islands. For me the in-suite pool was fine in late September and the weather should be great. Bring sun block!

Most road signs are in Greek and Latin characters, but the spelling can vary. In my GPS it was Elounta.


More like an hour and a half, with good traffic. And it is indeed true that the airport is inadequate to handle the large groups that arrive from time to time. You have to calculate at very least an hour for check-in and another half hour or more for car return.



I did get an upgrade to a sort of loft suite (in October), without a pool but with a heated outdoor spa, after considerable negotiation at check-in. I was told that there were no heated pools at all at the property. The hotel was virtually empty.

upgrade
 

Be prepared for battle. Have your iPad or something to show them availability you see for your entire stay...and yes, some rooms do have heated pools. You pay more for it.

I had read some of the earlier reviews stating that the BP wasn't the most accomodating with free upgrades, but some people semeed to have success. I also just got an email from them stating I could pay 45 Euro (~$69) for an upgrade to one of the Bungalow Sea View Private Pool rooms. I'm tempted since it is our 10 year anniversary, but was trying to keep our out of pocket down since our award ticket on Air France had some fees too.

Anyhow, if I were to pay the upgrade, do you think that would help my case of maybe being upgraded into one of the heated pool rooms? I can hope...right?

And, wow...so for the drive to the airport (1.5 hours), rental car return (.5 hour) and check in (1 hour)...geeeze..so you're suggesting we should leave a total of 3+ hours before our flight, right? I was hopng that early in the morning like that on a Saturda it might not be as bad, but I suppose there could be a lot of people traveling home after a week of vacation, so you just never know, right?

I thought I posted it in this thread earlier, but I guess I didn't.

Anyhow, thus far, this is my favorite property in SPG chain.

If you are going to drive, I would probably rent/bring a GPS. I downloaded some maps for my garmin, and sided loaded them on an SD card, and it worked great. I probably could have gotten to the hotel on my own from the airport, but it was late at night, and I really didn't want to make any wrong turns. The trip ended up taking about 1.5 hours, most of which was highway. Additionally, if you are planning on going anywhere off the resort, I would definitely use a GPS. We went to Vai Beach, and there is no way that I could have made it there without a GPS.

I was upgraded to an island luxury suite, complete with a heated plunge pool. It was heated, but it really wasn't all that warm. Definitely call the plat line and have them make a note on your reservation that you are going there for your anniversary. In addition to the 'local gift' (and points) we got when I checked in, I was also given a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries the first night (I went as part of my honeymoon).

Edit: If you are only gold, I wouldn't count on an upgrade. If you are really set on your own private pool, then I would pay for the upgrade, but in mid Sep, there probably won't be ALL that many people there, and there are so many pools (not associated with individual rooms) that I would probably consider it unnecessary. But like you said, it is your 10 yr anniversary.

Your second question, you are never going to make a 9 AM flight out of HER if you leave the hotel at 6. By the time you get to the airport and return the rental car, it is going to be at least 8 AM, and then HER is probably the craziest airport I have ever been to. Could have just been the day I was there, but there was no way I could have made my flight with only an hour.

Its a great spot, make sure that you get a chance to go to Ferryman Tavern in Elounda. That being said, there are a ton of amazing places to eat. The town of Plaka is right next to the resort and has a lot of really cool little eateries/shops. Take the ferry across the bay to Spinalonga Island, a really neat walk and shouldn't take more than 2 hours. I would definitely drive up the coast and hit some of the other beaches as well, they're absolutely beautiful.

We were there last May. I let them know it was our 20th anniversary. We were upgraded ( we are *wood Gold) to a lovely room with a plunge pool ( too cold to use) and on our second day a delivery of a delicious chocolate mousse cake with our names and " Happy Anniversary" written on it.

With regards to what time to go to the airport...play it safe. There are a few weird turns in the drive between the resort and the airport ( it is 1.5 hours) and even though I have been to Crete many times and driven that road a lot.... we still got turned around near Malia and got off track. If I was trying to make a flight I would have been VERY panicked.

You can save TONS of money by not eating major meals at the resort but walking the 5 minutes into the small town of Plaka and eating in one of the several lovely waterside restaurants.

The infinity pools are not heated. I believe the heated pools are the individual pools in the newer section of the resort. We had an infinity pool that had sunlight shining on our pool till 5 pm which made it warm enough to tolerate entering the pool in early August. I don't know if that will work for your late September stay. Definitely eat in Plaka to save some serious cash compared to the resort. We had no choice but to leave the hotel at 7:30 am for a 9:30 am flight (taxi strike, hotel arranged a bus). I was very nervous but we made it. I don't recall the airport having horrible lines or slow service or else I would've been ever more on edge. I was just nervous because of the time.

Oh, take cash. There are no ATM's around unless you make the drive into Elounda. The hotel will charge up to 300 euro to your room if you need money, which isn't a bad option either.

I think most of us who got the nice upgrades were Platinum. I wouldn't expect it as Gold. If you want to be sure, you would have to lock it in in advance.

Well the drive took just under an hour for me. No traffic in September. And returning the car with Avis took about 5 minutes. If your flight back is near the end of September, most everyone will be gone by then, so no crowds.

I used two FRN last September at the Blue Palace. As a *gold, I received an upgrade to an infinity pool room a day before check-in. The pool was not heated, so we only took quick dips.

The resort seemed fairly empty. My friends and I really enjoyed Blue Palace and the surrounding area. It's really a beautiful resort. When I was there, it was quite windy. We tried to play tennis, which is located at the top of the resort. It was very difficult with the wind, but there were great views from the top of the resort. The restaurants are fairly expensive, so walking to nearby Plaka is a good option.

We rented a car. We didn't have GPS, but I did a decent amount of research before the trip and printed directions. It's fairly easy, but you need to pay attention to signage. I'd recommend 1.5 hours for the drive, just to be safe.