Solimar Ruby

“Great quiet holiday”

The hotel is lovely. Only a small amount of rooms so always space by the bar and pool. No sunbed races in the morning! Foods of a good variance in the restaurant each night with your stable chips option if nothing takes your fancy. The ruby royal area gets sun later in the day so if thats what you… more

The hotel is lovely. Only a small amount of rooms so always space by the bar and pool. No sunbed races in the morning! Foods of a good variance in the restaurant each night with your stable chips option if nothing takes your fancy. The ruby royal area gets sun later in the day so if thats what you are after, get one of those rooms. All staff very welcoming and pleasant. The Cretan old town is only a 10 minute walk south, and the beach a 10 minute walk north. A lovely holiday overall.

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“Really great hotel, BUT.”

We stayed here in a suite. The hotel is great, the staff are extremely helpful and polite. We were out in a high floor suite, unfortunately my wife is disabled and can't climb stairs. I went back to reception and within 5 minutes they had sorted it. No fuss , super service. The pools are lovely. Be… more

We stayed here in a suite. The hotel is great, the staff are extremely helpful and polite. We were out in a high floor suite, unfortunately my wife is disabled and can't climb stairs. I went back to reception and within 5 minutes they had sorted it. No fuss , super service. The pools are lovely. Being in a suite we had use of a private pool. Pictures attached. The one thing that lets this place down is the food. I've been all over the world,so different cuisines aren't an issue. But the standard of food is very poor. The cooking station was manned by a really nice guy. But cooking 20 fried eggs over done. Crispy around the edges then placed on a hot plate. Similar with varying foods every time. This station should be cooking as requested. It takes 2 minutes to cook an egg. I'd much prefer to have it cooked for me. It was quite repetitive and not in my opinion of a decent standard for a 4 star hotel. We would love to come back, but only if the food aspect has improved. I hope this review helps the hotel to look into this and helps them make their hotel even better.

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“The good and not so good”

I booked the Solimar Ruby Hotel direct with Jet2 and I think the site is a bit misleading because this looks like 2 hotels on one site; the Solimar and the Ruby Royal. You can only book the solimar superior rooms on Jet2, not the Ruby. I can't comment on the Ruby or the other Solimar rooms but my S… more

I booked the Solimar Ruby Hotel direct with Jet2 and I think the site is a bit misleading because this looks like 2 hotels on one site; the Solimar and the Ruby Royal. You can only book the solimar superior rooms on Jet2, not the Ruby. I can't comment on the Ruby or the other Solimar rooms but my Superior room was very basic, akin to a 3 ☆ hotel. My room looked over the road out front and over waste land. It was noisy at night and in the morning with traffic. The bed wasnt particulary comfortable. Other Solimar & Ruby rooms look over the pool and gardens. The building fabric is in good order, its clean and tidy. The English speaking staff are friendly. The Jet2 site promote 2 freshwater pools with pictures and state a local charge applies but it doesn't say what that charge is for! Well, it's €5 per day to use the Ruby pool and loungers, which are nicer than the Solimar which Jet2 could tell you. The not so good is the food, like other comments, its not very good. Odd food options, with recycled leftovers, limited options each day, not 4☆ quality food. For the price paid, I can't really complain, but I wouldn't come back when there are so many other hotels. As always you get what you pay for.

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“Had high hopes for this holiday.”

Booked a junior suite in the “ruby royal” part of this hotel. Jet2 were well aware that my husband is disabled as I had booked “special assistance”. So back to the beginning. We landed in Heraklion, to absolutely no wheelchairs at all, security told us to take a seat and they’d find us a chair, 30… more

Booked a junior suite in the “ruby royal” part of this hotel. Jet2 were well aware that my husband is disabled as I had booked “special assistance”. So back to the beginning. We landed in Heraklion, to absolutely no wheelchairs at all, security told us to take a seat and they’d find us a chair, 30 mins later, still no chair so walked to baggage claim. Booked private transfer, which was another 5 minute walk to the taxi, needless to say, my husband STRUGGLED! Got to the hotel, woman on reception was lovely and made us feel very welcome. She said we had been left some food and drink in our fridge for our arrival which was very sweet. Our “suite” was situated just past the splash pool, so walked over, to my absolute horror that our room was on the second floor (top floor), 4 flights of stairs, no lift, no handrail. I finally managed to get our 2 cases, backpack and medical device bag up the stairs, my husband REALLY struggled climbing even one flight of stairs, but got there in the end. The room was cute, separate living room and bedroom, walk in shower which was perfect for my husbands needs. Opened the fridge to grab a drink- 1 x 750ml bottle of water between the pair of us. The sandwiches were wrapped in clingfilm, both ham and cheese, no butter, no sauce etc, disappointed because I don’t eat pig, so they went in the bin. The yogurt was nice though. I went to reception to explain to the room wasn’t good for us, and she promised it would be sorted by morning 11am. The bed itself was comfy and clean. Slept ok, went for breakfast then spoke to reception again, receptionist told us (we are fully booked (bear in mind, this is the second week of October), and the only room we could have would be a standard room). As this room was ground floor, we accepted it. Asked jet2 about a refund on the “suite”, to be told “no, because we CHOSE to downgrade, the hotel won’t refund us! Anyway, the room was good, clean, decent size, but an over bath shower (not good for my husband). We just made good with what we had. We were able to gain access to the “royal” pool where the Sunbeds were a lot better than the ones at the splash pool. Good drinks offered, although some had to be paid for, even though we had paid for all inclusive “plus”, which I found odd. The snacks were absolutely woeful! Ham and cheese sandwiches and wraps, ham wraps, pork souvlaki, ham and cheese pizza, so needless to say, I was a bit gutted. The main restaurant wasn’t massive, but had seats for everyone. The food choices again, very odd (peas in tomato sauce), pork, pork, pork, “meat”, Pork, etc etc, so we ate out most nights. These would be my only moans, because this place has so many redeeming qualities, it’s spotless, the staff are all so, so lovely and are more than happy to chat with you, offer you advice on things to do etc. would we return? Yes, if we would be guaranteed the food was friendlier to people’s diets (vegetarian, vegan, gluten free), and the smokers should have a designated smoking area, because as soon as you open that balcony door, your room is filled with second hand biffter smoke. Not pleasant. The old town has some gorgeous restaurants, one in particular “San Giorgio”, the king prawn linguine was a religious experience (no lie, it’s in a church, literally). And the house red semi sweet wine was DANGEROUS! Like ribena you would easily get smashed on. Highlight for me is the cats. They’re everywhere, and yes, I am one of those ppl who buys cat food and goes around feeding them! Our last day we kept the room until 8pm, think it was maybe €40 do really happy with that. Again, the airport is massively in need of a makeover, it’s grim! Sat in a small area waiting for a wheelchair for just on an hour with other passengers who all shared the same concerns over how behind the times this airport really is. Home now and gutted to be away from the sunshine, but happy to be in my own bed.

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