Atlantica Caldera Palace

We booked our holiday through D-Reizen and stayed at this resort. While the property itself is lovely and the service staff work very hard, our experience was completely ruined by a corrupt resort doctor and an absolute lack of empathy or responsibility from the hotel management.Here is our step-by-step nightmare:Monday (Day 1): Arrival chaos: Our flight from Rotterdam to Heraklion and the transfer went smoothly, arriving around 21:30. We arrived hungry, only to find no food available anywhere in the hotel. During check-in, a total power outage occurred, crashing all systems. We booked two rooms for the four of us. One keycard worked, but the other did not. We had to drag ourselves back to the reception just to find out the second card was programmed incorrectly.Tuesday (Day 2): The sunbed war: By early morning, every single sunbed was already reserved with towels. We were forced to spend our entire day at the kids' splash pool just to have a place to sit.Wednesday (Day 3): Medical issues begin: The next morning, my 15-year-old son woke up with severe ear pain—almost certainly caught from the kids' splash pool. While I woke up extra early to fight for sunbeds, my wife and son visited the resort doctor. He diagnosed an ear infection, prescribed eardrops and antibiotics, and charged €100 for the visit plus €53 for medication. He insisted we return on Saturday for a mandatory follow-up check (an additional €90).Thursday (Day 4): A rare positive note: Our son had to stay in his room all day while we battled for sunbeds at the various pools. During lunch, I asked the staff if they could deliver some food to his room. They arranged this very neatly. I want to highly praise and thank the restaurant staff for this great gesture.Friday (Day 5): Recovery: My son was still on medication but experienced less pain. It was a relatively pleasant day.Saturday (Day 6): The "Fit to Fly" Scam: We returned for the follow-up check. The doctor confirmed our son was fine and then handed us a staggering bill of €435. Attached was a nearly blank piece of paper with a single sentence and a signature, claiming my son was "Fit to Fly" certificate. He charged a shocking €200 just for this paper.My son did not need this; airlines only require a "Fit to Fly" certificate for heavily pregnant women, recent surgeries, or highly contagious diseases. When we refused to pay €200 for an almost blank piece of paper, the doctor threatened to call his boss and the police.No help from Management or D-Reizen: I went to the reception, but they were completely unhelpful, stating the doctor merely rents the space and it was not their problem. They redirected us to Customer Relations, who also refused to do anything. I then contacted D-Reizen. Even though hundreds of people book this resort through them, they claimed they had no influence over the hotel. Nobody took responsibility, allowing this doctor to openly scam guests and cash in hundreds of euros per week.The confrontation: Determined not to be scammed, we went back to the doctor during his evening hours. After a long argument where I stressed that neither we nor the airline requested this document, he finally dropped the €200 fee and lowered the bill to €235. This proves it was nothing but an extortion scam! Conclusion:It is an absolute disgrace that neither the resort management nor D-Reizen holds this doctor accountable. Our son caught a painful ear infection at their pool, yet we received zero empathy, sympathy, or compassion.BE AWARE OF THE RESORT DOCTOR!!! This is a total trap.

Het hotel is inderdaad 5 sterren waard. Er is niet in de directe omgeving een “winkel” gebeuren ,maar de taxi is goed betaalbaar.

We waren met ons gezin en vrienden met hun gezinnen. Het resort is heel groot en heeft verschillende baden en barren. De ontvangst viel wel tegen. We kregen minimaal uitleg vergeleken met onze vrienden die eerder die week aankwamen. De kids club viel ook tegen; kleine ruimte zonder ramen. Ondanks het slechte weer hebben we ons goed kunnen vermaken met elkaar. Het eten en drinken was goed! Veel keuze en erg divers. Toegang naar de zee was heel fijn.

Hotel heeft grote kamers, maar worden slecht gepoetst. Fantastische zwembaden, personeel aan zwembad zeer vriendelijk. Eten was prima, maar personeel in de eetzaal was niet vriendelijk. De keuzes uit restaurants was groot, echter wordt er pas achteraf verteld dat we moesten bijbetalen. Personeel aan de receptie bijna op het onbeschofte af als je een vraag gaat stellen en bij aankomst geen uitleg over waar alles te vinden is en geen plattegrond gekregen. Kamer met zeezicht geboekt en betaald, maar zijzeezicht was ook al goed geweest, want de zee zagen we alleen links van ons liggen en dan achter andere gebouwen. We keken recht op een zwembad. We hebben het zeker niet slecht gehad, maar voor ons niet voor herhaling vatbaar.

Mooi resort met voor ieder wat wils. Zeer ruime keuze aan gerechten in het buffetrestaurant. Fijn dat er specifieke plekken zijn voor mensen met kinderen waardoor je de rust kunt opzoeken op de ‘adults only’ plekken.