If you're looking for a doing nothing and brain wash place then this is an appropriate spot. Loved the gardens and private sharing pool (it's worth booking a room in VIP bungalow with private sharing pool, it's not much more expensive and gives you access to a lovely restaurant for breakfast; no sea view though for such bungalows). The village itself is lovely. They offer a fair variety of food that was pretty good. They also organise special dinners such as lobster night, barbecue etc. for which you have to pay extra but worth the shot as well. The SPA is also great. As a minus, sunbeds on the hotel's beach are not comfortable at all and there are lots of stones in the water. Crete has plenty of superbe beaches though so if you rent a car to check them out this should not be too disturbing. All in all, this resort is great for relaxation.

We just returned from aldemat royal mare hotel and must tell that even though there are many advantages, i founded also some disavantages. we stayed there one week and i am quite happy we didnt choose 2 weeks, otherwise i would be even more disappointed.

advantages:
- hotel territory is really beautiful, built in cretan village style, quite large and green;
- rooms also look good and there was nice view from our room , we took bungalow sea view;
- it was quite clean, towels changed each day

disadvantages:
- personally, i founded the food in the restaurant to be ok, i cant say it was so delisious, as many wrote here (we took half board);
- the food or drinks in other restaurants of the hotel (Candia, el greco) are overpriced (double or even more), so there's no sence in changing dinner in the main restaurant to other restaurant, because you only have 12 euros per person credit, which you can substract from the sum in the restaurant you choose;
-i didnt like the beach, the waves were so big we couldn't swim for all days of our stay, only the last day sea was calm, of course this was due to the weather, but when we were in other hotel in elounda, we had nice construction in shape of bay, which protected us from the waves, so we could swim;
- the sunbeds (here i agree with some previous comment from the guy from Kiev) were etremely uncomfortable and what i found really unpleasant they were so dirty, so i wasnt enjoying laying on the short beach towel (that gives hotel) and putting my legs on the dirty sunbeds. Such a shame for 5 star hotel!!
- and finally, we had problems with shower. when we took a shower and step out on the floor, there were plenty of water - somehow water leacked out from the shower. i tried taking shower in the bath - same effect.
- we also had a door connecting our room with the other room, it was closed, but later on we discovered we could hear every noice from that room, so its absolutely clear we had no privacy.

Finally, we complained about the door and problem with shower and were moved to another room for 3 days with better view, it was sea front bungalow, but those days we were travelling around crete, so we were not spending much time in the room, but again, the shower was also leacked out and water was on the floor.

The majority of hotel quests are russians.

usually, im not complaining type of person, but this was our experience and i just wanted to share it. however, we chose to prescind from negative points and tried to enoy our holidays.

Overall happy with our stay in this hotel, you will find the air con in the reception and bar area very poor, we did ask the hotel why was the air con was not working, apparently it was switched on but it had little effect to these rooms. Big parties are also a problem for the restaurant and we found the management unwilling to make two tables of 8 unless we arrived at 7.30pm.
If you decide to take your half board at lunch time and not in the evening, you have just 12 Euro's as a budget. Having said the above, it was still a good holiday.

Although hotel is said to be in Hersonissos it is actually a couple of miles away, with infrequent bus service. Taxis cost about 7 euros each way, or you can walk! Around the immediate area are a few other hotels, some bars/restaurants and a couple of small supermarkets.
The hotel is sited on a hill; with the main building, including reception, dining rooms, high end shops and spa at the top. The premises then slopes gradually down to the sea, covering quite an expanse of land with two large main swimming pools, accommodation blocks (bungalows), private pools, restaurants, bars and a few shops. Grounds are nicely landscaped and kept spotlessly clean.
Thinking that at peak season the main pools etc would be crowded, we booked a VIP bungalow, with shared private pool. Bungalow is a bit of a grand name for what is effectively a slightly larger than normal hotel room. The VIP bit does mean that you have complimentary water and fruit each day, and take breakfast in the Candia restaurant rather than the main dining room. Bed sheets are changed daily and towels twice daily. Not sure if this applies to non VIP rooms as well. Rooms well equipped with fridge, safe, toiletries, dressing gowns, balcony or patio and plenty of storage space. Our double bed was actually two singles, made up as singles and pushed together! Electricity and air con operated by inserting room key into slot near door. If you want to keep air con going you need to permanently have spare room key in the slot, or take credit card size piece of plastic to use. Whilst facilities include a bath, it is very small and the water flow into bath is barely a trickle, which I am sure is deliberate to discourage use of bath.
The shared private pool was quite large but it serviced about 20 “bungalows” so sometimes busy. Throughout the site I reckon there were about a dozen private pools, some shared and some for single use only. With this number of smaller pools, and immediate access to the beach, the result is that the main pools were rarely busy and never crowded. Plenty of sunbeds and shade, and saw little evidence of guests “reserving” beds. I didn’t think the sunbeds were all that comfortable. Hotel does provide a pool towel (small), which can be changed daily but would suggest you take your own towel, or blag an extra one from the hotel to make sunbeds a little more comfortable. The beach itself is combination of sand and shingle, which I preferred as the sand didn’t get everywhere; a bit rocky and, when windy, some quite big waves. Personally I liked the beach, some may not, but it was very popular
Knowing the hotel was slightly out we booked half board. This meant eating dinner in the main restaurant, which was primarily a buffet. A couple of days a week you could choose main course from a menu and these were generally better quality. Buffet did have a varied selection of meals, but as with most buffets, I never find the hot food is kept warm enough. At best I would describe the food as adequate. There was always the option of trying the other “smarter” restaurants. If on half board guest were allowed a credit of 12 euros per person, which was significantly less than rate charged for half board. Given that prices in the other restaurants were pretty steep this did not seem good value. The main restaurant did have a nice view out over the complex towards the sea, but couldn’t enjoy this as, being non smokers, we either had to eat inside or be shunted away to the back end of the terrace. Overall the buffet restaurant was ok, but the other restaurants on site did look a bit more appealing, and more expensive. Breakfasts for those in VIP rooms were served in the Candia restaurant, but there was no check, so anyone could have used. The Candia had nice surroundings in front of a little pool with plenty of choice; but again the hot food was, at best, lukewarm.
There was some low key evening entertainment throughout the hotel. Sometimes a small band or disco or dance show. All very relaxing, providing you could find a spot away from the heavy smokers. Internet access is available at a charge of 5 euros per hour.
It was nice that in the evening many guests, particularly the ladies, dressed up. Guests were a mixture of nationalities but high proportion of Russians, most of whom dressed to the nines at night and looked fantastic (the ladies that is); it’s a pity they were all so insular and glum.
Pictures of the hotel, including mine, do not really do it justice. Overall this is a good quality hotel, set in lovely grounds, and one to which I would return, but to a VIP room without private pool.