Ikos Oceania: A Resort Experience

We went on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday to an all inclusive five star resort. In this post I will share with you our experience.

Hospitality

In my previous post, A Greek Odyssey: Experience Ikos Oceania in Halkidiki, I have explained our arrival and touched just a little on our first impressions of Ikos Oceania in Halkidiki. I wanted, however, in this post elaborated on that a bit more. Upon our arrival, the hotel manager mentioned to us that he had received my husband’s letter about my allergies. He assured us that they wanted to ensure that this will be the holiday of a lifetime and that I shouldn’t have to worry about eating something that will make me unwell.

To help me navigate my way through the restaurants, the hotel has a dietician, Anna, that looks after guests with allergies. They have arranged for me to meet with her at 5pm that evening when she started her shift. Upon meeting with her, she already printed out the menus of all the restaurants and filtered out some of my allergens. She took the time to explain the ingredients of each dish with me, along with how it is prepared to ensure that I am absolutely at ease with what I can eat.

Little did I know that this was just the start.

After going through the menus in detail with me, Anna set me up with a Whatsapp chat that allowed me to chat with her any time of the day should I have any questions or concerns. What was even greater was that I could peruse the menus and then send her a Whatsapp in the afternoon with the dishes I fancied trying in the evening. She then arranged with the restaurants to ensure that my meal was cooked without any allergens present.

Anna even came to find us during the day to check in and to ensure that I was still ok. It didn’t matter where we were: on the beach, at the pool or even in the the lobby bar. She always seemed to be able to find us where ever we found ourselves. This service was absolutely second to none.

Restaurants and Bars

There are six restaurants, five bars and two ‘dine out’ restaurants to choose from. I have decided to post about each restaurant experience separately which you can read about here, but I wanted to touch base in this post.

Before our arrival we were required to book the first couple of nights’ restaurants up front to ensure that we were able to secure a reservation.

Our very first meal was the afternoon of our arrival at Flavours restaurant – the only buffet option in the resort. Due to my allergies, I was introduced to the chef that took me from dish to dish, explaining what I could and couldn’t eat. I was so happy that, despite the allergies, there was still plenty for me to have – especially since I’ve always wanted to try authentic Greek food. This restaurant literally caters for every taste: there was pizza, pasta, breads, soups, salads, hot dishes from all over the world, desserts, cheese and fruit. Name it, and they probably had it. I had to go with fruit and cheese and olives and greek salad. We were offered a seat in the adults only section that overlooked the ocean and the resort. The staff were friendly and by the end of the meal, we felt like we were old friends.

We ate at every single restaurant in the resort. We chose not to do the ‘dine out’ option as these were not able to cater for my allergies, but upon reading the reviews of these restaurants, we knew that staying in the resort and having the Michelin-starred meals was by far the better option.

We frequented the Lobby Bar every evening after dinner. We would take a stroll around the resort, ending in the bar and having a cocktail or two, chatting to fellow holiday makers or meeting some of our newfound friends.

One evening we had plenty of time before our dinner reservation. The pools were closed, we were in our evening attire and we decided to go to the bar before our meal instead. We asked the barman if we could have a small bowl of peanuts (like we’ve had almost every evening). When our drinks arrived, he put down two enormous bowls; one with pistachios and one with crisps. We said to him that we thought that this was someone else’s order as we just wanted a very small bowl of peanuts. He looked at us very confused before he shrugged and said: ‘same thing’! We had to laugh and laugh. Luckily for us we love pistachios and didn’t know that it was an option!

Beach

The beach was awesome.

I think I can just write those four words and leave it at that, but it will not even come close to the experience. On our first full day, we decided that we needed to go to the beach. This was after all why we were there. We strolled past the bougainvilleas and the olive trees and had to go down, what seemed like a gazillion, steps to reach the bottom. Then cross the very quiet road to find ourselves on a very sandy beach. To our right was cabanas, reserved for the elite of the resort. Us paupers had to turn left. There was a towel station (we made the mistake to bring our own beach towels on the holiday, but couldn’t use them) and we proceeded to help ourselves to a towel each. Out of nowhere we heard: ‘no, no! It is ok! Give to me!’. Puzzled by this, we found a young man running towards us with arms waving. We quickly left the towels thinking that we made a mistake, but alas, he wanted to take us to an umbrella of our choice and gave us, wait for it, TWO towels each! Not only did he take us to an umbrella of our choice, he also threw open the towels over the chairs and presented us with ice cold water in a bucket. He introduced himself and explained to us that the we could simply scan the QR code on the table and order anything we wanted. He will then bring that to us. Best day of my life.

First thing I ordered was a martini. Then an Aperol Spritz. Drinking cocktails on a beach in my wide-brimmed hat whilst reading my book was pretty much as good as life is going to get.

Anna came to find us. Remember Anna? Our dietician. She knew that we were on the beach. She came to enquire about our first night and if I was ok after our first dining experience. It is here that she told me that she made a note on my account so that I can order anything here on the beach and they will know that it should be made carefully and without allergens.

I had my first club sandwich right there on the beach. Aperol in one hand. Book in the other. Living the dream.

When lying down and reading became too hot, we would stroll over the sand and make our way into the water. This is a private beach and our belongings was very safe. We could leave anything by our chairs an no-one would even look in that direction. We went for a swim in the crystal clear waters; watching the little fish swimming by. With my wide-brimmed hat I provided shade for half the beach-goers with room to spare! We stayed on the beach until it was time to get ready for dinner. We didn’t want the day to end.

Pools

A stone’s throw from our room was an infinity pool. Adults only. This is where we ended up spending most of our pool days. On day two we decided to give the pool a go after breakfast and, learning from our beach experience, we waited for Eva at the towel station where we were greeted with the biggest smile. We were shown to the best available umbrellas and immediately offered ice cold water. It wasn’t long before we ordered a drink and just lounged about reading. Eva was thoughtful. She came round frequently, topping up water, asking if we needed anything or just came for a chat.

Eva brought over her ‘magic spray’. She cleaned our sunglasses for us!

I haven’t mentioned yet, but we have gone on holiday during a very hot heatwave. Even for the locals, this was hot. I felt so sorry for them as they still did their job in the blazing heat with a giant smile. All whilst dripping with sweat. It was at this point that Eva brought round frozen towels for us to help us cool down. It was such a lovely touch.

One afternoon, we were packing up a little earlier than normal. Eva came to enquire if we were ok and we told her that we were on our way to do some wine tasting (see below). It wasn’t long before she returns with two bowls of lemon sorbet to act as a palate cleanser before we left for the wine tasting. Again, this was such a thoughtful gesture!

Aside from the Adults only pool, we also visited some of the other pools around the resort. As kiddies were swimming in these, they were jam-packed with lido’s and inflatables. There was one little corner that became our sanctuary: never in my wildest dreams could I ever think that I will be seeking shade under an ancient olive tree in a pool in the middle of Greece. These things just doesn’t happen every day.

Wine tasting

One of the many experiences that is being offered by the resort is their wine tasting. This was an amazing experience where we learnt all about the Ikos Private Cellar wines. We learnt that the Ikos group consumed so much wine in a season that it made more sense for them to have their own private collection as this would ensure consistency across all resorts.

We tasted four wines during this complimentary wine tasting: two white wines and two red wines. They were all of Greek origin and it has paved the way for our wine selection for the remainder of the holiday.

The wines were expertly paired with cheese and fruit with the sommelier enquiring about where we would dine that evening. We learnt which wines would work best at every restaurant and we ensured that we went with those recommendations – it was a wise decision as it just elevated the dishes.

Spa

I simply love a spa experience. When one is on offer, of course we have to take up the opportunity to go. The spa experience was at an extra cost, but this didn’t deter us from going.

We popped by one morning on our way to the pool to enquire about what was needed for our experience. We were offered some spa water (sparkling water infused with lemon, cucumber and mint) whilst the spa concierge went through the treatments with us. We were able to book a hot stone massage for the next day and were told that we could make use of the facilities at any time. There was a gym, thermal room and indoor pool.

Before our arrival we were required to have a shower and arrive with our swimming costume on along with our robes and slippers that is in our room. We were taken to locker where we could place any belongings before we were shown to a private lounge. We could relax there before and after our massages.

No phones were permitted in the spa, hence my lack of photos!

Evening entertainment

Our very first night was an eighties disco. It was fantastic to relive the music of our youth (yes, I’m that old!) and sing along to the classics with the live band.

Each evening there was different entertainment such as Jazz nights, piano music etc.

The best was our last night: the White Party.

We all dressed in white from top to toe and head to the beach after dinner. There was a live band with a saxophone and other instruments that walked in between the partygoers as we danced on the sand and drank cocktails.

After the party we went for a stroll on the beach to soak up the atmosphere before our final night.

Conclusion

This was hands-down one of the best holiday experiences we’ve ever had. It is now one year on and we still dream every day of the day we are able to go back and experience it all over again. If you are able to go, do it. You will not regret a single moment.

Disclaimer

We paid for this holiday in full. This is not a sponsored post and is simply a reflection on our holiday.

If you liked this post, why not read some of my other posts around Europe?