Cosme, a Luxury Collection Resort, Paros

First time to Greece and first time to Paros. Recommended by our travel agent. The rooms were comfortable but not exactly super luxurious which is what you'd expect given the pricing. I'm guessing that has to do with the aesthetic of the Greek Islands but I don't know. The gym is a nice facility. The breakfast is quite fantastic and the waitstaff we met were all wonderful. The pool is quite nice; the beach is fine. This is a "private beach" but it's tiny and nothing to write home about. We did have dinner at Cosme one night and the food is good. Same for lunch. Agree with another reviewer that the lunch/dinner spot is right next to a dirt roadway. We liked the proximity to Naoussa and the local food we had at several restaurants was wonderful. I would recommend going into town vs the hotel restaurant for dinner. Our biggest disappointment was the catamaran cruise which cost approx $3,000 for the day. You would think a catamaran would actually sail, but the winds were too high that day and there was a captain, who knew how to sail, and a chef/first mate who did not know how to sail. We were not even able to get to most of the spots we were promised on this "sail" because of the gale force winds that day. Safety note: That is the captain's job- to check out the weather and advise those paying huge dollars for a private cruise that perhaps it would be wise to rebook. We were not so lucky. We asked to actually sail and got pushback from the captain. Our family members were actually helping out (perhaps we should get paid for our troubles??) It was an overall nauseating experience for one of our adult kids who got seasick and we all tired of the pounding of the boat on the waves due to the high winds. I even spoke with the GM of Cosme who sounded like she was going to try to get us even a small refund, but then went radio silent. Weeks later we finally heard that they would not refund anything. I mean, they had our money, am I not surprised?

Beautiful property and welcoming staff.

Despite the wild per-night rate, the hotel will charge you for every single aspect of your stay. $20 for a cab ride to the town, which is a ＜5 minute drive, $6 for every single 0.75L bottle of water, minimum $35 for a cocktail, charges for using the night sky observation area. Beyond that, we were informed that staff are told they are not allowed to stand in the shade and must be behind a table that is positioned in the sun all hours of the day. The included breakfast was fantastic, probably the only reason I gave this 2 stars, and the rooms were very nice. Regardless, when Paros develops more tourism, hopefully the number of beach-front hotels will drive down these ridiculous prices.