SHANGRI-LA FIJIAN RESORT November 2005 An absolutely wonderful Resort, on its own little 108 acre island, joined by a short causeway. We went in November 2005 and the resort had 60% occupancy, a very pleasant amount of fellow travelers. Mainly consisting of Aussies…Read More

SHANGRI-LA FIJIAN RESORT November 2005

An absolutely wonderful Resort, on its own little 108 acre island, joined by a short causeway. We went in November 2005 and the resort had 60% occupancy, a very pleasant amount of fellow travelers. Mainly consisting of Aussies and New Zealanders.

.Checking into Reception was smooth sailing and we were taken to our room where I had previously organized for some arrival Canapes
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We stayed in a Coral Wing Ocean View room, which had a lovely view overlooking the Reef. There was a superb king size bed, that when you moved your partner didn’t, a beautiful marble bathroom, deep bath, and shower with plenty of amenities. The room was serviced every morning, with turn down in the evenings. The room had a great air-conditioner, mini bar, great safe, and plenty of cupboard space with iron and ironing board, generally, just a terrific size room. We had a lovely balcony, where we were overlooking the Reef and also the Infinity Pool to the right.

The Coral Wing is set the furthest away from Restaurants and main areas of the Resort, but we liked this aspect as it involved a lot of walking.

The Shangri-La has three brilliant swimming pools. The infinity pool is just a picture with the reef as a back drop.
The Takali, adults only pool, is quite big with the Takali Restaurant and Bar to one side—this makes it ideal to get those Cocktails while swimming. All this, with just the murmur of the Adults talking and no children jumping in and screaming around you. Very peaceful if you want to just relax or read that book.
The Lagoon swimming pool is the largest of them all, and is a beautiful design. Plenty of activity and room for all with fish and chips, ice-creams, and drinks adjacent for all to enjoy.

Everything you purchase whether it be drinks, food, or meals all gets sent to the room account and you are given a receipt which you sign after each transaction, which I kept, with the exception of the little convenience store.
What I used to do, is at night just quickly add up my receipts and go to the Reception the next morning and pay my bill, that way every day started with a nil balance—I know it sounds corny but it worked brilliantly, and I knew exactly how much we were spending and this made for a great holiday because there were no little surprises.

If you feel like snorkeling or swimming in the Ocean, this is just behind the Lagoon Pool and is just a beautiful sight.

You have to sign for, and return, your beach towels by the end of the day, or you get charged for them.

The Resort also has its own set of Shops in a circular arcade along with a Prouds Outlet, Photo Printing Shop, General Tourist Shops along with a Tour office and little corner store of sorts (convenience), and all the Saris, Polo Shirts and nic-nacs that you want to buy at your Resort are in this Arcade. They also have a ‘Jack Handicrafts’ store at the Resort which is a very big Company in Fiji. And rest assured, any Wooden products that you purchase and if they are stamped on the back with “treated wood”, then there is no problem bringing them back to Australia. They also pack and post, quite expensive to do so but hey, if you can afford it.

The Staff in general are always very nice and are always saying “Bula” whenever they pass you, with a genuine big smile on their faces.

The Food is typical resort style food with buffet breakfasts and dinners etc. The Takali Restaurant, and Lagoon Restaurant, both do a lovely buffet breakfast. I found these prices to be on par with other Resorts. A buffet breakfast for two was $50FD which brings it back down to about $20AUD each. They also have themed buffet dinners and á la carte meals.

The Kalevue Restaurant (the resorts signature restaurant) is outstanding in every regard. The quality, meals, presentation and service are all definitely 5 star standard. The meals are sensational. Well worth the special night whilst you are away. If they ask you if you want Fiji water, you pay for it, so just say normal water and it is chilled and just as pleasant

So, apart from the Kalevue Restaurant all meals were say 4 star standard, typical resort meals very pleasant, something for everyone, and priced accordingly.
The Beach Bar and Grill served very nice snacks/lunch ranging from $11FD to $18FD

Try to avoid room service they have yet to get this right. If you are starving it wont matter, but don’t expect it to be too exciting. Also guys, take a bottle opener with you, as the rooms do not have these and it took one hour for room service, and he didn’t want to leave it here which meant he wanted to open all the bottles. We persuaded him differently and he came back at 3pm the next afternoon to pick it up.

One night in particular that we will always remember, was the “Seafood Sensation dinner for Two” which is prepared by the Takali Restaurant in your own Private Cabana for two, overlooking the Reef which is spectacular.
For $195FD this includes your own private waiter, the Cabana all to yourselves, a seafood platter which is to die for which includes a whole lobster Mornay, prawns, crabs, salmon steaks, calamari salad, and other beautiful things. Along with a complimentary bottle of Mad Dog Wine, and a complimentary glass of Champagne. This was a beautiful night, fantastic food, and what a holiday memory is all about.

Cocktails at the Resort are $15FD
Coke $4FD
Beer $5FD

They also play a game of Rugby next to the Lagoon Pool on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays it is more fun than an actual game with players ranging from 6 – 60 years.

The Shangri-La Resort is a good resort to stay in, just choose your time of year carefully, the higher the season, of course, the more crowded. We had a wonderful holiday here and it was everything we expected.

You come to Fiji to unwind, get a tan, eat, sleep, and just generally be merry.
Everything here is on Fijian time which means that things take a little longer to happen, but if you keep this in mind you will just go with the flow of things.

For those who are planning to get married in the church of the Shangri-La, I have some lovely photos of the Church inside and out.

I have many photos to share if you are interested in this resort contact me on cheryl.waugh@bigpond.com
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The Sheraton Denaru Villas are situated on Denarau Island Fiji. This island is joined to the mainland by a very short causeway, and is now the center of Resorts being built, along with a Marina. In a year, or so, Denarau Island will be a…Read More

The Sheraton Denaru Villas are situated on Denarau Island Fiji. This island is joined to the mainland by a very short causeway, and is now the center of Resorts being built, along with a Marina. In a year, or so, Denarau Island will be a luxury hotel haven. The Sheraton Denarau Villas stands in between the other two Sheratons (one of which was called the Sheraton Royal Denarau, formerly The Regent of Fiji) which is now being totally made over, it will be refurbished to a grand scale and will be called a Westin, although still affiliated with the Sheratons. This should be completed by June 2006. We will stay here for our next visit. It will be stunning.

Our Sheraton Denarau Seafront Villa was approximately 73sq.m. It was superb in every sense of the word. You walk through the main door and look upon a fully, self contained kitchen ,and lounge room with separate dining room and a big 68cm TV, with a CD player. Air-conditioning, electronic safe, aqua spa amenities, room service, daily cleaning and turn-down at night, and being in the Villas we had the use of a butler, which we did not use, we also received an invitation to a cocktail party, not forgetting the bottle of champagne waiting for us on our arrival.

Plus we overlooked the beautiful infinity pool which can be accessed through our back door and small porch. (this is the life). The main bedroom ( was huge, it would have been about 12m long including the bathroom) with terrific king size bed, lounge, another big TV and beautiful marble bathroom, with a washing machine and dryer in a cupboard for your convenience, and a porch leading once again to the outside pool area.

The Sheraton Denarau Villas do not have a Restaurant but they do have room service (let me mention that when you order room service that there is a $10 surcharge before you even take a bite of your Meal) Having said that, you have the free run of the other two Sheraton establishments as far as pools, restaurants etc. Actually, it is fantastic because you have free run of everything, it is like one huge Resort.

When the Refurbishment is completed with the Westin it will be an outstanding Holiday destination, with an abundance of every facility and convenience at your fingertips. There is also a Deli, Internet Cafe, and shops just out the front of the Sheraton Fiji.

If you are a Golfer, well you will be in heaven, the Denarau Golf and Racquet Club is picture perfect. The Golf Course is world standard, and so picturesque they also have a restaurant and a barbecue at night, where you choose what you want to be cooked—it also includes a seafood selection. For those of you that have a Sheraton Dining Card this gives you a 50% discount on all meals (food only) when two of you are dining, if you are dining by yourself a 20% discount. These can be used everywhere except the Golf and Racquet Club, and Homachi Japanese Restaurant (which is not owned by the Sheraton, just leased). Even the poolside snack bars at all the Sheratons allow you to use the card. Once again, not for drinks though. One classic example of that wonderful card was a the Sheraton’s Signature Restaurant "Ports O’ Call" (Sheraton Fiji Resort) this is silver service and 5 star standard, presentation and the food was to die for, we actually dined here 4 out of our 5 nights, and  the Sheraton Card made this possible. This is the most expensive of all the restaurants. There are approx. two waiters looking after your table. They also make crepe suzette and Caesar salads at your table, and offer a serving of sorbet between each meal.

To give you an idea a meal would cost us $240FD which you divide by 50% which equals $120FD and because there was two of us, you can say $60FD each, less for $AUD do not leave home without this card. This card allows you to fine dine all the time. Also included with the Sheraton Card is their Accommodation Vouchers, we also received 50% off our Accommodation. (we saved about $1800 in accommodation alone not to mention what we saved on meals). These days though, it is 10% off the Rack Room Rate for accommodation apparently still very good. But the food saving of 50% is fantastic. Buffet breakfasts at the Verandah Restaurant (which is in the Sheraton Fiji Resort) which for us was included in our price (as it should have been) were superb, the buffet selection went for miles also with their own omelet station for those omelet lovers. There was a Grand Piano player for breakfast as well.

The food was beautiful, everything you could imagine and more. What an outstanding breakfast selection, everything you could possibly think of was there, even those beautiful pastries. They are also open for á la carte and buffet dinners. Along with the Sheratons, there are many other eating venues.

The Sheraton Fiji has a most magnificent lobby, which also has an abundance of beautiful shops, one of these being a Prouds outlet. They even have a Bottle shop here but be aware these prices are too high a can of Pepsi cost $2.50FD so you can imagine how expensive alcohol may have been here. Go into Nadi, which is 15 minutes away, and buy all the alcohol from there, we did and we saved a fortune. Also, we stocked up our fridge with nibbles, which stopped us from getting room service if we felt peckish.

The Sheraton has a Private Island that they utilize just across the bay called "Akulia", and it takes 5 minutes by boat. They cater for picnics there and we had a lovely time. You order your picnic hamper selection from room service, and pick up your picnic hamper from one of the Cafes and they take you across to the Island in a little speed boat. There is a boat going back and forth all day . The water is quite lovely and you will have a lot of fun. Please remember to take plenty of Mozzie repellent, this is almost as important as your Traveler’s Cheques, they are prevalent here so cover yourself before venturing out in the evenings, and you wont have a problem.

The water was quite OK to drink. Remember, when you come to the Sheraton/Denarau Island you will not have that crystal clear water, or that white sand, quite the opposite in fact. This is classified as a swimming pool holiday and perhaps on a perfect day a bit of a frolic in the ocean. If you want crystal clear water, go to one of the Islands for a day trip, or stay for a couple of nights, we went to Castaway Island and it was just glorious—the water was so clear I couldn’t see it. An absolutely wonderful day. The Coral Coast has a better type of water like our beaches (clarity), but go to the islands for that Maldives look.

To sum it up, the Sheraton has everything you will need for a holiday, get that Sheraton Card and make it more attractive. Wait until June, of next year, before you stay there, that way you can utilize all three resorts and you will be in heaven. Plus, all of the Restaurant will be open. It is more expensive than normal resorts, but Sheratons always are and if you plan for this, all will be OK. I found that the atmosphere was lacking in happiness, probably because it was a Sheraton, our stay at the Shangri-La Fijian Coral Coast was a happier experience, not as extravagant but a happier atmosphere. I don’t think the staff at the Sheraton are treated as nicely by the tourists as they are by the other resorts, just my opinion. Having said all that, we had a lovely holiday in both Resorts and we were both quite content to come home. Isn’t that what a good holiday is all about. 5 nights Sheraton Denarau Villas, 7 nights Shangri-La Fijian Coral Coast(see review), I have plenty of pics to show if you want to see certain aspects of the resort contact - cheryl.waugh@bigpond.com

Fiji is a beautiful tropical island situated in the pacific, with around 100 outer lying islands set in crystal clear pristine waters you will enjoy paradise either cruising the main island or take a boat and explore the many islands which are magnificent for swimming,…Read More

Fiji is a beautiful tropical island situated in the pacific, with around 100 outer lying islands set in crystal clear pristine waters you will enjoy paradise either cruising the main island or take a boat and explore the many islands which are magnificent for swimming, snorkeling or diving. Nadi Airport is the main port of arrival, we flew with Air Pacific and stayed at the Tokatoka Resort is situated within walking distance from Nadi airport, this resort is set in a lush tropical surrounding, with 1 and 2 bedroom type units some with full kitchens. The staff was very friendly, with a beautiful lagoon style swimming pool; the restaurant is located right next to the pool. The breakfast was very basic and served buffet style. We hired a car for a few days and traveled along the coral coast, which is very famous for its fringing reef, there are many hotels and resorts nestled amongst the tropical native trees and flowers. Most hotels cater for walk in clients; other resorts only cater for clients who have booked ahead of time. Many local villages sell handmade crafts and are quite friendly. We had booked a week’s accommodation on Mana Island, which is situated in the Mamanuca group of islands, west of Nadi. We took a local ferryboat there, which took about one hour, and wow! was the scenery spectacular. Mana is surrounded by white sandy beaches and all the accommodation faces the beach -- you can stay in private bungalow-type rooms or in the main house. Mana is one of the most beautiful of this group – it was home to the cast and crew of the movie Castaway starring Tom Hanks, which was filmed close by.

There were many activities to do on the island, from water sports, kayaking, and paragliding behind a speed boat, windsurfing, and local traditions like basket weaving, language, or fruit carving. We went scuba diving everyday and enjoyed relaxing by the pool in the afternoon or relaxing in a lazy chair by the seaside bar to watch the sun go down. You can walk around the island; be sure to take a hat and plenty of sunscreen.

The incredible buffet dinners at night made sure we had more than enough variety, from seafood to western cuisine. It was one of the best holidays for the ultimate in relaxation, even though we seemed to be so busy enjoying all the island had to offer.

Mana is also famous for weddings and has its own chapel and wedding villas at the north end of the island. You can fly into the island also or take a joy flight during the day around the outer lying islands.