Fiji Beach Resort and Spa Managed by Hilton, Nadi

Fiji Beach Resort – managed by Hilton

A BAD START
Our first impressions were not that great as we had paid £70 for a private transfer to the hotel as we were not sure how far it was and we knew that we were arriving at 6am having had little sleep the night before. Did we get or expensive ‘Meet and greet’, did we heck! We went to the transfer office as instructed by a man as we came through from customs. The girl in that office telephoned the Hilton and asked what had happened to the transfer and the relayed the information to me that we were only down for a ‘return to airport’. They then organised a taxi for us and we had to pay another $30 Fijian (about £10). The taxi driver was lovely and as it was not his fault we saved our annoyance until we got to the hotel.

IT GOT WORSE
Throughout this trip we had booked accommodation from the night before our arrival if we were arriving very early in the morning as we had been advised by our travel agent. That way we would have a room waiting for us on our arrival. We went to Reception with our pre paid voucher to check in and were told that we would have to wait as our room was not ready. Well, we questioned that politely and much fussing around and surprisingly a room was found. We then queried the ‘Meet and greet service’ or lack of and requested that someone look into that as we had paid over the odds for this service and had not received it. They said they would look into it for us. Now considering that we had been up since 2.00am and had been so badly treated we were keeping calm but making it known we were not impressed.

Off we went with a really lovely man to go to our room. He chatted away telling us about the resort and Fiji etc then carried our entire luggage upstairs as we went into the room. Unfortunately the room we had been allocated already had guests in it! Our lovely little man was very embarrassed, phoned reception to let them know and back into the little golf buggy we got with our luggage.

He then suggested that we go to the restaurant and have some breakfast while they sorted out a room for us. The breakfast was fantastic and the view wonderful and everyone fussed around bringing us coffee and tea and saying how sorry they were. Finally the receptionist came over and said that her boss had a room to offer us, it was two upgrades better than the one we had booked but it was a garden view as opposed to a sea view. We agreed to go and look at the room which was twice the size of the one we were booked in to as it had a kitchenette and sitting room as well as a bedroom BUT it looked onto a small garden then a fence covering the building taking place behind . We were not prepared to swap lovely sea view and balcony for the extra room so we said no thanks.

So back we got into the golf cart with nice man and receptionist and headed for reception. The other room was going to be another 30 to 40 minutes so we had to wait in reception with a newspaper and a couple of bottles of water while the room was prepared. So much for paying for the extra night! At this stage my husband did say that we would expect a full refund of the night as were clearly not getting a room we had pre-booked.

AT LAST A ROOM
Finally we were taken to our room which was lovely with a balcony overlooking the sea through palm trees. Below us were a number of beach umbrellas and sun loungers so it was just beautiful.

The room was not huge but was all we needed. The bed was enormous, we had to wave to each other and the pillows were lovely, soft but big and comfortable. There was also a huge flat screen television on the wall in front of the bed and under the TV was a unit with cupboards and a DVD player. Two decent sized bedside tables were either side of the bed and there were controls for the lights and fans on both bed sides too. The reading lights were good and bright and during the day the room was lovely and light as the entire end wall was a window overlooking the ocean. None of the window light was lost as there were no curtains but at night you could pull down a blind if you wanted.

The bathroom was not really a proper room but could be made into one should you wish by pulling sliding doors across the two sides. A glass sliding door within the area either covered the toilet or the shower. The sink unit had a big cupboard under it with a sliding bin and room to store the hairdryer, a box of tissues and our wash bags too. Beside the cupboard was a shelf with a tea towel, spongy scrubber and a sachet of dishwashing liquid. As well as the huge shower unit which had shampoo and body wash dispensers on the wall, there was also a fantastic bath which I made good use of to calm my stress the day we arrived.

The toiletries were Crabtree and Evelyn soaps and conditioner and body lotion as well as the dispensers in the large shower. The bath was great but as the plug was in the middle and was one of those that you pressed to go in and pressed again to let out, you had to be careful where you sat otherwise you let the water out by mistake! The shower was good but the grouting between some of the tiles was starting to look a bit stained and considering the resort was only four years old and it was a 5* hotel I didn’t think that was really something I should be seeing.

A huge wardrobe opposite the bathroom had a fridge, a kettle and lots of coffee and tea stuff and there was bottled water and two cartons of milk in the fridge too. The water and milk was topped up on a daily basis. There was also a safe in the wardrobe and two bathrobes as well as proper hangers that you could take out of the wardrobe. There was plenty of storage space and the fact that the bathroom was open made the room seem more spacious.

Beside the bed there was a large chair with a rounded cushion as its back, a bit like a chaise lounge only shorter. On the balcony outside there was another longer chaise lounge and a chair with a stool bother with large comfortable cushions so we could sit out and enjoy the view while reading.

NUKU
The restaurant where breakfast was served was called NUKU and was apparently one of the best in the area. Breakfasts were certainly quite special. A choice of at least three fruit juices was available and the selection of fruit varied daily and included fresh fruit and various compotes as well as fresh nuts and coconut pieces. There was a great selection of cooked stuff from fish through to sausages, omelettes, stir fried bokchoy, bacon, eggs and hash browns to name a few. The cold selection included hams, cheeses, smoked salmon, quiches and sushi. The pastries and breads were also many and varied and there was separate area for pancakes too. Coffee and tea was brought to your table in mini plungers and tea pots. All this delicious food and we enjoyed in sitting virtually on the beach either looking at the sea or the pool. Some days we were only brought a single cup of coffee or water with a tea bag so it did depend on what they had left I think. Of all the hotels we stayed in this one provided the best breakfast by far, so much choice and all freshly made too. You could even enjoy a bucks fizz if you wanted which has to be worth an extra point!

One night this same restaurant offered a great seafood BBQ which we decided sounded good value at $45 Fijian which is about £15 per person. It was served to your table on the beach with burning torches and candles for light. Initially it began raining and they were unsure as to whether to go ahead but in the end we sat on the slightly wet chairs and enjoyed our candle lit dinner on the beach. The starter was the best part of the meal as it was baby octopus and Thai fish cakes with a chilli jus, and absolutely yummy. The next course was served with a potato salad and a green salad and this consisted of a local fish marinated in lime juice and chilli, squid and two skewers of prawns. Unfortunately some of the prawn skewers looked a bit undercooked but it was hard to see in the light. I did send three of our four back but when they came back there were fresh ones and I still was not sure but as we had really had quite enough to eat I didn’t risk eating them. Despite the prawn issue the meal was lovely and a very romantic setting on the beach with the stars and candles to light our table..

The a la carte menu is available every day but each night is a special night, one was the sea food BBQ, another night was an India thali which we missed as we were out till late on a boat trip to the Mamanuca islands. Two of the nights we were there they had a steam boat which we didn’t try as we felt this was not authentic; steamboats are from the hill areas of Malaysia. We really did want to try their Indian food as Fiji has a big Indian population but unfortunately this was not to be.

BULA BUS
In the Denarau island area there is a Bula Bus which you pay $6 ( £2) Fijian for a day pass and you can go around the other resorts and to a port and shopping area as many times as you like on the one day. The restaurants down at the shopping area were quite a bit cheaper than out hotel so one day we did make use of our Bula pass and visit the shopping area for a kava ice-cream and shopping in the day and then returned again in the afternoon to use the internet and then have a meal . The internet cafe charged $10 for an hour (roughly £3) whilst the hotel was going to charge us considerably more $5.50 per 15 minutes I believe or $15.50 for an hour which I did pay on one day.

This resort managed by Hilton hotels is one of a number on this reclaimed ‘island’ of Denarau, next to us was the Sofitel, there was also a Westin and a Sheraton. Our hotel had by far the most uninspired reception area. It was large airy and open with comfortable seats but quite ordinary compared to some of the others we saw as we went round in the ‘Bula’ bus. However according to the ‘Lonely planet’ guide our hotel had the best restaurant in the ‘Nuvu’ and the seafood BBQ was certainly very good.

Each night when we came in the blind was pulled down, the lights switched on and the bed turned down with a chocolate mint for each of us which I rather liked. Once ready for bed we pulled the blind back up so that we could wake to the view of the sunrise over the ocean.

POOLS
The Nuvu restaurant was facing the beach with pools either side. The pools were very unusual in the fact that they were quite angular with wooden decks surrounding them. They were sort of elongated rectangles and squares. There were a lot of lovely comfortable sun loungers with brown cushions but there was the age old problem of towel booking of these. You were given a pool towel card and could collect fresh pool towels to use on site or take on trips away from the hotel.

MURUVUI
One night we ate in the Thai restaurant on the resort and it offered a variety of noodle and rice dishes plus a mixture of other Asian cuisine, fresh Vietnamese spring rolls, Thai fish cakes, nasi goring to name a few. My husband enjoyed an excellent Thai green curry with rice while I enjoyed a noodle dish with seafood which was also very tasty. It was an open kitchen so you could see everything being freshly cooked and once again the restaurant looked over the beach to the sea.

One day this restaurant prepared a Fiji party for the children with crafts, foods and entertainment and they all seemed to be enjoying it when we walked passed.

CHILDREN
We made the error of thinking that we would avoid the NZ and Aussie September break in Australia forgetting that they might holiday in Samoa and Fiji. Every person we met in Samoa was from NZ and then in Fiji most seemed to be from Australia and there were a lot of children around especially in the pool. Interestingly most of those we met in Samoa from NZ were older couples although there were quite a few children and family groups on our resort. In Fiji there were far more younger people, young families and groups of young people.
So if you want to avoid children then do not go to these islands in the last two weeks of September as this is the Australian and NZ school holidays. Hopefully they will all be back in school once we reach Australia, probably on our plane!

SUMMARY
After the really bad start this hotel turned out to be a real gem. The food was good and each night they made an effort to do something different in the restaurant on the beach. The shuttle was great, shame it was no longer free but still. The cost of the internet was not good and i still feel it should be free when you pay so much for rooms in hotels today. Everyone we came into contact with was delightful and exchanged the happy hello ‘Bula’. Apart from the bad start I really cannot fault this hotel the room was lovely with a great view and the food was all good. The pools were very different and the seating around the pool varied from sun loungers to mattresses with rounded cushions under roofs which looked very luxurious but we found were not as comfortable as they looked.

I would thoroughly recommend staying at this resort or certainly one of those on Denarau island as they were beautiful, luxurious and a real treat as well as being convenient for exploring the area around Nadi.
The prices of stays vary and our travel agent always got a far better deal than I could get myself when i looked on the internet so it does pay to shop around.

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©catsholiday