We’ve arrived at the Naviti Resort Coral Coast. We have a lovely suite with a garden view. The AC works great and it’s nice and warm outside. The staff is all Fijian or Indian. It’s been a struggle today.
1) The pool water is murky. To my untrained eye, a sure sign that everyone is peeing into it and the filter can’t keep up. The music during the day was so loud and distorted, I had to lounge elsewhere.
2) The bellman kept talking only to my husband. Eye contact was only to my husband. I said my name on three occasions and he completely ignored me. I find that old world attitude dated and annoying.
3) Internet access is on either of two dialups and wifi in the hotel lobby. They sell time but are not specific about what they are offering. For example, I bought an hour, thinking I would get on and off each day. Well, it’s not cumulative. Once you sign on, you’re clock is ticking. If you sign off, you’re DONE with that code. So one hour means one hour at a time.
4) The Jack’s store. The youngish male clerk kept calling me dear or darling. I don’t personally appreciate that kind of faux intimacy. I prefer a more professional experience. He was very nice but too cloying.
5) My husband zonked out after our flight. We arrived to Fiji at 5:30 am and got to the hotel by 8:30 am. The hotel kindly let us into our room early and we posted a do not disturb sign. I went for a stroll and told the maid to please do not knock on the door. She didn’t, but the welcome basket lady DID. Six times according to my husband, completely ignoring the sign and disturbing his rest. He had to get up, get dressed and open the door to get rid of her.
6) Cocktails in the all inclusive package. I have been told three different things by three different people. Related to the inclusive package, here it is: you can have beer (but not bottled) or wine and local spirits mixed with ONE thing. For example, a gin and tonic. Anything else will cost you. When you are on the inclusive package, you have to wear a wrist band identifying you. The bartender that handled my very first drink order, saw my tag and threw a list of cocktails my way. I picked one, thinking it was included. It wasn’t. It was $19. They don’t have a list of cocktails that are included, you have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce it. The staff here is not at all specific. Not only did they not make the cocktail using the ingredients listed, it was a horrible disaster. They used melted ice cream on top (gross) and mountain dew instead of lemonade (also gross). I had to fight for a refund and got a beer instead. Tricksters.
7) I wanted to kayak. I asked the guy by the kayaks. He said, “What?”. I said I want to kayak. He pointed to the life jackets and shouted, “GO!”. It was bizarre. I said what do you mean? He said, “GO!” I said, you mean I can just take a kayak? He said, “YES!”. I said I’ll get my husband and we’ll be right back. We came back, there was another guy there and he said, “Where are you going?” I said, I’m getting a kayak! He said, “The tide is too low! You can’t go.” I said, I was JUST here and another guy told me to go!! He said, “OK go then. But 5 minutes.” I gave up. High tide is tomorrow morning and I’ll try again then.
8) The food is good, but definitely bland. Very, very bland. If you like seasoning, it’s tough. Lots of great looking deserts. Breakfast was fantastic! Custom omelets and delicious ham. GREAT breakfast.
9) The ocean water has fairly low visibility from the hotel, probably about 10’. The reef is 95% dead. Snorkel elsewhere. It’s odd that they call this the coral coast, it should be the dead coral coast. The ocean temperature is very nice though.
10) There is very little beach. During high tide, there is NO beach.
11) This is a family resort at this time of year. It is not for honeymooners or a quiet romantic trip. We are enjoying the children, but it is not quiet, should that factor into your plans.
12) The maid service is dicey. They provide fresh coffee in your room with a mini plunger (French press). It’s delicious and fun to make coffee every morning. The only problem is that they don’t restock it every day. I’ve had to call each day to have someone bring me more coffee. Today, the maid didn’t clean the plunger or take the cup and left our dirty towels on the floor (the new ones were on the shelf)
We had dinner at Talei and that made the whole day worthwhile. The service was spectacular and the food was very good. Finally! The sun set and we sat on the patio after dinner and we just sat admiring the new moon and the glorious sky. Finally. I’m adjusting to Fiji.
December 30, 2011
I got up around 8:30 and made fresh coffee from the little French press they have in each room. It was very good and very nice. Bill got up and we had a terrific omelet breakfast. We then got our suits on and went kayaking! What fun! It was a very calm day, the reefs break up the surge so the waves break ¼ mile off shore. The people who loaned us the kayaks didn’t tell us that there was a protected sanctuary to the west (the next beach over). Of course, that’s the first place we went because there were no people. A native told us the scoop and we apologized and left. Which begs the questions, why didn’t they tell us in the first place? This is a frustrating group of people to deal with. However, native who told us about the marine reserve also explained that culturally, Fijian men deal with other men, and that’s why it seems that the men tend to ignore me and favor my husband.
We paddled out to the shore break and it got a little rough. We decided that we didn’t’ want to tip over and paddled back. We’re going to kayak again tomorrow, next time in the opposite direction. Bill and I are working on getting a harmonious stroke. I’ll be up front next time. It was absolutely my favorite thing! We had our sun hats, reef shirts, sun gloves, so we were nice and protected from the tropical sun. PERFECT. Only Bill’s face has gotten red so far and he just won’t listen to me about sun protection.
We then went to “Go Snorkeling With Harry”. We put on snorkeling gear and snorkeled. We were scheduled to take a boat out 300’ to the snorkel spot and I said that I was just going to swim. The guide changed the story and we all swam out. A boat towed everyone back but me. I was snorkeling around and they left me! Crazy! I swam in without too much difficulty although I was going against the tide. No life jacket and no head count. The swimming in was actually fun and I enjoyed it, so I had a good time so no problem. But the lack of responsibility is odd to me.
Lunch today had lots of vegetables. It wasn’t highly seasoned, but nice.
I would say that getting a Fijian to give you a straight answer is like getting a philosopher to give you a yes or no. Impossible. The other thing is that their native language is Fijian. For some unknown reason, I’d assumed that they all spoke English. They do, but it’s their second language and if you diverge from the basics in English, they don’t understand. My expectation was different from reality.
Pleasant resort but not the high end resort I was expecting. They have a 5 star resort & I suggest you try that.
Room Tip: The suites are very nice.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
