Bula!
This is a great hotel for a one night stop over before or after an island stay. It is not some place you would want to stay for 3+ nights. Once you have walked around resort and taken the Bula Bus to the Port - you are done - there is nothing else to do but take cruises (back to the Port, and they dont run on holidays) or the "Activities" at your resort (Radisson offered a few tables of shopping, the Bula Bus and "water sports" which is only 1 Catamaran and a few Kayaks - also not available on holidays or anytime before 11 am) anything else, you need to get on the Bula Bus and go to another resort or the Port. Not what i am used to at a "resort". For what we were paying for the one bedroom suite, it was not worth it for more than a day or two. As for activities, I had the most fun watching the washing machine in my room.
Dont get me wrong - for people who love to just sit back and relax all day and do nothing and have kids - this place is perfect - we have just discovered it is not perfect for us. I have also read the review of people who were there the same time as us who ran into many of the same issues - so it was not just "me being a pain" LOL - there are problems.
Also - word of warning for those of you on vacation that like to take afternoon naps - the Bula Man comes a calling between 5-6 PM - running through the resort with all the kids screaming BULA at the top of their lungs - a word of warning would have been nice on this, since we had just dozed off LOL.
Bugs - flying bugs, check! Ants, check! Cockroaches, check! all in the room with you? Check! Understand that this is an island resort, not the four seasons in New York or Paris - there is sand and foliage everywhere and you will have bugs - just take precautions (Lysol for the beds, bug spray and keep everything off the floors and counters (keep food in the fridge). My husband thinks he was covered in bites from Mosquitoes, but I am worried it was bed bugs after reading some of the reviews.
First things first - if you are looking for a quite, romantic getaway - keep looking. This resort (as do all on Denarau Island) cater to families and timeshares. This is a great hotel for a before/after an island resort. It is full of kids, and not geared for anything quite, peaceful or romantic. They also have people from the other resorts in the pool, at the restaurants, etc. so it can be more crowded than it should be.
We stayed over Christmas 2010 for a couple of days. The first day felt like we had been there a week - we had looked forward to a nice time by the adult pool. Not going to happen - there is space for about 20 lounge chairs and they have 50 jammed in there. There is no waiter service, no tables (the ground has tons of ants (it is tropical) so there is no place to put water, drinks, food - anything. there are only a few umbrellas which are claimed by the first people at the pool. The pool is a decent size but the swim up bar is in the FAMILY POOL NOT in the adult pool - so trying to get a drink requires either getting out of one pool and walking to another, or climbing over slippery rocks where kids are all playing. Then trying to drink at the bar gets you splashed and bumped from the children, let alone heaven only knows what is going on in their nappies!
The adult pool area is packed to capacity by 10:30 AM, so you are either forced to sit on the family side or forego the pool - neither of which brought smiles to our faces.
So, no lounge chairs on the actual beach (odd, since they do have an area for swimming, etc.) and the ones that are available on the deck area are not really available to lounge in as they are constantly using them for other things or people have "claimed" them for the whole day.
You will also encounter an issue with pool towels - there is supposed to be a supply in the room, however, no one i spoke with ever had any and we had to walk all the way around the resort to get two (and only two) which we had to sign for?!?!?
Then there are the visitors from other resorts utilizing the pool and the restaurants - not too cool to have to wait on people to finish drinking who are not even staying there to get a seat at the bar
For food, stay away from BLU - overpriced, overcooked and no flavor. Cross is just ridiculous, Nautilis (the little crab/prawn shack on the beach) is the absolute best - we had prawns and chips and a couple beers at sunset and it was the most amazing view ever!!! and very few people too - we loved it!
Everyone is smiling and friendly and helpful - unless it is after their shift has ended, then they are just like everyone else getting off work. Also, it rains, almost every afternoon - downpours. Be prepared for a little siesta as there is nothing to do in the pouring rain.
The Spa was OK - probably about a 3-star level. My Massues was good, but the huts where the treatments are held are right on the walkway and next to the pool and bar (and they are not fully closed off, you can see right in) so no peace and quiet, and of course, very little privacy. The prices are OK though.
Port Denarau - overpriced tourist trap, but BoneFish had some decent food.
Word of warning (and this is coming from someone who *lives* in an overpriced tourist trap - Vegas) - the drinks and food are DOUBLE the price you would expect them to be (in Fiji Dollars). Example - a local Fijian Beer - $16 Fiji ($8 US) is insane. Fiji Water is the same price at the resort that it is here at the grocery store. and you have to pay because there is no other way to eat or drink on the island, and you cannot really bring anything in from another country. The onsite grocery store is limited at best - and highly expensive (I have never seen a case of beer for over $100). Be prepared - we spent DOUBLE what we had thought we would (we spent more on food and drink in Fiji than we did in a week in Paris) - everything costs a lot, from T-Shirts, to Hard Rock Cafe Souvenirs - and the quality is poor to average.
If we return to Fiji, we will be staying at one of the outer islands for sure, and we will more than likely not stay at the Radisson again, even if it is just for the night - we went down to the Sheraton (next resort over) and really wished we had stayed there
Posted by Bazinga, from Las Vgeas, NV on 7 Feb. 2011
