Reviewed By:
Fiona
Travel Date:
December 2005
The Hideaway resort on the Coral Coast is is a great place to stay and we are looking forward to a return visit in a few weeks' time.
My husband, 2 sons (9 and 5) and I stayed for 2 weeks over the Christmas/New Year period. Christmas Day was fantastic - we were serenaded by carolers at 8.30am, received ice blocks from Santa, who arrived on horse back at lunchtime, and enjoyed a wonderful buffet dinner from 6-9pm. The staff really outdid themselves with Christmas dinner, both food and service wise. Just as much effort was put into New Year's Eve.
My son celebrated his birthday during our stay, and the resort has a form whereby you can order a celebration cake with 24 hours notice. The staff brought it out to us in the dining room and sang "happy birthday". It was delicious and cost around $20FJD.
Our room (frangipani bure) was large, comfortable and cool. There are no TVs in the rooms so it really is a chance to get away from it all and totally relax. At night time the Kids Club staff showed a video and organised indoor activities for the children, allowing parents a chance to have a meal in peace. It contained a queen bed and 2 singles.
The Kids Club team organised many activities for the children including an ice cream eating competition, coconut opening displays and visits to a local village (which parents could also attend - a very worthwhile experience).
Every night at 6pm staff members in traditional dress welcome in "happy hour" by doing a performance with traditional music and instruments. Guests are allowed to have a go on the drums once the show is over.
It is easy to catch a local bus to the nearest town, Sigatoka, where you can stock up on provisions. As the rooms have a mini fridge it's easy to have a few provisions such as drinks, butter and bread on hand.
We were surprised by the number of people at the Christmas dinner as the resort hadn't seemed that full, so it's a great place to stay if you prefer somewhere quiet and spread out. The bures are set up in groups of 2, with plenty of bushes in between each duo, so it can seem very private.
We went and viewed a few other hotels/resorts during our time in Fiji and weren't impressed with many of them as they all seemed too big. We prefer smaller/quieter places, but that's just a personal preference.
Hideaway is definitely recommended.
We also spent 2 nights in Nadi, at the Tokatoka, and will definitely not be staying there again. Firstly there was a hold up with the room, during which time the front desk staff didn't seem to particularly care. The room itself was large and had a separate bedroom for the parents, as well as a kitchen, but the air conditioning in the bedroom was very noisy.
Unfortunately our room was near the restaurant/pool area so we had to put up with the racket from the nightly entertainment. The pool was very large but unfortunately very deep in most parts and it was difficult to see the children at all times due to the design.
The meal we had at the restaurant was delicious and the staff friendly, but very slow.
All in all a very disappointing experience.
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