Mana Island Fiji
Readers Reviews
The Jeffery Family
March 2006
We loved staying here. We had one of the new beach front apartments and it was great. All modern furniture and lovely bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. We had a balcony to lie on or we could sit outside the room on the sand. It was air conditioned and lovely to come into the room after being outside in the humid weather.
There was snorkelling just off the beach and we thought this was a great way to introduce our children, aged 6 and 8 to snorkelling as it wasn't really deep water.
Our family loved playing bingo every night. It was happy hour at the same time, so we relaxed with a cocktail while the rest of the family were entertained. We thought it was wonderful how the staff would remember the childrens names after meeting them and the kids club was great. They had a nice open room to meet in and play equipment outside. They fed the fish from the wharf most days and raved about the size and colour of the fish.
The buffets for breakfast and dinner were fantastic. We didn't eat lunch as we ate such a big breakfast and we would usually take a muffin or yoghurt each for later in the day.
The pools were nice. One had been renovated recently and the other was a brand new one. We were lucky that the weather was good the whole time we were there and that the resort was pretty quiet. I will definitely be coming back to Mana one day soon.
Grace and Chris
September 2002
We spent two weeks in Fiji in
September 2002 for our belated honeymoon, with 7 nights at The Fijian, 5 nights
at Mana Island and the first and last night of our trip at the Tokatoka.
We stayed in a studio villa at the Tokatoka as our flights were late night/early morning ones to and from Auckland.
We were really impressed with the Tokatoka considering most guests only stay a
night or two before moving on elsewhere. The room was basic but very clean and
quiet and more than enough space for my husband, myself and our 7 year old who
can't stop jumping around. The staff were mostly very friendly, in fact probably
the friendliest out of all the resorts we stayed at and the atmosphere at night
around the restaurant/bar area was lively and fun. The food (excluding the
buffet) and drinks were reasonably priced, and there is an excellent souvenir
shop by reception. The swimming pool is nice although very deep, especially at
the bottom of the waterslide, however we think the resort has plans to renovate
the pool which will hopefully make it more suitable for younger children. The
gardens around the villas are very pretty and tidy and all the walkways are
covered, meaning that even though it rained our son could indulge in his love of
running around the entire resort, without getting wet. The resort is only a
couple of minutes away from Nadi airport and runs a free shuttle 24 hours a day
although if you don't have much luggage you could walk to the airport if you
felt the urge for some exercise. We really enjoyed our short time at the
Tokatoka and would have happily spent another day or two there. We managed to
get a good look at many of the other hotels near the airport and apart from the
Tokatoka, the Fiji Mocambo was the only other one we thought looked nice enough
to spend a night in.
We then went to The Fijian where we
spent 7 nights in an Ocean View Room. We were originally given a room in the
Golden Cowrie wing but were moved after we complained that these were not like
the Ocean View Rooms pictured in their brochure. The room we had in the Ocean
Wing was bigger, much nicer and more modern, although it was a bit of a walk to
the main pool. We really loved this place and were impressed by how well
maintained and looked after it is. The food again was quite expensive, although
this seems to be the norm in most resorts in Fiji, and we were glad we had
purchased meal plans before we left NZ. The buffet breakfasts and dinners in the
Lagoon Terrace restaurant were outstanding and most kids meals were pretty good,
although at lunchtime the kids restaurant is chaotic and service is slow. The
staff running the kids club were great although our son preferred to join in at
night after dinner as he was content to just sit on the beach and play in the
sand. The facilities at the resort were very well maintained, with plenty to do
and the golf course is really nice although expensive for 9 holes. The resort
also had some nice shops although we enjoyed the shopping trip into Sigatoka
which was a good chance to pick up reasonably priced snacks and souvenirs. We
would definitely recommend this resort to anyone.
We wanted to see the islands so we
then spent 5 nights at Mana Island resort. Big mistake!. This place was a dump
from start to finish and my husband commented it was no better than a
backpacker's but at 5 star prices. Mana Island itself is very beautiful and the
beaches are outstanding, however the Japanese owners of the resort don't appear
to want to spend any money on upgrading it and the second part of our holiday
was really spoilt by staying there. The resort is geared towards Japanese
honeymooners, who are shown around and have everything explained as soon as they
arrive. The rest of us were told a few basic things and then left to figure out
everything ourselves. We spoke to several other families from Aust. and NZ and
everyone felt the same as us. We really resented being treated as second-class
citizens because we weren't Japanese. The garden bures were small and some
looked like they were on the verge of falling over, and the deluxe hotel room we
had was small and very noisy. Totally unsuitable for children. We were
eventually moved to a deluxe bure which was bigger and much quieter and I would
recommend these as the minimum for anyone staying at Mana. The food was very
expensive, most staff were not particularly friendly and we ended up eating
dinner at the backpackers next door some nights. The motorised activities were
very expensive, the games room was basic and the swimming pool is in serious
need of renovation. The only positive comments we have about Mana were that the
staff in the kids club were really nice, happy hour was good value, the
snorkelling was outstanding and the free Meke show was good. We wish we had
chosen another island to spend our honeymoon on and won't be going back to Mana
again.
Apart from Mana Island we had a
fantastic time in Fiji and hope to return one day to visit some of the other
islands.
Tracy and Dave
What a fab spot, children were lovingly looked after
and kept well entertained. The staff were amazing. Will return for another
destress break. Go there it is wonderful!
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