Plantation Island Resort

Plantation Island Resort Fiji was a brilliant family holiday destination....

by A TripAdvisor Member

ACCOMMODATION: We stayed in a beachfront bure for two weeks at the beginning of June '06. The accommodation was top standard which surprised me as I was a little concerned after reading other reviews. Our two room bure (prounounced boo-ray) was really lovely and modern, my husband and I had a double bed and my six year old daughter had a partitioned bedroom with two single beds and there was also a sitting area and patio with outdoor furniture. The bathroom was large and clean. We stayed in hut 211 which had a hammock outside and a pontoon directly in front which we could swim out to for sunbaking on and my daughter had a blast jumping off it. If you are undecided about your accommodation I highly recommend you save up the extra money and get the beachfront bure, the garden bure's a quite nice but not a patch on the full Fiji experience of being right on a palm lined beach. The hotel rooms are quite small and the section of beach they are on is a high pedestrain traffic area near the main restaurant and bar. Beach bures from about 207 - 215 are close enough to be convenient but far enough to be secluded and relatively private. The hut had a small fridge and kettle with complimentary tea, coffee with powered milk. We "borrowed"plates, bowls and cutlery from the main restaurant

GETTING THERE: we spent the first night in the Tanoa Hotel which is nice and very near the airport with a beautiful pool and restaurant. We went back to the airport and caught a six seater plane to the island which took only 8mins but would be very scary in bad weather. We also stayed our last night at the Tanoa as it was much more convenient to get to the airport. Also the checking in process at the resort was really quick for us as we didn't have a boat load of people with us but you do miss the traditional wharf greeting by the locals. There is a 15kg p.p weight limit in these small planes and on the way back other passengers were over and as they had a connecting flight we agreed to have our luggage sent over on a different later flight...this turned out to be a huge mistake as we ended up spending about three hours at the domestic airport on the mainland waiting for them to find them.

FOOD: we elected not to go for the food packages as we wanted a bit more flexibility.However, if you have a large family and can get a good deal I think it would be worthwhile. The food is mainly a buffet style salad bar with hot food, and desserts it was quite nice but nothing to rave about and would get a bit boring if you were there for a long stay. With the packages you can have the buffet or order off a standard menu which allows a bit of variiety. If you don't have food vouchers the buffet is quite expensive unless you have a huge appetite and can make the most of the "all you can eat" aspect. We bought provisions from the supermarket (about 5-10min walk from main bar area) and had coco-pops and vegimite sandwiches for breakfast with chips and cheese and crackers for snacks, most things were a few dollars dearer than australian prices but as it lasted awhile it worked out cheaper for us. We found this suited us as we didn't have to join the throng during the set eating times. Breakfast is approx 8 - 10am, lunch 12- 12pm and dinner from 7pm onwards for adults and from 5pm for kids. We enjoyed the separate dining arrangement, our daughter had the kids buffet at around 5.30pm (great range and lovely desserts) afterwards we would sit in the bar until kids club commenced at 7pm and then have our dinner in peace. This absolutley does NOT mean that kids are not welcome to eat with you it's just a nice treat for harrassed parents. We would regularly order from the a la carte menu which is basically your average restaurant about FJ$30 per meal. There are three restaurants on the island that belong to Plantation Island resort (which you can use your vouchers for) the main restaurant, Ananda's and Flame Tree at Lomani which is adults only and where we had our best meal...you can book at table right down on the beach which is wonderfully romantic with the torches and candles, it a far walk from the main restaurant but you can organise a pickup from reception. Food vouchers are redeemable for $25 only at Flame Tree. There is also a snack bar that sell the best toasted sandwiches for around FJ$6.00. KIDS DO NOT EAT FREE WHICH IS WHAT WE WERE LEAD TO BELIEVE.

KIDS CLUB: the kids club was well organised and our daughter had a fantastic time, she made lots of friends and was never bored. She always attended the nighttime club which consisted of games and then a movie for older children and the littlies went into the creche. The creched is a loosely supervised room with a jumping castle type thing and ball pit complete with T.V and DVDs. I am normally quite a paranoid parent but was very relaxed on the island in regards to my daughter having abit of responsibiltiy for herself. She would just come and find us when she was ready. My daughter vary rarely attended the daytime kids club as we were busy with our own activities. The ones she did go to she really enjoyed and they are mostly free, hermit crab hunting, T-Shirt painting $5, fish feeding etc. If you have really small children the supervision maybe a little two relaxed, I did see a small child make a dash for freedom from the creche and the staff didn't notice. There were only a few teenagers on the island so if they didn't have siblings or family friends it may be a little hard for them to find people to spend time with.

FACILTIES: there are three pools which are all in great condition contrary to other reviews I had read. The kids pool has a toddler slide and a big curly slide for older kids, there is huge island mosiac pool at the other end of the resorts where most of the garden bures are next to a run dowm putt putt golf course which is fine for the kids to muck around on. Closer to the main bar area there is a lovely salt water pool which is quite deep so the teenagers and adults mainly hung out there. There are plenty of wooden banana-bed type loungers with cushions and lots of chairs around all the pools.There's hardly any model type bodies getting around, it's mostly your general mum's and dad's which was a relief as I felt very comfortable getting around in my bikini and not feeling self conscious. There is a very communal attitude around the resort which took a bit of getting used to, if you get a free canoe and leave it on the beach outside you hut people just come and take it, the hammocks are not just for you if they are directly outside you accommodation intruders just plant themselves there for the entire day! The snorkeling gear is FJ$5 or FJ15 bucks to hire (cna't remember) it's new but much too big for kids and therefore unusable..suggest they take there own masks. There are excellent life jackets for the little kids, the adults ones do the job but are a bit tatty. There are plenty off free activities and loads of charged ones, we hire a cataman and went on the sea biscuit which got a bit rough and scary, for a child I recommend the Banana. We also went on a sunset island hop cruise which we didn;t realise was a pub crawl and took our daughter... we just explored the other islands and ended up making great friends with the other people. We had dinner with them quite alot after that and our daughter made friends with their children also.

THINGS WE DIDN"T LIKE: Fiji time...no worries, no hurry. Everthing takes soooo long. You need to order you rdrink when you are only half way through the current one. Food off the menu can take up to forty minutes to get to you. Anything out of the ordinary throws a complete spanner in the works and normally doesn't work out the way you want it to. Make sure you book everything you cannot just rock up. We also saw a few sea snake which we were told are very venomous but don't attack humans unless harrassed and their jaws maybe too small to bite you anyway!!! You also get a bit tired of saying Bula (hello) and Vinaka (thankyou) to every single person you bump into after two weeks.

OVERVIEW: we absolutley had a brilliant family holiday and would hightly recommend it to anyone. The locals are so friendly and we could have stayed longer.

Plantation Island

by Kiah10 about Plantation Island

Great place. Bad reviews nearly put us off. Glad we listened to the good reviews. Get with Fiji time and you are fine. Great to snorkel and dive. Lovely evenings - some nice smart touches by the hotel staff. Lovely place, white sand. Had a lovely time getting away from cold NZ.

Island Paradise

by IcemanNZL about Musket Cove Resort

Musket Cove is situated on Malolo Lailai Island, this island had two resorts Musket Cove and Plantation Resorts but while i was there they were building an additional time share on the far end of the island, even though there is still room to find your own little spot on the beach and relax under a palm tree as you watch the world go by.

Musket Cove has a variety of different suites ranging from Garden Bure's, Resort Villa's and Hotel Style rooms. There is a trading store on the island which stocks most everyday supplies, these are a little more expensive than the mainland. Also there is ice cream stores as part of Plantation Island Resort but they are opening late if you get a craving for ice cream. Just watch the crab holes and crabs running around at night.

Rates are based on a whole Villa / Bure for a night rather than per person, Villa's sleep 4 adults but you can add two addition adults for extra. Swimming Pools
Trading Store
Restaurant & Bar
BBQ
Great views

Aviod Cyclones!!!! Cyclone Gavin-March1997)

by Moodygeezer

This place blew me away!!
You know you get that moment when you just can't believe just how beautiful the world can be!!! This was just that experience for me.
Unfortunately or Maybe even Fortunately for me. We were caught in the centre of "Cyclone Gavin " pictures here.Truly a life changing moment for me. Not in a religious sense, but You instantly look at life in a different perspective.One day everything is perfect and I'm standing on perhaps the most Beautiful beach in the world (Plantation Island,Fiji) 3 days later and we're rescuing people from the same Island .

Loved it!

by TripAdvisor Member Nat76

My boyfriend and I went to Plantation Island Resort for our holiday in May this year. We decided to go in May because it is just before the high season and would not have been as busy as June, which judging my some of the reviews, was the right decision!

We also went to Plantation in May 2005 and it has become one of our annual holiday destinations.

We are a couple in their early 30's without children. Whilst it is a child friendly resort, it is definitely not overrun my children and we love it!

We stay in the Garden View Hotel Rooms as we do not see the point in spending money on a bure when we are hardly ever in it and the rooms have always been clean and had enough in them to meet our needs.

The people that work at Plantation Island are wonderful friendly happy people. I have read in some of the reviews that the food isn't that good, the people are rude and I can honestly say that I've never had that experience in the two times that I've been there. I think sometimes too that maybe people expect to much. It is afterall not a rich country and they do the best that they can do and try to make the best of their days.

They do not earn much money either and work terribly long days and I believe that they are entitled to be a little tired, as we all are after a busy day at work, and I'm sure most of us do not work from 6am - 10am either and then only go home to our families once every 2 or 3 months as they do. But that is not an excuse, but an observation and I actually admire them for always having smiles on their faces and a happy disposition considering all of that! I think they are incredible people!

We get the meal vouchers as we find that they are more cost effective as well.

Last year we went to Lomani Island Resort for dinner and whilst it was lovely and we were able to use our Plantation Island vouchers to get a discount of F$25 each, it was still very expensive, but definitely a nice change from Ananda's restaurant.

We have done the Island Hopping as well to check out some of the other resorts and have both decided at the end of the day that we are definitely staying at one of hte better resorts in terms of value for money and experience.

Some of the areas of the resort are old, but you make of the holiday what you want it be.

We are definitely going back.

In ending this write up, all I can say is Vinaka and see you in 2007!

Best holiday ever!

by TripAdvisor Member plantation.9176

On my stay at Plantation Island. I had the best holiday of my life. It was great, and i recommend the resort to anyone. The locals (staff) were amazingly friendly, and myself and a friend made great friends, of whom we still keep in contact with. Its great for a family, or couples holiday, with the overall effect of the holiday, a care-free one. Though just be aware, that while over there you have to attach to 'fiji-time'. Which means that they are a lot more relaxed compared to what we are all used to in Australia. If your having second thoughts of going there. dont think twice! Its one great life-experience. Look at my photos. There are many more, these are all i can acess at the moment.

Paradise Lost

by TripAdvisor Member Allgoodwood

Paradise Lost

Arriving at Plantation Island following 5 nights at the wonderful Sofitel Denarau was never going to do our review of the resort many favours. Yet with 3 Stars accepted, my wife and I still reached the conclusion that Plantation Island serves up a holiday experience lacking the ingredient that has made our Fiji holidays to date so great – the personal touch.

The resort is best compared to a large holiday camp (admittedly in an especially nice location) and as such holiday camp-like facilities are on offer to cater for the masses. The sheer size of the resort and the number of people it accommodates means that most activities undertaken – from check-in, to dining to lounging by the pool are done accompanied by a small village of other guests. A quiet spot amongst the palm trees can be hard to find. The large guest population results in staff struggling to make a one on one connection, let alone knowing or remembering your name - something that other Fiji resorts seem to master in effortless fashion.

Clearly budget-conscious families holidaying with multiple children love this place. Kids stay and eat for free then disappear to the kids’ club, the 3x daily buffet ensures a big if not basic feed, many resort actvities are free, and the nights are filled with caberet performances by resort staff and limbo contests for guests. Plenty on offer for those who need to be entertained from dawn till dusk.

Here’s our quick run-down on the main aspects of the resort :

Accommodation :

With 2 children in tow (3yrs and 10mths) we booked a 2 bedroom garden bure. Ensure if you book similar that you are getting the old style traditional bure – in our case we were put in one of the brand new motel style units that are a) certainly not bures and b) nowhere near a garden. Great if you like nights on the concrete porch with 3 other families but unsuitable if privacy and pleasant surrounds are important. To the hotel’s credit they quickly resolved this situation and we ended up in a super beachfront bure. Recommended for their wonderful location and outlook and air conditioning which doesn’t come with every room.

Rooms were serviced daily to an excellent standard although the random timing of housekeeping staff’s visits was somewhat hard to plan around.

Food :

We managed to wrestle our way around the dinner buffet in the main restaurant just the once during our stay and while the food on offer was of average quality there was a very limited number of dishes on offer – anyone who has experienced a Club Med buffet will be sadly disappointed.

A short walk down the beachfront took us to Ananda’s Restaurant on several nights – a casual outdoor eatery that was a step up in quality from the Plantation Island restaurant. Recommend the curries here as a sure bet – mains average around $25 FJD. Beware – this place has a fairly strict policy of closing the kitchen at 9pm so sit down and order quickly.

Better again was "Dicks Place" - a 10min walk across to Musket Cove Resort. You’ll pay a bit more but the food quality and presentation is worth it. Then there is always the Flame Tree restaurant adjacent to Plantation Island Resort which we never got to but by all accounts is excellent – no kids allowed.

Breakfast was again limited if one chose the buffet option – best go with a la carte if you can be bothered with the Fiji-time wait.

Facilities :

The range of activities on offer both paid and free is outstanding – clearly this is where the resort hits the mark. A small playground is also a nice feature, as is mini putt, and pool tables for the kids.

The main pool is perhaps a little small for the size of the resort but adequate none the less and nicely situated with surrounding deck. The kids’ pool with small waterslide is badly in need of an upgrade and strangely located at the rear of the restaurant complex

The same can be said of the dark and dated interior of the main complex that houses the bars and restaurants. Functional but showing its age and not an especially pleasant place to hang out day or night.

Summary

Plantation Island Resort specialises in offering families on a tight budget a casual, low-frills holiday experience where quantity not quality is the focus. Staff while friendly, simply lack experience – we learnt the resort is used as the training ground for new recruits at the Fiji hospitality school.

In the end it comes down to expectations – this place will suit you down to the ground if you have a couple of 8 year olds to keep entertained and want a cheap and cheerful place to chill out for a few days without caring too much about what you are eating or the fact that several other guests are sharing your small patch of white sand beach. Us – we simply wanted more. Had a good time, but wouldn’t return.

A smile costs nothing

by TripAdvisor Member ChocWallace

Maybe we did it wrong, we should have done Shangri-la last not first. It was hard not to compare the two and unfair to Plantation Island as they really are worlds apart. The differences were as follows, A smile costs nothing, we really missed the big bula's and smiles that were everywhere at the Shangri-La and feel a lot of the younger staff at Plantation Island really had no idea of the importance of a hello or even a smile, we found the boatman guys the nicest and good for a laugh but felt the island really lacked the personal touch. The next thing that got us was the beachfront bure we had, now if your an aussie this does not apply to you but read on kiwi's, we found the fans and air con useless in the bures the air con was a joke as it was set not to go lower than 18 degrees and was too small to be of any use and the ceiling fans were loud and only moved the hot air around which made it hard to sleep or cool down. Now kiwi's will feel the heat on the island as we are not condtioned to the heat like the aussies, our aussie neighbours found it cold at night which blew us away as we thought we were melting. Next was the beds, paying the amount we did for beachfront bures I would have thought the beds would have been a bit bigger than a double and a lot less harder, you had to roll over carefully as too bigger movements would catapult your partner to the floor. This may sound picky but at our age a good nights sleep is important and a bit of comfort goes a long way. Now there was some good like the sunsets awesome photos, beach, free activities and lots to do. The buffet was good for fussy kids as they could fill up on bread rolls and dessert if nothing else appealed, for breakfast we would walk to Ananda's supermarket which is within the resort and get the doughnuts and breadrolls, good price and super fresh. Did not try the restaurant there but should have as apparently they had a good kids menu ie Burgers and fries etc. Do the free snorkelling as the fish life is out of this world but to see an amazing coral reef do the outer reef tour this was so incredible, clear deep blue as water and a reef wall that had the most beautiful corals. Heaps for the older kids to do as well, they loved the banana boat rides, parasailing and even the snorkelling off the beach at low tide was good. Husband and daughter both got sick with chest infections and for $30 each got seen by nurse and given medicine immediately most impressed by this as we thought it was going to blow the visa limit. Beautiful island but missing the awesome friendly fijian feeling of other resorts. Good if your on a budget but if you can afford it would go for something with a bit more. Also ants a problem, don't leave food around as they find it fast. Take plenty of sunscreen as you have to reapply regularly. Loved the fact you could smoke in the bar as well, not like NZ pubs. Internet was okay but prepare for regular drop offs, annoying if you have typed a big email on the key sticking keyboards to then lose it all. Mongolian BBQ buffet night was excellent and not to missed. Pick your own selection of cooked rice or noodles, raw vegies and meat add the sauce of your choice line up for it to be wok cooked in front of you, awesome. If you have a birthday get them to sing for you, my daughter was blown away by the effort they went to make her feel special. So there it is the good the bad and the ugly, hope it helps.

Magnificent beach.... pity about the resort

by TripAdvisor Member Zircon2005

The beaches on this island are truly magnificent...blue crystal clear water and because the resort is sheltered within a lagoon area, there are no large waves... great for small children.

It's a great pity that a second rate resort resides on this beautiful island....and notwithstanding the fact the resort is classified as a 3 star resort, there are aspects of the service and facilities that are simply unacceptable, particularly for the relative high price you pay for the privilege.... no where proportionate to the average local wage or cost.

A brief summary..
Positive:
- Great beaches

Negatives:
- As long as you do not need to deal with central reception staff... you'll be fine. We were directed to the wrong room and having unpacked all our luggage was asked to relocate to another room... which was not serviced nor was the air conditioning working. These rooms had high ceiling windows, which had no curtains... and with two small children curtains were a necessity.. as well as for he mandatory sleep ins. Having, travelled all night and somewhat jetlagged we were looking forward to a nap..... not possible with light from four windows streaming into the room. Asked reception to return to the first room... and was told not possible....that they would fix the problems. Asked why was it such a big deal and in no uncertain terms again 'Not possible, you need to stay in your assigned room..cannot do anything.. will speak the manager.. but he won't be back until after 2pm..' it was 11am at the time. A serviceman arrived to regas the airconditioning... who appropriatly asked why doesn't mgt just relocate your family to another room.. good question!. So after lunch went down to reception and asked if the issues have been rectified... and got a 'Not sure... have you been back to your room to check'.... we'll I was hoping you would know. Anyway.. went back and nothing had been rectified....rang up and assured it would be fixed soon. Not quite sure how you construct and errect window furnishings in an afternoon!. But surely enough about 4pm a few maintenance guys arrived with a roll of material and a large ladder to measure and cover the windows nailed together with thumb tacks... not exactly a quality job but as with many things on the island just short term band aid fixes... completely ruined the decor of the room as the window covering did not match any of the existing room furnishing. In the process they knocked over the lighting with the latter and short circuiting the room and had to call in electricians to rectify. I still think it would have been easiler for them just to relocate us to an approprite room...but for Plantation island.. this was apparently the best solution.
- We were located the newly developed hotel rooms, that was very spacious.. more like a studio of 3 partitioned rooms. However the air conditioning unit was grossly inadequate.. a single split system cooling effectively 3 rooms.
- Food was very mediocre.. soup was watered down canned soup, BBQ meat was dried and chewy, desert was some type of custardy sweet liquid..... you get the picture. The Ananda restaurant outside the resort is a better option and the restaurant at the neighbouring Lomani resource is excellent.
- At no times were staff responsive to requests.... we are not demanding either.. these were requests to rectify problems.... it was always just too hard....
- Made one request.. to extend check out by 1 hour... from 10am to 11am...Yes... possible.. but for extra $50.. don't think so.. and given the crap they put us through you would have thought they might have obliged.. but not so.

You will generally get 10x the service and 20x the value with a holiday in Thailand or Bali.

We also spent 7 days... at Worldmark Denarau island fiji, after plantation which was absolutely fantastic.. genuinely great staff and a top notch resort....Its something about Plantation...I suspect it's management culture which permeates throughout the place.

To sum up...as long as you have low expectations and can live with substandard service.. then the place is OK...otherwise... Dont bother...

Plantation Island resort

by 2srice

"relax and enjoy"

First stayed here 32 years ago, with 2 little children and loved it.
Went back in December, and most of the resort is still the same. Very laid back and relaxing. A great holiday. We were in the water every day, snorkeling, sailing, kyaking, just enjoying the beautiful warm water. Evenings are wonderful, lying in a hammock looking at the stars. Not 5 star, but because it isn't, you can simply relax. Beautiful views if you bother to walk all over the island.