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4.5 Stars - 3 Reviews and 594 Opinions
Chose to have our wedding at Le Lagon - thought reviews were great, they know what they are doing if it happens so often. How wrong I was.
We arrived to find they had no idea of our booking. Had we not been in contact via email (& phone) to the wedding co ordinator? YES!! Finally after 45 mins they 'found' our details. First room - filthy from top to bottom, no towels, bathroom had not been cleaned and if it had, they swept it around the toilet. Separate beds. Obviously could not be our room... tried reception and another 45 mins... another room... much cleaner, noisiest little fridge had to be turned off. Happy to arrive however!
Met with the wedding co ordinator - 30 mins later than scheduled - must run on Vanuatu time ... Shown around the resort, where our wedding we be etc... it looked wonderful. Free of anything intrusive, we were excited.
Food - all you can eat is not what you should eat. Being well travelled I understand different country, different culture, different food. But it was not acceptable - esp of a 4*, a ginger cat & a black cat running around your feet.
Day 2. Lovely massage in the beauty shop on site - pity the lady was sick as a dog, coughing sneezing all over me and my husband to be. It really was lovely and we were exhausted after travelling and greeting family etc so we said nothing. Fools we were. 2 days later I had the same sickness and lost my voice. We cut our honeymoon short as I was so sick and soon gave it to Husband.
7.6 earthquake had us heading up the golf course - apparently these happens 'all the time' so it worried me a little that they had no procedures of safety paths, meetings spots, or alarms or speakers to let us know what to do where to go for the tsunami warning that a chef heard on the radio (yes how very Western'ised of me to expect procedures!)
Day 3. WEDDING DAY
No sleep due to aftershocks - breakfast - food disgusting and sick of chasing staff for a coffee. Notice a half built structure on the beach, timber between where we would be married, and where we would walk to do the cake. Notice a marque on the beach. That is not for my wedding?? I asked the wedding co ordinator - oh they were suppose to build that this afternoon (after my 10am wedding! would that have been so hard to organise??) So it was built and lovely for the wedding the day after...
There should have been a rehersal, we were told no no no need. We had no idea where the 'cheif/ warriors' were going, what the pastor was saying. It was a shame.
Cutting of the cake - My husband and I wanted a glass of water - 'sorry we're serving the people who are paying for drinks'. Charming.
After the wedding in our suite - we had to walk to the bar (room service takes 2hrs, asking for an iron took 4hrs) to ask for a bottle opener for our champers. It was the lady's 'personal' opener, we had to bring it right back... The fruit basket - all brown.
Day 4. Aftershocks put me a devil of a mood. The wedding that day .. their marquee had been every so strategically placed right next to the honeymoon suites. 11.15pm that night i called reception asking if they had been given a time of when to turn down the music (techno no no!). Having no idea - 1am the music went until. For a 'family' resort, it was very poor management.
We charged our 'hens' and 'bucks' day to the first room, we asked to tie it all up before we went into the honeymoon suite - this was obviously far too hard for them, we had another bill come to us at the end of our stay.
The management is non existent, the staff have no training nor do they care by the looks of it. The food was consistently awful, over cooked, tasteless, fatty and oily, I lived on toast & tea. The coffee was even terrible. The backpackers my brother stayed at had better food. Never again Le Lagon. It was like taking a ticket at the deli. Get in, I do, get out...
I had a really relaxing time here, it was comeftable, the deal I got was really good, the food was good, Transport to Port Villa (not very far away really) was cheap, it had it's own beach and a free boat shuttle to the ajoining island which had its own resort on it.
I relaxed and had a ball
My husband and I stayed at Le Lagon for 3 months in a little free-standing bungalow with a porch. Our view included the long pier that extends out into the lagoon and Erakor Island. Although it was convenient to be close to the pool, the noise from the bar turned out to be annoying. We were here on business, working on a television show, and so we should've known better than to stay close to the bar!
Unique Quality: The hotel had basically everything we wanted: pool, kayaking, tennis courts, golf course.They had activities that we noticed a lot of people participated in, like trivia and nightly torch lighting ceremonies. The restaurat was mediocre so we dined out at a lot of local restaurants in town. Staying in the free standing bangalows allowed for some privacy and we also didnt hear any noise from neighbors upstairs or next door.
Directions: Across from Erakor Island, near Panga Point (good surfing)
The buffet breakfast spread they offered had everything you could ever want with your jus d'orange!
There are 2 main dining areas on the resort: The Lagoon Terrace Restaurants served the buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The Tam Tam Cafe serves an excellent a la carte dinner if you tire of the "buffet" atmosphere at the Lagoon Terrace.
We have just returned from 8 days in Vanuatu and stayed at Le Lagon. We got married at the resort and our plan was it would be only the two of us - how wrong I was. The chief came to our Bungalow with four warriors to collect me (the groom) and away we went, walking through every conceivable populated part of the resort with the chief
blowing his conch shell (which I estimate could be heard 2 kilometres
away) and the warriors all playing an instrument - yes folks the circus had arrived in town. My wife didn't quite know what to expect as when we met the wedding planner she was told not to worry and that
she didn't need to know too much as it had been taken care of - exact
words "Australian women always want to know too much". Anyway it all went smoothly and we ended up with an audience of approx. 100 or so. I would highly recommend it, we also had a superb dinner for two and champagne breakfast as part of the wedding package.
The resort itself is fantastic - extremely well laid out and yes the new pool is finished - will be even better when they finish refurbishing the old pool as well. We spoke to people staying at the Le Meridien and by all accounts Le Lagon is miles ahead.
Went to Blue Water Resort for the turtles and sharks and would not recommend it to anyone - paid 3000 vatu for a bus to take us there and back which was what we expected but didn't expect the 2000 vatu each for the entry price and honestly it is two turtles with a few fish in one pool and next to it is another pool with 6 or so black tipped reef sharks in it also with a few fish. Would definitely recommend a day trip to Pele Island - well worth the 7200 vatu each.
Good meals were had at the Waterfront Restaurant and The Flaming Bull
but just be aware food is not cheap either in the resort or the restaurants but it is very good. Had the misfortune of doing our duty free shopping the same day a cruise ship was in and would rather have battled the Myer post christmas sales than this mob.
All in all it is a beautiful place and we will be going back there again.
We stayed at Le Lagon for our week in Vanuatu, in a "Lagoon View" room. The grounds and rooms are top notch. Having said that, we were a little let down by a few aspects of the service - and I was surprised by the high prices.
A local Vanuatu beer is around 500 Vatu, which is about $7 AUS. Imported beers are more. We dined in the restaurant and paid around $130 AUS each time. The restaurant food was decent, but still quite pricey by Australian standards. We chose the seafood buffet in the main dining hall one night, which was extremely disappointing. The thawed seafood in Australian supermarkets is generally better than what was offered. They don't seem to have much of a local seafood industry. The MOST IMPORTANT thing I can say is to consider the all inclusive package. We didn't take the all inclusive option and spent around $900 AUS on food and drink for the week, and we weren't being extravagant.
Perhaps it's the laid back island attitude but we found the majority of staff to be quite unattentive. We had a couple of small clothing items go missing from outside our room and it was near impossible to get anyone to do anything about it. In the end we gave up and bought replacements. The food and drink service was generally poor.
The most irritating aspect of our stay was the incessant music. The music at the pool bar started at around 9:30am and didn't stop until late at night. It was a mix of local "string bands", reggae, rap and top 40 hits. I'm probably starting to sound like a whinger but I'm just offering my honest opinion - the music was too loud; carrying through to most central areas of the resort. It's not what you want when you've planned to sit by the pool with a book for a significant portion of the trip. Even worse was when they started playing different music at the other end of the pool - which happened most afternoons. Noise pollution! Beautiful tropical gardens, lagoon frontage (for the included sailing, snorkeling, kayaking etc), easy access to adjacent Erakor Island. Large pool with bar facilities. Golf course on the resort grounds. Two restaurants.
We stayed at the Lagon Parkroyal, which has since been renamed. This hotel was beautiful, and the staff were most helpful. This resort is set on Erakor lagoon, which is gorgeous. You can use the catamarans, and kyaks free of charge, but the motorised water sports equipment has to be hired with payment. Because this resort is in a beautiful position there are many weddings set in the beach alongside the lagoon. Anyone can gather to watch the ceremony, and since I'm a sucker for weddings I did just that.
Its a bit of a hike from the downtown area, and unless your a keen walker I wouldnt recommend it. They have shuttle services that you can use instead. This place really is gorgeous, and the rooms were lovely.
Although we didn't stay on Erakor, we spent an increasing amount of time there as it was so peaceful. The quiet, low key and relaxed resort was probably more what we were looking for (if only we'd known!). Small, tranquil - and really gives you that isolated tropical island paradise feel.
Erakor is a small island, around 800m long and about 100m at its widest. Accomodation is in the form of bungalows, most with direct water views.
We ate at Erakor twice and the food was good, but still reasonably pricey by Australian standards (around $90 AUS per couple for a family restaurant quality 3 course meal). The service was the similar to Le Lagon, with the staff being a bit absent minded, but they were friendly, interested in a chat and took as much care as they could. Bungalow style accomodation. Bar, games room and separate waterfront restaurant. Small range of kayaks/surfskis for guest use.
75 acres of tropical gardens on the shores of a crystal lagoon.......and a golf course too? Not quite what I pictured to find on the island of Vanuatu.
This resort was highly recommended by our friend from New Caledonia (a golf addict, of course) and offered all the amenities a golf resort has: catamarans, kayaks, ping pong, croquet, pool bar.......etc.....etc...... We took advantage of all the wonderful sports activities the resort had to offer.......and even their Thai massage on the beach!
I've stayed at all-inclusive resorts before and I'll have to say that the service at this particular one was a bit disappointing.
You pay an extra $75 per person per day for the all-inclusive package and later come to find out that a lot of the amenties are not included.
While dining with a "Frenchman," it is compulsory to have wine at every meal! ;-) Our glasses of wine we ordered with our lunch didn't arrive until dinner!!! They were fully staffed, it seems, but the service was quite slow.
Other than that, we were satisfied with the facilities, but I would not recommend paying for the all-inclusive.
The complex is located 4.5 kilometers from the heart of Port Vila, on the waters edge, at the mouth of picturesque Erakor Lagoon. Surrounded by a mature garden in a peaceful and quiet setting a little out of town, it is only a 5 minute ride by bus or taxi to the main shopping centre and supermarkets. Just walk to the end of the drive way and wait a few seconds and some one will pick you up, it may be a ute, truck mini bus or small car, it dosen't matter which one you take, all thought if its a taxi ask for the price first.
The International 'Le Lagon' ParkRoyal, is a convenient 300 metres walk along the beach. This resort offers bars and restaurants. We found this place to be very frindly and dont mind you having a swim in there pool or useing there resturant or bar.
Erakor Island Resort is 5 minutes away by free ferry across the lagoon. This resort also has bar and restaurant facilities. Nice place to go for a meal and a swim.
Erakor Lagoon is a great place for swimming and snorkelling.
The apartments are modern and fully self-contained with two separate bedrooms, bathroom, separate toilet, loungeroom/dining room/kitchen, & outside verandah. Comfortably appointed, they include items such as full gas stove, microwave, refrigerator with freezer, clock radio, television, crockery, cutlery, kitchen utensils, linen and ceiling fans in every room. All you need to get some food from the supermarket up the road and use the BBQ to cook your steaks.
There is a fully equipped laundry with token-operated automatic washing machines and dryer. A service wash is also available. Housemaids service all apartments Monday to Saturday. Babysitting services can also be arranged.
International Telephone and facsimile services are available at the Office during office hours, and there is a 'local calls only' telephone available to guests outside of office hours. Location is right on the lagoon, any closer and you would be in the water, well priced per unit, its not a resort its more like renting a two bedroom furnished flat, but the location more then makes up for it not being a resort.
Lagoon view from Le Lagon
Hello,
I'm searching for an accommodation in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Place called Whispering Coral has been praised by some travellers. If anyone of you happen to know if there is e-mail address to Whispering Coral? It would be of great help!
Hi,
I don't know that they have an email address (not all places in Vanuatu do) but their phone number is 26515.
Good luck! Vanuatu is gorgeous by the way!
Hi,
thanks for the number and travelogue on your VT-site;-).
Hi! Im in Port Vila right now....We've been here for the past 4 months however i have never heard of the Whispering Coral. I just looked it up in the phone book for you and the number is +(678) 26515. We've stayed at both the Meridien (very nice) and also Le Lagon which is also very nice and close to town. If your'e into a neat boutique hotel (and great restaurant) you could check out Chantilly's on the Bay. (www.chantillysonthebay.com)
If I can help with anything else, let me know!
Hi,
thanks for the reply. I contacted to Vanuatu's tourist information. They tould me that Whispering Coral has closed until next year. They are starting with car rental business now. I also got e-mail that is whisperingcoral@hotmail.com
but I was told that they have some problems with computer system. That may be reason for that they have not answered my mail. Thanks for the hints about accommodation!
i just found this on a website:
Contact World Car Rental, PO Box 1050, Port Vila. Phone: (678) 26515, Mobile: (678) 45656, Fax (678) 26505. Email: whisperingcoral@hotmail.com
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We've found that other people looking for this hotel also know it by these names:
Address: rue de Pagon, Port Vila, Vanuatu
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