2026 Fiji

Travel Details

Flight Information

• Airline: Fiji Airways

• Departure: Sydney (SYD)

• Destination: Nadi (NAN)

• Class: Business Class

Accommodation

• Hotel: Novotel Nadi for 1 night

The story

We left home at 10:30 for the airport as our Omnicar was early - we were all checked in and sitting in the Qantas lounge by 11:30. The QF lounge is a temporary one while the real lounge is being refurbished so it was quite ho-hum. Unfortunately it was freezing and we were dressed for Fiji weather.

Our FJ (business class) flight left on time and was fine - even a pre-departure Champagne, a simple one-tray lunch but flat beds.

Our entry into Fiji was smooth sailing - quick and easy unlike our previous visit some 25+ years ago. We took a taxi to the nearby Novotel for our overnighter. Due the time difference (+2 hours) we weren't all checked-in until about 8pm local time.

We dropped our bags and went to the bar/restaurant for our complimentary welcome drink and a snack - the drink was fine but the snack was a 0 out of 10.

Then it was off to bed - it was a cool (17C) and drizzly evening and our room was very cold even with the aircon turned off. The bed only had a thin blanket - during the night I added a bath towel to the covering which helped a bit.

We had breakfast at the hotel (very ordinary) and are currently waiting for our coach pickup for the ferry to Tokotiki.

Sunday August 23

Our South Sea Cruises (SSC) coach arrived on time at 10:50am and off we went to Denarau port. We arrived at the port to find it bustling with throngs of tourists - many taking day trips. We checked in for our ferry to Tokoriki and had a wander around the port area - there are various shops and restaurants including a bottle shop with tonic water at half the price of the Novotel mini-mart.

The ferry left right on time and was loaded with mainly day-trippers to Manu-Manu - Tokoriki was the third stop - servicing both the Tokoriki Island resort and the Sheraton which is also on the island. When I say "stop" I mean we were collected off shore by a tender - not what we were expecting but it was fine.

We arrived in time for a late lunch - our booking via Luxury Escapes included the meal plan - breakfast, 2 course lunch and 3 course dinner and bottled water in the villa but no soft drinks or alcoholic beverages.

After lunch we settled into our beach front villa which was lovely but a bit dark. While I unpacked, Dieter went to the dive shop to sign us up for the daily snorkelling trip.

By then it was time for showers, relaxing and happy hour on our terrace.

We went for dinner which was excellent, except Dieter was not too excited by his entree, panzanella salad (as expected most entrees featured fish), we both had snapper for mains (very good) and dessert (guts out).

Then it was back to our villa for some reading and an early night.

Monday August 24

We started the day with a Nespresso on our terrace (fortunately I brought our machine from home) followed by an a la carte breakfast in the restaurant. This naturally was pretty much the same menu (with variations) every morning so I won't report on it in future. The brekkie was fine - small fruit plate (no berries and by request no paw-paw) and a cooked option - eggs Benedict for Dieter and poached eggs on avocado toast for me.

We lazed about in the morning as we both felt a bit 'drained' due to poor sleep as the room was too cold and there was only a thin sheet on the bed. We did a beach walk then had lunch before going on the snorkelling trip at 2:30pm - the snorkelling was excellent along the house reef with a small current pulling you along - the boat followed the group (10 of us) then picked us up.

Back at our villa we showered and washed all our gear in the outdoor shower - a bit of a job - hopefully it will be dry in the morning.

The resort has booked us (without asking) for their special teppenaki dinner - we cancelled it and had dinner at the regular restaurant. The 3-course menu is the same format every day with changing selections - I had fish and Dieter had lamb - both very good.

Tuesday August 25

Another day was kicked off with our usual Nespresso on the terrace followed by brekkie. We had a quiet morning but I did go to the gym. After lunch we took the daily 2:30pm snorkelling tour which was not as good as Monday. The boat driver told us we should find some giant clams; however, even after following his directions we never found them.

We did the usual post snorkelling clean up - washing the stinger suits and cossies in the outdoor shower. At 5:30pm we went to a complimentary cocktail tasting session with canapés in the bar - we weren't particularly impressed.

We also decided cancel our planning trip to Lizard Island in October as we felt it was just all bit too much too close together.

Dinner was the usual 3 course menu - which, even though it changed daily, we were getting tired of.

Wednesday August 26

It was a pretty much the same routine as Tuesday. With Dieter's leg issues he was pretty limited in his activities; e.g. there is a tennis court and a hike to the top of the mountain and walk over to the Sheraton, the other resort on the island but he was unable to do these.

Thursday August 27

Another day in sun with a repeat of the previous 2 days activities.

Friday August 28

Departure day - we were unable to secure a late checkout so we were all packed up and installed at the pool just after 10am. It was a relaxing morning - reading and a dip in the pool. We left at 1:30pm for the tender transfer to our ferry back to Denarau. The return trip was non-stop so we arrived around 3pm. We collected our luggage and found our coach to the Radisson Blu and had enough time to pop into the liquor shop for a few items. We arrived at the Radisson Blu and received the "premium" member treatment - not totally sure why (might have to do with our expensive stay at the Radisson Residences in Cortina back in June). Once in our room we found a bottle of sparking wine chilling in an ice bucket. I did a bit of unpacking while Dieter checked out the various restaurants - making a reservation at the Italian one.

We tried out the bubbles then showered, did a walk around the resort and over to the Sheraton (right next door) then had an OK dinner at the Italian restaurant - since we had a reservation we were able to sit outdoors away from some of the very noisy children. Due to our "premium" status we received complimentary non-alcoholic beverages including a large bottle of sparkling water and with a 20% discount it was a bit of a cheap eats experience so no sense complaining about the details.

Now speaking of noisy children - even though it was not school holidays in Australia we were surprised by the number of kids - many of whom were clearly school age.

Saturday August 29

After a Nespresso start (thanks to the machine I brought) we had breakfast at the adults only breakfast venue (the middle Eastern restaurant at other times) - the offering was (to put it bluntly) pretty dismal - even the toaster was broken. Well we're only here 2 nights - thank goodness.

Friday August 28 - Sunday August 30

We left Tokoriki on the morning ferry back to Port Denarau then a quick bus ride to the Radisson Blu. The whole 1 full day / 2 nights were so uneventful I won't say much more about it.

The Sheraton next door seemed much nicer but they only have 2 bedroom villas so we had not booked there. We did have lunch there one day and it was pretty good - just a shared dish. The food at the Radisson was about a 2 out of ten - it would have been zero but the first night we had pasta at the Italian restaurant which brought the average up to 2.

We left at 7:50am for the bus back to Port Denarau.

Sunday August 30

We had to get up early for our 7:50am bus pickup for the ferry to Vomo. When checking-in I was told that I had not paid the fuel surcharge - I was sure I had so a bit of a row ensued. In the end I paid and after double checking later I realised I had paid it for the Tokoriki ferry and not the Vomo one. I was in a bad frame of mind after waiting in the check-in queue for over half an hour.

Anyway we boarded the ferry which was totally full - it makes a total of 10 stops, fortunately ours was the second stop. We were met by the Vomo tender along with 2 other couples (one Italian with a 12 year old daughter). We landed on the beach for a bit of a wet sand exit - for some reason Vomo does not have a jetty.

Since it was now only 10am we had to wait for our villa to be ready which it was around mid-day. We unpacked and went for lunch at the main restaurant overlooking the family pool and beach. We opted to share a pizza which was OK but not great. We had a look at the ice cream room and in spite of it looking extremely tempting we held our nerve.

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the resort including The Rocks which has an adult only huge pool and sensational looking restaurant. We booked dinner there for our first night.

We had happy hour on our terrace then had dinner which was about a 7.5 out of ten - this rating was pretty much the same for all food. So while we felt the menus offered more variety and interest than Tokoriki - it did not totally hit the 'fine dining' mark.

Monday August 31

Up to a great looking day - warm and sunny, after Nespresso's on our deck, breakfast at the main restaurant we took the 11am snorkelling trip. It was much better organised than Tokoriki with a boat captain and a guide who snorkelled with you. The snorkelling was very good. There is a paid (2 hour) trip to White Rock ($300FJD pp) which only goes if they have 4 persons. The Italian family had singed up for the next day so booked it too.

We had lunch at The Rocks - it was pretty good but unlike the main restaurant the menu is the same every day so we probably won't eat lunch there every day. We had a lazy afternoon due to Dieter's leg pain - we even needed to get a lift to the Rocks as he couldn't make the 900m walk.

We returned to the Rocks for sundowners as they have the best and only view of the sunset. We then returned to the main restaurant for dinner - it was OK but like our previous dinner at the Rocks my main course of fish only had about 25g of fish - no kidding - probably not worth ordering fish.

Tuesday Sept 1

We did the White Rock and shark snorkelling trip this morning - a paid excursion departing at 9am ($300 FJD pp). The Italian family were the only others on our trip so we had plenty of space. The first stop (some 25 minutes at high speed) was White Rock (a small rock surrounded by sand) - the snorkelling here was excellent. Then it was onto the shark viewing area (another 15 minutes away) - we have no idea why the Black Tipped Reef sharks congregate here but there were 20+ milling around. We snorkelled with them for 15 minutes then it was back to the resort around 11am.

Dieter had banged his leg on the trip and it came up in a huge lump just below his knee. After lunch and a lie down it hurt so much I had to put ice on it and he could not do much else for the rest of the day. I went to the gym for a short workout - some treadmill and weights.

By happy hour he was well enough to join the daily ritual - we then had dinner at the main restaurant - probably the best meal yet - Dieter had a steak (excellent) and I had Walu (a white fish) where I asked for a double portion which made it a small instead of minuscule.

Wednesday Sept 2

After Nespresso's we went for brekkie. Then off to the 11am snorkelling trip - Dieter decided his leg was good enough to go too. It was not the best snorkelling - very chopping and not much to see after about 15 minutes. We had a different guide so we blamed it on him.

After showers and clean up we had a late lunch and a lazy afternoon. At 5:15pm the weekly Fiji party started with a meet the staff and unlimited complimentary cocktails followed by a Cava ceremony. Dinner was a Fijian feast buffet style and an amazing spread of desserts in the cold room.

Finally off to bed.

Thursday Sept 3

Last full day - we decided not to take the snorkelling boat but to go off the beach for more flexibility.

We had dinner at the Rocks and were not very pleased - when we mentioned this to our waitress she brought the chef out who promised to made us a special lunch the next day.

Friday Sept 4

Departure day - checkout was 11am (better than Tokoriki's 10am).

We spent the day snorkelling off the beach and lazing on beach chairs.

We have our special complimentary special lunch at the Rocks; however, the ferry back to Port Denarau only left at 4:15pm so we had to dag around. The day-use facility was poor (one half-assed shower) - the only negative point about Vomo which overall we rated higher than Tokoriki.

The ferry back to Port Denarau was SRO (Standing Room Only) - we managed to get separate outside seats - given the price of these ferries we were not impressed.

On arrival - we caught the bus back to the Novotel for our overnighter before heading home the following morning.

In retrospect we decided if we ever returned to Fiji (which we may) we will organise the transfers differently (e.g. private boat or helicopter).

Friday Sept 4

We arrived back at the Novotel from Vomo well after 6pm. We had dinner and hit the sack.

Saturday Sept 5

We were up early for our 9:30am Fiji Air flight to Sydney. It was smooth sailing and for some unknown reason the service was much better than our flight over.