Cicada Lodge — Hotel in Nitmiluk

I sent this to reservations to give them a chance to respond but given I didn't hear back I decided to help other travellers not have a similar experience

I wanted to let you know of our experience at Cicada Lodge.

I had booked two nights at Knotts Creek and made the decision to book Cicada Lodge to experience the amazing food that was spoke of so highly in reviews. Paying $1,245 for this experience and maintaining the accommodation at Knotts creek to make it easier the next morning being able to check in.

We arrived at 10.45 and asked to leave our bags as we didn’t want them left in the car while we went on the cruise, we were told there was no where for this to be able to happen.

We arrived back at 2pm only to have neither of our rooms ready. We were told they would be 20 mins, then soon, then 15 mins and then finally after 3pm they were ready.

When we booked I asked for one King and a rollaway this was for us and my Step Daughter. When we arrived the roll away was in with the two king singles which unfortunately is not an option given a high conflict birth Mum we dont have her in a room with her older step brothers. We asked for another trundle and were told it would cost us $103 for this. Which we were appalled at an additional cost, they then came back and said there are no other rollaways anyway and then they could move it for us – this was now around 5.45pm.

We arrived for sunset drinks and canapes at 6pm, the drinks were fine but the canapes didn’t arrive until close to 7pm. (which with hungry kids is like 4 hours, nothing nearby was open)

We then proceeded into a table inside which we had to ask for – we were sitting on the couches due to the fussing over a larger family group who were making the lives of the staff difficult.

Once inside given that there were NO other options for food for the kids the chef said he would make them chicken burgers (and the one GF)

If we had been told this below when I asked I might have been prepared with other options for them so was disappointed in finding out the bistro didn’t open until May.

At 7.46 we received some sweet potato wedges for the kids as the other table had asked for them. At around 8 pm our entrée arrived. At 8.15 the kids burgers arrived and finally at 8.30pm our main meal arrived. All through this the bugs were going insane, into drinks, if you breathed with your mouth open you'd eat one. I get it is in the national park BUT for a $300 plus meal not being so bug ridden would have been nicer. We ended up leaving as we were sick of the lack of staffing and had our desserts bought to our rooms at 9pm. So from 6-9 – for a set meal for around 35 adults.

Now in this instance I DO NOT blame the staff – they were clearly under resourced and did the utmost hardest with dinner and I know the chef worked until 12 and was up again at 4am.

To sell yourself as a luxury destination and have had this experience made our one night of “luxury” the WORST night of the trip.

I have numerous friends all heading your way and I am now telling them all to avoid Cicada Lodge. The food at Knotts Creek BTW was served in under an hour and was delicious as well.

In the morning based on our experience there was no way we wanted to stay and eat given we had a 9am horse riding trip booked so the chef kindly made us all bacon and egg rolls to take away.

So in summary this was the worst spend of $1,500 I have ever...

Stayed 1 night. Very quiet and peaceful in the wet season. Price was way too high for what was presented. The floors were appalling and the room could have been so much more inviting and cozy if there was proper attention to detail in design and cleaning. I went into the mini bar and found an already opened alcoholic beverage that was filled with water and placed in the fridge. Again.. attention to detail. The swimming pool was full of foliage and had no life guard. This pool was operated 24/7.

The food. To pay $409 for 1 night you would expect to be able to select from a large menu what you want to eat. No. Instead they would tell you what you will be eating and if it isn’t your cup of tea to head into town. You would also expect to have a free meal however you pay for all courses throughout the day. Dinner is $95 per person. Breakfast was $12 per person. The food was not cooked properly and not everything on the menu was presented on the plate. Also, dishes had marks from past meals and hair on them and hair on the food.

The staff were friendly which lead me to giving this place 2 stars.

Probably not worth your time or money until it has some serious renervations to its facilities and...

Cicada Lodge is a must see in the Northern Territory. It's a wonderful property with excellent service. For the Northern Territory it's definitely 5 stars but not worldwide 5 star worthy yet. It's the perfect location to see the park, the Katherine Gorge and just relax. A couple of things would make this better: The bed mattress was just too hard. Very uncomfortable for a side sleeper. It desperately needs spa services. It's the perfect kind of property to offer that. It needs some levels of rooms with extra amenities. For example, a room with a big tub would be awesome. I really wanted to take home one of their robes but you can't buy them. They should offer to sell things like that to paying guests willing to pay.

Overall it was an amazing stay. The food was the best of eaten in the NT. Much better than the food at the 5 star Darwin places. Yes better than Char, better than PeeWees, better than the trendy PM Eat and Drink.

Karen the young lady that worked there provided the best service. Looking forward to going back in the wet season to get out of...