Six Senses Fiji — Hotel in Malolo Island

Background: My wife and I went to the Six Senses Fiji resort for 7 nights in August 2024 for our honeymoon. We stayed in a beachfront pool villa. Weather for the 7 days was generally great. We arrived in a storm but had sun every other day. Wind varied: 3 windy days and 3 calm days. Guests seem to be either a) families or b) couples (honeymooners/anniversaries/etc). ||Bottom line: Amazing location, beautiful hotel and the MOST AMAZING staff. Vinaka vaka-levu, everyone!||Specifics - room/hotel: The room was gorgeous. Right on the beach with our own little private plunge pool. I was a little concerned that neighbors seemed quite close but I don’t think I ever heard them on their deck/pool area. Only suggestion would be for turndown service to try coming a little earlier (i.e. shortly after sunset). We often enjoyed a sunset drink on our deck or at the poolside bar and then shortly after went off for dinner. Dinners were typically fairly short and we were back in our room at a reasonable time but sometimes turndown had not been completed. We didn’t really care as we live clean and neat but others may find this frustrating. ||Specifics - surf: One of the main reasons for choosing six senses, aside from being a beautiful resort in paradise, was their surf program and the proximity to some of the best waves on the planet. Dan and his team are absolute legends and top quality instructors/guides. Caught some of the best waves of my life at Cloudbreak with Fazzy and had some super fun sessions at Namotu Left and Right with Mani and Dan. I cannot wait to get back and surf some more with you - vinaka!! ||Specifics - people: I do not have enough amazing words in my vocabulary to justify how kind, fun and caring the staff are. Marika - our GEM - was an absolute stud. That guy ran around like a mad man (in a good way) but always had a smile on - you’re the man, Marika - thank you! All of the staff at the restaurants and bars (Desmond, Maresh, Winston, Miri, Elenoa, Asi, Shelly, Akisi, Lote, and Eliki) were INCREDIBLE and, aside from being so incredibly nice, took great care looking after my wife who has celiac disease - thank you - you guys are the best and we miss you so, so much and cannot wait to see you agin! The KaiWai Watersports team - you guys are the best. They had a smile everyday and were always happy to get me whatever free-be toy I wanted to use (Hobie cat, SUP, kayak, mask&snorkel etc). Leva - thanks for joining me for a sail, for always having a laugh and for just being an all around great guy! Tom - I’m looking forward to seeing your life as an influencer accelerate (!! Haha) - more e-foil, I think! Anna - big love! The spa and wellness staff were incredible - Lithia, Kiti, Inise, Lani & Taru - thank you for the incredible treatments - some of the best we’ve ever had! A special thanks must go to Laura - from the Wim Hof intro to the yoga classes to the head treatment you gave Sthela (“best I’ve ever had”) to the underwater breath hold / weights sessions - you helped to make our time extra special. We are so incredibly lucky to have been at the resort at the same time as you and we’re still doing a lot of what you taught us back here in SF! I hope the hotel knows how lucky it is to have you! Finally, Sai - you are one of the most energetic, kind and friendly people we’ve ever met. We are SO happy that we got to meet you. The coconuts you fetched us in record time were the best! You’re a very special person and I really hope we get to see you again soon! Yes Fiji is a beautiful, beautiful place with perfect waves and amazing weather but it was the people that made our time so special. Vinaka vaka-levu to everyone mentioned and to the many others who weren’t mentioned but who also did everything to make our time so special. Big love. ||Specifics - prices: Room prices seemed fair when compared to other similar locations (Tahiti, Maldives, etc). The only thing we thought was a little ridiculous was some of the pricing for excursions/add-ons. Specifically, boat trips seemed very expensive. We would have liked to check out Musket Cove marina as it seemed like there might have been a bit of a fun sailing vibe over there but prices quoted to make the ~5-10min boat trip seemed ridiculous (especially when there are water taxi companies operating in the area that are much cheaper - these were never given as an option) and so it did not work out. In this sense we seemed a little trapped at times… trapped in paradise luckily(!) but some slightly cheaper ways to access different parts of the Mamanucas would have been well received. Other boat trips (3hr, 5hr etc ones offered by KaiWai were also prohibitively expensive). E-foil lessons and food was also a little on the rich side. ||Specifics - to/from the resort: We helicoptered in and boated out. Both were fantastic but given the time saving, helicopter experience and not significant price difference we would recommend the helicopter for a party of 2 without surfboards. If you have significant luggage/boards then a boat is probably best. Would also be nice to know beforehand that other options of getting to/from the hotel are viable e.g. taxi to Port Denaru and then Mamanuca Island Ferry (though the resort may then charge an arm and a leg to get from Musket Cove to...

Six Senses advertises itself as a high-end resort, during our first four hours on the island it does present as a magical place on the surface, however a word of warning, make sure you don’t get sick or require medical attention whilst on the island.

My family had booked a 4-bedroom residence and arrived on the island approximately 13:00. The Manager of the property informed us off the amazing activities the resort has to offer, not once did he mention whom to call in an emergency or what we must do if assistance is required. The residence was not ready until around 15:30 so we were taken around the property in the buggies they use so we could get acquainted with the resort.

We checked into our residence and whilst getting ready for dinner that evening our son fell seriously ill and had a seizure on the bedroom floor. Unbeknownst to us at the time, it was a febrile seizure. He was unresponsive and we called for assistance. To our dismay there was no medical emergency button or emergency phone in the residence to use. We began 2 minutes of CPR and still were helpless. We had staff come and leave our room but couldn’t support us whilst the emergency occurred. We desperately reached out to the Six Senses team for assistance from a nurse or medical officer. Once our son was breathing again, they ushered us into a buggy and drove us to the infirmary, still without the assistance of a nurse or medic. Once we reached the infirmary, we had to carry our son through bushes and a gravel road which was very dangerous, zero lighting and highly inaccessible in this emergency. I would seriously hate to think how they would access this medical centre in a more dire situation. The infirmary for a resort of this calibre is appalling. It lacks the very basic necessities to manage a medical situation from minor to more sever. We were eventually greeted by a nurse who failed the basic knowledge to obtain any vitals during this emergency situation. There was no monitoring available, the nurse was a non-endorsed practitioner. In simple terms she was;  Unable to access veins for bloods/IV cannula  Give/administer medications  Administer IV therapies via doctors orders

By this time it was very evident to us that the resort had no medical emergency plan in place, and there was no idea on how to manage this crisis. With a lot of pursuance from our part they coordinated a medic to the island to assess our son. This took over two hours. They explained the logistics of getting to the island and we well understood that being so remote things would take time however it didn’t seem like we were being supported by anyone at that time. We had a lot of mix message from all the team who didn’t give us any confidence they were getting things sorted. Eventually a medic from another island was able to come and assess our son. They indicated that this was a medical emergency and that we would need to be evacuated from the island by an emergency evacuation team called EMS and we left the island.

We never returned to Six Senses after this incident as we remained in hospital. Besides a couple of WhatsApp messages from our room host, we were never contacted by management or senior management at all, as to the status of our son, nor to discuss any type of refund for the holiday we never had. We understand their non-refund policy after a certain time but there could have been something done on compassionate grounds. We also had 4 seats on a helicopter flight booked for the end of our stay, which was 6 days later, and they did not even offer to refund this. That is just pure profiteering when this could have easily been cancelled.

Thankfully my son and family are all ok after the traumatic experience, I just wanted to take the time to share a different side of this island. This is a very serious warning to others with children, people with underlying medical conditions or elderly who are deciding to choose Six Senses for their holiday.

Please don’t let this taint your idea of Fiji, just be cautious on where you stay based on your...

This resort is outstanding in so many ways and I couldnt justify giving it anything less than 5 stars. Here are some highpoints:

The staff in general were amazing, particularly the housekeepers, the gems, the watersports staff and the female wait staff. Almost every meal was outstanding - particularly by fiji resort standards. Big props to the head chef and team. The rooms were huge and fantastic attention to detail with the eco style etc. Love not using plastic everywhere. Facilities to mix your own drinks in your room are a nice touch. I recommend bringing some duty free with you to help offset the exorbitant bar prices typical at resorts like this. Watersports team and facilities are fantastic. Its so nice to be able to snorkle or take out a kayak or SUP with no fuss. Kids are very welcome here, ours felt comfortable and confident to wander to get icecream etc which is great on holidays. This is mostly due to the lovely fijian staff. There are some amazing surf breaks nearby, however you will need to be at least a medium to strong surfer to enjoy them. Despite what it says on the website, there is nothing for beginners or kids (except for absolute beginners in the lagoon without waves).

We have been lucky enough to stay in some other outstanding resorts including Six Senses Maldives so there are a few things that could be improved if they want to stay in that league.

Restaurant service - some of the basics of restaurant service were a challenge with some staff. eg giving us a menu soon after seating, taking a drink order etc I expect this will improve with time. Often food and drink orders (particularly around the pool) were confused and the bills often went to the wrong room. Im sure this is tough but at such a high end resort its expected that the staff will get to know who has ordered what even if they move lounges etc. And with the time it took to receive drinks sometimes it was common for us to move around. im not sure why its necessary to have us sign bills regularly throughout the day either - its not like we are going anywhere. some resorts even manage to not have us sign at all ( i think Vomo does this) which is an amazing experience.

The kids club was very average, especially for kids 6+. Our kids loved the Maldives kids club and spent almost all their time there, but not so in Fiji. I suspect its because the club is so far away, and not geared to older children. In the Maldives they had constant activities throughout the day, and the staff would wander around and collect the kids (no sign in and out!). This was amazing - the kids were never looking for something to do. Also, while the movies nightly were enjoyed, many parents ( and some children) dont want their kids watching movies every evening. The Maldives absolutely nailed the kids club thing and I highly recommend learning from this.

The cocktails were generally uninspiring, Id recommend an overhaul of the cocktail menu. Particularly at those prices.

Our Gem (Masi) was excellent, but I suspect significantly overworked - the resort was full while we were there. For example, we rarely saw him but if we really needed him we could track him down and he was efficient.

Surfing - The surfing is run by Tropic Surf. Its my second time with Tropic Surf, and while the team in Fiji are great I just dont get how they justify the cost. AUD$250 for 3 hours per person, plus $120 board hire. Lets say you have 4 people in the group - should it really cost $1000 for 1 person in the water, 1 driver and a boat for 3 hours? Maybe its just me, but as a general criticism of Tropic Surf who seem to be taking over every surf resort in the world, please stop gouging us.

In summary, between Fiji and the Maldives Six Senses, the Maldives comes out on top. However, the proximity of Fiji to Australia means I think it very likely we will be back soon. I just hope they can get the kids club and service to where I know it can be for...