OUTRIGGER Fiji Beach Resort — Hotel in Viti Levu

We stayed for 7 nights in one of the fancy (expensive) oceanfront bures. ||Whilst the Outrigger is a beautiful place, with lovely staff members, we wouldn’t be in a hurry to return.||Positives -|- The insides of the bures in terms of the space, the decorating, air conditioning, bathroom etc were all 5 star quality|- The staff were all very lovely, kind people |- The Sundowner restaurant is excellent ||I would not book the oceanfront bure again. For 7 nights accommodation + food (but not drinks), you are looking at $8500 AUD. This price sets certain expectations, which were not met. Whilst the pictures online look lovely, there are several issues when you get there. ||Things to be aware of with the bures:||There is no privacy as soon as you walk outside your bure . You will see your neighbours, and if you get unlucky you might get the bure next to the sundowner restaurant, where you can make eye contact with diners from your courtyard. ||In addition, there is a public walkway that goes in front of all the oceanfront bures. This walkway is about 1 metre (max) from the “private” hammock in your yard - separated only by a waist-high hedge. ||Every evening at sunset, this pathway fills up with families, kids, people taking pictures, smoking, etc. that you could shake hands with from your yard. This, and the noise generated, ruins the ambience. ||There is a sign that says the pathway is for oceanfront guests only however, like several things in the resort, it is not monitored or policed at all.||Service -|The staff are all genuinely lovely people, however they too operate on Fiji time. This creates gaps in service quality both in the restaurants and with housekeeping that would be unacceptable in Aus.||Food and drink quality -|With the exception of the sundowner restaurant (which is good), the food quality at the restaurants is average at best. They would not survive outside of this resort. Also, the drinks (both alcoholic and non alcoholic) are priced the same at every restaurant, but are very inconsistent in quality. ||Tips for future customers - |Before you get to the outrigger, get enough cash out to pay for the stay when you arrive (if not paid for already), as well as to cover the $150FJD/day deposit required on arrival. This will allow you to avoid the surprise of an extortionate 3% card fee (this is from their end, before any of your banks fees etc.) This is $30 for every $1000, save it for some cocktails! The ATM onsite can be used but the withdrawal fee and limit has been set an amount that makes it essentially the same price.||The food and drink vouchers are wasted money in nearly all cases. ||The daily food vouchers entitle you to a buffet breakfast, a 2 course lunch and a 2 course dinner every day. It’s a lot of food to eat, and not as good a deal as you think because most of the food is just crap and unexciting to eat. I would suggest just paying for what you feel like eating each day, as you probably won’t find yourself rushing to use all your vouchers when you see what’s on offer.||We didn’t get the alcohol package, however we calculated it was only worth it if you drank at least 5 cocktails or 7-8 beers every single day of your stay. As soon as you miss this quota, even for 1 day, you’ve overspent. Also, it only covers the basic cocktails that are a bit average tbh. The nice cocktails (that you will probably find yourself wanting after you look at the menu) are not included in the package.||Finally, I would not recommend this place if you don’t have kids with you, and are more looking for a peaceful/serene getaway. This place is set up for families with kids under 10, and not much for adults to do except eat and drink. With the exception of 1 adults only pool and restaurant, there are otherwise kids running around everywhere having fun, music playing from somewhere all day/night and the place has a general din that is hard to escape. I definitely wouldn’t recommend more than 4 nights if you’re...

Stayed over Christmas holidays in the Beach Front Bura. The best part of this resort is the service from all the staff (apart from reception, this is what cost them the 5th star). They went out of their way to help you and make you smile.

The beach front bura was fantastic and worth all the money. This bura is so much more amazing than the ocean breeze bura or plantation bura because you can walk right down onto the beach from your room, you can sit in bed and watch the ocean or storms roll in, you can watch you family snorkel from your own lounge beds, you have a full hammock per bura and a chair hammock on the porch. The beach front buras are a considerable walk from reception but they offer a golf kart that will pick you up and take you to reception or reverse wherever you want. These buras are the closest to the Sundowner restaurant, main pool and buffet restaurant.

The butlers were amazing and truly cared about your experience. Ana was fantastic and always made sure we were taken care of and recommended things to do the next day. My husband got sick during our stay and Priya the duty manager came to check on him and organised room service and anything else he needed to help him get better. This was such a surprise and was not expected but made such an impact to our stay. Thank you so much

The room itself is the same as other Buras. The king bed was comfortable and the floor plan is very roomy for a couple or to share with small kids. The bathroom was spacious with Pure Fiji amenities which I used to death as I love it. The aircon was a god send but it was also nice to just have the fans on and front louvers open to hear the ocean.

The food was hit and miss I have to admit. We purchased the all inclusive meal package which in hindsight was not a good idea. We don't eat three meals a day when at home so this was a added pressure we didn't enjoy. If there was just a snack menu or fruit platter available for lunch we would have preferred that, but there seemed to only be large main meals available to use our meal vouchers on. Our favourite was the buffet restaurant especially for breakfast and the theme nights.

Highly recommend the pool and the pool activities. The resort does not let anyone reserve lounge chairs which is so amazing as we could get a couple loungers pool side even at 10am. The adults pool felt like a long walk from our bura so we didn't go there often. The adult pool was also a bit hotter as there is no ocean breeze, also the way the pool is a rectangle it feels like everyone lounging is watching you swim.

The Spa is amazing and if this is in your budget I would make time to do this as it was an amazing experience. But if you just want to check out the view there is a bar with food up there you can visit without needing to be a spa customer.

The only negative of our stay occurred at check out. Unfortunately there was a incorrect charge of 150 on our account and it was missing a pre-organised credit value. The receptionist needed to call what felt like every manager in the resort to try and get approval to remove a charge and add a credit. The experience here was terrible and even when we email her the proof of price and credit she was still unable to make the amendments. After 30 minutes of being on the phone with everyone finally the general manager came out from behind the wall to approve the required amendments. This 30 minutes is no small impact due to the location of Outrigger being so far from the airport we were now behind schedule racing to the airport. Not the stress we needed when we had such a relaxing week before this.

I don't understand how an organisation doesn't empower its employees to make decisions or approvals. This is a bad reflection on management that no-one she called was confident enough to approve the request and let the customer leave happy. Unfortunately this final interaction has left a bad memory in our minds which is making us...

Where do I start? We just returned yesterday from our (my wife, 4 year old daughter and I) week long trip to Fiji. We had never been before, but heard nothing but good things, not only about the resort, but Fiji in general, so our expectations were very high.

Were they met? Yes..YES YES YES! The resort is amazing, it gave me very nostalgic vibes (for other Island based vacations I had as a child myself) which only added to the feeling I had.

My daughter was in love, and the staff were in love right back. They truly are the most amazing people when it comes to children. They just know how to work with them, and how to unlock them so they have the best time possible. By the end of our stay (well by 3 days in actually), she was on a first name basis with half the staff at the resort, and would run to them and jump on them for a hug. It was truly a joy to watch.

The kids club was amazing, these ladies have the patience of a saint, and ensured our daughter was able to make friends with other kids her age. So much so that for the last 4 days of our trip, no matter what we did, or where we went, we had at least one of her friends and their families joining us. So we as the parents got to enjoy cocktails and meals with other parents, while the kids had a blast, it was just another thing that added to the trip for us.

The food was amazing...GO TO SUNDOWNER AND GET AN EYE FILLET! Just trust me, with the Mushroom Sauce, it will have your eyes in the back of your head. On the whole, we loved the food, buffet 4 nights which was really good value, plenty of food for our 4 year old daughter (who albeit isn't super picky). Baravia poolside 2 nights which was really good quality asian! The cocktails are awesome, I must've had 20 Pina Coladas during our stay, I did try all of the cocktails, but kept coming back for it!

The activities were super cool, the firewalking is ridiculous, I have no idea how the heck they do it, and the Kava ceremony is awesome (I participated, which was pretty special). My wife and I did use the spa once (we had a Mei Mei look after our daughter for a couple hours), and honestly, we regret it...mainly that we didn't use it 7 times that is! Hands down, the coolest spa I have ever seen. The view from the rooms, and the design of the building is like something out of a Hollywood movie, like somewhere you would expect to find wealthy celebrities. My wife and I could not have felt more relaxed and well looked after. We ended up buying a bunch of products (which were still cheap considering standard Australian prices for luxury spa products) and absolutely love them!

After the spa, we walked up the stairs to the bar for a cheeky cocktail before going to pick up our daughter. If you do this, have the Mei Mei (or family member if you have them) mind your kids just a touch longer. The view and the breeze up here is incredible and you will want to stay longer!

But honestly, just floating about in the ocean, finding little fish and starfish and other cool marine life was so enjoyable. Swimming in the pool and going up the water slide for hours on end while my daughter giggled and squealed with her friends...worth every cent and then some.

Normally by the time we get about a week into a trip, we are all ready to call it and go home (my daughter included), but on the day we had to leave, we were all genuinely shattered, and would have stayed an extra couple of days if we didn't have to return for work.

How good was it? Good enough that I paid $24.95 on the plane ride home to get WiFi so I could check availability at the Outrigger for next August and we decided we would go back, making this trip an annual thing for our family.

We can not wait, and hopefully will be back with some family and friends next time.

Stay here, you will...