Walindi Plantation Resort — Hotel in New Britain

I have never been made to feel so awkward before (this is my 105th country just for reference). This resort like all resorts is designed to milk the customers as much as possible. They have a monopoly with no other dive shops or resorts around (I hope that changes soon). The prices quotes are exclusive of GST which is not a normal practise in PNG. I was staying in Kimbe town and came here for diving (lovely diving staff btw), the problem are all the ad ons from equipment hire to even paying for the lunch (it is pretty standard and most dive shops would arrange for your lunch complimentary for 3 dives). The staff were running after me with the card machine after every small thing that could charge me (and there are a lot), it was really embarrassing . My suspicions were confirmed that they didn’t like that I didn’t stay with them when their tour guide Joseph told me in no ambiguous terms I had to follow their guests schedule and despite paying full price and transfers from town, I was left hanging in the tour awkwardly with the guide only talking or explaining things to the customers. This has never happened to me before and it was deeply embarrassing. I met 2 guys in the dive and wanted to share the car with them to the airport (they simply had to pick me up along the way without any detour at same time, we made the receptionist aware of this and she processed to charge me full transfer fee which is absolutely ridiculous, even they were shocked. All in all I spent about $650 in 2 days and got treated badly for it, I would suggest checking some other spots near Rabaul because frankly it’s of the coral around is dead, beaches are abysmal and for this price tag, you’d have a much better time elsewhere in this beautiful country.

Edit: After the response below, here’s the ‘full’ situation, I reached out to the marketing department who advised it is against their policy to do any discount during the peak period, I was completely fine with it, it is a standard process.

For the rest of it, this is not an accurate account, I absolutely do not expect any freebies and I think after a $650 payment over 2 days, my feedback is mainly about the way I was treated by their staff since I was not staying there, the tour ‘master’ Joseph was particularly nasty.

Regarding the airport transfers, the 2 Japanese friends I made offered to pick me up on the way, the idea was just to share the same car, literally picking me up from the road half way through, the staff processed a full transfer charge which I refused & arranged my own transfer the same night via my guest house, I am not sure how the resort got hold of any private communication between me and my friends? I’d love to find this out.

Instead of apologising and making things right you chose to attack me & that shows the mentality of your management.

It was a nice try to twist the story in your favour but the facts remain the facts, you’re a tourist milking average resort surviving because you have a monopoly here, I hope that...

I stayed here for three days solo snorkeling, and then joined a small bird tour group for three more days. Bungalows were great; beautiful gardens with gorgeous bird wing butterflies and a beautiful view. Bungalows were very well sealed, so didn't need mosquito net when sleeping. Not air-conditioned, but robust ceiling fans kept me cool for sleeping. Food was good.||Snorkeling was good and they accommodated me as a solo snorkeler. But I can't say the staff was enthusiastic about my snorkeling. The captain of one boat asked me why I didn't dive – distinctly implying that he wished that I were a diver instead. They were not interested in what I wanted to see or planning an itinerary, but just gave a few options of where to go each day. They said there was a house reef, but I had to pester them to even put out a ladder for it. I was impressed with the house reef though – saw a lot of stuff I didn't see further offshore. But the big liveaboards docked in the same area, so it wasn't really possible to snorkel on the house reef once they arrived.||Boat staff seemed friendly, but not reliable. On one combination bird/snorkeling outing, they forgot to bring defogger or a fresh water tank to soak cameras, etc. On another outing, I said I wanted to eat lunch at an island, but then once I got out there I was told they hadn't brung lunch and were returning at 1 PM. They also just let novices jump in the water without giving them any instructions about not stepping on the reef, etc. But I did otherwise feel safe in the water with the staff.||The reefs all look good, and water visibility was excellent except near shore or islands. though there are signs of bleaching. I didn't see a lot of big stuff and no sharks. There was one huge Napoleon Wrasse and a pod of false killer whales (misidentified by the captain as melonhead whales) which I saw from the boat. But the highlights for me were smaller stuff – several species of shrimp gobies, a striped coral blenny (which is only found in this area and the Solomon Islands), a cool Phyllidia nudibranch I found, reef squid, loads of gorgeous reef fish, etc. ||Definitely worth a visit, but getting there can be an adventure. The national airline was not at all reliable when I was there; unexpected flight cancellations are routine. Security in Papua New Guinea is always a concern – though I felt safe enough...

Wow. That pretty much sums up our trip to Walindi, but let me explain. This diving resort is just fabulous, it is nicely provisioned for diving on all sorts of sites within Kimbe Bay, along with servicing the MV Febrina for liveaboard trips. We did multi-dive day trips from the resort which were beautifully planned for us by instructors Dominic and Christina, who did a fantastic job accommodating us and our experience levels and any diving requests such as my wish to dive the Mitsubishi Zero wreck which was totally worth it and one of the trip highlights for me, besides the dolphin experiences we had daily including getting into the water with them on the last dive day on the boat's boom net. What can I say about the staff, they were simply incredible and were friendly, helpful in all ways in the resort's operation, from the food service, laundry service, the land tour guides, and best of all, the diving guides, who were amazing at their site knowledge, navigation skills and finding all the tiny creatures along the dive for me to photograph. The bungalows were comfortable, spacious and beautifully setup. I can't rate Walindi highly enough, every bit of our 10 days stay was just wonderful. The only precaution I would add is to be prepared for Air Nuigini's regular flight cancellations for the regional flight here and a night stay in Port Moresby to continue your journey there the following morning... But the staff at Walindi were fully aware of the situation, helpful and we were in the water diving within a very short time upon arrival without delay. Thank you, Walindi. We had one of the best holidays we could have ever asked for. We miss you and your staff and didn't want to leave. Big shout out to the dive staff, Miriam, Brian, Victor, Oscar, Ambrose, James, Dominic's x2 and Christina and support...