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Plantation Island, Fiji Review Plantation Island Fiji is located about 50 minutes by boat from Denarau marina or 10 minutes flying time from Nadi airport. The resort is located on a natural lagoon and shares the island with Musket Cove resort. Travel to Plantation Island is either by the Malolo Cat or by plane or sea plane. The sea plane is the most expensive of these, and the light plane being the most practical, flying and landing directly at Nadi airport. Plantation Island has it's own private air strip, just minutes from the resort. It's hard to avoid a stopover on the mainland on your day of arrival, especially if is late afternoon or night. You can avoid a final night stopover by catching a light plane to Nadi airport, provided your flight home doesn't leave too early. We visited in April 2001. Plantation Island Accommodation 
We stayed in a Studio Garden Bure, which is a freestanding bure divided into two. It is a single room with a queen size bed, and two singles, a small table and two chairs and a small balcony offering little cover from the rain. There are two ceiling fans, a bar fridge, shower vanity and toilet. The rooms have plenty of room to move around - easily large enough for a family of four.
The rooms can get quite warm on a hot day but we had no trouble sleeping at night. The ceiling fans certainly do the trick but they may be less comfortable in the hotter months.
The beachfront (2 bedroom bures) are much roomier and have the advantage of the sea breeze. They are also a lot more modern than the garden bures and some have air conditioning (request this before you arrive).
The hotel accommodation has reasonable sized rooms and limited use air conditioning, however for the period that we stayed, the air conditioning was undergoing maintenance, and these rooms were quite warm.
Overall most of the accommodation is fairly basic, without air conditioning, however there's plenty of space in the rooms, and you tend to spend very little time in them.
Plantation Island Meals The meals available at Plantation Island ranged from good to disappointing. The 'hot buffet' continental breakfast included cereals, pancakes, donuts, toast and fruit only. You could also have a plate bacon & eggs or omelet's etc for an additional charge. (Costs were F$11 continental - this is the 'inclusive menu' breakfast, and around F$7.50 for hot dishes). Lunch was a choice of the buffet - cold meats a couple of hot dishes, fruit, desserts etc, or you could have burgers, hot dogs, toasted sandwiches with chips. There was a separate kid's menu with burgers, pizzas, fish & chips. (Costs were F$15 for the buffet, F$7-F$8 for burgers etc - all in the 'inclusive menu'). Dinner was a choice of an 'inclusive menu' al-la-carte which featured a choice of about 15 dishes - mainly chicken or fish - or a separate al-la-carte which was not part of the 'inclusive deal'. There was also a three course set menu or a theme buffet dinner which featured Sunday roast, BBQ grill, pig on the spit, lovo feast, kebab night or Mongolian BBQ - something different every night, and of reasonable quality. (F$26 for buffet, other meals range from F$15-F$30) The kids buffet dinner (served between 5 and 6) featured fish, chicken legs, chips, rice, carrots, fruit and a dessert dish. Unfortunately the menu didn't change much for the week we were there and the kids get sick of the same food night after night. There's also a snack bar on the beach with chips, toasted sandwiches, ice creams etc. The resort also provides a supermarket where you can buy drinks, milk, chips etc at good prices. You can purchase an all inclusive meal plan when you arrive, F$55 per adult and F$31.90 per child. Plantation Island Activities  Plantation Island is located on a lagoon with crystal clear water and coral reefs just metres away from most of the accommodation. You can lie on the sandy beach under the coconut trees or swim in the safe and clean lagoon. If you're feeling more energetic there's plenty to keep you occupied including canoes, windsurfers, catamarans and jet skis. If it’s a calm day you can try the parasailing. Grab a set of snorkeling gear and see the coral and colourful fish just off the beach or join one of the free snorkeling trips to a coral reef. There's a banana boat ride, very popular with the kids (probably 4+ years), and free fishing trips twice daily.
You can also do an island hop to visit some of the closer island resorts, or travel to the local village to shop for wood carvings, shells, necklaces, beads, bracelets at good prices or just wander around the village and see how the Fijians live.
There's a sunset cruise, dolphin watching cruise or a trip on a semi-submersible to get a great view of the fish and coral.
Prices: banana boat F$9 per person, parasailing F$48, jet skiing F$40/30min, water skiing F$17, shell village $9, dolphin watching $22, island hopping (3 islands) F$35, semi-submersible F$22.
The resort has two pools. The larger of the pools has a timber deck with plenty of shade under the palm trees. The water can get quite warm by the end of a hot day, and we found that we didn't spend much time using the pool, with the ocean water so good. The second pool (kids pool) is very popular with the kids, mainly because of the big slide.
Other activities include a scenic 9 hole golf course, a putt putt golf course that has seen better days, tennis, lawn bowls, walks to the Chinese cemetery, a craft shop that’s worth visiting just for the view, and check out the wood carvers and basket weavers.
At night there's a string band that plays throughout dinner and there's generally some sort of organised activities each night after dinner including crab or frog races, limbo contests, a Fijian meke show etc. There's also a disco that plays until the early hours of the morning.
Plantation Island Kids Club The kids club at Plantation Island consists of an air-conditioned room with a padded floor, a jumping castle and a pit of balls. There's a video with the latest release kids movies and a crèche next to the kids club. There's activities organised each day for the kid's including fish feeding, canoe races, crab hunting, tug-o-war, treasure hunt, beach games and tee shirt painting. There's also a games room with table tennis and air hockey. At night after the kid's dinner there's always some sort of activities that all the kid's get involved in. Stick dance races, balloon races, limbo dancing, crab races, Meke show, Simon says, musical chairs and concerts. After the activities the kid's go back to the kid's club to watch a video. The daytime activities were a bit light on, probably because the kids were on the water slide or jumping off the pontoon in the lagoon, but the kids enjoyed themselves at night. You can hire a babysitter to look after your children at very reasonable rates. Summary  Overall the experience at Plantation Island was a good one. We thought the accommodation was basic (studio garden bure), but certainly spacious enough. The accommodation prices are probably the best (cheapest) of all the Fijian Islands and the price of the beachfront bures is the equivalent of the basic accommodation on other islands.
The food was a bit disappointing both in choice and quality, but reasonably priced. The staff were very friendly and helpful (as always in Fiji) and certainly took to the kids. The resorts pools were good (however a hot day really warms them up) and the kids played for hours on the water slide.
The beach was fantastic and the water sports are probably the best we've experienced. The kids club was good, but with limited activities during the day ( it was probably too hot for the kids to do much else but swim) and the kids were kept well entertained at night with activities and movies (at least long enough for the adults to eat in peace). There was also nightly activities for the adults.
The kid's had a fantastic time and would gladly return for more.
Note: April 2001 was not long after the coup in Fiji and resorts may not have been at their best for a review. Recent reports from Plantation Island indicate the minor negatives we experienced (mainly food quality) have improved.
Links Readers Reviews Trip Advisor Reviews Website Family Packages Plantation Information Page Fiji Mainland Accommodation Fiji Island Accommodation Fiji Family Travel Guide |
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