Castaway Island, Fiji
Readers Reviews
Matt
May 2007
To follow on from "Megans" review we were fortunate enough to be the other family that joined her and her family. In summary, we also found the island to be fantastic. This was our 5th visit to Castaway and it gets better and better. The kids club is the best we have seen (thanks Finn and Kima), the meals are of very high standard and the bure's are now more comfortable and the staff were as usual fantastic . The only negatives were the beer prices of $11FJD (heineken) or fiji bitter of $6.50 (Ok price but that beer isn't the best) and house wine $10-11FJD which is over the top. The water activities are great but would like to see hand line fishing during the day and not at "happy hour".
Great time, great place and looking forward to our 6th visit in the future.
Megan
May 2007
We stayed at Castaway Island for 6 nights and so wish we could've stayed there for 6 more. This resort is absolutely fantastic.
We were a party of 10, 6 adults, 2x6year olds and 2x3year olds. We all had beach front bure's, if our's was any closer at high tide our feet would get wet. Our's was on the southern side which is prone to high winds at times, whilst the other side remains dead calm, so we just went over to that side, no problem!
We have all previously been to Castaway many times and we are never disappointed when we come back, our last visit was 4 1/2 years ago, so in that time they had done up the bure's beautifully and added air conditioning and added a cabana with a water cooler at the tennis court. Everything else is the same even some of the staff. Some staff members have been working on the island for over 30 years. All the staff are so welcoming and happy to be working there which makes a big difference.
Our bure's were serviced daily, there's no need to take beach towels as they supply you with those. Their little touches of having Twinnings tea and a coffee perculator in your bure complete with complmentary coffee and body lotion and shampoo in the bathroom are the icing on the cake.
We all got the meal plan, which is 3 meals a day.90% of their meals were excellent. At breakfast time there was 1 person solely doing eggs, whatever way you wanted. Their alcoholic beverages were on the pricie side but they did have 2 hours of happy hour where you could get a cocktail for $13.50 and a fiji baby (beer) for $6.00.
The kids club was excellent. Our 2 boys didn't really go in the mornings but they did in the afternoon and evenings.
In the afternoons they would do things like show them the lovo pit and explain why, basket weaving and coconut husking.
In the evenings they would be playing over at the lit up tennis courts then getting stories read to them. There was no t.v in sight!!! My kids loved Kima, Finn and Aseri-thanks guys.
My husband loved the catamarans. There was also free coral watching in the boat, the snorkelling was o.k but the clearness of the water made up for that, whilst swimming the fish would come and swim with you. On our 2nd day there a sea snake came up to the beach to say hello, great for the kids to see.
The meke night is great, even the kids were able to get dressed up and be involved.
The resort only holds around 60 bure's so it is never jam packed. All the other people staying their were really nice and friendly as i think it just rubs off from the staff.
I can not recommend this resort highly enough, we can't wait to go back!!
Michelle
March 2004
We spent our honeymoon at the Castaway Island Resort, Fiji in 1994 and so
returned there in March 2004 for our 10th Wedding Anniversary with two children
in tow, a 4 and a half year old boy and a 22 month old girl. Once again, we
thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The resort is charming and the staff are very
friendly, particularly if you have small children. If you have a hectic
lifestyle at home it does take a while to get used to Fiji time (nothing happens
in a hurry!). My husband happened to mention to someone at the restaurant that
it was our 10th wedding anniversary the next day and they arranged a special
table for us, a special anniversary cake and champagne as well as arranging for
us to be serenaded at dinner by the resident band!
The kids loved Kids Club. Our daughter was too young to go alone (kids club
for 3 years and older) but babysitters were very inexpensive so we had a
babysitter take her to Kids Club for most morning sessions with her older
brother and another one to take her to Kids Club for the evening session then
take them both back to the room to bed. We had the same babysitter every day we
were at Castaway and the kids both loved her. We also had the same babysitter
every night, kids also loved her! Our kids were known by name by everyone on the
island after we had been there a couple of days!
Overall I can’t recommend Castaway Island Resort enough (but do take the meal
packages if you go), it was a very relaxing holiday and every member of the
family found plenty (or nothing) to do!
Jenni
April 2004
Spend a VERY LONG week on Castaway in April 2004 with my husband and 3 & 1/2 year old son. The resort was VERY TIRED &
desperately in need of an update. The staff were reasonable but very slow & not
overly friendly (unlike other Fijian resorts we've been to).
Thought the night sessions at kid's club were a great idea, until we tried it - the first night we dropped my son off & they
immediately turned off the lights & put a video on - so much for the "scheduled
activities" for the evening. There were at least 15 kids in the room with ONE
carer - who promptly turned off the lights & fell asleep!! We found her asleep
on the floor when we went to collect him an hour or so later & she didn't even
wake up. There was no door to the kid's club room - and the un-fenced pool is
not that far away. There were several 3 and 4 year olds who, luckily, did not
wander off - but well could have!! And my son was scared & didn't want to go
back, although he did warm to it after a few more (day-time) sessions. We
won't go back there.
Chris Jones
January 2003
We are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids 8 and 10, who travelled
to Fiji from 24 December 2002 to 11 January 2003. We stayed at Tokatoka Resort,
Oarsman Lodge, Crusoes Retreat and Castaway Island.
Tokatoka has a fantastic pool/outdoor dining complex and is
definitely recommended. The kids just loved the pool and waterslide, and they
enjoyed having a TV in the room. We rather enjoyed a trip into Nadi and also a
local taxi driver for F$60 took us on a half day tour of the fairly interesting
local sights (First Landing, Viseisei, Lautoka Markets - where we just managed
to escape the clutches of the infamous sword sellers - and Garden of the
Sleeping Giant).
We flew on a Turtle Air seaplane to Oarsman Lodge in the
Yasawas. The adults enjoyed the trip over the coral reefs, the kids were hot and
uninterested. We're sorry to say we didn't enjoy our time at the Oarsman Lodge
at all. The beach is great and the snorkelling also, and the food was good (but
sometimes too spicy for the kids). The bure was small but okay. Not okay was
having very intermittent water supply. When it is hot with a family you need the
basics and we were really unhappy with the lack of water. (There was a sign up
indicating that it might have been a temporary problem but we have considerable
doubts). There was also a general air of disorganisation eg having to wait a
couple of hours with all our luggage when we arrived. The hosts also didn't seem
interested in what the guests might want to do as opposed to what the hosts
might want to do. There were limited activities. All in all we were very pleased
to leave Oarsman's Lodge and it is not recommended for a family.
We then went via Kula Eco Park (recommended) to Crusoes
Retreat on the Coral Coast. This Resort was just great and is very highly
recommended. Management and staff went out of their way to be helpful. The
Resort is set in pleasant gardens, with a nice pool. Food was excellent with
wide variety. Each day the Resort had an itinerary of mainly free activities
such as a nature walk, basket weaving, trip on a boat to the Mangroves, snorkel
and glass bottom boat trips, fishing trips, meke etc. There are also canoes etc.
The kids also enjoyed playing with the numerous hermit crabs near the beach, and
if you looked closely you could also find little mudskipper fish which sometimes
hopped around out of the water. In the evening it was nice to sit on the patio
and be serenaded by a chorus of frogs. All in all the kids really enjoyed this
Resort and it was the favourite of the adults. On top of that it was really
outstanding value. You do need to note though that the bedrooms contain two
double beds rather than singles, which in our opinion was a very minor matter in
all the circumstances. We would incidentally tend to recommend a "beachfront"
bure.
We then returned up the Coral Coast and took the boat to
Castaway Island, which is also highly recommended. This is an expensive and on
the whole well managed resort, with nice bures. We had a beachfront bure and
this is definitely recommended as then generally you are only a few metres from
the sea. The beach is very nice and the snorkelling off the beach good. A
snorkelling trip by boat is recommended but only for kids who are confident
swimmers (and watch for sunburn!). Our older child enjoyed going round the
Island on the Banana boat, but again this is for somewhat more confident
swimmers. We went on tandem parasails with both kids and this was worth the
F$160 or whatever it cost. Kids Club was a mixed experience. Certainly it wasn't
as good as we had hoped - no good for older kids during the day, but a lot
better attended in the evenings. Castaway's food was excellent, with the Meal
Plan probably recommended. Castaway has a very nice pool and a well stocked
shop. There were some small niggles eg the staff (despite complying to tedious
extreme with instructions to say Bula to everyone) had obviously not been
instructed to clear up glass pieces. There was quite a bit of glass around
including in the kids dining area and it was just luck that no-one was cut.
Still, our stay at Castaway was overall very pleasant and we also highly
recommend this Resort.
In conclusion despite it being the hot season (low to mid
30's) we had a very good holiday.
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