Stay away from Sonaisali Island Resort!

My wife and two friends, all avid scuba divers, recently made our first trip to Fiji. We were immeasurably impressed with the people of Fiji, but we were met with incredibly disappointing circumstances at one of Fiji's mainland resorts. Upon arriving at Sonaisali Island Resort near Nadi, we were informed that not one, but both dive boats were out of commission. This is after traveling more than 20 hours from the eastern United States to dive.

The staff's best efforts were to call a few other dive shops for us the nearest of which was 45 minutes away. One shop was at least a 2.5 hour drive -- one way. The expectation was that we should willingly and gladly pay between $100-140 per dive plus bear the extra expense of transportation to catch a dive boat at least 45 minutes away. In addition, several of the shops we called were booked, which is not surprising, considering the short notice. Sonaisali Island Resort advertises on its website that "Diving trips operate daily directly from the Resort Marina - with over 25 spectacular dive sites located just 20 minutes away via the Resort Dive boat." If they don't deliver that, it's like saying "Welcome to Disneyworld! Sorry, all the rides are broken."

Incidentally, we couldn't even snorkel at the resort. The visibility was zero. I get the sense it is that way all the time, since Sonaisali is not so much "a true island escape in the beautiful South Pacific Ocean" as they advertise as it is part of an intercoastal waterway.

The major part of the premium price that we paid for their resort was based upon the promise of a dive shop and they could not deliver. We traveled for more than 20 hours from the east coast of the United States to dive at Sonaisali resort in Fiji. We could have paid less at a different resort, but we traveled literally to the other side of the world to scuba dive.

After two days of the runaround, we decided to book the jet skis for Friday morning to go snorkeling. We left the activities desk Wednesday with the promise from another of their staff members that if there were any problems, he would contact us. We heard Thursday morning from an Australian couple that they had booked the jet skis for that day, but they were all out of commission. We waited until Thursday night at 9:30 pm before checking at the activities desk and only then were we informed that the jet skis were still out of commission. In every case, the burden was on us to discover and sort out the problem.

We requested reimbursement, but the resort manager, Ritesh Ram, said, "if our boats were non -operational that is something beyond our control and every effort are put to get boats operational as quickly as possible. In this instance I did explain you; we were waiting for parts from overseas."

Here are three suggestions I made to Sonaisali Island Resort:

"1. The most obvious and common sense step you could have taken would be to contact your clients to let them know of your limitations. If you cannot provide the services you promise, then you lure us under false pretenses.

2. Another option is that you could have rented a dive boat. I find it hard to believe that on all of Vitu Levu and the other 321 islands, you could not find a boat to rent, especially with four paid customers willing to fork out an additional $100 per dive.

3. Presumably, you could have used your fishing boat to take us (unless it was broken, too). The fishing boat was docked every time I walked past during the week."

All of the problems with Sonaisali resort are not coincidence; they are signs of poor management and it was the one stain on our otherwise wonderful trip to Fiji.

I would not recommend this resort to anyone. If you go with plans to do anything other than sit in your room, check first to make sure they offer the services they promise.

We returned from our honeymoon just this afternoon and I feel compelled to write a review that highlights some of our experiences at the resort. I will be writing several letters to resort management and whatever entity owns Sonsali in the days to come.

1. The bar staff is incompetent, not knowing even how to mix the 8 or so drinks on their menu. Some turn out okay and others just horrible......and the prices are exorbitant even by resort hotel standards and were 20-30% higher than the 4 star resort we stayed in the previous 10 days. $20+ for many drinks, $6.75 for a coke which can be bought off any store shelf in Nadi for $1.00, or $2.00 marked way up at the airport.........$6.75 is criminal.

2. The food is mediocre at best, we tried room service, the buffet, and the restaurant......For the quality the price it is absurd. I might not be so upset about it had i paid 1/4 as much for it or not had much higher expectations.

3. Of all the vacation resorts I have ever been at the staff was the least friendly by far and there is not even a comparison between Sonasali and the other resort we stayed at during our honeymoon.

4. We were initially charged $55 for the airport transfer,.......which we did not have as they were not there when our flight arrived. so we took a nice new, air conditioned cab, which not surprising at all in retrospect was $32 and far more comfortable looking than the rather run down looking resort bus.They then wanted us to wait an hour when we checked out to take their arranged transportation for us, again for the bargain price of $55, we declined, took the boat acroos the channel and were in another nice air conditioned cab for the trip to the airport for $32. Which saved us $23 each way.....and I know $23 isn't the end of the world but it gets annoying to have them ripping you off at every conceivable opportunity.

5. When you check out they rake you over the coals again, If you use your credit card they add a 3.2% surcharge for using your credit card. The other option was to pay by cash or travelers check. When we checked out they were offering a change rate of 1.43-1.47 to the US dollar depending on the cash or check. The western union outlet at the airport seemed like a bargain at 1.59. So you can basically give Sonasali a 3.2% bonus or a 7.5% bonus take your pick unless you happen to be carrying around thousands of Fijian dollars a very safe and well advised travel practice...........again absurd and ridiculous.

6. If you are looking for a beach....look elsewhere, Much of the beach is man made and sits high atop the man made breakwater. And I don't know if the water is always a dingy brown or if it was just while we were there but the water at the other resort we stayed at was beautiful and clear as was the water everywhere else we saw ocean in Fiji.

Someone is making alot of money off the guests at Sonasali, I can guarantee they will never see another dime from me or anyone I know. I have never had any part of any trip be so dissappointing Sonasali Island, for the money you would do well to look elsewhere.

Cheers,

Brett