SMUGGLER’S COVE RESORT
Does the job but nothing special
I recently stayed here with a friend for 7 nights.
We booked via Expedia and paid around AUD$120 per night.
I would say that it is overpriced and not worth this much for a double room each night.
The welcome was fine with airport transfer, waited at the airport for about half an hour for our transport to arrive though. Taxi driver to the hotel was one of the nicest we had during the trip. He had some very friendly, honest advice for us. He worked for smugglers cove, from memory his name was Don.
Breakfast was included in our stay but was really not worth even bothering with. It is something that could be improved by the resort at such a little cost, i don’t understand why they are still only offering toast, porridge and corn flakes. There is also tea, coffee, juice and fruit (one kind each morning, so like watermelon one day, pawpaw the next day etc.) Breakfast time is from 6.30 – 9.30.
There is wifi in the eating areas which you can also access from your room but it is very weak. For F$5 per day you have access to pretty fast wifi. This price is incredibly reasonable and was probably the biggest ‘pro’ of our stay!
During our stay, we booked with the reception at the resort. The lady who helped us did not seem to enjoy her job at all. We asked some questions and were lucky to get a response, just some eye contact and a nod if we were lucky. She did get us a good deal though and we were able to get everything done that we set out to do.
Zip-lining / waterfall and the mud bath / hot spring can all be done in one day from smugglers cove. We paid F$189 each for this trip. Which included entry and unlimited zip-lining, a delicious lunch and transport to, from and between attractions.
During our stay at Smugglers Cove, there was a bit of rain in the afternoons. On day three our room roof leaked and so we went to reception to change rooms. The reception asked us if we would like to change rooms or ‘put a towel over the wet patch on the floor’. We packed up all of our stuff and changed rooms.
The bathrooms in both the first and second room that we stayed in was disgusting. There was mould growing in the corners of the shower and in the second room, the bathroom exhaust fan didn’t work so showering meant fogging up the room and making it really stuffy (not a good combination with Fiji weather!)
The rooms are fit with keys that do not allow you to leave your air-con on and go out. I do understand that this is a cost/energy saving move but returning to our room after a long day wasn’t very nice as it was SO HOT in there! Also, the air-con in our rooms rattled and made all kinds of noises that made it hard to sleep at night until we got up every few hours and hit the air-con unit with something.
Speaking of noise at night, the rooms are not very quiet. They have windows that don’t fully close (this is how they are designed, not a fault of the windows) and so any sound from the restaurant/cafe could be heard very clearly in the room. Additionally, we were lucky enough to stay when the staff had there Christmas party and they didn’t hold back. They were so loud until at least midnight! After this point, they had to clean up as they held their party in the cafe area used for breakfast so there was loud noise until about 1am.
We ate most meals at the resort as there isn’t very much else around in this area to eat. The resort restaurant is very overpriced! A short walk down the beach means that you can eat in other resorts but their meals weren’t very nice.
We had a Swedish massage at the resort and paid F$50 for 1 hour. I also had a leg and feet massage for F$30 (25 minutes) and a mini facial for F$35 (30 minutes). The ladies in the spa are very accommodating.
The resort also has some afternoon entertainment around the dining areas. There was live music some nights and also fire dancers on other nights. This was a nice addition to the diner by the pool.
All in all the attitudes of the staff at smugglers cove could be improved. There was one girl in the cafe who was lovely and came and had a chat with us about Fiji and was very welcoming. In the restaurant, there was a very nice gentleman who went by ‘Jimmy’, he was also lovely. But apart from that, many of the staff had a poor attitude and didn’t seem to want to be at work.
I wouldn’t personally stay at smugglers cove again, I also wouldn’t recommend it to a friend. Sorry, but for AUD$120 per night, it really just didn’t meet the standards.