Boathouse Nanuya

There are 2 reasons we wanted to go all the way out to Nanuya Lailai Island for our island adventures. One was trying out the all inclusive holiday feeling, the other reason which are more important were the Saw-I-Lau Caves. Coming to Boathouse Nanuya turns out to be the best way without breaking the bank. We booked Boathouse Nanuya and we dined at Nanuya Island Resort. We have to purchase a meal plan as there are no other restaurants at the island. There are dance and singing at meal times and after dinner. There are many activities to do. Just book at Boathouse activity centre. Price is reasonable. Many activities are free of charge like renting a stand up paddling board or a canoe. We did that. Wonderful! There is a grocery mart next to activity centre, accessible to the guests villagers to purchase grocery. Nanuya Island Resort is very relaxing and it is easy to unwind. Special thanks to Vilekasa who demonstrated basket weaving and talked to us about life in Fiji, Nanuya Lailai and the surroundings. The people are friendly, hospitable and helpful.

We took two excursions with Mike and Sala. One to the cave and a guided snorkeling trip. Wonderful experience. They were so friendly and helpful. The cave is a must see in Fiji. Mike dove with us to show us special sites underwater, including a giant clam. He also spearfished, which is exciting to watch. The fish and reef farm were spectacular. We highly recommend them.

I stayed at Boathouse with 2 of my friends and we stayed in the Dorm. The room was clean and the beds were comfortable. We were allowed access to the sister resort next door to eat and use their facilities. The food was top notch and they catered well for my gluten free dietary requirements. The staff were friendly and accommodating and nothing was too much trouble. We were slightly worried after seeing some of the recent reviews of this place but honestly can’t recommend it enough it has been one of our favourite places to stay during our time in Fiji.

First of all, almost everyone from the staff was so friendly, kind, helpful and nice. When you arrive you got the Fiji welcome song. That's nice but also normal. After a warm welcome. You have to pay the meat pack (130Fij) that's normal as well. The problem is you have a small list of meals for dinner and lunch. Just 1 entrée, 2 or 3 main meal and 1 or 2 dessert. The task was good. The breakfast, especially for this price was bad, sad just pathetic. You get fruits, one toast and sometime an egg. Also you don't have directly an entrance to the beach. You have to walk a bit around the island. If you are there the beach is awesome with a amazing view, clear water and mountain and island everywhere. On of my greates moments was to sit down in the water in the afternoon and a lot of bats are flying over you. This was great. But still not really close to the resort (10-15 min away) Our room was clean and kind of modern. So we got everything what we need.Bad AC Hot water Cooffee Tea. The housekeeping lady was so cute and lovely. She was amazing. ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEM: The room is directly next to a contraction or company. You can't relax in your room. It is to loud and noisy. They start at 7 am. It was impossible to sleep longer. Also it's destroyed all the holiday feeling and a good view over the sea and other island. However, we visit some other island as well and for this money you get a better accomodation, better food, more food, cheaper drinks. But if you stay definitely on the island doesn't matter in which resort. You have to visit Lo's Tea House. She is really lovely and the tea house is directly on the beach wich is a nice place to be.( You can find it on Google maps). Don't go to the resort. You have a lot of other better options. For example: Octopus resort or blue Lagoon or just a one day trip to the south sea Island.

Whilst in the stunning Yasawa Island chain in Fiji we booked into Boathouse Nanuya, attached to Nanuya Island Resort via the impressive looking website. Our room was adequate, with a fridge and excellent AC that worked so well you needed a blanket to sleep, but was unfortunately starting to show lots of wear and tear like mould, chipped doors and faulty window louvres. The view out of the window was either over the very noisy staff quarters, or over the shipping containers used for storage. The staff upon arrival were disinterested when we checked in and appeared fed up, which was not our experience at ANY of our other accommodations throughout Fiji so far, where the staff treat you like family from your first BULA!!!! The staff away from the main restaurant area were much more pleasant, especially Vatu is the activity coordinator and Api, the bar manager at the Boathouse. We did a trip to the Sawa-i-Lau caves, which were amazing, with Ronnie and Derrick, who were terrific as well. The owners spoke horrendously to the local staff in front of customers on more than one occasion during our stay, which might explain some of the staff's less than friendly attitude. The compulsory meal plan that you are made to opt in to on booking and pay for up front on arrival when in the Boathouse accommodation is $120 FJD per day, fair enough, it's that at most of the resorts up in the islands. At Nanuya, however, the food is cheap and nasty, not to mention repetitive. We were offered beef stir fry for lunch, then dinner, then lunch again the next day. It was poor quality and very very oily. Breakfast was much better, but all meals are on Fiji time and you sat for at least an hour waiting for all the components to arrive. By comparison, the friends we met who stayed at the more expensive Bures in the Resort, ate at the same restaurant as we did. They were not allowed to do the meals plan and had to order a'la carte meals, from our menu with a few more options, and we're paying $30+ for lunch and $50+ for main dinner meals. I have a severe allergy and told Nanuya twice via email and twice on check in documents, and was assured it was no problem. Every meal except breakfast I found tomato in some form given to me, even when I said no tomato please every time I ordered my food. Luckily, my exposure just gave me mild symptoms as I worked it out quickly. The Yasawa chain has SO many amazing resorts scattered throughout it. Do yourselves a favour and go by word of mouth, don't trust the websites to give you the true picture of where to book. I recommend (personally or via others in the last few weeks) the following Yasawa resorts Barefoot Manta - 5 stars, we stayed here and it was bloody amazing, wait for the Manta season. Octopus, Blue Lagoon, Barefoot Kuata, Paradise Cove to name a few.

Pros Not more than 100m to the blue lagoon which has a lovely beach and clear blue water with some snorkelling opportunities. Free kayaks, SUP and snorkelling gear. Cons We opted to stay in the budget part of the hotel, room was fair, but the window view was onto hotel back of service area. Compared to the other price comparable accommodation we stayed at during our yasawa trip (barefoot in a dorm  and mantaray bay in jungle bure) I would not recommend boathouse nanuya budget accommodation. No actually beach to enjoy right in front of the hotel ( but blue lagoon wasn't far) Out of the 3 places we stayed on the yasawas we found the food could be improved, also there were different menus depending on where you were staying in their hotel. Breakfast on offer was rather poor