We have spent the past few nights at the brand new Sheraton Tokoriki resort in Fiji. The Sheraton just opened on June 1st and replaces the previous Amanuca Island Resort. The Sheraton is not to be confused with another resort on the island, the Tokoriki Island Resort. The setting is quite nice, with a view out over the turquoise water to nearby islands. You can just see the island where they filmed Castaway with Tom Hanks.

The hotel is open but there is still considerable construction going on... only maybe 25% of the rooms are actually ready. Rooms are in bures (cottages) composed of 2, 4 or 6 rooms. We got an upgrade to an beachfront room. Most of the construction is at the back half of the resort and although we did not hear any construction noise from our room, several guests complained about the constant noise (loud tile cutting) and were comped their entire stay. They are constantly bringing in construction supplies through the beach and we found some broken glass, nails, etc. lying around. The workers are also sleeping in some of the unfinished rooms it seems.

Our room was quite nice, king bed, HDTV, 'outside' shower (glass wall), and porch overlooking the beach below. The bed was quite comfortable. The floors seemed quite loud to walk on, we could hear people in the other side of our bure walking around and talking, so I imagine they could hear us as well. The power outlets were standard Australian style (/ \).

Transport to the island is by jetski (*for masochists only), 1-hr ferry (involves wet landing on the beach) or 15-minute helicopter, and must be prearranged through the hotel's website (http://www.sheratontokorikiisland.com/forms/transfer). Checkin currently takes place at the Sheraton Fiji resort in Denarau where the staff escort you on the bus to the Port Denarau marina and the South Sea cruises ferry (http://www.ssc.com.fj/irc_timetable.aspx Routes 2&5). Official transport times on the Sheraton website are at 2:30PM to the resort and 10:15AM and 4PM from the resort back to the mainland. There is also a 9AM ferry from the mainland to Tokoriki. They are running a special on the helicopter transfer if you book 4+ nights or have pre or post-stays at the Sheratons/Westin in Denarau. The hotel staff greets you with singing as you step ashore on the beach.

There is no club lounge or spa yet but the kids club was open. There were several families there with young kids (and ours too, miss hauteboy is 3 yrs old) which currently was free. The resort has several planned activities per day, Fiji language lessons, singing, etc. They show a childrens movie in the small cinema at 4pm and another movie at 7PM.

There is only one restaurant, Flying Fish, which had a fairly limited menu. The menu has some of the same items (and price) as the Flying Fish at the Sheraton Fiji. The restaurant has open-air seating on the deck overlooking the beach. Our breakfast was included in the rate. Breakfast buffet was decent, they are more geared to the Aussie market as they had traditional English breakfast (Baked beans, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms etc), an omelette bar and a chilled case wiwth yogurt and fruit. Their pain au chocolats were very good. During the day they have a kids lunch menu and small lunch menu. Prices are fairly high, prepare to spend an additional ~$150/day per couple on food ($50 for lunch, $100 for dinner) though that can be reduced a bit with SPG dining discount (I always forget to bring my card along). There is an ice cream shop next to the pool. Food choices are limited, there are no other shops or restaurants on the island.

The infinity pool was pretty nice. You must walk through (and over on a bridge) the pool area to get to the southern block of rooms where ours was located. There are several cabanas available. The pool overlooks the beach which is nice soft sand, with some coral remnants. The beach near the hotel is nice soft sand. There are rocks covered in seaweed in the ocean, but it is very shallow all the way out several hundred feet to the reef edge (you can walk to it, but watch for stingrays).

They have a good choice of watersports, jetskis, kayaks, etc for rent but a bit expensive. Even snorkeling was $50 FJD ($28) per person. They don't have scuba diving available onsite, but as I found out later that can be arranged through the Tokoriki Island Resort.

On checkout, they got my room rate incorrect but was resolved easily. Overall our experience was good, our complaints were fairly minor, but there are definitely some kinks to work out in the service department. And ongoing construction will be a factor for some time.


Greeting


View from restaurant


Walkway to bures


Beds


Outside view of beachfront bure


Bathroom


Pool


Watersports menu


View from Helipad


Oceanfront suite with plunge pool (still under construction)