bhrubin

I. Love. You.

We also had that experience at Amanwana! They guaranteed 19 C in writing in advance, but it didn't come close (May 2009)--it was 26 C at night! GM (name unremembered, sadly) was wonderful, acknowledged the problem, had maul title fans installed that night, and next day had new air con units installed from Lombok and then had portable air con flown over from Bali--and cut hole in window for its exhaust. Brought it down to 21 C, which was a major improvement but still not enough for me. Obviously, Amanwana was used to that air con issue!

I've had this air con problem at MO Las Vegas, FS Hualalai (will never return because of pitiful air con), FS Manele Bay (not likely to return even after reno), RC NYC Battery Park, Upper House (they fixed and refunded bad night, would return in heartbeat), etc...

FWIW, it was 65 F for me to sleep last night...with my second dedicated air con unit working wonderfully.

Nice to meet a fellow air con fanatic!

CRAZ8

Fiji Airways added SFO-NAN for a few months this year, on some Thursdays and Sundays. Sadly, September is not a month with these flights

http://www.flysfo.com/media/press-re...s-fiji-airways

KatW

I know! I was so disappointed.

MacMyDay

Our flight was on an old 737, so not exactly earth shattering. It was still far superior to any European business class product, but certainly not something you should bother trying out for the sake of it. I wasn't aware that their new A330 seems to only fly on specific days, but as the flight is only 3 hours 50 minutes to get there, it's the equivalent of me flying to Athens and isn't worth getting too bothered about.

It has not rained in about 48 hours, but the sun is still playing hide and seek. And it's winning most of the time. Even so, we've been able to enjoy some of the many, many activities that are on offer, including: farm yard visit, horse riding x 3, submarine again, jet skis, underwater scooter, daily private yoga sessions, sunset cruises, hikes and the spa. Basically trying to cram 7 days of activities into the 2 days where it's been decent.


Underwater scooter. The pool is so large that using underwater equipment is probably the only way to get around it.


Horse riding


If you think your standard Aman has lots of seating areas, you have seen nothing


Panoramic view of the front of our villa


Sunset watching at the Rock Lounge


Still watching it


Star gazing

Here's a video of moi in the submarine as it was submerging: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132880...posted-public/

FlyerEC

Thanks again for the information & lovely photos .
Won ' t try Fiji LH then , perhaps from SYD or AKL , .. then ?

Was it claustrophobic on the sub ? What was the longest you spent underwater ?
How long did it take to cover the pool with the underwater scooter ?

Wow , that ' s a lot to do in 48 h , no wonder you were silent for a bit , & not because something untoward happened like losing more toes

KatW

Loving the commentary and photos, thankee.

MacMyDay

It didn't feel claustrophobic at all, as there is quite a lot of space in there and lots of room to stretch your legs. My girlfriend actually needed cushions as she was too small to see everything properly. The average time is about 30-35 minutes and they told me that the longest they've done is an hour. The only downside to it is that it takes almost 30 minutes to get it ready each time, in which you're just stood about waiting for something to happen, prior to which you signed forms that probably sold your children's souls to Red Bull.

With the pool, I'll upload some photos on it, even though it is one of those "you must see it to believe it" structures. It looks like it's 5 or 6 different pools all merged together as it's just so vast, but you can tell it's clearly designed to be this way.

r281

Checked in this morning. Very impressed as I was last time - had forgotten how incredible this place is. A lot of landscaping still being finished behind the scenes. Now they have over 400 full time staff.

Kagehitokiri

MacMyDay, thanks! do they have their own diving tops (etc) yet? if not, you might have prompted them to start working on it. hope weather improves.

for a maximum of approximately 80 guests / 40 bedrooms / 25 villas

seems MacMyDay was scheduled to check out today

laucala.com/img/map_full.jpg
https://www.google.com/maps/place/La...4d-179.6863219

MacMyDay

Do you mean the North Island rash guards? Management did comment on that and said it was something they wanted to do, as they had been no North too and ended up using them all the time. Easily the best hotel gift I've ever had, as I use it all the time - The Connaught gave me some handmade shoes for our 50th stay which cost about 10x more, but I don't think I've ever ever worn them once.

We leave later this afternoon, so in about 12 hours time. FlyerTalk beach party?

Kagehitokiri

04:45 local time? hope weather is good!

might be working on design etc.

MacMyDay

I've never experienced a sleeping pattern like this one. Biggest time difference I've ever done is +8 hours, which is most of SE Asia and even then only Japan was an issue with sleep, where it took me about 6 days to get into a decent pattern. When we stayed in Iniala (was either +7 or +8 hours at the time) it took 1 night in Singapore and I was fine. Since flying to Sydney (+9 and then +11 for Fiji) I've not slept past 4am a single night, even when going to bed at 1am.

offerendum

Come on

Kagehitokiri

if deep, not everyone here swims laps. not really an exaggeration. laucala's common areas make it seem like a huge/mega hotel, rather than only 25 villas (with no residences being sold nor other primary revenue source)

hope they have some kind of mid - long term / succession plan (perhaps some top properties could operate like some top restaurants do, and more 'foundation' ownership)

MacMyDay

We were running low on time so unfortunately did not get to experience this as it was intended. Anything within the reef is free and there are multiple sites they will take you to on a boat, but we were restricted by time on our last day and I wanted to check this out for you, so we just took the underwater scooter (the ultimate luxury in laziness - the idea of swimming is now repulsive) right off the beach by the marina and there really wasn't much to look at; saw a few fish and just gave up after about 15 minutes. I would emphasis that this is not a good sample and likely far better places are available.

One of the things I really enjoyed is their glass kayak, as you can see very clearly below you as you're drifting out to sea.