Boathouse Nanuya

boathouse nanuya refers to the cheaper wing of the nanuya resort, but both share the same facility (reception, dining room, boathouse etc) in the boathouse nanuya wing, rooms are more motel style (ensuite double or triple) as opposed to villa. there is also a dorm room segregated by gender. the rooms are comfortable enough with great hot shower and AC. so at the room rate paid vs what villa would have cost, no complaints! there is however a mandatory meal plan of 129 FJD per person per day. i find this to be poor value for money as the food were quite underwhelming. this is an area i hope the resort can improve. wifi is available for free at lobby, but does not extend until the cabanas or rooms. the resort is about 20 min away by speedboat to the sawa-i-lau cave. it is about 30-45 min hike away from the east coast of nanuya lailai island, where an organic ice cream stall can be found.

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.

Lovely scenic resort with fantastic facilities in the dorms. Staff were extremely and genuinely friendly and always wanted to help. Food was lovely with a buffet and hot breakfast, 2 course lunch and 3 course dinner. Couldn’t recommend more.

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.

Warm friendly staff who always made us feel welcome. Room was ok, clean and tidy. Meal plan was ok but could probably be improved on a bit although the food did seem to be of the same quality as the sister resort right next door. Overall a good stay, the staff make the place.

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.