Accomodation Fiji Islands.

Hi, we are off to Fiji in 2 days, for 2 weeks. We have bought a Bula Pass for island hopping, and thought that we would leave the accomodation until we got there.
Have booked somewhere in Nadi. We were offered the opportunity to buy an accomodation pass, for 2, from the Flight Centre, for a double room, with food, for just over NZ$1500 which included food, and seemed quite expensive. The more now that I look at the L P, and look at the prices,maybe it was a better maybe cheaper option, to go for the pass. Also does the price of a dorm bed in the L P, include food? Can anybody advise me as to the situation with this, and whether or not I should go for a pass, or can get cheaper accomodation, by just turning up, or maybe booking ahead. Also some suggestions, of good places to stay and check out would be nice. We are an older couple, and would maybe be more into chillin, than freakin. Thanks, and may your trails be long and beautiful, until we all meet each other.

My impression is that you cannot just show up at the Yasawa/Mamanuca islands and go hunting for accommodation. Many of the islands do not have a pier. The Yasawa Flyer waits off-shore and a boat from the resort goes out to pick up passengers. So the resort has to know you're coming. This means, therefore, that you arrange accommodation before you actually show up at the island.

Many of the islands only have the resort (or two). So there's also nowhere to eat other than at the resort. Meal plans are a necessity.

Whether that accommodation pass is worth it or not depends on the resorts it covers. Maybe it's good value for the places where you can use the pass, although my knowledge of these sorts of passes is that you're mostly buying the convenience of not needing to make decions, and paying someone else the premium for doing the basic work. And you'd still need to make some sort of reservation or advance notice that you're coming. That also depends on how that pass works in practice.

It's certainly possible to book at 'backpacker' resorts at less than NZ$1500. But you'd have to do some basic research -- pick out a few places you might want to stay at, see what their prices are (including meal plan).

We never take the meal plans and always end up spending less than the meal plan.
At Amunuca recently we paid less for all meals and drinks than we would have for the meal plan which only covered 2 meals anyway.