Marie L.
Google
Couples and divers: Avoid Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji... what a disappointing experience
As avid travelers who have stayed at numerous resorts worldwide, including two separate 3-week trips across Fiji, we had high expectations given their pitch. However, our experience was far from the luxury and quality we anticipated, and certainly not worth the value. There are luxury hotels just around the corner with private pools, and much better dive shops, would strongly advise to go there instead.
1. Overpriced & Underwhelming Resort:
For $1500+ per night, the room was similar to $500 rooms in Fiji, offering no real luxury or unique amenities except for daily laundry. Service was average, and while the food options were diverse, it didn’t justify the price. Worst of all, the resort's adult-only promise was ignored. We were surrounded by children under 13 in the pool and dining areas and during adult-only activities, running and screaming, ruining the tranquil environment they promised. Despite the resort's policy, children were allowed in adult-only spaces, and the staff did nothing to address the issue.
2. Worst diving experience & safety concerns
The diving center at Cousteau was a major letdown. The prices were outrageously high, over twice what we’ve paid for similar dives globally and locally in the most remote areas of Fiji, and the quality didn’t come close to justifying it. Our dives were poorly managed, with rushed briefings (or none) and minimal attention to safety. One dive even resulted in decompression for two advanced divers, which was deeply concerning and against PADI standards. The staff showed little regard for divers, and there was a clear lack of customer care. All they want is your money and it’s pretty clear they don’t deserve it. The “hand-pick” masters don’t check the tides, they don’t check the visibility before diving to pick the sites unlike all other dive shops in Fiji, they are on a schedule and they put minimum efforts. By reading the reviews here you’ll see that most of the happy customers have no experience in diving so they can’t compare. We have over 150 logged dives, you can trust our judgement.
3. Poor Customer Service
As experienced travelers, we expected a higher level of service and professionalism, especially for the price. Unfortunately, our concerns were met with little consideration from management, showing a lack of commitment to guest satisfaction. The dive center’s apathy towards customer feedback and safety was evident, and when we raised our concerns to 3 different individuals they were largely ignored. So we decided to dive with another company who came to pick us up and drop off and thank god we did. The experience was 10x better and equipment was brand new. They were passionate about the ocean and truly cared about us. Lesson learned: don’t get fooled by the Cousteau name, we learned he owns less than half of the shop and they never come to control and coach the staff unlike other Cousteau reserves.
In short, this resort doesn’t deliver on its promises of luxury, tranquility, and certainly not on quality diving. Is there good snorkeling? Yes, but it’s similar to the Yasawas islands resorts and 3x more expensive. Are the aquatic & activities good? Yes, but again on par to other resorts in Fiji. Was the room nice: absolutely but on par with the other resorts we visited, just bigger but not beach front for 3x the price. Do they come pick you, sing for you and give you a cocktail? Yes, like any other good resort in Fiji. So what’s justifying this price? Probably the babysitter service. For couples? Not worth it. After trying to address these issues with the management, they thanked us (lol!) and we feel like we have wasted our money. Given our extensive travel experience, we strongly advise others to look elsewhere like Namale and Savisavi for a genuine luxury experience.
