Review: Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay

The Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay is a 5 star resort located on Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu. The resort has 250 rooms located around a 21 hectare lagoon. There are 92 free-standing beachside bures, 22 overwater bures and 136 rooms in the hotel’s main accommodation buildings.

We spent 5 nights at Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay in a lagoon front king room in September during our trip to Fiji and share details about our stay in this post to help you decide if you want to stay here.

1) Location 17/20:

Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay is located about a 45 minute drive southwest of Nadi Airport, 30 minutes from Port Denarau and 3.5 hours away from Suva. It is the only resort located in this area and the roads to get here are in good condition. If you want to leave the resort for any reason, you need to drive as there isn’t anything within walking distance.

We decided to rent a car and used every day as we didn’t mind leaving the resort to explore and also go try restaurants off the resort for lunch daily. If you decide to do this, you need to be prepared to drive 30-60 minutes in each direction. Port Denarau is the closest. For suggestions on where to eat off the resort, check out our post with tips to visit Fiji.

The resort sits in a mostly undeveloped area; it is the only resort there. It was previously a mangrove area and was transformed into a beach resort with a large lagoon. Mangrove revitalization/preservation projects are underway in the area.

Regardless of what time you arrive in Fiji, you do not have to worry about getting to the hotel as the hotel has private transportation, you can take a taxi or drive yourself. We do think it might be a little challenging to drive in the dark though due to the lack of streetlights. This is an asset compared to transferring to an island resort on arrival.

2) Bed and Sleep Quality 20/20:

Our sleep quality here was 100%. The combination of a very comfortable king bed with soft linens and perfect pillows, the ceiling fan, and a screen to keep our patio door open made it very serene and relaxing for optimal sleep (…maybe the kava also helped! ). If you are staying in the lagoon view or lagoon front rooms though, you may hear your neighbours closing their doors but otherwise, it is very quiet.

3) Room and room amenities: 18/20

We booked a King Lagoon View room using points and ended up staying in a Lagoon Front Room. We are basing our review on this type of room and not the other room categories available on-site.

Overall, the room is very modern and minimal but well-maintained. The room had a king bed, a mini fridge, a safe, a nice balcony with some chairs and a small daybed, a large television, USB charging ports, robes and slipper, bottled water that was replenished daily, and space to store clothes and other belongings. Overall, it was an upscale and newer room that was very comfortable and clean.

4) Bathroom 8/10:

The bathroom had a large shower, a toilet in its own small room, a soaker tub, 2 sinks and a window and blinds which brightened it up by letting some natural light in. There was a mix of Thann and Pure Fiji toiletries and provided bath salts. The only negative aspect of the bathroom is that the sliding door for the shower is also used for the toilet and so you couldn’t have the shower door and toilet closed at the same time.

5) Hotel Public Areas and Amenities 10/10:

This is a 5 star resort but it is very laidback and casual too. It has space and amenities for guests of all ages and can be a romantic getaway for couples or a fun-filled family vacation for those traveling with children. The hotel was more or less sold out during our stay and we rarely felt it was crowded due to how large the resort area is.

The main feature is a 21 hectare man-made lagoon with ocean water. This provides calm swimming conditions and we loved swimming from one end of the lagoon to the other. You can also rent kayaks, standup paddle boards, and snorkel gear from the water activities centre for reasonable fees. If we recall correctly, a stand-up paddleboard rental is $25FJD for 30 minutes, so about $13CAD. We do not recommend snorkeling in the lagoon as the water is a little murky and be mindful of things like stingrays, as we did see some. We often went swimming off the dock by the lagoon entrance or a small beach we discovered that was on the ocean and perfect for snorkeling during mid tide.

The hotel has two pools: one for families by Lagoon House with a swim-up bar and one for adults where Fish Bar is located. The family pool was quite chaotic but it was quite large. The adult pool is a large infinity pool with views and there is also a hot tub. There is cabana-style seating and it’s first-come-first-serve, meaning no expensive rentals.

The resort also has an indoor gym, outdoor workout area, and fitness classes. The indoor gym is a little small but it has sufficient equipment for a good cardio and strength training workout. The outdoor workout area is very small and not very user-friendly.

The resort has tons of daily activities for all ages and a very impressive kids club. It made us want to be kids again! The activities range from a kava ceremony, coconut experience where you learn about the them and get a fresh one, a fire dancing show, a Fijian language class, cocktail-making class. Most are free and some are an additional cost. Overall, we found the activities program to be by far superior to any other resort we have stayed at. There was a good mix of cultural activities and just fun ones.

The resort has the following dining options:

• Goji Kitchen & Bar: All day dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is where breakfast is served daily. For dinner, they often have a themed buffet but you can also order a-la-carte.
• Fish Bar: Offers lunch and dinner by the adult pool. The menu is focused on seafood.
• Lagoon House and Bar: Offers lunch and dinner and is located by the family pool. Some of the menu items here are similar to Goji’s.
• Lagoon Lounge: This is more or less the lobby bar and is listed as a pub on the Marriott website and offers all day dining.
• Voi Voi Bar: Is located at the back of the property by the lagoon view and lagoon front rooms. It serves lunch and the menu has casual food and a good selection of drinks. We ate here numerous times and enjoyed it a lot!
• In-room Dining: The in-room dining menu has a mix of things found at all restaurants on the property. The delivery fee is also quite reasonable.

Our favorite meals were at Voi Voi and wish that was an option for dinner. The ceviche, onion bhaji, and ribs were awesome. We also found the breakfast buffet to be very good and appreciated the mimosa bar. They seemed to rotate some of the offerings at the breakfast every two days: one day it was a squash veggie curry and the other day it was made with cabbage, etc. We also enjoyed in-room dining and snacks from the Lagoon Lounge. One thing we missed was the “lovo” evening as it was not well advertised and it was sold out by the time we found out about it but would recommend that.

Overall, we found the food to be of good quality and reasonably priced for a resort of this caliber. We also believe that the Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay offers a wide variety of meals for people with different tastes and dietary restrictions considering how everything is mostly shipped in.

The hotel also has a small deli area where you can buy sandwiches and other snacks, as well as beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages to go. If you have a water bottle, the resort has filtered water dispensers readily available in most places by the rooms.

6) Service and Staff 9/10:

Overall, we found the staff to be very friendly and contributed to the resort’s convivial atmosphere; lots of “bula” and lots of smiles! We also found the resort to be well-managed and maintained.

Housekeeping was impeccable and offered daily. The housekeeper left us a towel sculpture and handwritten note each day, which was a nice touch.  Some nights they offered turn down and others they did not though, which was confusing.

The only issue and disappointment we experienced was with our room upgrade as our Suite Night Award was declined and the resort was not proactive in upgrading us from a King Lagoon View room to a Lagoon Front room. Upon our arrival, the hotel was selling both Lagoon View and Lagoon Front rooms but assigned us a Lagoon View room right in front of the family pool. We went back to the front desk and they were very understanding and then assigned us a Lagoon Front room on the 2^nd floor which was much more enjoyable but we had to wait a few more hours for that room to be ready. We are very thankful and appreciative this was even an option.

We arrived very early to the resort: we were the first guests on our flight to arrive!  Our room was not ready on arrival but the resort is well equipped for guests who arrive early; we were offered breakfast and invited to enjoy the resort amenities, which was a nice touch.

7) Overall 9/10:

Overall, we find the Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay to be excellent value for the quality of the accommodation and what the resort offers in terms of amenities. We booked our nights using points before Marriott transitioned to dynamic pricing, which made it one of our best redemptions this year so far! Based on our experience, we would pay the additional point or the cash rate to stay here due to how much we enjoyed our stay.

We also appreciate resorts like the Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay that don’t charge for resort fees and for parking but rather find ways to include those prices in the nightly rate. When comparing the quality of the accommodation and resort atmosphere here to Hawaii, it is much more affordable and offers a better experience.

We enjoyed our stay so much and would be inclined to say this is one of the best resort experiences we ever had, even if we stayed in one of the lowest room categories.

Overall: 91/100

Would weleavetoday to go back? YES, in a heartbeat!