A Cruise Specialist and International Travel Consultant from New Zealand recently enjoyed an eight -night holiday in Fiji, as one of the monthly winners of the South Pacific Specialist Competition. Kristal Jenkins works for Cruiseabout New Plymouth and was entered into the draw for the competition in September last year, following her completion of the South Pacific Specialist online training, offered by the South Pacific Tourism Organisation.
The eight-night Fiji Dive package offered to the winner is targeted specifically at travel specialists who sell Dive travel packages of those with dive certifications themselves. The winning package is offered in partnership with Suncoast Fiji, the regional destination organisation for the Suncoast region, focused on promoting travel in the northwest of Fiji’s main island Viti Levu and includes four nights’ accommodation at Wananavu Beach Resort and four nights’ accommodation at Volivoli Beach Resort with full buffet breakfast and underwater dive expedition.
On returning to New Zealand after their holiday, Kristal shared the following testimonial of what she has described as an “absolutely fantastic’ holiday.
“On arrival we were greeted by Dennis from Tour Managers for our transfer to VoliVoli Beach Resort in Rakiraki. This is approximately 2 and a half hours north of Nadi and while it may seem like a long journey it is very well worth the travel. This spot is the real Fiji.
Once arriving at Volivoli we were welcomed by Geraldine at the front desk. She is one of a kind! And so very helpful –We were shown to our room which was an ocean view bure that was the most spacious bure I have ever stayed in. After the devastation of cyclone Winston these bures were torn in two, so the reconstructions of these were top quality.
The next day we set out for our first set of diving for the week. We did 2 dives a day which was the perfect amount. We left around 8am in the morning and returned around 1.30pm every day.
The diving here is really underrated! It is the most amazing diving we have done and to only travel 30 mins by boat was perfect. We dived at Black Magic, Mellow yellow, Instant replay (drift dive), the amazing maze and a few others. The name of the dive spots speak for themselves! The most amazing vibrant colored coral, all different kinds of marine life and we even got to see a few sharks and turtles J .
After 4 nights at VoliVoli we set off 20 minutes just down the road to Wananavu resort. However if you are after something a little special I would recommend upgrading to the honeymoon bure with your own private plunge pool.
We did one dive here – Amazing maze. Was approx. 20 minutes by boat and had fantastic swim through caves. This was a shallow dive (approximately 18m) so we ended up taking our time here.
Fiji would be by far my favorite island destination. We are very active and busy people when travelling but we also enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet and you can most definitely find this anywhere in Fiji. The people are lovely! And so very warm and welcoming. Food is fantastic and culture is incredible.
If you are going on a diving holiday make sure you chose the best season to go in. September was perfect! Even if you do need to pay a little extra for peak season it is worth every cent. Especially if you plan to have fantastic days of clear diving.”
Kristen highly recommends Volivoli Beach resort and suggests a premier ocean view bure, which has a very large room, own cooking facilities with a great restaurant if one does not feel like cooking; and a professional diving shop.
For those visiting Wananavu Beach resort, Kristen recommends the honeymoon suite, with its own private plunge pool and large room with a reminder to pre book diving.
SPTO acknowledges the support of the following partners who donated prizes for the incentive program, Suncoast Fiji, Wananavu Beach Resort, Dive Wananavu- the real Fiji, RA Divers Fiji, Volivoli Beach Resort, and Tours Managers Fiji.
The South Pacific Specialist Program was introduced by SPTO in 2012 as an online training course with accreditation. It offers travel agents the essential information to understand the various tourism products and services that are available throughout the South Pacific and also assist them to create the kinds of experiences their customer wants. As a direct result of the program, there are now 525 certified South Pacific Specialist agents across the globe mainly from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, United Kingdom, China, India and United States
(Source: South Pacific Tourism Organisation [SPTO] 06 October 2017)
