August 6, 2013 – Savusavu, Fiji
(Please note that the following represents only our opinions – please don’t have us wacked Mr. Cousteau!)
After a four mile walk, we were finally at the much-anticipated Cousteau resort. We were just planning to have coffee and get a look at this retreat with the wonderful reputation. Surprise!
Upon our arrival, we were greeted at the main gate – well, not so much greeted as interrogated – by the bouncer (at least he looked like the bouncer). He wanted to hear each of us articulate our name and the exact intention behind our proposed visit. I guess we passed muster as he commanded us to walk to the second driveway where we would be “greeted” by the next representative.
She said a brief hello and handed us a sheet of paper. “Familiarize yourselves with the rules.”
“Ah, OK?”
“Follow me – I understand you want a coffee drink?!”
“Yes please?”
We were told where to sit, how to order and instructed not to roam the grounds unattended. We sat, read the rules, ordered coffee and kept our mouths shut.
Most of the rules were almost reasonable but some were not. We were particularly taken aback by one rule stipulating that families will be accommodated in the area reserved for “Families,” away from the “Serenity Area” which included the main pool, bar and dining area (aka all the nice areas of the resort), and that children are required to remain seated. While I’m not a big fan of kids running around restaurants unsupervised, I do feel sorry for any poor kids who are sequestered here and can’t run down the beach or play on the grass or around the pool.
When the coffee came, the server looked nervous. We think that he once spilled a drop and was severely beaten. In fact, all of the visible staff looked nervous – like victims of frequent scoldings. It was a striking contrast to the usual Fijian manner: easygoing with a big smile. Even the guests, the few who were around the pool, none swimming – only quietly reading, looked nervous. One came into the bar to ask if he might please have a beer out by the pool. His request was evaluated and granted. He quietly walked back to the pool, probably wondering if he should have waited for it of if someone might bring it out to him.
The buildings we saw were pretty and the grounds were nice yet there seems to be something so wrong with the place. There were no children playing, no people talking or laughing – in fact no one there seemed to be moving at all. Employees dressed in their ghastly bright blue and red polyester uniforms were stationed around the grounds and kept watch like armed guards at a prison camp. We didn’t discuss our feelings about the place with each other while on the inside but once released, we both said the same thing… “that was creepy!”
To our great surprise, on the four-mile walk back to our boat, we received two phone calls from the resort. (We’d inquired at the dive shop about going out on a dive with them and left our phone number there. The hotel guards, ah, I mean staff, must have acquired our phone number from the dive shop.) The first call was something to the effect of “Hey brother, I’m calling from the Cousteau resort. What kind of coffees did you order?” He seemed satisfied with my “two cappuccinos” answer, thanked me, and hung up. The second call just five minutes later went something like “Hey brother, how did you settle your bill – cash or credit card?” I told him I’d paid cash. We walked a little quicker as we were now a little more afraid.
I can understand that their first responsibility is to those staying at the resort and that they can’t have us “boat people” taking over the bar but I think they may be going a bit overboard. We have been graciously welcomed at so many wonderful, high-end resorts during this trip. Sometimes we’re told that the facilities are for guests only, but it’s always been done with class and a smile. I would say if you’re here in Savusavu, don’t waste the cab fare or the calories for a visit to Cousteau – even the 70 cent bus fare is too high a price to visit this resort – in our opinions.
To sum it up with two popular media references: Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi must be involved with the management of this resort, which exemplifies LA Story’s “new cruelty.” -Rich
Cyndi’s Addition to the Jean Michael Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort Post (July 2015):
There’s even more to this scary story. It started when we were escorted to the resort’s dive shop to enquire about the week’s dives. If there’s room on their boat, they will take non-guests on their dive trips to Namena Island. We met a stern woman who told us there was a dive the next day. She told us to give her our phone number and she’d call us later to let us know if we could go. We complied with her order, but we told her we’d like to know more about the dive before we signed up.
An American man came to talk to us and was very condescending. By now we weren’t liking these people at all; so Rich backed out by telling them, with the iffy looking weather tomorrow, and the full boat, we had decided not to go. The woman did not seem to hear this, and she kept saying she’d call to let us know. Rich finally had to tell her definitively: “We do not want to go on the dive tomorrow; you do not need to call!”
We both left with the gut feeling we’d get a call anyway. Sure enough, she called later in the day to tell us that we were on the dive tomorrow, forcing Rich once again to tell her no, we’re not going! We were so glad Rich had “broken the rules” and paid with cash for our coffees. We suspect we would have found a cancellation fee for the dive charged to our card if we’d used it to pay for those coffees.
Overall, I’d say there is something very wrong with this place. It’s dark, oppressive, and it has a bad energy. If a new group ever takes over, they’ll need to do some serious redecorating and perhaps hire some sort of energy “exorcist.” I don’t know that the place is haunted, but something feels very wrong there.
One more note: Some friends of ours read our blog, decided that it couldn’t be all that bad, and they’d go see for themselves and maybe prove us wrong. I talked to the wife after they went, and she seemed shaken. She exclaimed, “We were treated like criminals!” This was around September 2014. It would be nice to hear someday that they’ve overhauled the place and gotten new management, but I suspect things will remain the same. -Cyndi
