Cruise Ship Destination: Suva, Fiji.

Day 6 we arrived on the other side of the island at Suva. Suva is the capital of Fiji, and is known as a very green area due to the high rainfall. We docked at wharves in the centre of town, and again didn't book any tours.
There were a lot of locals selling tours and merchandise and hair braiding and henna body painting. It was interesting to watch the 'free shuttles' literally take tourists less than 2 minutes walk around the corner to a department store. All the tour buses also ended at the same store, so there must have been a kick-back.

The Voyager of the Seas offered 7 tours, ranging from $60US to $190US. Again, we have previously been on tours and decided to have a walk around the historic area of Suva. Once one has left the ship, one is bombarded with locals selling tours. We had watched them from our cabin. On port days, we rarely rush off the ship. We let the crowds go first and then we can leisurely walk off in our own time.

Like other passengers we were offered a 3 hour tour of the historic areas, Raintree Lodge, waterfall, local Village tour and entertainment, and a city shopping mall. Well.... my sister talked the seller – Kaiviti Tours - down from $40AUS each to $25AUS. We knew the ship was leaving at 5pm, and it was barely midday, so we knew we had time for a 3 hour tour. We waited over 25 minutes for the bus, and were told it was held up in traffic – I'm not sure this was true, as there was not much traffic around. An eight seater car arrived and 5 of us got in. The windows were tinted, but still ok for taking photos. First stop was the petrol station for fuel – strange, and then we had to wait for another petrol station customer to put air in their tyres so our driver could put air in ours. Really think this all should have been done BEFORE the tour started. This whole process took 15 minutes.... so we finally started the tour! We drove past a few old buildings very quickly, so barely had time to take a photo let alone take on board what was being said.

Next was old Parliament House, where the Fijian uprising took place with George Spatt. It is now abandoned, as we were told by our tour guide Big Joe, that no one knows what to do with the buildings. We went past a lovely park that would have been good to have spent some time walking around there, but we were on our way to the Raintree Lodge. As we drove up into the mountains, past some interesting and colourful suburbs, we drove though some villages, and this was when Big Joe said we would NOT be doing a local village tour and entertainment because it was Sunday. Fair enough, but Kaiviti Tours should have been honest enough to tell us this BEFORE we paid for the tour.
The second stop, after the petrol station, was Raintree Lodge. This is obviously a tourist destination where the tour guides get a kick-back. We were at a loss for what to do there. There is a cafe, on a small man -made lake. We are from a cruise ship – a food freighter – with so much food and drink, we really didn't need or want a cup of coffee and a snack.
We wandered around and tried to fill in time. Really wasn't a tourist site, unless one wanted to stay in one of the lodges - and even then it was not really a resort.
We were told not to say cheese, but to say bula -hence the 'sour' faces!

It started to rain and Big Joe said the waterfall wouldn't be good in the rain. This was the first of many excuses:- ...it will be very busy with other tour buses; ...there are many stairs up and down; ...it will be an extra $5 each to enter the park (should have been told that BEFORE we paid for the tour); …we will get in the mud with the rain and you will not make it back to the ship; ...the park will close if it rains too much; and the best of all...”this is a hire car and I don't want to damage it”. So no village tour and entertainment, and no waterfall.

Next stop was a lookout, where we were able to get out and take photos – guess by now Big Joe realised that the tour was a really quick tour, not three hours as we paid for.
As brother in law is a fire-fighter, we asked if we could visit a fire station. Big Joe said sure, there is only one in Suva and we can go there. We headed back down from the hills and into an industrial area to the fire station. Brother in law had a chat with the Suva fire-fighters, and it turns out there are three fire stations in Suva. Wonder what else Big Joe made up!!

Anyway, we were taken back to the department store where all the other shuttle buses were, and from there we walked back to the ship. The whole three hour tour had taken 90mins, and that was including the 15 minute petrol station detour, and the 15 minute fire station stop.

At the end of the day, we did get to see a little more of Suva than simply walking around, and it may have been worth $25, but honesty by the tour guide would have lead to a better review. Promising all the extras when they had no intention of providing them was dishonest. The cruise ships always say how their tours are guaranteed, and they are, but they are also so expensive. I would not recommend Kaitivi Tours in Fiji.
Next time we would simply go for a walk around the port as it is in the centre of town.