Greensteam Posted January 16, 2014 #26 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Re Suva..beware ! I recollect on my last visit to Suva in 2007 on Regal Princess. On leaving the port gate we were approached by a smart looking bloke wearing a brown suit with some sort of govt ID displayed. He bailed us up and said he was from the tourist bureau and was going to 'look after us.' Well he pestered us, wanted to take us to a good jewellery shop, a good mens suit shop..'Get your suit made in two hours sir.' I got sick of this pest and said to him. 'Can you take me to Police HQ, I am one of those in Australia, I would like a tour of the police station.' Well he just looked horrified and did the bolt. So beware of SCAMMERS like this. A fraud he was of course. During the day I did go to the police station at Suva Police HQ for a look around and was told by one of the officers there are plenty of scammers around the port waiting for cruise pax and purporting to be officials, like the one I encountered, just after their commissions at the various businesses. We had a similar experience in Suva recently during our Pacific Jewel stopover. My wife and I were out walking the town doing some window shopping when we were approached by a rather large Fijian, well dressed, saying he was from the Tourist Bureau and he was displaying a photo ID card on a lanyard. He offered to take us to a local market for buying trinkets, wood art etc, to support the local village industries and not the larger Indian based stores. My wife agreed and I can't believe I actually fell for it. It wasn't until we got to the stalls that I woke up to what I'd let us get into. We were led into a small stall amongst some markets with the Fijian guy blocking our exit. That's when the high pressure sales pitch started forcing wares that I wasn't interested in under our noses. Every time I tried to get us out, my exit was blocked. In the end, I bought a wooden crab that I threw away, and was forced to give the Fijian $10 for what he said was "a beer for him since he'd saved us money". We left very disgruntled and headed straight back to the ship. It seems we weren't the only ones getting the rough end of the Fijian pineapple that day as there were many complaints from passengers to the ship. Our Tour Director told us at our next port briefing that the ship had written off an email to head office to raise their concerns with the Fijian tourism people about what incidents had happened. There were two rumours getting around where one girl was accosted in McDonalds and robbed of her meal, and another group were led into a side street by a "tourist representative" and robbed. I've been to Suva a few times in the past and never had problems, albiet many years ago during the 70's. I've never had problems like this but thought it better just to go with the flow instead of causing an incident which may put my wife off travelling overseas forever. My advice ..... by all means go ashore, stick to the main streets and stores and treat everyone with suspicion. Never get led off the main streets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeah-its-us Posted January 17, 2014 #27 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Re Suva..beware ! I recollect on my last visit to Suva in 2007 on Regal Princess. On leaving the port gate we were approached by a smart looking bloke wearing a brown suit with some sort of govt ID displayed. He bailed us up and said he was from the tourist bureau and was going to 'look after us.' Well he pestered us, wanted to take us to a good jewellery shop, a good mens suit shop..'Get your suit made in two hours sir.' I got sick of this pest and said to him. 'Can you take me to Police HQ, I am one of those in Australia, I would like a tour of the police station.' Well he just looked horrified and did the bolt. So beware of SCAMMERS like this. A fraud he was of course. During the day I did go to the police station at Suva Police HQ for a look around and was told by one of the officers there are plenty of scammers around the port waiting for cruise pax and purporting to be officials, like the one I encountered, just after their commissions at the various businesses. We had a similar experience except in our case it was an older gentleman who was going to show us the best places to buy, personally I get rather wary of these sorts of people, after the 3rd shop, we did the bolt.....it's a shame they couldn't relocate those hanging power lines...looks really daggy, would make a difference to the place....otherwise it's a nice enough place to take your time and wander at your leisure.....be careful with the wooden souvenirs at the markets though... I 'm not sure if they all use treated timber.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz_Steve Posted January 18, 2014 #28 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Voyager of the Seas was in port today, didn't see many passengers around town but the traffic was horrendous from all the extra taxis trying to get into town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widebay Posted January 19, 2014 #29 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Suva, is a good shopping precinct, if you know where to go. Lots of new modern shopping centres. Dear Wife & I have been there 3 times now, on various cruise ships. We like the National Museum, in the gardens (the timber from the Bounty is on show there, even, the shoe of the last white man to be eaten by the natives, years ago. The Grand Pacific Hotel, is still in its finishing stages, it should be a wonderful place to call into for a meal or drink. It dates back to Queen Elizabeth 2nd day when she visited it many, many years ago. On each visit to Suva, my wife & I have visited the clothing stores, and bought some great clothing, for our next cruise somewhere in this big planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esilef Posted January 19, 2014 #30 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Can you walk back to the ship from where the shops are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz_Steve Posted January 19, 2014 #31 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Yes. I would recommend looking at the Bula Shirts they are quite cheap and good quality if you look around a bit. A tip to try is when they ask if you are off the ship say 'No, I live here'. When they ask where say 'Up Tamavua, Mead road near the super fresh'. That will sound credible as many expats live in that area and it may get you the local price rather than the tourist price. Most shops are set prices but markets are a little different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbit1971 Posted January 19, 2014 #32 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Hi, My family were there in october last year, we had pre booked a tour with great sights Fiji ( also booked them at port denaru) and found them to be excellent, i noticed that they also had representatives hawking their tours at the warf, so you could book as you get off the ship. For your query eiselef, the larger ships dock at the container port and it would be quite a hike into the town and not sure how safe it would be. We visited the local market with our fijian guide which was a great help and my daughter and mother in law tried some kava and we ate some local fruit ( the pineapple is the best i have ever tried), we went to the museum, drove past the white house and the parliament, but if you can book a tour to take you out of the city i would do it. We never felt threatened or unsafe at any time, but we did have our own driver and guide with us. Hope this helps Cheers maree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Kruzer Posted January 20, 2014 #33 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Suva, is a good shopping precinct, if you know where to go. Lots of new modern shopping centres. Dear Wife & I have been there 3 times now, on various cruise ships. We like the National Museum, in the gardens (the timber from the Bounty is on show there, even, the shoe of the last white man to be eaten by the natives, years ago. The Grand Pacific Hotel, is still in its finishing stages, it should be a wonderful place to call into for a meal or drink. It dates back to Queen Elizabeth 2nd day when she visited it many, many years ago. On each visit to Suva, my wife & I have visited the clothing stores, and bought some great clothing, for our next cruise somewhere in this big planet. The Grand Hotel should become a tourist attraction in itself. I am looking forward to seeing the completed renovation and restoration work. When we visited Suva in 1984 on Canberra , we followed the crew to the Hotel and had a swim in the pool. Even then it was showing its age and starting to look a bit run down but you could see very easily what a grand and elegant hotel it must have been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OzKiwiJJ Posted January 20, 2014 #34 Share Posted January 20, 2014 It's due to re-open sometime in the next few months, in time for its 100th birthday. I'm looking forward to seeing it in December :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz_Steve Posted January 22, 2014 #35 Share Posted January 22, 2014 The Voyager of the Sea was docked at the Kings Wharf in town the other day. It is a very short walk into town from there. The container wharf would be a bit of a hike, a taxi would cost 3-4 FJD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz_Steve Posted January 22, 2014 #36 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Carnival Spirit is at the wharf today. I don't think they are using the container terminal for cruise ships anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz_Steve Posted January 23, 2014 #37 Share Posted January 23, 2014 The spirit left the wharf over an hour ago but it is sitting just off shore, it has been there for about 45 minutes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi_cruiser Posted January 23, 2014 #38 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Oz_Steve I wish I know you where from Suva, as I would have picked you mind for ideas on what to do there :D :) If you see the Sun Princess, give it a wave :D , as I will be on here :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taninaus Posted January 24, 2014 #39 Share Posted January 24, 2014 if you are wanting to get some spa treatment/massage while in Suva, Pure Fiji have a spa in the business district. we went there on a tour last visit and this visit we will go and have a treatment as we did the villages last time. this is much better pricing than the spa on the ship and we will go to the shops after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz27 Posted January 24, 2014 #40 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Hi has anyone been to Uprising Beach Resort or The Pearl Pacific Beach Resorts, near Pacific Harbour out of Suva, if so would recommend spending some time there instead of staying in Suva? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz_Steve Posted January 25, 2014 #41 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Oz_Steve I wish I know you where from Suva, as I would have picked you mind for ideas on what to do there :D :) If you see the Sun Princess, give it a wave :D , as I will be on here :cool: When are you here? Bring your golf clubs, I am always looking for golf partners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz_Steve Posted January 27, 2014 #42 Share Posted January 27, 2014 When are you here? Bring your golf clubs, I am always looking for golf partners I think it is the Sea Princess in the port today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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