We loved all the positives that other people have said so rather than repeat, I will try to cover some other things:
PROS
- its truly waterfront and 1/2 of the fale are beachfront; no roads to cross to the water; choice of swimming in the shallower beach, the deeper rock area or the pool - fabulous
- some of the fales are really close to the pool - this would be great for families who wanted to put down very small children to sleep and then have dinner on the deck. you would literally be within viewing distance and only about 20 metres away
- fale are very spacious
-having driven all around Savaii, and talked with other guests who have stayed elsewhere, this place is the best beach location on the island
-having Dive Savaii running their operation from that beach makes it easy to join in
- the aircon in the fale were super efficient. We hardly needed it but wow, it would be great in the height of summer
- extremely quiet in the evenings after about 7:30pm (this could be a con if you want something more happening)
- i didn't hear any roosters crowing at all (although our fale was away from the road/village) but it's something about the islands that drives me a bit nuts when the roosters crow all day and most of the night(!)
- free use of kayaks and paddleboards
-super clear, warm water - possibly the clearest I have seen in the islands
- the option to walk 100 metres and have a drink/lunch/dinner at Savaii Lagoon Resort
CONS
- Hard to get the information we needed out of staff eg we only found out after 5 days that there were taxis we could order to do visit another resort for lunch or dinner. There is a dearth of written information about the resort, the area, what facilities there are, no guidance about being careful out on the coral, is there a tsunami evacuation plan etc. How about a hand drawn map of Manase, the resorts, the ice cream shop,
- it takes a bit of effort to get to over to Savaii and the resort but it IS worth it
- Food - generally adequate but basic; a couple of dishes were lovely; most were average - i think they could do a bit better without much more effort; they don't know how to cook red meat and the pork belly I had was expensive and super chewy (almost inedible); stick to fish and chicken; often food would come out lukewarm; you have to ask for toast in the morning (make sure you do because their bread toasted is fantastic). Despite the menu promising lime tart, sticky date pudding etc, the only desserts on offer for a whole week were chocolate cake, fruit salad and banana fritter. Also, 1/2 of the standard-type drinks on the dinner menu were not available even once in 7 days eg no diet drinks. I don't mind a lack of variety but I DO mind menus being on their website that make the offerings look much better than they were in reality. So overall, a mixed bag for food. (We would have eaten more often at Stevensons had we known we could order a taxi to do down there before day 5 of our stay!)
OTHER THOUGHTS
- while there is a hospital (at least one?) on the island, it is a 45 minute drive; there also is no pharmacy anywhere so bring all the supplies you think you might personally need for your own medical comfort ; the resort may have a first aid kit but it wasn't mentioned as being available at all
- i have seen other reviews talk about staff being rude; I think it helps to understand a bit of Samoan culture before you go so you don't misinterpret who they are and how they are. Their culture is different and they are in the infancy of tourism, english is their second language and things easily get lost in translation - make an effort to understand all this and follow up stuff if you are not sure; try to see the funny side!
- it puzzled me why there were nice areas to lounge around (eg the circular loungers) but hardly any shade. As a result, no-one used the circular loungers except for the one that was under a sun umbrella for part of a day. They also installed a new hammock in the full glare of the sun - no-one used it because there was no shade and it's just too hot, even in Samoan winter, and we are trying avoid skin cancer after all! Also, please put out topper pads on the sun loungers on the beach. Out of six chairs, only two had topper pads so that's all that got used. They could also do with a couple more thatched shades on the beach as well.
- our data roaming from NZ for internet worked fine for 3 days then, inexplicably, ceased. We rang Vodafone NZ. They laughed and said that was typical Samoa. It didn't matter as we had taken the advice of the resort of getting the Blue Sky SIM card at the airport so had a Plan B for getting some data for emergency emails. The booth to purchase is on the exterior of the airport building and watch the hard upsell from the sales attendant (!)
- i think the place would benefit hugely from a suggestion box that guests could pop ideas into as they think of them; it's often the small things that make a difference, and there are lots of "small things" that would improve the guest experience; once you get home to write a review like this, you often forget the small things such as there being no place to put soap and shampoo in the shower area
- our room safe never worked despite a change in batteries - the terminals were coroded. it annoyed me that there was a sign instructing us to use the safe and that they took no liability for personal belongings... but the safe was not useable and hadn't been for a long time imo!
- it was worth hiring a car ourselves for one day and ensuring we got to swim at the Afu waterfall and see the blowholes. Be warned, signage to these attractions is limited and non-standardised so you have to really keep an eye out as you are driving.
- if you require definite 4 star, stay at a chain resort elsewhere.
-if you love unwinding and then unwinding some more, and doing nothing much other than reading four books in a week and watching sunsets as time stands still, this is your place.
Overall, we enjoyed ourselves immensely.
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