And just like that, all things “wedding” related is OVER! We had the best day of our life on June 8th, and I wish I could relive that day all over again. We were surrounded by family and friends, and the day went absolutely perfectly. When our wedding photos come back, I plan on doing a blog specifically on our wedding including all the vendors, details and of course photos. For now, I’m talking about our HONEYMOON! In case you haven’t been following along on Instagram (follow here) we went to Fiji and stayed at the Fiji Marriot Resort Momi Bay. We went for the week and had an absolute blast! This blog post will be covering my Fiji outfit guide, questions regarding the resort/honeymoon, and everything else you need to know. Let’s get started!
WHERE WE STAYED
I knew from the beginning, and by beginning I mean when I started planning by wedding at age 10, that I wanted to honeymoon in an over water bungalow. It was a must—without a question, without a doubt, that it is what I was going to do no matter what. When the topic of honeymoon destinations came up, I told Tim about my life long dream and he easily agreed. I mean…would you need persuading to stay in an over water bungalow in a dreamy destination? Probably not! We started looking and weren’t sure where we wanted to go, since several locations have these types of places. Tim’s mom ended up sending us a link to Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay and I fell in love within seconds. Without even browsing through photos or doing any research, just by looking at the main page, I told Tim “this is it!”. Our honeymoon was booked that day and we were all set.
If you did see all my photos and stories while we were, I’m sure you know how beautiful it is! But just in case you didn’t see or you forgot, don’t worry, I got you covered. 😉 Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay is located in Nadi, Fiji about 45 minutes away from the main airport. This resort sits right along the water, giving you views of the South Pacific Ocean and a private beach that flows into the resort giving you the over water bungalows and a few private beach areas. The property itself is huge, and of course absolutely stunning. This hotel just opened in 2017 after 10 years of construction, and is one of the top resorts in Fiji. Known for a great honeymoon location, but also very much a family resort. Serving mostly Australian families, this is like their Hawaii since it is only a 5 hour flight. They have an adorable and entertaining kids pool—so much that I told Tim it is my goal to come back and bring our future babies! Overall, this hotel checks off everything you will ever need for your honeymoon (or family vacay!) and we are SO happy with how our experience was. A lot of you DM’d me with questions about our honeymoon and the hotel while we were there, so I wanted to make sure I answered all of them. Here they are— I hope this helps! If you have more or questions in the future, don’t be afraid to comment or message me. I’d be more than happy to answer!
HONEYMOON QUESTIONS
What is the weather like?
The answer to this question really does change depending on what time of the year you are going. While we were in Fiji during late June (June 16-23), the weather was perfect. It was in the high 80s, but there was also a bit of humidity. The humidity was barely any so it was totally doable, and the sunshine made for beautiful skies and perfect pool days. Before you leave, I would do research and simply google, “what is the weather like in Fiji during ___”. You most likely get an on point answer that way, since I can only answer what the weather was like during June. But do note—the seasons in Fiji are opposite.
Is Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay all inclusive? How was the food situation?
No, it is not. I got this question quite a few times actually! I think I got this question a lot because if you saw my stories, Tim and I did not leave the resort at all. We stayed at Momi Bay the whole time and ate a bunch of different places, so I think that made it look like/gave the idea that it was an all inclusive. With that being said, Fiji Momi Bay Resort has 3 restaurants that you can eat at. Lagoon House & Bar, Fish Bar, and Gogi Kitchen & Bar. Those are the only places they have as far as restaurants go, and that’s where we ate the entire time! We started each day with a buffet breakfast at Goji Kitchen that was delicious. Their french toast is the best I’ve ever had! The Fish Bar has a swim up bar that connects to one of their pools, so you could find me ordering mudslides almost everyday there ha! We also grabbed lunch inside and were able to order and eat on our lounge chairs. Highly recommend getting the french fries & onion rings— the dipping sauce made them spectacular! For dinner we switched off between the three restaurants, but mostly ate at Lagoon House and Fish Bar. Goji had jaw dropping views but it was kind of trek from our room, and it was only plated. We had dinner their on our fancy night (not the restaurant, just the night Tim and I dressed up) and it was nothing short of dreamy. Over looking the infinity pool and watching the sun set…something I will always remember! Overall, the food was pretty delicious, and please keep in mind I am a picky eater. I did eat a lot of snacks like french fries and onions, and side dishes, as a lot of the entrees weren’t my jam. I’d say dinner was maybe the “hardest” for me in the sense but that’s because I’m picky, like I said. On the resort as well they had WHSmith which was a store where you could grab things like snacks and water bottles. It was basically a one stop shop for anything you could need from medicine to pool toys. We didn’t find the need to leave the resort to get anything!
Did you feel safe the entire time?
Absolutely yes. If anything, I am overly cautious because I have heard so many horror stories. You know, the ones where couples go missing on their honeymoon? Those ones. So, whenever we travel (within the US or outside) I am overly cautious and sometimes paranoid. Before we go to our resort, we did stay at an airport apartment hotel because we landed at 5 AM and our room definitely wasn’t ready yet. Not to mention the 12 hour plane ride that we didn’t get much sleep on! During our couple hours here, I did feel a little iffy. We were on our own, and walked to lunch into town, and I did feel paranoid. BUT, looking back now it definitely wasn’t the town or the people that made me feel that way. It was the fact that I was trusting Tim to navigate us through a place we’ve never been before which makes me instantly anxious. Lol, if you couldn’t tell by that, he’s gotten us lost in places we’ve never been before which makes me scared. Little bit of a rough patch for us 😉
Were any excisions offered? Did you leave the hotel?
A ton of excursions were offered at the tour desk, but we did not do any of them and we did not leave the hotel. A little back story as to why. When we booked this trip, we did not realize what big of a time difference it was. From California, Fiji is 19 hours ahead which makes Fiji a day ahead. When our trip was booked, we thought we had 7 days and 6 nights. It wasn’t until it got close that we realized we have 6 days and 5 nights, due to the time difference. If you are thinking about booking a trip here, PLEASE look into the time before you book, because if we did we would’ve stayed much longer. Anyways, with that back story, since we didn’t have as much time on the resort as we thought so we decided to not do any. The hotel is jaw drop gorgeous you guys, and I do not regret not doing any excursions whatsoever! We were able to really take it all in, experience everything it had to offer, try the different restaurants and go to the different pools, and also do activities the hotel offered. When we left on Sunday after arriving early Tuesday AM, I felt like we had finally experienced everything there. Had we stayed longer, that is when I would have felt comfortable to book excursions/activities outside of the resort because that is the point that I felt like we really did everything. I can’t offer any advice on the ones that they offer since we didn’t do any, but I can say if you are only staying for the same length of time we are, I wouldn’t bother booking any. You will find plenty to do and enjoy right where you are.
What was the budget for your trip? How much did it cost?
This is always the popular question. We got this question about our wedding, and I think it is because people are truly curious and want to know how realistic these things are. Let me start off by saying everyone is different. Everyone’s budget is different, and everyones weddings are different. Some people fully pay for their own weddings by themselves, and completely fund their honeymoons. Then there are some whose families pitch in for honeymoons and host weddings, and we were fortunate enough to be these people. In 2019, it is pretty rare nowadays (or so I feel) for parents to pay for their childrens weddings and honeymoons, so Tim and I are truly blessed and insanely lucky— and trust me when I say we don’t take that for granted. Our honeymoon and our wedding was a dream true thanks to both of our parents, and I will never forget that!
Onto the “is it affordable” part of the question. This truly depends on what you are planning on doing, and what type of room you are staying in. Are you staying in the over water bungalow the whole time? Are you getting a bungalow on the beach? Ocean view or lagoon view? How about the regular hotel room? These are all questions that you need to answer, based on your budget. I do think this resort though is great for people on a budget, because there are options for each budget. All the above rooms I mentioned are different price points, and this also goes with how long you are planning on staying, and if you are going during on season or off season. We met a couple who was staying for two weeks, but they got a regular room and only the most expensive one (overwater bungalow) for 2 nights. This is also an option if you want to experience both!
Even though I’m not going to shout from the rooftops how much our honeymoon costs, I will say this: we booked through a third party and got a huge discount. It’s called Cheap Tickets. I had never booked with them before, but it got us our room (the most expensive one!), flights, a driver to and from the airport when we were arriving and leaving, for a NICE deal. If we would’ve booked through the resorts website, our stay at the resort would’ve cost what we paid for for everything, and probably more. My advice is to definitely book through a third party. This made our honeymoon a little over $5,000, instead of paying $10,000 booking each thing separately.
You mentioned on stories that a lot of families were staying at the resort. Did you feel the kids around the hotel ruined your honeymoon or was it not really noticeable?
I’m a hard person to ask because I’m a nanny. I work with kids, babies and toddlers more specifically, for a living. So, unless the child is a flat out you know what, then I’m not bothered by them. If I was someone who didn’t like children, I probably most definitely would’ve been annoyed by the amount of families that were staying. It wasn’t like kids were screaming constantly, or the whole place was out of control, but… I definitely got splashed at the swim up bar every now and then, and multiple strollers and high chairs were everywhere we ate. Me though? I just got (even bigger) baby fever from all of this. So yes, it was noticeable, but not annoying, and I’m a kid person. I’d say the majority ranged from babies to tiny toddlers which were all so adorable and not whiny or cry babies. The “big kids” were present, but under control acting like normal kids.
I got a lot of repeat questions, so in total these are all the questions I received. If I didn’t get to your question, or you’re reading this in the future, do not hesitate to shoot me an email or message me, I’d be more than happy to help.
FIJI LOOKBOOK
That about wraps up Fiji! I’m still blown away that its over and now we are married. It is my new life goal to go back to Fiji and next time, bring our babies with us. I mean, did you see the kids pool?! If you are thinking about honeymooning to Fiji, if you couldn’t tell, I HIGHLY recommend it. After going for a week, I am so pleased with our experience at Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay, and I wouldn’t stay anywhere else. As much as I love to explore, the resort had everything I needed and more that I don’t need to go anywhere else! The entire week was a dream come true, from staying at the most beautiful place, to getting an uninterrupted week in paradise with my new husband. I hope this blog post helps give you insight on the hotel and maybe some inspiration for your future honeymoon! Do not hesitate to reach out if I missed anything.
XO,
Danielle Alana