Paradise Taveuni Tipping guidelines

[TostitoBandito]

Worth noting here that Beqa and Volivoli were def AMAZING resorts even though they included info on discretionary tipping in their FAQ. I was personally very happy to share a token of my gratitude with those who have so little and work so hard.

Yeah that's normal and fine. Most resorts in Fiji have something like that in their FAQ to educate people about the culture there and present alternatives to straight cash tips to staff and crew, which are common in many other parts of the world like the Caribbean for example.

That said, I don't think you're going to find any clear guideline. Anything from nothing all the way up to as much as you can afford is acceptable if you want to do it. It's a bit of a different vibe from other parts of the world where there's pressure to tip at whatever the "market rate" per dive or as a percentage of the trip price is. And you will probably get dirty looks if you don't. In Fiji it's totally up to you with zero expectations, which is what gratuities/tips should be IMO.

 

[ACHiPo]

I'll add one more tip. PT's free wifi is the worst and only available in the dining area. Don't bother upgrading for the fee. It doesn't get better. They take credit cards for the incidental charges, but since the wifi is so bad, their card reader often doesn't connect. The staff has to walk around with the card reader held high above the head trying to get a signal. Another reason to have FJD cash.

If I have left over foreign currency when leaving a country, I will use it for tipping or give it away to a local at the airport. When I was leaving Indonesia in March, I had a small amount of IDR left when I got to the airport. I found a young woman and approached her. She didn't speak English, but with hand gestures, she understood I was giving her money. She screamed with joy and gave me a hug. That is more rewarding to me than the obligatory need to tip and trying to figure out what to tip.

Have a great trip!

Perhaps Paradise upgraded their WiFi as it was reliable and pretty fast this week 5/14/25-5/22/25). We paid $35 FJD for a 5-day WiFi pass and felt it was well worth it (our grandson was due 5/12 so we wanted to be reachable—he was born 5/21!)

 

[ACHiPo]

Hey all,

Headed back to Fiji in 2026 and have chosen Paradise Taveuni based on cost, location, the availability to do more than 2 dives a day, AC, nitrox and what I hear is an excellent shore dive with night dives available. Hoping for new mattresses given some of the reviews I've read haha!

Just working the budget, does anyone have recent drink costs for beer and soda? (and what the happy hour discount is)? At Volivoli we would stock up on cans of Fiji Bitter during happy hour when they were 2 for 1. Does this work at PT? I know the resort is down a dirt road and secluded so popping to the local market is not a possibility. We were not able to stop at a store for refreshments on our first trip to Beqa as we were on a bus full of people, but I've read the trip from the airport at Taveuni might be in a smaller shuttle so a grocery stop MIGHT be possible. Any insight?

At Beqa and Volivoli there were separate Xmas funds for hotel staff, restaurant staff, and dive staff and we tipped around $10 a tank for the dive shop, $5 a meal for the restaurant and $5 a day for housekeeping with an extra bit for the hotel staff and grounds crew per diver. Does this strategy hold true for PT or is there a guideline anywhere? Voli and Beqa had that info as part of their FAQ but have not been able to find any info about Paradise.

Thanks all!

Tunaman,
You will like Paradise. It is aptly named! We just got back and were delighted with the experience. There was enough rain runoff when we were there that the house reef was hard to see due to the fresh and salt water mixing. People reported seeing an eagle ray during the day and an octopus on the night dive. I didn’t dive it, but snorkeled and it’s worthwhile. Wanted to do a night dive, but didn’t get the chance.

Local beer was $8-$12 FJD (my favorite Vonu—quite good—was of course $12), cocktails $15-$25 FJD. “Happy hour” was 5:30-6:30 most days, but the modest 10% discount was neither an incentive to time a cocktail or disincentive to not have a beer with lunch after 2-3 amazing dives.

On arrival we were given an information/FAQ sheet. It asked that we contribute to the Christmas fund and not tip the staff individually. We had a long layover in Nadi so wanted to preserve cash, so we added our tip to our bill at checkout and paid with a credit card.

Evan