Review of Fiji Airways flight from Melbourne to Nadi in Economy

I had to be in Melbourne on the May 17-18 weekend and be in Orlando the next weekend, and I'd be coming back to Australia after a few weeks in the US. The main options after considering price and convenience and everything were Fiji Airways and Qantas, with Fiji Airways especially being very cheap. I want to visit as many of the Pacific island countries as possible (so far other than Fiji many years ago I've only been to Vanuatu) and Fiji is the main gateway to the South Pacific. Fiji Airways has an extensive regional network with Samoa and Tonga being the cheapest (well, at least Tongatapu, FJ's other destination in Tonga Vava'u is generally more expensive). It look a lot of time working out timings, prices and routings but finally it seemed like the best option would be Fiji Airways on the way there, and since it would be boring doing them on the way back too, Qantas for the return. Then the decision was between Samoa and Tonga and of the two, Samoa seemed to have more to do and better places to stay. And then there was also the question of what specific flights and dates, unfortunatly time was limited so taking the A330 flight from Melbourne on Monday wasn't possible.
So, finally, a multi-city Melbourne-Apia (with a Nadi transit), Apia-Nadi, Nadi-Dallas/Fort Worth which cost around US$650. Pretty reasonable price for the whole routing (just a Australia-US without the Pacific sidetrip was $300-400 depending on the specific flights).
I'd sort of flown Fiji Airways back when they were Air Pacific, but never Fiji Airways itself, so I was excited to try them out for the first time.

The check-in area in Melbourne was a little confusing, there were counters scattered all over the place, not in clear rows or anything, and there wasn't much signage for Fiji Airways. Just this:

A little while later the screen got updated with Fiji Airways information.

It was a bit late by this point and most people had already gone through, so there wasn't any wait at all. The check-in agent was a very friendly Samoan lady who had lots of tips for the trip to Samoa and places to visit.
Strange leaving Australia so soon!

There wasn't much of a line in security, but it seemed like they'd been expecting a lot of people, and so everyone had to walk for a long time through the stanchions. For immigration there was just scanning passports and staring at the camera, not really any interaction with the immigration agents.
International departures tonight, mostly to Asia.

Adelaide is of course a Qatar service continuing to Doha, Cairns is Jetstar continuing to Denpasar, and Sydney seems to have been a one-off MEL-SYD-LAX Qantas flight.
Our plane for this flight tonight, Mamanuca Islands with the registration DQ-FAF, a fairly young 737 MAX 8 of 5.7 years.

Boarding was very fast and done by zone, it was all quite organized, though it was 10 minutes late.

Actually boarding the aircraft was from downstairs.
Air NZ could be seen from the jetbridge.

Bula! The famous Fijian greeting, which was repeated throughout the flight. The OneWorld logo is proudly displayed - Fiji Airways only become a full member of the alliance at the beginning of April.

The line was moving quite slowly, so I took a few more pictures of the plane.

The line continued to move very slowly on the plane itself, there was an unbroken line going all the way to the back of the plane, completely filling the aisles, and it barely moved.
This is  the business cabin.

And economy.

I really like the colors and designs, they're a bit different from most airlines but they look good.
My seat: 

There was a pillow and blanket at every seat. Both were comfortable.

And a screen, of course, along with a USB-A port (mine didn't work the entire flight and I don't think the one at the next seat did either).

There were headphones in the seatback pocket.

Along with a sickness bag, safety card and magazine. 

The headrest cover was actually good quality and had a nice design.

There were personal lights and air vents, although the vents didn't really do much.

Next to us was a Qantas 737-800 which taxied off a few minutes later but apparently didn't fly anywhere, according to flightradar.

Let's have a look at the entertainment selection.

There was more that I didn't photograph. Excellent selection overall (for anyone that read my last few FRs, it was better than Qatar's and Virgin's), plenty for this flight especially. Games and live TV didn't work until after takeoff.
I started watching a movie and tried to skip past the two minutes of ads, but the screen stopped working and froze for a couple of minutes before restarting itself. I got a bit worried that it wouldn't work, but it was fine after that.
Time for takeoff… 

There goes Australia!

Wifi, duty free shopping, games and live TV became available after takeoff. There was a popup notification for games, and an ad for duty free and wifi.

Decent selection of games.

Lighting got changed for dinner.

Service began with water (throughout the flight, Fiji Water was served) and customs forms (to fill out, not to eat).

Special meals were served first, and my tray came with a glass of orange juice.

Main dish: rice and veggies.

And salad and fruit on the side (plus a breadroll).

The meal was excellent, the main course and the salad were both very tasty and the fruit and bread were alright as well. It was a really good meal, good job on the catering, Fiji Airways!

There were two beverage services during and shortly after the meal service. The first time I got water, the second time sprite. 

While clearing the trays, water, tea, and coffee were offered, but I didn't have any then.
The bathroom was clean, but no extra amenities were available there or at all on the flight. The FAs were having a conversation with an older Australian man about his previous experience in Fiji, they were pretty friendly.
Cabin view shorly after the meal trays were taken:

Lights were turned off fully a few minutes afterwards to let people sleep. There was a water service a little while later and I had to get some, Fiji water is some of the best in the world.

I got a couple of hours of rest with the sun rising soon after I woke up.

Lights were turned on and a biosecurity video from the Government of Fiji was played from every screen as we got closer to Nadi, followed by one about the sustainability initiatives of Fiji Airways.

Around the time we began our descent into Nadi, games were blocked again. I'm really not sure why this is the case and I can't remember any other airline doing this. It was a little annoying since I'd been using them!

LiveTV continued to work.
Headsets that weren't being used got collected before landing.
There was a beautiful sunrise - this flight is awful for sleep, but it's perfect to get a glimpse of the sun coming up over the Pacific.

I believe that land was actually the coast of Viti Levu, Fiji's main island and home to the capital, Suva, and the cities of Lautoka and Nadi.

 After the wider metropolitan area of greater Suva and then Lautoka, Nadi is the next largest city in Fiji and is home to the country's main international airport. Suva has a much higher population but the airport serving it is far smaller than Nadi and has mostly domestic flights.
 The hills actually come very close to the coast.

Welcome to Nadi!

Fiji Airways' mainline fleet is assembled on one side…

…and the Fiji Link fleet of ATRs and Twin Otters on the other.

One of those ATRs (I believe it was a 72-600 coming in from Suva).

I would have liked to try out the Fiji Link product. Maybe next time…

We have arrived, but according to the map we've disappeared off the face of the earth.

IFE stopped fully once we came to a stop and was replaced by this message of thanks.

There was no jetbridge, deplaning was by airstairs.

After walking over the tarmac there were stairs up to the arrivals terminal area, it was all open with an incredible view of the apron.
Our beautiful plane:

And one of Fiji Airways' sleek, flagship A350s, this one registered DQ-FAN and named Island of Vatulele. With the platform I could walk right up to it

I had a layover of a bit over 6 hours in Nadi before the connecting flight to Apia-Faleolo. It was in theory enough time to go out, but there was another day layover on the way back and it made more sense to get some sleep. Transit security was a bit slow, there was a long line and passengers going to Tarawa were sent to the front as they had a tight connection. There was live music happening, though!
I'll cover Nadi Airport and the flight to Apia in the next report. So this one ends here and vinaka for reading.