La Pirogue Review

Overall Rating

Resort was stunning; views were amazing and generally lovely.

Service was second to none, you couldn't move without somebody fussing in fact almost too good!

Food was fantastic.

It was very confusing to decipher what was all inclusive and what wasn't. You had to sign for everything
The pool was not heated

We arrived and our room wasn't ready (after a 12 hour transfer),
We had our bag stolen. The hotel tried brush the incident under the carpet and were very unsympathetic to our loss.

La Pirogue
I imagined Mauritius to be a tropical island with idyllic beaches and scenery.

Although La Pirogue offered the best beach we saw, Mauritius was basically Cyprus in the Indian Ocean.
It was very confusing to decipher what was all inclusive and what wasn't. You soon learn that all inclusive actually means 'half inclusive' and that 'all-inclusive' types are not treated the same.

Also, you had to sign for everything (every drink per room) which meant signing hundreds of bits of paper during the course of your stay.

The pool was not heated which meant it was freezing and empty.

Guess it didn't help that when we arrived our room wasn't ready (after a 12 hour transfer), which meant we had to wait on the beach for 3 hours, during which time we had our bag stolen. The hotel tried brush the incident under the carpet and were very unsympathetic to our loss.

Members' Comments onrudster's Review

• toriaoxford on 23rd May 2005

  Sorry to hear you had a bad experience at La Pirogue. We've been twice now, once on honeymoon and I have to say the service is second to none and they couldn't do enough for you, as you say. Sorry to hear you had a bag stolen - it surprises me that they seemed to sweep it under the carpet. Perhaps they misunderstood the problem?! We have absolutely loved it both times (my husband has now been 4 times!) and had no problems at all. With regards to the pool, surely it doesn't need to be heated in the heat you experience out there! We may be going again this year! With regards to their check-in time, they clearly state on the websites that you cannot check in until 2pm - its just a shame perhaps that the flight arrival time and check in times don't coincide a little better but that's not La Pirogue's fault - most hotels have a check-in time of 2pm!

• toriaoxford on 23rd May 2005

  ... further to last posting with regards to signing bits of paper for everything, they have to do this for stock purposes, nothing more sinister than that and surely it's not that much of a hardship!

• rudster on 24th May 2005

  Hi I guess we were looking for something a little more secluded / idyllic for the amount we spent on the holiday. It didn't help we got off to a bad start and our room wasn't what we had hoped (dark and damp) being a honeymoon couple. As for the arrival, we arrived at 14:30 so there was no excuse for our room not being ready and our bag was stolen during that waiting time. The police were called by the head of security ... so definitely no confusion! I agree, there was no hardship to signing for everything, just seems daft when they had networked electronic tills! Further more, forgot to mention the x-large cockroaches in our shower that kept appearing during the course of our stay. Slippery little tykes! For the money, I was disapointed.

• toriaoxford on 24th May 2005

  Goodness, you DID have a bad time of it! I'm sorry to hear about the damp room and cockroaches! Yuuuuukk! Have to say we were more than happy with our room, service etc... No nasty surprises, i.e. creepy crawlies, apart, that is, from 'Eddy' the lizard! Very friendly little chap and keeps the bugs down! Did you have a superior room or a standard one? The superior rooms are, I'm told, a little bigger than the standard ones and have a lovely view of the beach and are certainly not damp - they are perhaps a little dark but that's the nature of the little cottage! We too were on honeymoon this year in January and absolutely loved it .... for the second consecutive year and we're thinking of going again in Jan 2006! Sounds like you got a rough deal. When did you go/what time of year?
  
  Best regards,
  
  Toria

• rudster on 24th May 2005

  Hi Toria
  
  Sorry, I sound like a right old whinger!
  
  We stayed in a normal room to the left of the restaurant (as you look out to sea). Again I think we were just unlucky!
  
  Glad to hear you had a great time, on another journey maybe our would have been better. As there's no getting away from the fact that the resort was beautiful and the service was amazing!
  
  Given the chance and the english weather I would love to be there now!
  
  Thanks
  
  Jamie

• Maz Cole on 11th Mar 2006

  Hi there! So sorry to hear that you both had what appears to be such an unhappy time at La Pirogue. I certainly do not disbelieve you, but I can only say that you really MUST have been incredibly unlucky! My family and I last went to La Pirogue end May 2004 when our daughter was getting married (in the wedding gazebo/tropical gardens). We had 14 nights in resort and found it absolutely spot-on in all respects. We had a standard room which was super, and never saw one insect of any description in the room. The wedding, which was handled by Virgin, our tour operator, was superb from start to finish. Throughout the whole 2 weeks, we can honestly say that 'nothing was too much trouble for ANYONE'. To have such wonderful surroundings for a wedding, and then to relax for the rest of our holiday was superb. We could not find anything at all to gripe about, and we are very fussy, believe me! My husband and I have recently booked for a second visit. This time we are going end November 2006 and returning in time to do the Christmas shopping! Although we had good weather (around 78-80 degrees midday) and only one slightly rainy day, we felt November/early December would be warmer and less chance of rain. In fact, Astrid/Queensly, our wedding co-ordinators, suggested this time for a return visit as it was the best time weather-wise. I must admit to having just one reservation about this year (2006) - the 'Teens Club'!!! Just hope that L.P. is NOT now over-run with noisy teenagers. Now approaching our mid-50's but definitely not 'old foogies' by any means, we do like this resort because of its beautiful, relaxing and idyllic location and QUIETNESS. Lets hope that the management have not spoilt what we are paying a lot of money for, to revisit! (I will post here when we return 10 December). Again, so sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with certain things. Unfortunately, just the luck of the draw in tropical countries though. Better luck next time you visit! Regards, Cole family, Norfolk.