Cloud 9 or Seventh Heaven: Two Floating Bars, and the Bill Is Not the Ticket

There are two floating bars anchored off the Mamanuca Islands, both reached by boat from Port Denarau, both sold as a day out. They are not the same product, and the difference that matters most is not the one in the photographs.

Neither ticket includes food or drink. On both platforms, that is a separate bill, paid on board. Book either one thinking the price covers lunch and you will be surprised at the counter.

The two, side by side

Cloud 9 is the two-level one with the wood-fired pizza oven and the international DJs — a bar first, a swimming stop second. Seventh Heaven is the quieter pontoon: a restaurant and bar with lounging space, kayaks and a freshwater shower.

The 26,41 € gap in the ticket price is the smaller half of the decision. What you spend on board is the larger half, and neither operator publishes it.

What each ticket actually buys

Cloud 9 includes the return boat transfer, access to the sunbeds and day beds, and the DJ sets. Food and drink can be bought on board. Snorkelling gear is available to rent — also not included. The operator offers a prepaid bar tab as a booking option, shown on the booking page as a $60 credit usable on board; check which currency applies at checkout before you count on the figure.

Seventh Heaven includes the boat transfers from Port Denarau, use of the facilities on board, a welcome refresher, Wi-Fi and use of the kayaks — the highlights list specifies 30 minutes of kayak time per ticket. Hotel pickup is included from Denarau, Fantasy and Wailoaloa. Food and drink are excluded, as is hotel pickup outside the Denarau and Coral Coast area, and tips.

Both platforms prohibit bringing your own food and drink. That is not a formality — it is how a day with a “not included” meal becomes a day with a bill.

The payment rule that catches people out

Seventh Heaven takes no cash. The operator states it plainly: on the platform, only Visa, Amex and Mastercard are accepted for anything you buy on board.

You are 45 minutes by boat from the marina. If your card does not work out there, there is no second option and no cash machine. Bring a card that you know works abroad, and bring a second one.

The booking page also asks for a passport or ID card among the things to bring, alongside the towel, sunscreen and credit card. That is unusual for a day trip and worth reading before you leave the safe in the hotel room.

Forty-five minutes, and no toilet on the boat

This is the most useful sentence on the Seventh Heaven booking page, and it is buried near the bottom:

The boat transfer takes approximately 45 minutes and there are no bathroom facilities on the transfer boat.

The operator’s own advice follows: there are plenty of bathrooms at Denarau Marina and on the platform itself, so use them before departure. The ferry leaves Denarau at 10:30 AM and is back at roughly 5:00 PM. Check in at the Seventh Heaven kiosk — number 5 at Port Denarau — at least 30 minutes before departure.

Cloud 9’s meeting point is the Port Denarau Marina, where you meet the crew.

Children: the operators contradict themselves, and you should read both lines

Cloud 9’s booking page lists the activity as not suitable for children under 10 years. Two sections further down, the same page says something different:

Children are allowed to join the tour; however, Cloud 9 is a bar where people drink alcohol and can smoke.

Both statements are the operator’s. Read together, they say what the venue is rather than what the rule is: a licensed bar with music, drinking and smoking, on a platform in open water. The age line is guidance about the setting, not a gate at the gangway.

Seventh Heaven is firmer. Its page gives a reason: children under 8 cannot come on board “for health and safety reasons”. The same list also rules out people with mobility impairments — that is the operator’s statement, and it is the only accessibility information published for the trip. If you need more detail than that, get it from the operator in writing before you book, not at the kiosk.

If you are travelling with small children, neither platform is the day out. Island day trips start at 58,57 € across 23 activities, and several of them run a kids club instead of a bar.

Which one, honestly

Cloud 9 if the point is the atmosphere. DJs, a two-storey deck to jump off, pizza from a wood-fired oven. It costs more and rates slightly lower — 4.6 stars against 4.8 — and the reviews that praise it praise exactly what it sells: calm clear water, a jump from the top level, a good-humoured crew.

Seventh Heaven if the point is the water. It is 26,41 € cheaper, better rated over more reviews, and the kayaks and freshwater shower are included where Cloud 9 rents you a snorkel. A 10.30am departure and a 5pm return is a full day without being an early one.

There is a third listing worth knowing about: a Cloud 9 platform day with water sports at 112,52 €, 4.6 stars from 16 reviews and five hours rather than six. Fewer reviews means less to go on, not worse — but at this price the standard Cloud 9 trip has 152 reviews behind it.

If a floating bar is not it at all

The platforms are one narrow slice of what leaves Port Denarau. Boat trips and cruises start at 35,12 € across 17 activities, and sunset cruises at the same 35,12 € across 10 — a shorter evening, and dinner usually included rather than sold.

If it is the reef you want rather than the deck, snorkelling trips begin at 43,16 €, and the day cruise to Monuriki and the Mana sand bar spends its eight hours anchored over coral instead of alongside a bar.

And the widest view of what the week could hold is on the things to do in Fiji page, which starts at 12,07 €.