What a wonderful five days we had! According to our reservation check-in time was 2:00 pm, but when we arrived at 8:30 am our room was ready. We had a standard room with a view of the luxurious garden; it was spotlessly clean and larger than we expected it to be. (Hint: They have a high rainfall and if there is even a slightly blocked drain, you'll smell it. Perhaps this was the cause of other complaints in reviews. If this worries you, ask for a room on the upper floor - i.e. first floor as opposed to ground floor. We didn't have any problem at all.)
Breakfast in "Sandals" was terrific. A continental tropical breakfast was included in the room rate. There is an additional charge for a cooked breakfast, but the continental breakfast was more than enough for us. It included muesli with coconut and dried tropical fruit, muffins, unadorned doughnuts, toast, banana loaf, juices, coffee, tea, milk, many types of melon, kiwifruit, papaya, mango,banana (try them, they're hugely superior to the stuff we get in North America), coconut pieces, cheese, ham, tomatoes.
We had dinner there as well, and found the food delicious and well presented, and the service prompt but not rushed. Try the ika mata - fish "cooked" in lime juice.
We swam, snorkelled and paddled in the lagoon. Once a friendly dog hitched a ride back from one of the small islands on the prow of our boat. We also had long walks on the beach, especially at low tide, as well as a walk inland along a valley. (Turn right out of the resort and walked along the main road to Avana Rd, then turn left and follow this road inland.)
We also paid to use their wi-fi and found the service fast enough for email and a quick BBC news/sport update once a day.
The swimming pool is large enough for length swimming during quiet times, and set in beautiful surroundings.
The staff were as friendly and helpful as can be; from the front desk to the beach hut to the Barefoot Bar and Sandals, to the drivers, cleaners and porters. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and will certainly recommend it to anybody else.

We stayed at the Pacific Resort for 2 weeks in January, "rainy season" but we got lucky with the weather and had only 1.5 days of torrential rain. Before booking we sought first-hand experiences from travel agents and friends, as well as doing a fair bit of on-line research. Pacific Resort at Muri beach looked like the safest and nicest spot for our family holiday...it turned out we chose well. The lagoon was completely safe for our 3 children aged 8, 9 and 11 and the pool (which one reviewer described as "an afterthought") was great....plenty of loungers for a relaxing cocktail or reading a book, umbrellas for shade, a toddlers pool and enough depth for the kids to "bomb" and "dive". And then there's the "Kids Club!! The beach hut boys were truely amazing and consistently went above and beyond for all of the kids...not to mention providing a few laughs and great activities and service for the adults too. The resort grounds were beautiful and the accommodation was more than adequate...We stayed in a 2 bedroomed garden villa which was the best option for travelling with 3 children. The food on the resort was great for the kids, maybe a bit more average for the adults. Two weeks of the same menu can get a bit much, but there are plenty of other places close by for a bit of variety, and self catering in the villas helps. The only fault really was that the evening dining service could be a tad slow (one evening we waited over an hour between our entree's and mains (not the children however)..but...."island time" so not the end of the world. We stayed for two weeks, and I was a little worried that this would be too long with no motor sport activities but it turned out not to be long enough. If you are keen on completely relaxing with a book by the pool, beach or gardens...making time for a kayak, windsurf, snorkel, wade to Kirimiko island, and soak up some rays, then Pacifi Resort is perfect...we can't wait to return to this fabulous resort!!

Our family of 5 booked at the last moment, in adjoing 2 bedroom and a studio units. The Muri Beach is the best, and this resort helped make it so. If you want a beach where you can swim and enjoy all the other related water sports, Muri is the only real option on Rarotonga. The staff truly were great, both front of house, the waiters, and even down to the gardeners! Food was consistently very good compared with the other 7 establishments we also dined at. We found that if the majotiy of staff were locals, the places were great, but woe behold any establishments that were not so. Cook Island service can be a little slow, but hey, we were on a Sth Pacific holiday and once adjusted, let the natural friendliness of the locals help slow us down and enjoy a great holiday. True, a few rooms at this resort still need refurbishing, otherwise we would have given it 5 stars.

Good
• Amazing beach lagoon setting – absolutely paradisiacal
• We had one good meal
Bad
• Appalling service
• Everything was late
• Average food
• Pretty much everything except the view and a couple of staff trying their best in the face of adversity

Considering the Pacific Resort in Aitutaki was voted the world’s best boutique tropical hotel, it is possible to run a hotel well in the Cook Islands. That the same company can own what is meant to be the best (Aitutaki) and simultaneously have the worst resort I have ever visited (Rarotonga) is an amazing feat.

We were staying in self catering near the resort – not in it – so I can only comment on the restaurant, bar and services.

On our first evening we went to dinner there which was pleasant, next to a pond with fish and eels, lovely Kiwi waitress. There were only half a dozen other customers. We decided to go ahead and book Christmas Day lunch ($95), and New Years evening ‘VIP’ package (about $150).

Poor service, average food and what appeared to be poor planning were marginally sweetened by the amazing view and eating on the beach. A new beverages manager had been appointed and to be fair, hadn’t been there long enough to have an impact (I hope he doesn’t give up!)

On new years eve the ticket included free drinks for one hour, but only after a bit of customer grumbling did a second bartender turn up. It really felt like they were fleecing us. Then the 7pm food didn’t get served over an hour late – much to the chagrin of many annoyed customers.

The violence and fighting can’t be blamed on the resort, and I thought the bouncers handled it well. I don’t think it was any of the paying customers causing trouble.
As the night wore on, most people disappeared to drink and celebrate at the nearby drinking establishments returning for the fire show and fireworks funded collectively by the businesses along the shore.

The final straw for us was on a Sunday evening sunset beach stroll we thought we would pop in for a drink but one unpleasant staff member wouldn’t let us because ‘you can’t have a drink without food’ – not unreasonable if you wanted alcohol (strict Sunday alcohol laws) but we didn’t want alcohol. After having spent about $800 at the establishment, tipping well and being pleasant and patient with the staff we expected at least some nicety.

I do hope that Richard (new beverages manager) can reply to this review and let potential customers know his plan for getting the place out of the mess it entered 2013 in.

Avoid.