Radiance of the Seas: Sydney RT New Caledonia and Vanuatu- thoughts and observations?

I am seriously considering booking RC Radiance of the Seas 4/4 to 4/14/19. Any recent cruisers have comments on the shop condition, food, ports, cabin choices? Ports include Noumea, lle des Pins and Lifou, New Caledonia as well as Port Villa and Mystery Island Vanuatu.

As always, I REALLY appreciate your input!

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Radiance is a lovely ship, and this is a great itinerary

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Tganjs!

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Thanks

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Radiance is a wonderful ship and a perfect size for this itinerary. Departing Sydney, and aft port balcony will give a wonderful view, even ahead of sail-away. We last were on her in 2013, but have another booked for Jan 2019.

Noumea is well developed & has some lovely beaches and bars/restaurants & we have enjoyed out times there.

Isle of Pines is spectacular, and Lifou has a lovely beach at Luciela. These islands are still quite undeveloped, especially Lifou, but the locals are very friendly. Both these are tender ports.

Vila is somewhat developed but you need to get out of town to see the sights. The best duty free shopping in Sth Pacific is in Vila.

Mystery Is is an uninhabited, very small island - you could walk around the whole island in less than an hour. The locals from the main island nearby set up tours and market stall etc on cruise-ship days. Again this is a tender port.

I would recommend you do this trip.

I can't comment on the ship as I haven't sailed on her. However I can comment on some of the ports as I did a similar itinerary in January.

At Noumea, we took the ship excursion to Amedee Island. It was a fantastic day trip. The island is small but the trip was great value for money. Everyone on the tour who I spoke to enjoyed it. The locals put on a fabulous lunch and the glass bottom boat tour (free for everyone, ran about 1/2 hour) was interesting as well.

In Vila, we did a private tour. We visited the turtle sanctuary which I personally couldn't recommend. None of our group of 4 was impressed. The place is really small and behind the times, turtle prison would be a better way to describe it as the turtles are kept in small rock enclosures and fed only fruit. We did some shopping in Vila after visiting the sanctuary and the shopping is great value if you are looking to buy duty free items, especially alcohol and tobacco.

We all loved Mystery Island. We got the first tender over and returned to the ship around 1pm. It does get very hot over there and there isn't a lot of shade so it's best to go early. The water was beautiful and warm and crystal clear. Good snorkeling on one side of the island, great swimming on the other.

All comments are greatly appreciated!

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I just got off the Radiance a few days ago and can completely understand why many people have mentioned that it is one of their favorite ships!! I loved it too! I especially loved the Centrum where many activities took place and where..no matter which floor you were on and no matter how long you had to wait for that elevator..you could be entertained by simply going to one of the balconies that overlooked it. For me..that was the heart of the ship that brought people together! I loved the size of it and for the first time I can honestly say that I didn't get lost once..as I usually do on the bigger ships...I'd love to sail on her again....

Camelia