Radiance...South Pacific review, Sydney Australia lots of photos

[aussie cruzer]

Good Morning,

 

We have just returned from the Radiance 11 South Pacific cruise from Sydney,Australia.

 

This is our review....I hope you enjoy the ride.

 

 

 

Itinerary

 

 

 

Sailing Itinerary

 

 

 

03-Feb Sydney, Australia 18:30

04-Feb Cruising

05-Feb Cruising

06-Feb Nouméa, New Caledonia 07:00 17:30 Docked

07-Feb Mystery Island, Vanuatu 08:00 16:00 Tendered

08-Feb Champagne Bay, Vanuatu 12:00 19:00 Tendered

09-Feb Vila, Vanuatu 08:00 18:00 Docked

10-Feb Lifou, Loyalty Island 08:00 18:00 Tendered

11-Feb Isle of Pines, New Caledonia 08:00 17:00 Tendered

12-Feb Cruising

13-Feb Cruising

14-Feb Sydney

[Sharkb8]

Really looking forward to this, thanks!! Our favorite ship, hoping to see more of her after we retire.

 

 

Good Morning,

 

We have just returned from the Radiance 11 South Pacific cruise from Sydney,Australia.

 

This is our review....I hope you enjoy the ride.

 

 

 

Itinerary

 

 

 

Sailing Itinerary

 

 

 

03-Feb Sydney, Australia 18:30

04-Feb Cruising

05-Feb Cruising

06-Feb Nouméa, New Caledonia 07:00 17:30 Docked

07-Feb Mystery Island, Vanuatu 08:00 16:00 Tendered

08-Feb Champagne Bay, Vanuatu 12:00 19:00 Tendered

09-Feb Vila, Vanuatu 08:00 18:00 Docked

10-Feb Lifou, Loyalty Island 08:00 18:00 Tendered

11-Feb Isle of Pines, New Caledonia 08:00 17:00 Tendered

12-Feb Cruising

13-Feb Cruising

14-Feb Sydney

[avalon007]

We did this exact same cruise on Radiance in 2012 - enjoyed it immensely.:)

[aussie cruzer]

We arrived in Sydney two days pre-cruise and had two glorious days of weather...28 C.

 

Pre-Cruise photos-Sydney Harbour

 

Rhapsody of the Seas docked on the Saturday.

 

 

 

Opera House

 

[aussie cruzer]

Really looking forward to this, thanks!! Our favorite ship, hoping to see more of her after we retire.

 

We did this exact same cruise on Radiance in 2012 - enjoyed it immensely.:)

 

Thanks for following along....the Radiance is a lovely ship and now one of our favourites.

 

The best way to see the harbour is jump on one of the local ferries.....on the Sunday there is a family ticket $2.50 p/p all day on ferry & buses if you have a child.

 

We took a ferry to Manly on the Sunday.....a short 30 min from the cruise port...it is near the Sydney heads,you have harbour on one side of the town and pacific ocean a short walk from ferry dock.

 

Sydney ferry

 

 

 

Oosterdam in port on Sunday

 

[aussie cruzer]

Manly beach

 

 

 

We took the ferry back to Circular Quay,next to cruise terminal.

 

 

 

 

[aussie cruzer]

Cruise day Monday.

 

We stayed at the Swissotel Sydney for two nights pre-cruise,it was a nice hotel in the middle of the city 5 star.

 

We walked to the ship in around 20 minutes down hill and arrived at 11.00 for check in.

 

Sydney cruise terminal (OPT) Over Seas Passenger Terminal has limited space,so the larger ships have a staggered check in time.

 

Deck 10 is first...11.00 am check in & Crown & Anchor status,suites etc have early boarding as well.

 

Time to board

 

Bag drop on the pier and then walk upstairs to departure gate.

 

 

 

 

[aussie cruzer]

Check in was quick at the OPT and we were onboard the ship in 30 minutes and went for our first look around.

 

First impressions

 

 

 

 

First photo onboard

 

 

[BecciBoo]

I'm along for the ride....French Polynesia is our dream cruise!!!:D

[aussie cruzer]

More photos

 

 

 

 

[aussie cruzer]

I'm along for the ride....French Polynesia is our dream cruise!!!:D

 

This cruise was three ports in Vanuatu and three in French Polynesia or New Caledonia.

 

I'm going to focus on the ports of call in this review,we didn't spend any time at the shows and no food photos.

 

Will have lots of photos of the ports of call.

[aussie cruzer]

Our room,

 

We booked a E1 balcony for the three of us....two adults and 1 child (15)

 

We were on deck 10 #1508...five cabins from the front starboard side.

 

This cabin sleeps four.....it has the bed slide out of the roof as well,we tried this bed and found it got in the way more than the sofa bed....plus in swayed a little in rough seas.

 

The sofa bed was comfortable by all reports.

 

Our cabin.

 

 

 

 

[Desert Cruizers]

Great start, we leave for our first trip to Sydney march 15th for our 13 day NZ cruise and post cruise sightseeing and are getting excited. It will be wonderful to be back on the ROS since 2008.

[aussie cruzer]

Great start, we leave for our first trip to Sydney march 15th for our 13 day NZ cruise and post cruise sightseeing and are getting excited. It will be wonderful to be back on the ROS since 2008.

 

Anyone doing or thinking about a cruise to Australia/New Zealand should read Terry from Ohio's great thread of his recent Down under holiday...(celebrity)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

 

Terry is one of best in the business.

[TxKroozer]

We are excited to follow your review. We have plans for a San Francisco to Sydney Australia cruise this September on celebrity century. So we will be interested in any comments and pictures about New Caledonia and Tahiti as we will be stopping at both (Vanatu, Bora Bora, and Papette). Your early pictures are so nice. You appear to have had lovely weather. Looking forward to more of your review and thank you for sharing and taking the time to do this.

[aussie cruzer]

We are excited to follow your review. We have plans for a San Francisco to Sydney Australia cruise this September on celebrity century. So we will be interested in any comments and pictures about New Caledonia and Tahiti as we will be stopping at both (Vanatu, Bora Bora, and Papette). Your early pictures are so nice. You appear to have had lovely weather. Looking forward to more of your review and thank you for sharing and taking the time to do this.

 

It's good to give back....I like reading reviews and there is not too much info on the South Pacific ports.

 

A trans-Pacific cruise is on our bucket list .....would like to see Bora Bora....our choice is April or Sept for these cruises,now Carnival Legend is coming down under,it gives us Aussies more choice for this cruise.

[aussie cruzer]

Ships Officers and Staff onboard,

 

 

Captain...........Goran Peterson

 

Hotel Director...Alistair Burnett

 

Executive chef..Costin Giuroiu

 

Cruise Director..Amy Fickert

 

Activities.....Gordon

 

 

The Captain seemed friendly from what I could see,Some staff told me they prefered the other Captain.

 

Captain Peterson has gone on holidays and will return when the Radiance is in Hawaii on it's Trans-Pacific cruise April/May.

 

Amy seemed nice,but we like Gordon the activities manager,I think he would make a good cruise director.....he was popping up everywhere,helping the tender boats each day and always seemed happy.

 

A lot of the crew are from India....they liked the Radiance from what I was told.

[aussie cruzer]

Two sea days

 

We had two lazy sea days on the way to Noumea,New Caledonia.

 

 

The second sea day we had our Meet & Mingle......we had around 40 people in attendance......Gordon the activities manager welcomed us all and gave out some free prizes,this was held in the Quill & Compass lounge.

 

Next day our first stop Noumea.

[TeamH]

Looking forward to following this to see what others got up to. We did go to a lot of the shows and really enjoyed most of what we saw. Jonathan Clark (singer/impressionist) and Mark Anthony (hypnotist) were particular favourites.

[avalon007]

We are excited to follow your review. We have plans for a San Francisco to Sydney Australia cruise this September on celebrity century. So we will be interested in any comments and pictures about New Caledonia and Tahiti as we will be stopping at both (Vanatu, Bora Bora, and Papette). Your early pictures are so nice. You appear to have had lovely weather. Looking forward to more of your review and thank you for sharing and taking the time to do this.

 

I just sailed via Tahiti on a trans pacific a few months ago in Sept. But this review is about a cruise that goes to the Vanuatu Islands & New Caledonian Islands so the OP didn't go to Tahiti. :)

[Desert Cruizers]

We will resume our sailing on April 10th with the Transpacific and April 27th, 12 day Hawaii back to Vanconver.

 

Aussie Cruzer, I have read many of Terry's reviews but not his latest one, thank you for the link, will read it for sure.:)

[aussie cruzer]

We will resume our sailing on April 10th with the Transpacific and April 27th, 12 day Hawaii back to Vanconver.

 

Aussie Cruzer, I have read many of Terry's reviews but not his latest one, thank you for the link, will read it for sure.:)

 

It's a good read as usual......some good ideas for overseas visitors.

[aussie cruzer]

Noumea ,New Caledonia

 

Weather 30 C / 86 F

 

Ships arrival 7.00 am

All Aboard 5.00 pm

 

 

We arrived to over cast conditions and light rain,but the day turned out nice....not too hot as it can be here in summer.

 

The Radiance arrived at the container port and not the smaller cruise terminal which is too short for her to berth....Rcl put on a free shuttle service from the ship to cruise terminal (5 mins)

 

We had heard negative stories about Noumea being boring,so opted for a local tour from the terminal.

 

Noumea turned out too be a lot better than expected and we had a pleasant day seeing the sights.

 

At the cruise terminal there are lots of tours on offer,some half the price of ships tours.

 

We opted for the hop on hop off bus $15 p/p Aus at the terminal....all day around city of Noumea,this tour dropped you off at around eight different stops in town,ideal for the beach and some shopping.

 

 

Not the most attractive port.

 

 

The cruise terminal is the white building straight ahead.

 

 

 

[aussie cruzer]

The tourist train from cruise terminal.....the ships train picked you up beside the ship.

 

The ships train tour was $59 US and local train around $35 Aus.

 

 

Markets in cruise terminal

 

 

Cruise Terminal

 

 

 

[aussie cruzer]

Local tours at terminal

 

This the one we did.