Asia Cruise 2012: Guam

5^th April 2012

Our welcome to Guam was not quite what we have been experiencing at the previous ports, with an early view off the balcony as we entered the port being confronted by a US Coastguard vessel with a manned machine gun mounted on the bow, running alongside.

A Coast Guard Welcome

Approaching our Berth

The greeting at the port was a lot more friendly, with local dancers and musicians putting on a cultural show.

We berthed at Apra Port, a little behind time at 8.30am, having had to turn the ship through 180 degrees before entering the port area, and reversing in to our berth. The security paranoia continued with all passengers having to have a face to face immigration clearance before leaving the boat, this took a few hours to clear everyone, and adding to the delays, the security requirement at the port is that only 4 buses could be on the dockside at any point in time, so tour buses had priority over shuttle buses to the city compounding the delay for those who wished to go ashore independently. We were finally in a shuttle bus by 10.15am, and headed into Tumon, the main resort area.

Underwater Observatory on the way to Tumon

Plenty of Construction Underway

The trip took about 30 minutes, but it was along the coastline mainly, and quite scenic. We were dropped off at the Hyatt hotel, and were told the last bus back to the ship would leave from there at 3.50pm.

Tumon Township

After wandering around Tumon and doing a bit of shopping, we saw a trolley bus going to Two lovers point, so scrambled on board just before it departed, fumbling for the right amount of US dollars. About 10 minutes later, around noon, we were at Two Lovers Point, which, elevated on a high cliff on the waterfront, has a sensational view of the coastline. The deep blue colour of the sea, and the closeness of the coral reef to the shore made for some stunning photographs.

Tumon from Two Lovers Point

The Lookout at Two Lovers Point

Other than the view, there is not a lot else there, other than the usual souvenir shops, and stalls selling cold drinks and ice cream. In our urgency to get on the trolley bus, we failed to note that the return bus to Tumon, did not depart until 1.30pm, and decided to catch a taxi back to town, rather than sit and wait for the bus for another 45 minutes, to save a few $. (Quite a few as it turned out, taxi fares make Sydney look good value !)

It was now lunch time, so after a walk through the DFS Galleria Shopping Centre, (to get some air conditioning, and watch Japanese spend a small fortune on designer label goods), we exchanged the Yen we still had for USD at better than the prevailing exchange rate, and headed back out into the sun to find a place for lunch.

It was either every version of fast food available in the US or a limited number of other options. We opted for “Uncle Sims Ramen Restaurant”, which promised some Japanese food. Sadly, I think Uncle Sim has been in Guam a bit too long, and the only similarity was the name of the dish and the miso soup that came with it. We had Chicken Katsu Don and it was the chewiest piece of crumbed chicken I have had for some time, and it was an American sized serve. On the positive side, they had Asahi Super Dry Beer at a promotional price, and that was good value.

The service was pretty slow, and had hoped to get a bus out to the factory outlets after lunch, but lunch took too long, and the timing of the trolley bus schedule was unknown, so we decided to do a bit more shopping at Tumon, and head back to the ship.

We Headed back to the Hyatt, laden with our shopping, at around 2.45pm, hoping to beat the crowds trying to get back to the ship. Everyone had the same idea, so there was a huge line up for the shuttle buses when we arrived (fortunately in air conditioned space inside the Hyatt. By the time we left, the line was twice as long.

We were back on board just before 4pm, and put our feet up for a while watching the departure goings on from our balcony. Our departure was delayed by 30 minutes, awaiting the arrival and loading of provisions ( about 4 x 40 container loads and a few local truckloads). The last truck, full of fresh veg and fruit appeared seemed to be delayed by customs / quarantine resulting in our delay.

Sea Princess pushed off at 5.30pm, and headed back out to sea, before turning to port to head to Rabaul ,our next stop.