Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Guam

I'm not sure if Guam is considered South Pacific or not, but I figure this is the best place to post....

What is there to do in Guam ? Is it worth visiting as a tourist and/or a honeymooner?

ex-BNE, is it better to go BNE-NRT-GUM or is there an easier routing?
I know that no OW airlines go to GUM, but what is the preferred airline into GUM?

heck if i know, but guam was a pretty happning place in airbucks

I'm not sure if Guam is considered South Pacific or not, but I figure this is the best place to post....

What is there to do in Guam ? Is it worth visiting as a tourist and/or a honeymooner?

ex-BNE, is it better to go BNE-NRT-GUM or is there an easier routing?
I know that no OW airlines go to GUM, but what is the preferred airline into GUM?

Hello dannyr

Never been to Guam, but it's a place I have always wanted to go. I've heard there is not a wide amount of things to do in Guam, but I'd imagine if you like beaches and the ocean it's the perfect place.

Continental Micronesia fly from Cairns-Guam [I think it's about 3x a week]. The 73H arrives very late and departs back to Guam very early in the morning. That would mean you could get a QF flight up to Cairns :cool: CO are the biggest airline into/out of Guam. Continental accept credit card bookings from Australia.

Another option as you have mentioned is JAL/JALWAYS BNE-NRT-GUM. While it's a cheap flight, I'd imagine it would be alot of flying. Shame JAL didn't join Oneworld earlier!

China Airlines also offer Brisbane-Guam but again that's a longer indirect flight via Taipei. I would steer clear of CI though, as there safety record isn't the best - but that's just me.

So Continental Micronesia would be your best bet. Fly up to CNS late evening then get onto the GUM flight. I've seen some good fares available on FlightCentre, but I'd imagine you could check Zuji.com.au et al.

Hope that helps

David

Hello dannyr

Never been to Guam, but it's a place I have always wanted to go. I've heard there is not a wide amount of things to do in Guam, but I'd imagine if you like beaches and the ocean it's the perfect place.

Continental Micronesia fly from Cairns-Guam [I think it's about 3x a week]. The 73H arrives very late and departs back to Guam very early in the morning. That would mean you could get a QF flight up to Cairns :cool: CO are the biggest airline into/out of Guam. Continental accept credit card bookings from Australia.

Another option as you have mentioned is JAL/JALWAYS BNE-NRT-GUM. While it's a cheap flight, I'd imagine it would be alot of flying. Shame JAL didn't join Oneworld earlier!

China Airlines also offer Brisbane-Guam but again that's a longer indirect flight via Taipei. I would steer clear of CI though, as there safety record isn't the best - but that's just me.

So Continental Micronesia would be your best bet. Fly up to CNS late evening then get onto the GUM flight. I've seen some good fares available on FlightCentre, but I'd imagine you could check Zuji.com.au et al.

Hope that helps

David

Thanks very much David, I will look into those options :)

I was in Guam for a month in 2004 and again in 2005 for work, staying near the navy base on the south end of the island. I had a bit of time for the tourist stuff on the weekends.

Guam gets about 1.5 million tourists a year with about 1.2 million of them from Japan. The majority of the tourist items on the island are targeted to the Japanese and charge Japanese prices. At some of these, if you are white, you can say you are local and get a local price instead of the Japanese price, i.e. $5 instead of $20.

My overall impression is that if you like strip clubs and your Mrs. likes shopping at Gucci and Prada or she likes strip clubs and you like shopping at Prada it is a great place. The beaches are nothing spectacular. There is great diving. If you are a history buff there are some interesting WWII sites.

I enjoy getting paid to go there, but it would be low on my list of vacation places. From the US I would rather go to the Caribbean, from Oz I think I would hit one of the other island locations in the south Pacific.

Guam gets about 1.5 million tourists a year with about 1.2 million of them from Japan. The majority of the tourist items on the island are targeted to the Japanese and charge Japanese prices. At some of these, if you are white, you can say you are local and get a local price instead of the Japanese price, i.e. $5 instead of $20.

Oh ok, that's an very interesting point. Will have to weigh up if I want to pay "tourist tax". But then again, I live on the Gold Coast, so I'm used to inflated prices and am very good at "talking local".

My overall impression is that if you like strip clubs and your Mrs. likes shopping at Gucci and Prada or she likes strip clubs and you like shopping at Prada it is a great place. The beaches are nothing spectacular. There is great diving. If you are a history buff there are some interesting WWII sites.

The Missus isn't a strip clubber, and nor am I. She likes Gucci and Prada - but I like her to have fake Gucci and Prada [well, my wallet does, anyway]. Is there a trade for markets a la most of Asia in relation to cheap fak.....cheaper wares?

She's a diver, and I'm a history buff, so that sounds like a plan. I stumbled across Guam looking for somewhere that suits us both. I'd rather spend my time in a big city, and she's rather spend her time at the beach. Ive been looking for somewhere that has a bit of both. We're both over Bali, Malaysia, etc, and want somewhere unique that most of our friends haven't travelled to.

Thanks for the insight tho

FWIW, it is/was the honeymoon capital of the world, largely because of the Japanese who love to visit here for honeymooning.

Yes, IMHO, it surely is worth visiting, yet it never made my honeymoon list, personally! ;)

Mark

I've been to Guam before and while I realise it's no Maui it's only a 3½ flight from Tokyo and there's guaranteed sunshine.

Last time I stayed I stayed at the Okura Tower which was nice because the room had a full seaview (not at an angle like the Westin). My main problem was that the hotel felt like the Marie Celeste. No bar as such, no drinks at the pool, no, well, actual service.

I'm thinking of going back next month and was wondering if the Hilton or the Hyatt might be more attentive. I read a couple of reviews that are some years old now (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135438 and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=383715&highlight=guam) where the poster seemed to prefer the Hyatt. Any new thoughts? (I'm Hilton Silver, but I guess that won't make a difference).

Also any good restaurant recommendations? I don't really want to eat in the hotels. Places like King's Restaurant (http://www.guam.co.kr/guam/restaurant/kings/e_king.htm) suited me fine on the last trip.

She's a diver, and I'm a history buff, so that sounds like a plan. I stumbled across Guam looking for somewhere that suits us both. I'd rather spend my time in a big city, and she's rather spend her time at the beach. Ive been looking for somewhere that has a bit of both. We're both over Bali, Malaysia, etc, and want somewhere unique that most of our friends haven't travelled to.


Have you checked out Palau? Apparently there's great diving, lots of WW2 wrecks.

Hi,

My sister lived in Guam for 3 years and I was finally able to visit in June just before she left. It was very warm and steamy, beautiful blue skies and waters. I went snorkeling at a popular place (Pirate's Cove or something like that). It wasn't as crowded as Oahu toursit snorkeling places so that was good.

Overall it was a bit blah. I don't think you should expect much "big city" stuff. Along the beach there is a strip of higher end hotels and shops but beyond that things tend to get older and feel more like a big rural town. Outside of the touristy area, the area reminded me more of the North Shore of Oahu. On Wednesday afternoon/evenings, there was a regular local arts/crafts/good plus traditional food stands in a bazaar/park area in the local town area. (Sorry I can't remember exactly where).

I did have a good hike out to the waterfall and to see where the Japanese soldiers hid out for 20+ years because they didn't know the war was over. Also hiking near the coast in the boonies is pretty cool because under a thin layer of top soil is dead coral. However, it's really quiet hiking because the snakes supposedly killed most of the birds and they're weren't very many flowers (unlike Hawaii).

I'd say if you really want to go to Guam that more than a 5 days may be too long unless you really like things slow. My sister took weekend sailboat ride to Saipan and say'd that was really nice. It is also a really cheap to get scuba certified (~$100-150 USD).

Hope this helps,
Jennifer

I did enjoy my stay in Guam...probably because a friend did his excellent job of showing me around. Without him, I would be bored to death. And without him, I would never go again :) Saipan wasn't so bad but 1 day was enough to see everything. I was stuck there because my flight was cancelled. I flew with Continental from Hong Kong.