86 Countries and Still Counting: Sunday, February 18 - Guam

It is currently 6:00 a.m. and still pitch black out. I'd rather be asleep. I'd also rather be smart, gorgeous and 24 but that isn't happening either. I'm having some technical difficulties. WIFI has been spotty and I'm not able to access photos on my phone. I'll be adding those later.

I had a lovely dinner last night with Captain Frank van der Hoeven and his wife Alexandra. I was not actually originally invited to dinner. My friend/dinner companion Jolanda was invited for dinner. She does the world cruise every year and has top tier status. And, she met the Captain last year when, sadly, her boyfriend was taken ill on the cruise and subsequently died.

The night before last, she received a call asking if she'd like to have me join them, since we typically have dinner together.

Please note that someone noticed our dining habits and made that call. That's the level of service we've gotten on the ship. And being treated like a VIP with all the private tours to the bridge, galley and laundry? Those are available to all the passengers on the cruise. I'm being invited now because I'm disembarking in Tokyo. The same thing happened to the passengers who disembarked in Hawaii.

Tours like this used to happen. The new President of HAL is Gus Antorcha wants to bring back the glory days of Holland America and based on my month and a half on board, he's doing it. I'll be honest, on the 2020 cruise, even before the Covid stuff started happening, I was a bit disappointed. My only previous world cruise was 20 years before, so perhaps it was unfair to compare. But, this cruise proves HAL is serious about making Grand Voyages a stellar experience. And, they're succeeding.

Going to take a break now. It's 6:45 a.m., the US Coast Guard has boarded, the pilot has boarded and we're slowly cruising into port. At dinner, Frank told us the process and also said he'd be fined $95,000 if he got within 3 nautical miles of Guam before the Coast Guard boarded. More of his great stories later, including one about the time a pilot grounded the Volendam on a sandbar in the Amazon and it took 7 hours to get it off.

It's now 4:30 p.m. and the Captain just announced we're minutes from sailing away from Guam. I got off the ship and tried to hire a taxi. The price was $60 an hour and they said it would take two hours to go to Jack in the Box and KFC and if it went one minute over two hours it would be an additional $60. No, thanks. Instead, I took the free shuttle into town and back. Then went through more security to get back on the ship. After lunch from the Lido, I really enjoyed a tour of the bridge. WIFI continues to be incredibly slow.

Tomorrow is Saipan, which, according to the Captain is one of the toughest ports in the world to enter. That is due to a long channel which is very narrow. Unfortunately, there are high winds expected tomorrow so we may be delayed. Worst case scenario, we'll miss Saipan.

Photos!

These resorts are "in town" on a nice, busy beach

Guam has a big military base and all the American chains

The complimentary shuttle from the ship dropped us at the resort on the right. I thought the name was familiar. It's owned by a big chain based in Bangkok

Taro, I believe

Security at the port is no joke

My friend Gus, who serves me breakfast every morning, was one of the guys unloading all the produce. He sent a video which I'll upload as WIFI allows

This is primarily a commercial port for cargo ships, not cruise ships

The view that the person steering has. It's not always the Captain, obviously. It depends on if we're at sea, weather, etc.

This charming young guy is from the south of England and is third in command. He patiently answered questions and hung out with us on the bridge for an hour. He's the Safety Officer

While I was in the bridge, these crew members were having fun taking photos on the bow, which is normally off-limits. That's on deck 4

The bridge has the biggest windshield wipers I've ever seen. About four feet long

These very comfie chairs are tall enough so you can see over all the equipment and see what's ahead when on watch, at sea

Yup, that tiny wheel is how they steer the giant ship. And, the azipods/thrusters

The Safety Officer kindly suggested I steer. I offered to come back when we leave the dock and he was up for it but said the Captain would have to make the final call, lol

These are the nautical flags. One for each letter of the alphabet. When asked the meaning of each one, he googled it

After the bridge tour I went up on the Seaview (deck 9, aft) to check out the view. The weather was about 80, humid and breezy

Two of the many port police that came on board. They were very friendly, especially when I offered to help them find their way off the ship

Lunch from the Lido was my go-to - burger, chips and fruit

More bridge photos

The bridge is large and quiet, when they're not giving tours

This is the corner that sticks out on the starboard side. I told one officer I like to take photos of people standing there, from my balcony. He said it's probably him, since he enjoys the view from there

That's the microphone and switches used to make announcements to all the ship or parts of the ship. Some announcements go to all decks, some just to crew decks, some only outside, etc.