Westysclan World Cruise 2023

After our whirlwind trip of Colombo, our ‘all aboard’ time was for 6:30pm. Typically our sail away time is 1hr after this. Instead of eating in the main dining room, we decided to choose our dinner from the buffet and eat outside by the pool so we could watch our departure from the busy Colombo port.

7:30pm came and went, as did 8:30pm. An increasing number of passengers milled around the ship scratching their heads at this unusual change of routine.

At 9pm there was a flurry of noise and activity- surely the pilot arriving to steer us out of the port? No, it was a fuel bunker! What could this mean? We decided that our late arrival meant that we had missed our allocated refuelling time and that this was the next available time. What would this delay mean for our arrival in Oman?

Refuelling was quite a lengthy process and most of the other observers lost interest by the time it was finished – not Mark. Then it was over to the starboard side to wait and then watch as the lines – a stern line, an aft springer and a third one which probably also had a special name, were let go. It is actually pretty incredible how they manoeuvre these big ships out of spaces – sideways, forwards, pivot, etc.

All obstacles successfully avoided we scurried back to watch the pilot disembark down the Jacob’s ladder- not something that I would want to do as, although it didn’t feel like we were moving fast the pilot boat was working hard to keep abreast. Unfortunately the pilot did it so nimbly I couldn’t snap it quickly enough.

It was 11:30pm by this time and I think Mark and I might have been the only passengers still up.

Part of our morning routine before we go to the gym is to check our current location on the TV in our room. By the time we finished in the gym and went to breakfast there were rumours circulating that Oman had quietly disappeared off the TV display. Sure enough at 11am the captain confirmed that the diesel generator repair – while progressing satisfactory – was still impacting our progress and that as a result we would be skipping Oman and heading for an earlier arrival in Dubai.

In hindsight, our lengthy refuelling probably meant that the decision to skip Oman had already been made and we were taking on extra to get us all the way to Dubai! We are a bit disappointed, but hopefully the extra time in Dubai will see the problem sorted.