March 13, 2020 - Friday

Azamara Quest Cape Town to Athens 

Cruise Day 23 -Muscat, Oman

Last Day Onboard

We docked in Muscat in the dark just before 8:00 last night, and we did only a cursory review of the area from deck 10. This morning we went out after breakfast for a better look. The harbor is situated at the base of a ring of mountains. It is stark but appealing. We noticed a Celebrity ship stopped well outside the harbor. After a while, it started moving, did a circle and sailed away. We do not know why they did not enter. We can only guess.

At breakfast, Neyon told us that about 200 passengers leave today and 400 leave tomorrow. On Sunday the crew will move the ship to Abu Dhabi for a scheduled refueling. He has not been told yet where they will go from there.  They will have 12 days to get to Athens if that cruise is not canceled. 

Muscat Sunrise

Muscat Terminal and Control Tower

Don't Know What This Is

Livestock Vessel

Learned Tonight that the City Is Beyond the Mountains

We used up our last 5 hours of internet time in the cabin. And I finished the book I had taken out of the library. 

We ate dinner in the Living Room because the restaurants were not scheduled to open until 6:00 and 6:30. Our transfer to the airport was scheduled for 7:00. Dinner consisted of just a few appetizers and a farewell cocktail. 

We were called promptly at 7:00 and left the ship with our carry-ons. Saying goodbye to the officers and crew on the gangway was sad.

We collected our luggage in the terminal. It had been arranged by departure time, so it was easy to find ours. A porter took it and loaded it onto the coach for us. We took our seats. When the last person boarded we left for the half-hour drive to the airport.

The harbor is situated at the foot of some mountains with only a few buildings along a highway that followed the coast. Before long we crossed through the mountains and found a modern city. Lights were bright and signs were in Arabic and English. Traffic flowed smoothly. We arrived at the airport shortly after 8:00. We had to wait for the counter to open for our KLM flight to Amsterdam. It was scheduled for 11:45 and the counter opens 3 hours before that.

Finally, we got to the counter. I gave the agent our confirmation number then he swiped our passports and found the file. He asked for our tickets. All Azamara had given to us was the confirmation number. He informed us that they had made a reservation, but had not ticketed it. He could not issue boarding passes without a ticket number. He had us step aside to call our travel agent.

Bonnie was dismayed when I explained our plight. She had never experienced a failure like this before. I stayed on the line while she called Azamara. Almost an hour later she had me ask the agent to confirm that we now had tickets. He did have them. I bid Bonnie goodbye. Thank God this occurred while she was in the office. It was midnight here and mid-afternoon in Schaumburg.

We now had a two-hour wait. We enjoyed excellent food in the available business class lounge. It made up for the light dinner in the Living Room.

Boarding went smoothly. We settled into our business class seats and enjoyed champaign before take off. After a light meal, we tried to get some sleep.