Marella Discovery makes unscheduled port call in Dubai to avoid bad weather on east coast

Marella Cruises, part of TUI, was in port in Dubai Saturday with Marella Discovery on her 14-night cruise from Fujairah to Cochin, India.

The port call in Dubai wasn’t a scheduled part of her itinerary, with the ship instead meant to be in port in Khor Fakkan today, but she was likely re-routed to Dubai instead to avoid a low pressure system forming over the east coast.

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According to the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) during Friday to Monday the UAE will be affected by a “surface low pressure associated with weak extension of the upper air low pressure trough”.

While the weather in Dubai was sunny and warm through much of Saturday, the low pressure system is creating unstable weather conditions and rain and thunderstorms were expected late Saturday and through to Monday.

Moderate to rough sea conditions were also forecast for the Arabian Sea on the UAE’s east coast, likely prompting Marella Cruises to seek better conditions in Dubai.

By the time the expected rain and thunderstorms arrive in the emirate on Saturday evening and Monday, she will be well on her way to Salalah, Oman, where she’ll spend the day on the 18^th of November before overnighting in Muscat.

Marella Discovery will also call in Mumbai, Goa, and Mangalore before finishing the two-week cruise in Cochin.

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Despite the apparent change in plans for Marella Discovery, passengers onboard seemed happy with the inclusion of a stop in Dubai.

Cruise Arabia & Africa has reached out to Marella Cruises for clarification.

This wouldn’t be the first time unpredictable weather systems have interfered with cruises from Dubai. During the late summer cyclone season in the Arabian Sea, cruises regularly have to dodge bad weather.

Most recently AIDA Cruises’ was forced to re-route two of its ships cruising in the region due to Cyclone Kyarr.

The wider weather system associated with Cyclone Kyarr also caused heavy rains in Dubai, causing some flooding in Dubai Mall during a port call by TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 5, which is homeporting in Dubai for the current winter season.