We are all sorry to hear this news. We feel your pain. At least you are all safe and together. I am sure Regent will do its best to make things as whole as they can be.

Holy smoking moley!!! What a bummer and what are the odds!!! I say they should refund you and let you stay on the ship for free for 2 weeks. You would all come home alcoholics

It has been really depressing. We've tried to keep busy playing pooch, eating, drinking, some have gone to trivia, but I decided I needed a nice long hot shower. BK cocktail party has been moved to tonight. We scored a "share" reservation in Prime 7 tonight, but have no idea who we are eating with. I was having a nice relaxing massage when the announcement came this morning and the girl giving the massage says "Oh you just tensed up" and I'm like "uh yeah". So guess we will just come on home, recoup what we can, and hopefully we can file with the insurance for refund of those outbound tickets we paid for, and regroup and see what we want to do. With all the alerts in European travel, think thats best for us. Really disappointed to say the least. But I suppose it could be worse!

TUT - Terrible, Utterly Terrible!


I know this resillent group will make the best of it - somehow!

If you would like me to arrange a shore excursion for you, everyone can go stand in front of the Nautica and we can stalk you :)
Come to think of it, I wonder if there is any space on the Nautica for you to all hop onboard!

When pod problems brought our segment of the '09 WC to an end...on a different day and in a different city..we were able to have our original air carrier change our tix to now depart consistent with the changes. Regent pd the change fees and this was a simple was for us to handle it without the anxities of who, when, what. I realize that others may elect to have Regent pay for the new tix and then get reimbursed by nsurance for the original tix....... just thought I'd offer it as an option.

So is anybody off enjoying Athens at least? A day trip to Aegina perhaps? I would be tempted to do what someone else suggested and hightail it off to a Greek island or the Peloponnese to chill.

Very sad. I am going with Wendy next time. She has good ideas.

I am so sorry for all of you. I am sure you haven't even gotten over jet lag yet. I hope you get great compensation from Regent, although that will never account for the packing, time taken away from other things, and the overall excitement of a great cruise.
Will be anxiously awaiting news that everyone gets home safe and sound.
Lynn

From USA Today:

Regent Seven Seas cruise canceled after engine malfunction
Comments 1

By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY

One of luxury line Regent Seven Seas' three ships, the Seven Seas Voyager, is experiencing a propulsion problem and will need to be repaired before it can sail again.

A spokesperson for the line tells USA TODAY the 700-passenger vessel developed the problem on Sunday as it was preparing to depart from Athens on a Mediterranean cruise.

The voyage has been canceled.

"The ship will remain alongside (the dock) in Athens, Greece to hotel guests while arrangements are made to fly all guests back to their city of origin," the line says in a statement. "Regent Seven Seas Cruises hopes to have all guests enroute back to their city of origin by Oct. 6."

Complimentary hotel accommodations in Athens will be arranged for any passenger not enroute home by Oct. 6, the line adds.

Regent says the Seven Seas Voyager will depart Athens on Oct. 6 for Genoa, Italy, where its propulsion system will undergo an assessment and repair in a dry dock.

The line didn't give an estimate of when the ship would return to service.

"Regent Seven Seas Cruises regrets any inconvenience and disappointment this has caused for our valued guests and travel partners," the line's statement says. "We will provide further updates and details on the disposition of the ship's future voyages once the technical team has begun their assessment and established the timeframe needed for repairs."

So sorry for everybody's disappointment.

And I feel sorry for folks on the next cruise as well. At least this time Regent has time to make decisions about what to do about those passengers.

How sad.....there are no words to make you all feel any better. My wish is for all to enjoy Athens, make it home safely and know your next cruise will be perfect.

oh no! This is such bad news for all. I'm glad you all have a few days to visit together. Everyone's situation is so unique - the need to suddenly switch gears and decide what to do next, compounded with the internet being down, makes for a very unhappy, uncertain time.

TUT? Torn asUnder & Tossedoff

Frank, we'd be the first ones on the plane with you and Carla to the lovely Greek isles.

If you can get down to see the Temple of Poseidon, it's worth the trip. Lovely drive to and from Athens.

I'm so sorry for everyone involved .. the crew has to be scrambling as surely some of them will be furloughed.

One small benefit is the ship is close to Genoa. Hopefully, the repair gets squared away sooner rather than later.

I am waiting by the phone for Joanna to call and give an update, since they don't have internet access!

OH MY! :ohmy:
I feel so bad for all of you on board.

Ditto to everything. At least you're all together and hopefully making the best of it!

:hug:

Nancy

Well we just finished the first ever captain's welcome and Captian's farewell dinner all rolled into one. Marc and I were able to snag a reservation tonight for Prime 7 with Pricillia & John and Susan & Russ to replace the one we will miss next week. Dinner was fabulous but sad. It is finally sinking in that we will be going back home tomorrow or the next day. We are all hanging in there and trying to make the best of things as things could always be much worse, but we are all disappointed. There are a lot of new LCT "recruits" in this group whom we were all looking forward to getting to know. Now there will just not be enough time. Am off now to the meet the others in the observation lounge. Needless to say the drinks are flowing freely and have been doing so all day.

Arlene

Thanks for checking in, Arlene. It sounds like everyone is trying to make the best of this disappointing situation. Have a good time as long as it lasts.

Go somewhere and throw plates :(

Oh Karens post makes it worse on Regrnt's part - why don't they just take us to Italy - I think Genoa is on the west coast so drop people off in Rome for train to Venice would be a lot easier than trying to get everyone out of Athens.

Even worse than Internet being mostly down the telephone isn't realty working either.

Peter, why is the internet down?

This is very sad news. How disappointing for everyone on board.

Regent certainly has had major problems with its pod system.

Susan

Its amazing that the ship is in Port and the internet and phone both are not working properly...

Still cannot believe this has happened to everyone..

FV

Olivia posted on cc that the internet and phones were working, just spotty. Also excursions were conducted today and entertainment was normal.

We think it's just too many people trying to use the phone & Internet at once. It's 2:00 am & I didn't have any trouble logging in with my iPhone when earlier today I couldn't. Also had to wait for a phone line when I was calling my mom earlier this evening.

Reception called at 1:00 am to tell us they have us booked on an Iberia flight out at 7:15 am this morning. We would have had to leave at 4:00 am. We've been working on an alternate plan to go to Santorini for a few days but I just had so much trouble getting online trying to research hotels. So frustrating. There was no way I was getting up to pack & then head to the airport. We told them we would pass & let them know what we were going to do. Now we'll have to pay for the hotel on Wednesday night in Athens & then file for reimbursement with Regent later.

We thought about going to Venice after Santorini but it's so much schlepping of bags. We think we're going to spend 5 nights in Santorini & Regent will get us home from there.

Now it's 2:00 am & I probably won't be able to go back to sleep. This whole thing has given me a headache!

Andrea, I seem to remember dealing with a similar situation with you and Kathy on a trip several years ago. DejaVu! Hope you make fun alternative arrangements.

Andi -

Ironic that many of the LCT group on board were on Mush.

We have some non LCT friends onboard and they were able to make the post cruise travel happen so they are off tomorrow for the original post cruise plans. They toured all day and had a great time.

Ship happens. Andrea, I hope you get to spend the week in Santorini. Love that island.

Andrea, three hours short notice in the middle of the night is nuts. During the day, given the circumstances, isn't. Why would Regent be responsible for getting you back from Santorini?

This is terrible. I feel so bad for all of you.

There is nothing I could say to make the situation any better.

JoAnn, perhaps we can get together with you and Frank when you get back.

Tom.

I'm so sorry for all of you. We so look forward to our vacations all year so I understand your frustration. May you all get good connections home :)

Woke at 4am and finally have some internet access. (we're all in a competition here. ) This is the third time Regent has canceled our planned cruise in 2 years. All I can say is:

:(

Like all of us here, I am so sorry about these developments.
Are others staying in Europe and making a land vacation out of it? Andrea, I think going to Santorini is a great idea. Was just there for a day and would have loved to spend a few days there.

One great way to make lemonade out of lemons is to plan a land vacation. You're all ready there and making the most of your time in Europe, regardless of where you go, surely will ease some of the disappointment.

To those making their way home, safe travels.

Any baseball fans out there? "three strikes...your out"
Perhaps its time to replace the pod.

I truly cannot fathom what you all are going through! Even in my much younger days, coping with all these decisions, never mind the disappointment, is mind-boggling! Wishing you all the very best!

And I thought this pod was replaced after the WC was aborted at the end of the cruise! In my wandering around this morning, I found that 32 people have already left, I think the last ones around 6 a.m. I checked at reception, and they still don't have my reservations re-done. Understanding that they would take care of Regent air guests before they get around to re-routing the independent travelers. On MUSH when we were a day late disembarking, we independents had to do it ourselves, so this is a great stress reliever having Regent do it for us.

Pat when I spoke to someone in reception yesterday that's what I was told. We can get ourselves somewhere & Regent will get us home. This isn't anything that was announced but perhaps they are doing it as a favor since we are already all the way over here.

I'm going to see about booking my alternate trip to Santorini & I'll let you know how it goes.

Andi & Kathy - this does seem familiar!

Andrea - it should be fairly easy from Pireus. There is a ferry that shuttles between the Greek Isles.

Thanks Kathy. We looked into that but even the fastest one takes 5 hours to get to Santorini.

Let me know if I'm boring you all with these details but I feel better telling you our plans for some reason!

Everything is booked. We are going to fly from Athens to Santorini tomorrow morning. The hotel I want to stay in Oia doesn't have availability until Friday, so we're going to stay at the Vedema Resort tomorrow night & Thursday night (Starwood property Frank!). Then we will stay in Oia at the Andronis Luxury Suites until Tuesday, fly back to Athens and spend the night at the Sofitel at the airport, and hopefully fly back to Boston on Wednesday. Jerel is down at reception letting them know our plans and we will see what they book for our return to BOS.

I feel a lot better now that things are booked and we have a plan!

phone and internet very iffy so makes planning very difficlt - we are trying to get to Singapore have son there and then return close to our scheduled return date Oct 17...most people have kept spirits up but very disappointing and the LCT group is fantastic - we sure would have had a great trip!!!! :mecry: :mecry: :mecry: :mecry: :mecry: :mecry: :mecry: