Voyager is SCREWED in Athens - Cruise CANCELLED

[Wendy The Wanderer]

It is interesting that Regent has treated passengers on the Oct 3rd Voyager cruise in an inconsistent manner. I was never offically offered any cruise option and would not have even know of the cruise options if I had not read about them on this site. I am pleased that they have credited my credit card with a full refund of the cruise cost but am disappointed that I was never given the option of choosing another cruise that other passengers were.

 

Ogie, they are refunding all passengers, and Wes is right, you have until Friday to choose one of the replacement cruises.

[petlover]

Oagie58, I haven't heard anything directly from Regent either but we've been kept up to date paractically daily from our TA....you may want to consider a new one.

Good luck, I hope it all works out for you after our disappointing cruise to nowhere.

[seattlesloop]

It is interesting that Regent has treated passengers on the Oct 3rd Voyager cruise in an inconsistent manner. I was never offically offered any cruise option and would not have even know of the cruise options if I had not read about them on this site. I am pleased that they have credited my credit card with a full refund of the cruise cost but am disappointed that I was never given the option of choosing another cruise that other passengers were.

 

 

Makes you wonder if certain people or groups are getting preferential treatment. Did you contact Regent and ask why this wasn't offered to you? Whether you have a travel agent or not, your compensation and options should be identical. You're as much a paying customer as anyone who works with a travel agent.

[mrlevin]

It is interesting that Regent has treated passengers on the Oct 3rd Voyager cruise in an inconsistent manner. I was never offically offered any cruise option and would not have even know of the cruise options if I had not read about them on this site. I am pleased that they have credited my credit card with a full refund of the cruise cost but am disappointed that I was never given the option of choosing another cruise that other passengers were.

 

All our communication has been through my TA. She forwarded the letter received from Regent. I am sure your TA received the equivalent letter. The letter even provided the contact information for Guest Relations in order to coordinate reimbursement for expenses.

 

Marc

[ChatKat in Ca.]

A friend of mine was on the Oct 3rd cruise and has had no help from her TA at all. Everything was on her own. Fortunately my TA was on the cruise with a group so I was able to forward the info to her. She is changing TA's for the rebooked cruise.

[Travelcat2]

This reinforces what many regulars on CruiseCritic tout. . . . it is important to have a TA who specializes in luxury cruising. While some people may have a wonderful TA that knows all about the latest airfares and may even be familiar with other types of cruising. . . . this is a specialized field. Hopefully people that consider booking directly with Regent will rethink their decision in the future. The right TA will keep you advised when there are problems.

 

It is yet to be seen whether passengers who booked their own air will be reimbursed for their airfare. From what I have heard, people who booked their own air were taken care of in terms of getting home. . . . but the routes were fairly poor.

[ogie58]

Thank you to all of you who posted about my concern about equal information. I guess my main point is that Regent should notify each of the impacted passengers directly and information should not depend on the quality of ones TA. They have all of our e-mail addresses and they could of easily sent out a blanket e-mail so all impacted passengers would have the same information and the same time line to make an informed decision. I don't think it will be possible for us to take advantage of the alternative cruises but it would have been nice to be directly informed.

[mrlevin]

It is yet to be seen whether passengers who booked their own air will be reimbursed for their airfare. From what I have heard, people who booked their own air were taken care of in terms of getting home. . . . but the routes were fairly poor.

 

Be careful when you speak of what you know not. ;)

 

Many had excellent connections (e.g., ATH - EWR - CLE) while others had three or more flights. There were problems with those that flew over on US airlines with higher luggage limits than the limit allowed on their return on Air France. Still, I wouldn't make a blanket statement when you weren't even there.

 

Just my two drachma,

 

marc

[PSO123]

Thank you to all of you who posted about my concern about equal information. I guess my main point is that Regent should notify each of the impacted passengers directly and information should not depend on the quality of ones TA. They have all of our e-mail addresses and they could of easily sent out a blanket e-mail so all impacted passengers would have the same information and the same time line to make an informed decision. I don't think it will be possible for us to take advantage of the alternative cruises but it would have been nice to be directly informed.

 

I believe they are not that organized or they are buffering themselves. Either way, I am done with them. I just want a FULL refund.

[Anna B.]

Be careful when you speak of what you know not. ;)

 

Many had excellent connections (e.g., ATH - EWR - CLE) while others had three or more flights. There were problems with those that flew over on US airlines with higher luggage limits than the limit allowed on their return on Air France. Still, I wouldn't make a blanket statement when you weren't even there.

 

Just my two drachma,

 

marc

 

I wish I could have had ATH - EWR - CLE :( Maybe next time......

[mrlevin]

I wish I could have had ATH - EWR - CLE :( Maybe next time......

 

Kathy, I understand. Ray and Penny won out on that one. Yours had to be the worst itinerary of anyone in our group. I also feel sorry for those that ended up on Air France overweight. We knew about Air France limitations as we flew over on them so we were well within the weight limits.

[Anna B.]

Thanks, Marc! As I said, maybe next time I'll be luckier! Miss you two!

(Guess I should have said WE will be luckier - Al was there too!)

 

Kathy

[Travelcat2]

Be careful when you speak of what you know not. ;)

 

Many had excellent connections (e.g., ATH - EWR - CLE) while others had three or more flights. There were problems with those that flew over on US airlines with higher luggage limits than the limit allowed on their return on Air France. Still, I wouldn't make a blanket statement when you weren't even there.

 

Just my two drachma,

 

marc

 

I'm sure that some people did get some good connections. The ones that I've read about were not so good. As you know, our friends, Kathy & Al., had repeated 8 hour layovers. . . . However, did not mean it to be a blanket statement.

[cruisebugbit]

This reinforces what many regulars on CruiseCritic tout. . . . it is important to have a TA who specializes in luxury cruising. While some people may have a wonderful TA that knows all about the latest airfares and may even be familiar with other types of cruising. . . . this is a specialized field. Hopefully people that consider booking directly with Regent will rethink their decision in the future. The right TA will keep you advised when there are problems.

 

It is yet to be seen whether passengers who booked their own air will be reimbursed for their airfare. From what I have heard, people who booked their own air were taken care of in terms of getting home. . . . but the routes were fairly poor.

 

We got our TA through Regent's website and have been greatly disappointed with her... despite her apparent "specialization in luxury cruising". We are currently working with another TA for some future travel and working this Regent lady out of the picture. We did not hear of any substitute cruises from her. We have not received a letter from Regent. The latest is her confirmation of $1000 per person credit against future cruises but she is unable to confirm at this time that we can put it against our February New Zealand cruise on Voyager which has been booked for quite a few months.

 

In reading this thread, we consider ourselves lucky to have had the full cost of the non-cruise credited to our Amex. At least we are whole, self-employed and able to consider something like this in the future which I realize many of you are not able to. I wish all of my fellow "Weekend In Athens" travellers the best of luck in getting what they feel they deserve.

[cruisebugbit]

Thank you to all of you who posted about my concern about equal information. I guess my main point is that Regent should notify each of the impacted passengers directly and information should not depend on the quality of ones TA. They have all of our e-mail addresses and they could of easily sent out a blanket e-mail so all impacted passengers would have the same information and the same time line to make an informed decision. I don't think it will be possible for us to take advantage of the alternative cruises but it would have been nice to be directly informed.

 

Well said.

[cruisebugbit]

I wish I could have had ATH - EWR - CLE :( Maybe next time......

 

Just a general statement here, but Regent booked us on Alitalia from Athens to Rome to Toronto and we were very pleased with the service, yummy food and seats in business class, especially on the long haul.

We were concerned based on reports of old dirty planes and zero service.

Ironic considering we had fought with Regent to book us on Lufthansa out of Venice at the end of the cruise instead of Alitalia.

[countflorida]

Is this ever a prime example why everyone needs a diligent, resourseful travel agent to advise and help them, particularly in troublesome times like this.

 

What a mess!

[cruisebugbit]

Is this ever a prime example why everyone needs a diligent, resourseful travel agent to advise and help them, particularly in troublesome times like this.

 

What a mess!

 

So true. The trick is to find one before they cost you too much money.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

So true. The trick is to find one before they cost you too much money.

 

Yes, this happened to us in the past. But then we found our excellent TA. I think it's incredibly ironic that many of us could recommend any one of several great TA's, but we can not. And we can't even email each other to talk about it.

[petlover]

I guess Tom and I were some of the lucky ones. We got off the ship on Wednesday with a flight to Munich, a short layover than a non-stop to LAX, all in Lufthansa Biz Class. On the other board you may be able to read more postings to enlighten you as to what your options are for the cancelled cruise. Many are taking advantage of the longer cruises being offered which is certainly a good value. We decided to just take the refund and credit as the longer cruises didn't work for us.

[peteropny]

We were pretty lucky too - Wednesday flght from Athens to Paris then home to Cincinnati on Air France / Delta - in the correct business class also.

[Oceans&Rivers]

Yes, this happened to us in the past. But then we found our excellent TA. I think it's incredibly ironic that many of us could recommend any one of several great TA's, but we can not. And we can't even email each other to talk about it.

 

You can post your email addresses in other "general interest" threads and you will find each other. :)

[OrpingtonT]

And we can't even email each other to talk about it.

 

ColWes always includes his e-mail addy in his posts.

[JMARINER]

............ And we can't even email each other to talk about it.

 

 

Sure you can, just put your email in your sig. See below.

 

J

[hondorner]

Been posting mine for ages, and people use it all the time for general conversations. Just don't do it for the specific purpose of exchanging TA information.