Voyager's woes, updated

[PaulaJK]

I have started a new post in the hope that we can eliminate all of the confusion while also having a forum for updating any news about Voyager's status.

[Travelcat2]

Thanks, Paula. Is your understanding the same as mine . . . . that the manufacturers will attempt to fix the pod problem at the next port? It sounds like they need to make sure that they remove all of the fishing net and assure that the seals are in tact.

[PaulaJK]

It is my understanding that the pod-company techs will board in Cochin on 3/25 and will evaluate the situation. I hope that includes trying to fix the injury if fixable but I am unknowing about this.

 

The reasons that I am not so optomistic include--

1.Regent has already cancelled the ports that were to follow Cochin [ 1 day in Mumbai & 2 days in Abu Dhabi] & indicated that they will proceed directly to Dubai, the end point for this cruise.

2.Capt. Dag has stated [many sources] that dry dock may be required & that it's not so easy to find dry dock on short notice.

3.We are scheduled to board in Dubai.

4.I am a worrier! ....with fantasies of being stranded in Dubai..and no visas to head off to Luxor, Petra,etc by land. [The ship had blanket visas for several countries.]

[Travelcat2]

When are you scheduled to fly to Dubai? Have you heard anything from your TA? It sounds like you will have to wait until 3/25 and see if they are able to fix the pod. Even if they are not, they should be able to estimate the time it will take in dry dock. My fingers remain crossed:)

[jhp]

Paula, I am feeling a lot of empathy for you. As I remember, you didn't have a great experience getting off your last Regent cruise. If it helps, I was on Silversea (shouldn't be any different rules from Regent) last year, and don't remember a visa being needed in the countries you mentioned. We started in Dubai.

 

Are you thinking of just canceling and knowing that Regent will probably make you whole financially, or are you going to take the chance that things will be fixed before you get there? (Of course, a possibility!) It's a hard decision!

[PaulaJK]

My first, 2nd and 3rd choices are to sail! I'm not going to cancel...but I do have concerns whether Voyager will be repaired in time for our voyage. I guess that we are 'wait & see' at this point although it's challenging not to be anxious. We leave on Sunday afternoon, so time is tight. As stated, I don't want to be stranded in Dubai. I would have to research this but it was my understanding that the ship had 'blanket' visas [like Silversea] and were we to need to take off on our own for land adventures, we would be sans visas.

 

I am not particularly cheered by Regent's [finally!] announcement of pod difficulties. One is left to infer that they will hopefully continue their schedule when all on board posters indicate that they have been informed that Mumbai & Abu Dhabi are cancelled. I suspect that the actual decisions involve early termination of the cruise for dry dock....but I don't know this. It won't be a happy picture for Regent if they have two ruined cruises.

 

Yes, I was on the New Year's cruise with the multi hour luggage debacle.

That blame I ascribed to Regent. This I consider accidental although the lack of information is not helpful. Our TA has essentially rec'd the same info from a direct line at Regent.

[mrlevin]

Paula, you are right that Egypt requires a visa. However, assuming that you are a US citizen (the information I have is from US gov't), you can visa at arrival airport if you do fly. Here is the paragraph from travel.state.gov:

 

ENTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS: A passport and visa are required. Tourists can obtain a renewable thirty-day tourist visa on arrival at an Egyptian airport for a $15 fee, payable in U.S. dollars. Visitors arriving overland and/or those who previously experienced difficulty with their visa status in Egypt should obtain a visa prior to arrival. Travelers arriving from Israel at the Taba border crossing are advised to obtain a visa prior to their arrival, otherwise they are granted either a no-fee, fourteen-day visa valid for travel within Sinai only, or they may buy a thirty-day tourist visa for $15 upon submission of a travel agency support letter. The letters are obtainable from travel agents at the border; however, their fees for providing this service vary.

 

Hope this allays some of your fears.

[dmb707]

Hi all

 

I have just had an update from my father on board the Voyager!

 

The latest is that 2 engineers will be joining the ship tomorrow to assess the damage to the pod in the belief that then the parts can be ordered to fix the problem in dry dock in Dubai

 

Another point is that the ship is not set up for all the days at sea, ie on a translantic crossing normally there are more lecturers, guest entertainers etc employed which is not the case at the moment, so there is not a lot to do on board if you do not like sitting in the sun etc

 

hopefully i will have another update either later or tomorrow

[PaulaJK]

Thanks for this information Marc. It does [at minimum] make some travel possible although I am going to have to considerably stoke my enthusiasm to do Egypt by land!

[Jayayeff]

My first, 2nd and 3rd choices are to sail! I'm not going to cancel...but I do have concerns whether Voyager will be repaired in time for our voyage. I guess that we are 'wait & see' at this point although it's challenging not to be anxious. We leave on Sunday afternoon, so time is tight. As stated, I don't want to be stranded in Dubai. I would have to research this but it was my understanding that the ship had 'blanket' visas [like Silversea] and were we to need to take off on our own for land adventures, we would be sans visas.

.

 

Paula,

 

I have friends onboard the ship at present however, they are clearly not checking emails or mobile phone mesaages as I've tried to contact them twice already without success. They like me live in Dubai and this cruise was a surprise 50th birthday present for one of them, and their first cruise...Hopefully the pod problem will be resolved without any delay to your segment departure date.

 

However, assuming you travel on a US passport then you will get a 30 days visit visa upon arrivial into the UAE and the same also applies to Oman. If for any reason you did have to fly to Egypt then you can get a visit visa upon arrival at the airport...If I can help in allaying your concern about being 'stranded' in Dubai in anyway, please post any questions you may have...

 

Anne

[mrlevin]

Hi all

 

I have just had an update from my father on board the Voyager!

 

The latest is that 2 engineers will be joining the ship tomorrow to assess the damage to the pod in the belief that then the parts can be ordered to fix the problem in dry dock in Dubai

 

Another point is that the ship is not set up for all the days at sea, ie on a translantic crossing normally there are more lecturers, guest entertainers etc employed which is not the case at the moment, so there is not a lot to do on board if you do not like sitting in the sun etc

 

hopefully i will have another update either later or tomorrow

 

The schedule has three sea days between Phuket and Cochin (after removal of Sri Lanka). Now, they are having four sea days instead of three. I am surprised that one more sea day is making such a difference in on board activities. Of course, leaving Cochin, if there are no port visits for five days, that would make a difference. At close to 2000 nm, the trip from Cochin to Dubai will take close to six days if they can only make 14knots.

 

I hope the inspection goes well tomorrow and that repairs are "easy;" for both the passengers and Regent's benefit.

[mrlevin]

Oops, my edit time expired. :(

 

Given that the ship will not be stopping in Mumbai, the actual distance appears to be much shorter; 1598nm between Cochin and Dubai. That is still almost five days at 14knots.

[Hambagahle]

Paula JK

 

When we were planning a trip to Egypt (at the end it got cancelled!) I called the Egyptian embassy in Bern to ask about visas...the answer is that they actually recommend the visa on arrival!! She said it works out to be cheaper than going through them before you leave for Egypt, and is no hassle at all. (For what it's worth...)

 

Also, friends who have been to Dubai love it. Lots to see and do (shop till you drop!) And one of them was a single woman...early 30's long blonde hair. She had no problems at all!

[TedC]

Paula,

 

When we were in Egypt a couple of years ago we obtained visas ahead of time thinking it would speed things up at airport.

 

Wrong! Line for people getting visas at airport was MUCH shorter than line for people who already had visas,

 

We did get Jordan visas easily at Amman airport,

[dmb707]

Paula,

 

I have friends onboard the ship at present however, they are clearly not checking emails or mobile phone mesaages as I've tried to contact them twice already without success. They like me live in Dubai and this cruise was a surprise 50th birthday present for one of them, and their first cruise...Hopefully the pod problem will be resolved without any delay to your segment departure date.

 

However, assuming you travel on a US passport then you will get a 30 days visit visa upon arrivial into the UAE and the same also applies to Oman. If for any reason you did have to fly to Egypt then you can get a visit visa upon arrival at the airport...If I can help in allaying your concern about being 'stranded' in Dubai in anyway, please post any questions you may have...

 

Anne

 

Anne up until today there has been no mobile phone coverage on board and the internet has been working very slowly as via Satelite so that is perhaps why your friends have not been picking up your messages

[wripro]

PaulaJK,

 

If I were you I'd have my TA call Regent IMMEDIATELY and get some indication of what they will do should your cruise not take place once you are there, or if enough ports are affected that it alters your cruise significantly. Regent should be making some arrangements for that NOW and not wait until the last minute hoping that everything will work out.

[Travelcat2]

PaulaJK,

 

If I were you I'd have my TA call Regent IMMEDIATELY and get some indication of what they will do should your cruise not take place once you are there, or if enough ports are affected that it alters your cruise significantly. Regent should be making some arrangements for that NOW and not wait until the last minute hoping that everything will work out.

 

I agree that a phone call to Regent is in order. However, IMO, it would be better to wait until tomorrow when it will be determined how long the "fix" will take and whether or not it needs to go into dry dock.

[PaulaJK]

I want to thank all of you for your solicitious posts and the information re: visas. I feel more comfortable knowing that if 'stranded' in Dubai, we can make alternate plans and acquire visas on entry to some countries. We have visited Dubai previously and seen most of its sights.

 

I did make one attempt through my TA to get information from Regent. In fairness, I don't think that they can give any information until the techs give their apparaisal of repair possibilities. While I offer this statement, I also want to note that I didn't appreciate Regent's reply that Voyager had pod problems but was sailing merrily through the waves without further incident. They neglected to mention cancelled ports.......Disingenuous at best. Hopefully, Regent is at least exploring contingency plans. I will try again after Cochin.

[xrvlcruiser]

>>Another point is that the ship is not set up for all the days at sea, ie on a translantic crossing normally there are more lecturers, guest entertainers etc employed which is not the case at the moment, so there is not a lot to do on board if you do not like sitting in the sun etc<<

 

I'm not sure what your father was expecting but we only had one extra sea day (4, not 3) so although the staff was not expecting the extra day, they certainly stepped up to the plate.

 

Not my definition of boring days: Bob Woodward is on board and has talked 4 times - longer than the normal 45 minutes each time with lots of time for questions plus one extra session for which he "volunteered". Plus we have 2 other lecturers on as well plus the destination guy.

 

Three lectures a day plus the "normal" daily things: computer instruction bridge (lessons and games), games (trivia, baggo, bingo etc). There was a one act show one afternoon done by the 4 singers in the cast And the award winning Slum Dog Millionaire was shown 3 times (by passenger request) And the weather has been good too - hot and sunny.

 

If you don't like sea days, I guess it's boring but it is what we usually have and more. And the entertainment has been "normal" as well - one pre-dinner show plus the usual 9:30 entertainment (a excellent singer, a comedian and a top-notch pianist) plus the production shows as well so what is everyone complaining about????

 

Do I wish we'd get more specifics and know what will happen? Sure but no one knows at the moment including Dag and Regent so how can they tell us anything?

 

Just my opinion . . . .

[dmb707]

Hi

 

I have just been advised that the pod could not be fixed in Cochin and will now sail direct to Dubai.

 

Also the boat will need to go into dry dock in order to be fixed, but at the moment i am not sure where this will be, as previous posts have stated that no dry dock is available in Dubai?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Is there really no dry dock available in Dubai? I thought somebody just posted this as a joke. Too bad they couldn't fix this in Cochin.

[mrlevin]

Instead of all this supposition, why doesn't anyone (Like Host Dan) call the PCH Media Contact Mr. Tim Rubacky. Here is his phone number: 786-223-3846

[Jayayeff]

Hi

 

I have just been advised that the pod could not be fixed in Cochin and will now sail direct to Dubai.

 

Also the boat will need to go into dry dock in order to be fixed, but at the moment i am not sure where this will be, as previous posts have stated that no dry dock is available in Dubai?

 

There is a dry dock facility here in Dubai but whether it has space availability at short notice will be the issue...I have a couple of friends work in the shipping industry but as it's already after 8 in the evening, too late to try and find out any info from them today...

 

Anne

[WesW]

Link to Dubai Dry Dock posted below...Marc posted the dock map previously, DDD has

3 dry docks and a floating dry dock...hope there is space for the Voyager.

 

http://www.drydocks.gov.ae/

[Travelcat2]

Paula, has your TA spoken with Regent today? They no doubt have a good idea of how long it will take for the entire process (drydock, getting parts, fixing the pod, etc.)

 

Is the Voyager getting in Dubai ahead of schedule?

 

Regent has a responsibility to keep the passengers on board as well as those on the next segment of the world cruise informed on at least a daily basis. The rest of us are concerned and want to learn as much as possible -- however, IMO, there is no reason for Regent to keep us in the loop.

 

There are many variables -- we can only hope for the best.