Seven Seas Voyager Suffers Propulsion Problem

Seven Seas Voyager.

Photo courtesy of Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Guests aboard Regent's Seven Seas Voyager got a nasty surprise as they were about to leave Athens, Greece at the start of their Mediterranean cruise.

Their cruise was over before it even started.

A problem with the ships propulsion system - specifically one of the azimuthing "pods" that propels and steers the ship - has resulted in that voyage being cancelled outright as Regent tries to secure drydock space to fully assess the problem.

As of this writing, it has emerged that Voyager's October 17th cruise has also been canceled.

In the case of the current voyage, passengers were initially told they could use the ship until today, at which time they would have to be off.  Regent is securing return air transportation for all affected guests, but posts on CruiseCritic indicate the process has been anything but smooth, and is still on-going.  Guests have since been told they may remain onboard until Thursday, October 7th. 

Another poster currently onboard Seven Seas Voyager, has stated tugs had to be used to move the ship from one berth to the next when another cruise vessel needed their original berth.  This would indicate propulsion is non-existent at this time and further complicates the issue of repairing the ship: a tow to a drydock in Venice or Genoa would be extraordinarily expensive and time-consuming.

The fix itself is likely to be tricky; while some issues with propulsion can be solved with little or no downtime, major issues can take much longer due to the specialized nature of the equipment: this isn't something you waltz into a hardware store to fix.  In many cases, replacement parts have to be specially machined from their original manufacturers, and is far from speedy.

What can you do if you're booked on an upcoming Seven Seas Voyager cruise?  Until you hear otherwise from Regent, do nothing.  Have your travel agent get in touch with them and see what they recommend.  Until Regent can fully assess the scope of the problem and the logistics of fixing it, it's very possible they have no idea how many voyages this may affect.

Passengers booked on an upcoming cruise may want to keep their eyes tuned to CruiseCritic's News Page; they've been following the situation closely and are likely to break news of affected voyages first.