diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
index 85a33992369..cd3fb5c501f 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/cloudwatch.go
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ func (e *cloudWatchExecutor) getRequestContext(ctx context.Context, pluginCtx ba
 		EC2APIProvider:        ec2Client,
 		Settings:              instance.Settings,
 		Features:              e.features,
+		Logger:                logger,
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/api.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/api.go
index bcda4d2df1f..4abcb4346ed 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/api.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/api.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/ec2"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/oam"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana-plugin-sdk-go/backend"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/infra/log"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/services/featuremgmt"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/resources"
 )
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ type RequestContext struct {
 	EC2APIProvider        EC2APIProvider
 	Settings              CloudWatchSettings
 	Features              featuremgmt.FeatureToggles
+	Logger                log.Logger
 }
 
 // Services
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/routes/regions.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/routes/regions.go
index 4fd9fbfd57f..ff7a0aad232 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/routes/regions.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/routes/regions.go
@@ -44,5 +44,5 @@ var newRegionsService = func(ctx context.Context, pluginCtx backend.PluginContex
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	return services.NewRegionsService(reqCtx.EC2APIProvider), nil
+	return services.NewRegionsService(reqCtx.EC2APIProvider, reqCtx.Logger), nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/services/regions.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/services/regions.go
index 8662afba988..37bbac3172d 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/services/regions.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/services/regions.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package services
 import (
 	"sort"
 
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/infra/log"
+
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/ec2"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/constants"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models"
@@ -11,11 +13,13 @@ import (
 
 type RegionsService struct {
 	models.EC2APIProvider
+	log.Logger
 }
 
-func NewRegionsService(ec2client models.EC2APIProvider) models.RegionsAPIProvider {
+func NewRegionsService(ec2client models.EC2APIProvider, logger log.Logger) models.RegionsAPIProvider {
 	return &RegionsService{
 		ec2client,
+		logger,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -33,8 +37,11 @@ func (r *RegionsService) GetRegions() ([]resources.ResourceResponse[resources.Re
 	result := make([]resources.ResourceResponse[resources.Region], 0)
 
 	ec2Regions, err := r.DescribeRegions(&ec2.DescribeRegionsInput{})
+	// we ignore this error and always send default regions
+	// we only fetch incase a user has enabled additional regions
+	// but we still log it in case the user is expecting to fetch regions specific to their account and are unable to
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		r.Error("Failed to get regions: ", "error", err)
 	}
 
 	mergeEC2RegionsAndConstantRegions(regions, ec2Regions.Regions)
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/services/regions_test.go b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/services/regions_test.go
index 20334d58cfc..9778a43b135 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/services/regions_test.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/services/regions_test.go
@@ -4,12 +4,15 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/ec2"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/infra/log"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/mocks"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/models/resources"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb/cloudwatch/utils"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
+var testLogger = log.New("test logger")
+
 func TestRegions(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Run("returns regions from the api and merges them with default regions", func(t *testing.T) {
 		mockRegions := &ec2.DescribeRegionsOutput{
@@ -21,7 +24,7 @@ func TestRegions(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		ec2Mock := &mocks.EC2Mock{}
 		ec2Mock.On("DescribeRegions").Return(mockRegions, nil)
-		regions, err := NewRegionsService(ec2Mock).GetRegions()
+		regions, err := NewRegionsService(ec2Mock, testLogger).GetRegions()
 		assert.NoError(t, err)
 		assert.Contains(t, regions, resources.ResourceResponse[resources.Region]{
 			Value: resources.Region{
@@ -35,10 +38,18 @@ func TestRegions(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	})
 
-	t.Run("forwards error if DescribeRegions errors out", func(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("always returns default regions, even if fetch fails", func(t *testing.T) {
 		ec2Mock := &mocks.EC2Mock{}
-		ec2Mock.On("DescribeRegions").Return((*ec2.DescribeRegionsOutput)(nil), assert.AnError)
-		_, err := NewRegionsService(ec2Mock).GetRegions()
-		assert.Error(t, err)
+		mockRegions := &ec2.DescribeRegionsOutput{
+			Regions: []*ec2.Region{},
+		}
+		ec2Mock.On("DescribeRegions").Return(mockRegions, assert.AnError)
+		regions, err := NewRegionsService(ec2Mock, testLogger).GetRegions()
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Contains(t, regions, resources.ResourceResponse[resources.Region]{
+			Value: resources.Region{
+				Name: "us-east-2",
+			},
+		})
 	})
 }