Royal to loosen restrictions on Flowrider!

[Spring Valley]

Looks like people complaining about tightening rules on tricks for the flowrider were heard, and it made Royal's brass loosen what tricks riders could do on the flowriders!:D:D:D

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2013/09/30/royal-caribbean-flowrider-surfing/2894905/

 

Keith

[A&L_Ont]

Yah!!

[trev71]

That is good, They just don't want people hurting themselves.. The only time I tried it I busted open my big toe and it bled pretty bad. :rolleyes:

[Familygoboston]

S'mazing what a little positive pub can do;)

 

 

I for one am glad despite the fact that my first Flowrider experience was also my last- I find it endlessly entertaining to watch!:D

[Ken at the beach]

This is a quote from Adam in his most recent blog.

 

How Boarding a Wave led to the World Flowboard Title

 

We recently loosened the reins a bit as it relates to the tricks guests are permitted to perform on our FlowRider® surf simulators. You can always look forward to having a great time on the FlowRider while onboard our Oasis, Freedom and Quantum class ships, however in an effort to find the right balance between excitement and safety we had tightened up our rules in 2012. Maybe a little too much, we heard from a number of aficionados. As of this summer, guests are able to try various types of fun tricks such as sitting, 180 degree turn, facing opposite direction, lazy boy, drop knee, drop knee 360, layback, boogie shuvit, baseball catcher, 360, skiing, show pony, rail slide, basic ollie, pop shuvit, heel side stall and the toe side stall. If that sounds a bit intimidating to you (it does to me!), you may want to read this story by Xana-Kai Nash, a teenager who learned how to surf on our ships and is now a World Flowboard champion.

- Adam

[sharktums]

So happy about this! Glad RCCL stepped up and did what's right instead of caving to some ambulance chasing lawyers!

[CruiseSlacker]

The restrictions really put a strain on the sports staff and the guests. It sorted of ruin my enjoyment on the Oasis last month. But I did not blame the staff; They did not want anyone to get hurt doing stuff that (they thought) were not allowed.

 

At the begining of the week, I would ask the staff of what is and is not allowed on the boogie and stand up boards. For some advanced tricks, I would still ask anyway even it's not specifically prohibited.

 

So I followed the restrictions and did some of the advanced tricks for the first half of the week. On later part of the week, a couple of staff would yell at me for doing some of the stuff I'd been doing all along. When I told him that I had been doing that, he asked what the name of the staff that allowed me to do that. Most of the sports staff are cool and willing to help so I just let this one go.

 

All in all I was happy to get to surf everyday. And with two flowriders on the Oasis, I kept doing it until I ran out of energy.

 

Now with less restrictions, it should be good for everyone.

 

Tom

[mil76]

Hooray! Perfect timing as we're on Oasis in three weeks. I might even have to dust off some old tricks and do a couple runs on the boogie board in between my countless hours on stand-up. :D

[A&L_Ont]

Hooray! Perfect timing as we're on Oasis in three weeks. I might even have to dust off some old tricks and do a couple runs on the boogie board in between my countless hours on stand-up. :D

 

 

About 6 weeks for us... doing some flow rider dreaming at work.;)

[snorkelman]

Awesome! I will be on the Allure on Sunday. The article is vague as to what is not allowed. I am interested in what is not allowed on the boogieboard.

 

Here I am for 30 seconds on the allure before the ban (last cruise I was banned from all tricks but prone 360).

 

 

I am particularly interested to know of anyone who has recently returned and has been permitted to do:

 

Body surf with board on head

http://i41.tinypic.com/dbjm9s.jpg

 

Superman to barrel roll or front roll

http://i44.tinypic.com/15ogcx2.jpg

 

I have ridden drop-knee (DK) even during the restrictions, but can I now do a Drop-knee ( DK ) Roll?

[Queen of Oakville]

:(

 

I was hoping that had lowered the height restrictions.

[Tjterrill]

I had a great Flowrider experience on the Freedom this past week! All the instructors were very patient, and educational. The best part was they were always pushing you to do something better. Once they noticed you accomplished one thing, they would push you to try something else.

 

The only thing I noticed all week that wasn't allowed was a barrel roll. I only found out the hard way after doing it, then getting the shaking finger of shame, letting me know it was against the rules. It seemed like everything else was fair game.

[snorkelman]

:(

 

I was hoping that had lowered the height restrictions.

 

^^

IMO they are important, but weight is probably more important. See, little kids that are light will just blow right off, as it is too hard for them to control the board, even if leaning forward. My daughter is finally tall enough, and last year I was not comfortable with her being heavy enough.

 

Even though your kid may be sad, it is much safer than letting someone too light go on.

[bwest the man]

I had a great Flowrider experience on the Freedom this past week! All the instructors were very patient, and educational. The best part was they were always pushing you to do something better. Once they noticed you accomplished one thing, they would push you to try something else.

 

The only thing I noticed all week that wasn't allowed was a barrel roll. I only found out the hard way after doing it, then getting the shaking finger of shame, letting me know it was against the rules. It seemed like everything else was fair game.

 

I find it crazy that they will not let you do a simple barrel roll as that is one of the easiest tricks to do and much safer in my opinion than some of the other tricks. If you have the skills to do a trick then you should be allowed to do it.

[matthewthamm]

Nice to hear they are relaxing a bit. On the FOS in 22 days.

I am looking forward to try the tricks I know. The first one is standing up. The second is falling...gracefully, without loosing my shorts:D

[snorkelman]

Just returned from the Allure (Oct 13 - 19) and nobody at the Sports desk had any idea about these new rules. Boogieboard is very restricted, just like it has been for the past year.

 

Only a handful of tricks allowed.

[snorkelman]

The only thing I noticed all week that wasn't allowed was a barrel roll. I only found out the hard way after doing it, then getting the shaking finger of shame, letting me know it was against the rules. It seemed like everything else was fair game.

 

^^^ Now that I re-read this, I must conclude that you probably cannot do many tricks. All that was allowed last week on the Allure was prone (on stomach), 360 prone, on knees, 360 on knees, sitting on butt on board (with feet in front of Indian-style), laying on back, drop-knee, drop-knee 360.

 

Two of us were able to and allowed to flip the board 180 and ride that way (prone, on knees, and drop-knee) but nobody else seemed interested or able to do it.

[BecciBoo]

I think that is great as long as the participants take responsibility for their accidents.

You can't fix stupid and RCCL shouldn't have to pay for stupid. Disclaimer forms do not necessarily preclude law suits from being filed against cruise lines for the stupidity of its passengers.

Course, filing fraudulent lawsuits is a national phenom that needs to be stopped. I would never put a hot cup of coffee between my legs...but that's just me;)

[soccerdad72]

I find it crazy that they will not let you do a simple barrel roll as that is one of the easiest tricks to do and much safer in my opinion than some of the other tricks. If you have the skills to do a trick then you should be allowed to do it.

 

I agree. Heck, I'm an old, out of shape guy and I could do barrel rolls. :p My older son will be pretty disappointed if they're too restrictive when we go. When we go to Kalahari, all he does is boogie boarding and working on new tricks. He'll be excited to try stand up surfing, though, since Kalahari got rid of that recently (for liability reasons).

[marjosagb]

I would assume that there is often a line to use the flowrider?

 

How does it work?...do you put your name on a list and come back at a certain time? Or do you have to wait in a line?

[Clarea]

I would assume that there is often a line to use the flowrider?

 

How does it work?...do you put your name on a list and come back at a certain time? Or do you have to wait in a line?

Unless you have scheduled a lesson, you normally have to stand in line and wait.

[bwest the man]

Anyone who has been on any of the freedom class ships or the oasis class care to comment if the restrictions have been loosened?

 

It looks like the Allure is still very restrictive and the Freedom has loosened up a little. Any word on the Independence or the Liberty?

[xpcdoojk]

I would assume that there is often a line to use the flowrider?

 

How does it work?...do you put your name on a list and come back at a certain time? Or do you have to wait in a line?

 

You definitely wait in line. If you do stand up there are often two lines, one for right foot forward and one for left. I am a goofy footed surfer so I am on the right foot forward and wait my turn on the left side as seen when surfing....:D

 

On the Liberty of the Seas the only cruise before the restrictions the stand-up good surfers would jump boards and a few other tricks. There was none of that last January on the Freedom. Other than the really good riders don't fall often, I don't think it matters as much on the stand-up, but boogie boarding for me is so boring, I could see the need for tricks.

 

jc

[liberiben]

Allure allowed the stand up side to do everything, we had no problems with shuvits, ollies, top loading, although there is no front loading due to the pad being worn, acid drops, etc.