Flowrider Question

[Russ Lomas]

I have seen Advanced Sessions run from 30 minutes (boo..too short:mad:) to as long as an hour (boo...still too short;)). Riders who did not know how to self load were either given a couple of chances to try, and sent away if they could not get it and told to come back later, or they were turned away right away before even trying if they asked for help to load.

 

Height restrictions are there for a reason...safety. I would not want my child doing it if they did not meet the requirements. That said, it seems most flowriders have different height requirements if you go to different ones on land. I do not know how they come up with them, if the manufacturer gives a guideline or the owner simply selects a height. My twins were bodyboarding two full years on land flowriders before they even met the height requirements on the ships.

[playingpossum]

We have never seen this. On all of our advanced sessions, there has always been two Sports Staff for stand-up. This is often an issue because often times someone on the Sports Staff sleeps in and they won't operate with only 1 person. In fact, this is one of the rules I have always seen the Sports Staff follow. Whenever one person needs to leave the wave, they stop passengers from riding. However they do allow boogie boarding with only 1 staff member.

 

I can also verify they will not run stand up without a second sports staff member. I was the only person one morning for advanced and the manager was trying to find another staff member so he could allow me to ride. It was a few minutes before a sleepy staff member took to their position. Gio thanked me for waiting and understanding the rules. He was one of the nicest sports staff members I have met so far.

[CruiseDreaming]

How much are the lessons for flowriding?

 

Kerrie :)

[IandY]

How much are the lessons for flowriding?

 

Kerrie :)

 

I can't recall exactly but my daughter had a lessona month ago, I'm pretty sure it was $70.00. She lucked out, there was only one other student who stopped after 20 minutes so she basically got a private lesson. It was money well spent.

[mil76]

I honestly don't know the answer so I'm not trying to be smart, but....

 

Surely the height restriction is for a health and safety reason. Trying to work around it may not be a good idea.

 

It's more of a liability issue than a safety issue. RCCL's minimum height requirements are much higher than you will see at any land-based Flowrider. My 13 YO son (57 3/4") has been doing standup for over a year but still can't ride on our cruises because he hasn't gotten his growth spurt yet, but a tall 10 year old is allowed no questions asked.

[mil76]

That is probably way too short. I have seen the sports staff on multiple ships walk the kid over to the height stick whenever the kid even looks small.

 

The only exception is if you get a staff member who doesn't.

 

I suggest you fill out the waivers online. Then walk up with your kid and try and get a wrist band. You never know. Maybe have him wear shoes when he approaches the desk and they may not ask him to stand near the height thing.

 

If it was my kid and my kid regularly does this at home, I probably would try a few different times during the cruise if my first attempt didn't work, but that is just me, and may get some flack from others.

 

Trust me, this doesn't work.

[A&L_Ont]

Trust me, this doesn't work.

 

You are correct. The sport desk member that measured our DS height, who we have sailed with 5 times prior, would not let out son boogie board. He was a 1/2 to a 1/4 inch to short. This same crew member has joined us at Sabor, JRs and Chops as our guest. They follow the rules for safety reasons.

Edited September 17, 2015 by A&L_Ont

[CruiseSlacker]

There should be an age limit too.

 

Anyone over 50 has no business getting on that thing. All it does is aggravating the arthritis.

[A&L_Ont]

There should be an age limit too.

 

Anyone over 50 has no business getting on that thing. All it does is aggravating the arthritis.

 

Easy there tiger. :) That means I could only ride for 7 more years.:D I could only guess how Pezz would find that news.:p

[mil76]

Easy there tiger. :) That means I could only ride for 7 more years.:D I could only guess how Pezz would find that news.:p

 

Talk about a Pinnacle throwing a fit about losing a perk... :p

[snorkelman]

Easy there tiger. :) That means I could only ride for 7 more years.:D I could only guess how Pezz would find that news.:p

 

me too!

[CruiseDreaming]

I can't recall exactly but my daughter had a lessona month ago, I'm pretty sure it was $70.00. She lucked out, there was only one other student who stopped after 20 minutes so she basically got a private lesson. It was money well spent.

 

Thanks IandY. This will give me a frame of reference when I look/schedule for my son.

 

Kerrie :)

[conandrob240]

That is probably way too short. I have seen the sports staff on multiple ships walk the kid over to the height stick whenever the kid even looks small.

 

The only exception is if you get a staff member who doesn't.

 

I suggest you fill out the waivers online. Then walk up with your kid and try and get a wrist band. You never know. Maybe have him wear shoes when he approaches the desk and they may not ask him to stand near the height thing.

 

If it was my kid and my kid regularly does this at home, I probably would try a few different times during the cruise if my first attempt didn't work, but that is just me, and may get some flack from others.

 

Yeah, he's probably too far off. But he boogie boards like a pro in the ocean on Long Island. I am sure he could handle it on flowriderFlowrider. Oh, well, there's always next year. His non- adventurous sister makes the requirement but she's never interested in anything like his so it's a double slap in the face to the little guy.

[xpcdoojk]

There should be an age limit too.

 

Anyone over 50 has no business getting on that thing. All it does is aggravating the arthritis.

 

Personally, I think anyone under the age of 40 is too immature to make a decision to get on the flowrider. The brains are not fully developed until about 40, this will open up a lot more of the times I would consider a cruise.:D

 

jc

Edited September 17, 2015 by xpcdoojk

[mil76]

Personally, I think anyone under the age of 40 is too immature to make a decision to get on the flowrider. The brains are not fully developed until about 40, this will open up a lot more of the times I would consider a cruise.:D

 

jc

 

I think they should limit it to 45-50. Mature enough to make the decision to do it, but not so old that the arthritis becomes an issue. You can't trust the judgement of those whippersnappers in their early 40's. I think they should implement this on a trial basis for the next two years, and then move the window to 50-55 and see if that works better...

[swwake]

There should be an age limit too.

 

Anyone over 50 has no business getting on that thing. All it does is aggravating the arthritis.

You're kidding, right? I will be 49 in December and will be on Allure in a few weeks. I fully expect to continue my addiction well into my 50s.

 

For the person who asked about lessons, my cruise planner says $69 for a 1-hour session. If I remember correctly, they allow up to 12 people per session. We have taken one on every cruise and we love the after-dark sessions. (Remember the water is heated)

 

There is also the option of renting out the flowrider after hours (or sometimes when in port) for approx $350. This is for any number of guests, and there will be sports desk staff there, but they will not provide instruction. Or I should say they are not guaranteed to provide instruction. Some may get involved anyway, just because they enjoy it.

 

For our upcoming cruise, we are pulling together a group to rent the flowrider for one hour. If you get a nice handful of people, the cost is pretty reasonable per person. Example: 8 x 43.75 = $350.

 

When we have done lessons, we have had several times where people new to the flowrider get worn out well before the time is up, and we end up with plenty of flowrider time. In every lesson, we have seen pretty significant improvement.

 

By the way, we always tip the staff who provides the lessons. Probably about $10 per person. And we have been known to extend a tip at the end of the cruise to some of the sports deck staff, simply for being so cool to us and helping us improve throughout the cruise and putting up with us and our addiction.

 

I have to echo many of the comments I have seen on this thread about the "addicts". For whatever reason, those of us who love surfing the flowrider are a special group who enjoy each others' company, and who really love to see new people try it out. We are all super supportive of newcomers and of each other. I have never heard any of the "die hards" complain that a new rider is taking too much time for instruction. That's just silly. Nobody, even the pros, ever rides for more than about 5 minutes. A newcomer is probably on the wave for 2 minutes max at a time, even with multiple attempts.

 

We don't like waiting in line, so we take advantage of the "advanced" morning sessions and we leave midday when the lines lengthen. We are usually back between 4 and 6pm. And we have often stayed onboard (or returned to the ship early) on port days, to enjoy the minimal lines.

 

Someone commented earlier that if riding the flowrider is so important for some of us, why don't we just buy one? Honestly, we looked into this in 2007 after Liberty OTS, when our addiction became real. Back then, it was well over $1mm just for a double flowrider. That doesn't include excavation, maintenance, water, and liability insurance. There are flowriders within driving distance of home, but there is no sunset on the open ocean, no room service breakfast on my balcony, no smell of salty air, and no chef providing me 3 meals plus snacks a day. I'll take the cruise :)

[snorkelman]

There is also the option of renting out the flowrider after hours ... and there will be sports desk staff there, but they will not provide instruction. Or I should say they are not guaranteed to provide instruction. Some may get involved anyway, just because they enjoy it.

 

 

hmm, I have taken a single lesson (solo) and watched the end of multiple lessons. I have always seen staff teaching people, and my experience was that the staff taught me. I think all staff will instruct all beginners - at least on boogie.

 

That being said, once you become more advanced, you may experience that some staff know less than you. As an example, when I was learning 360's on the boogie board, I realized that only a handful of the sports staff could even do them. When I asked how to do multiple 360's, I learned that if you are lucky there may be two or three staff members who can do that...and even then, they may only be able to do it one way. For example, if you want to do back to back prone unassisted 360's, you may be out of luck, and consider yourself lucky if the staff can show you a 360 on their knees, assisted (with hands in water).

[swwake]

hmm, I have taken a single lesson (solo) and watched the end of multiple lessons. I have always seen staff teaching people, and my experience was that the staff taught me. I think all staff will instruct all beginners - at least on boogie.

 

That being said, once you become more advanced, you may experience that some staff know less than you. As an example, when I was learning 360's on the boogie board, I realized that only a handful of the sports staff could even do them. When I asked how to do multiple 360's, I learned that if you are lucky there may be two or three staff members who can do that...and even then, they may only be able to do it one way. For example, if you want to do back to back prone unassisted 360's, you may be out of luck, and consider yourself lucky if the staff can show you a 360 on their knees, assisted (with hands in water).

I was just going based on memory, and the last cruise I took was 2012.

 

There is a thread from 2013 here with a post that says this: "We rent it out at least once when we sail. The cost is $450 with instructors from 2 of the sports staff. $300 with no assistance from the staff (they will be just there to supervise you). The session is an hour. You can have as much people as you want for that price."

 

I don't even remember the option to have instructors, but I do remember that for the rental fee no instruction was provided. I'm not sure what today's pricing is.

[snorkelman]

I have seen it when a group rents out the flowrider and also when individual people pay the $60 or so to get private time in a group of 6 or 8 or whatever. Both scenarios that I have seen involved sports staff assisting and teaching. Maybe they realize they are more likely to get a tip if they do that ;)

[Russ Lomas]

I think they should limit it to 45-50. Mature enough to make the decision to do it, but not so old that the arthritis becomes an issue. You can't trust the judgement of those whippersnappers in their early 40's. I think they should implement this on a trial basis for the next two years, and then move the window to 50-55 and see if that works better...

I always note that the teens get a stand up surfing night session to themselves. The Masters division (40+) should get one evening session for an hour too.

[mil76]

I always note that the teens get a stand up surfing night session to themselves. The Masters division (40+) should get one evening session for an hour too.

 

I've done an adults only hour on Oasis/Allure. It's later at night like the teen hour. It's great when the teens show up and the staff shoos them away. Most of the older folks don't show up though because it can be COLD.

[Russ Lomas]

I've done an adults only hour on Oasis/Allure. It's later at night like the teen hour. It's great when the teens show up and the staff shoos them away. Most of the older folks don't show up though because it can be COLD.

I have never seen that advertised in the daily Compasses and we were on the Allure earlier this year. I would have been all over it if I had seen it advertised.

[xpcdoojk]

I have never seen an adults thing at night. I would probably be pretty drunky, and i am not sure surfing is a good idea drunk...

 

Plus, I generally, want to go to bed so I can do advanced stand-up at 8 am in the morning.:D

 

jc

[mil76]

They definitely did an adult session two Octobers ago on Oasis and it was in the Cruise Compass. That was my best Flowrider cruise experience ever since the sports staff really went all out with the nighttime Flow Show and the extra session. I also remember the adult session was held on the boogie board side.

 

Last October we did a night session on Allure which I thought was the adults only again, but I may be confused. One of the mornings they cancelled Advanced because they didn't finish their overnight maintenance on the boogie side Flowrider in time and had to put the lesson scheduled over there on the stand-up side. So Pezz got them to give the people who showed up for advanced an extra hour later in the week, and that may have been it.

[mil76]

Just read Yorkvillian's Oasis thread and saw the Cruise Compasses. There is an 18-25 session one night but nothing for us old geezers. I guess they assume we can't stay up until 11pm when that session ends.

 

I also saw they have something called "Boogie 360" right before BOB on the last day. Anyone know what this is?