My two cents...Flowrider Private Lessons

[goodvig]

Just off Allure and for the third time we booked private flowrider lessons for my DD. Anyone who has done this in the past may want to know that the policy for these lessons has changed...

 

In the past we have booked the lesson for multiple members of our party ($60 pp) and have enjoyed it immensely!! We were able to have two members of our group boogie board at the same - the RCCL staff even showed my DD and niece how to move from their own boogie board to the other and my DD was even standing on the boogie board over my niece who was laying down...great pic opportunities and the the group had a blast!!!

 

They no longer allow this - all they get to do is boogie board with an instructor - yes, accidents do happen and that is what caused the change - I'm okay with that but my DD was very disappointed that she couldn't do anything different than she could if she stood in line during open sessions. Maybe a little shorter of the line but with seven folks (five boogie boarders, two stand up surfers) she only went four times in one hour...

 

We will most likely not do the lessons again - just thought others might like to know about the policy change.

[Guest]

:( Yuk, that's not fair!

4 times in an hour? Must have been the fault of the instructors.

Sorry for your waste of time and $'s

[tropiclvrs]

Appreciate the "heads-up"! I can see why they changed the policy, but it would have been nice for you to know ahead of time.

[cruisekap]

My son had the same experience in March on Allure. We booked 3 separate private lessons. His first session was great. There were only 5 people signed up. The second wasn't bad as there were other serious teenagers that wanted to surf. The last was not great. Mixed younger boogie boarders were running all around when my son was surfing. The were using the flow rider as a slide and kept running and sliding. Quite understandable, they were bored waiting, Not a great experience. Even the instructor appologized. Shouldn't mis boogie boards with surfers.

[Raptor2010]

My son had the same experience in March on Allure. We booked 3 separate private lessons. His first session was great. There were only 5 people signed up. The second wasn't bad as there were other serious teenagers that wanted to surf. The last was not great. Mixed younger boogie boarders were running all around when my son was surfing. The were using the flow rider as a slide and kept running and sliding. Quite understandable, they were bored waiting, Not a great experience. Even the instructor appologized. Shouldn't mis boogie boards with surfers.

 

Every time we have booked lessons, we never had anyone younger than 16-17 years old book lessons at the same time and it was always stand up surfing. Last time on the Oasis we got so much time on the board that we both got to a point where we were just too tired to surf anymore :eek:

[goodvig]

:( Yuk, that's not fair!

4 times in an hour? Must have been the fault of the instructors.

Sorry for your waste of time and $'s

 

Yes, I agree about the instructors - even though we had five boogie boarders and two surfers - they really catered to the surfers...they were both pretty good and were able to stand up for quite some time but the instructors let them fall multiple times and continue on...not so with the boogie boarders - one fall and you were done. Toward the end (last 20 minutes) they stopped the boogie boarding and "encouraged" all seven to at least try surfing. If you didn't want to you had to wait it out and then they let the boogie boarders go one last time. My DD did try the surfing and enjoyed it more than she thought but would've been happier just doing her thing on the boogie board...Oh well, live and learn. Next time (if there is one) I would ask more questions ahead of time and set expectations before I pay the $$$!

[bajathree]

Every time we have booked lessons, we never had anyone younger than 16-17 years old book lessons at the same time and it was always stand up surfing. Last time on the Oasis we got so much time on the board that we both got to a point where we were just too tired to surf anymore :eek:

 

Same with my DD....after 1 hour she is all beat up tired....think last on Oasis she told me she had like 20 rides in the hour.

[DrD]

So private lessons are not private? Rather just a smaller group? Thanks in advance.

[Cupcrazy]

This is something I am planning to do when I'm on the Oasis. Has anyone else done it recently and had a different experience? I don't want to pay $60 for only 4 times in an hour

[setsail]

lessons have always been like this

 

If you want complete privacy, get some friends together with $'s and you can book a private session, 1 hour, 250.00 + 30.00 for a sports deck employee and you can go as much as you want. Of course it will have to be when its not open to the masses.

[A&L_Ont]

So private lessons are not private? Rather just a smaller group? Thanks in advance.

 

I just had a group lesson on Monday on Allure. Minimum numbered required is 4 up to 6/8 can't remember for sure. $60 a person. I was getting 5 minutes a time and my knees were getting roughed up. Each person in the party long rides and many of them as well.

 

Andrew

[A&L_Ont]

lessons have always been like this

 

If you want complete privacy, get some friends together with $'s and you can book a private session, 1 hour, 250.00 + 30.00 for a sports deck employee and you can go as much as you want. Of course it will have to be when its not open to the masses.

 

I will double check as I am on board now, but I think I saw $300 as the posted price.

 

Andrew

[setsail]

I will double check as I am on board now, but I think I saw $300 as the posted price.

 

Andrew

 

The website is most likely behind/wrong on the price, 300 is probably right rather than the 280 I posted

[cruisnseas]

So private lessons are not private? Rather just a smaller group? Thanks in advance.

 

Like stated before, you can get actual private lessons but it runs about $300 for an hour.

[Guest]

Best way to do it is to get together with three other people, and book the Flowrider for an hour.

It will cost you $75 each, and you will ride as much as you want.

[setsail]

Like stated before, you can get actual private lessons but it runs about $300 for an hour.

 

What I posted is for sessions not lessons. I think if you want private instruction for your private session it will be even more. ;)

[BecciBoo]

I read the other comments on another thread about this issue and we found on Freedom in Nov. that my grandson was given a lot of good information and technique in his lessons. They were teaching "tricks" if you please such as how to roll over and spin while on the board, etc. Would we buy another session...no. He is a street skater and snow boarder and feels he doesn't need them. But he did enjoy the after dark lessons. They were a Bday gift. He got longer periods than he would've in open surf times and was able to keep surfing after he fell several times whereas in open surfing you must vacate if you fall. All in all, I feel the $60 was justified for a beginner. In your case, your surfers wouldn't benefit. We enjoyed watching him:D

[njmomof2]

We've also done the lessons for my almost 15 and 10.5 year old (mostly for the younger one as the last time, he was too short to ride).

 

Since the accident on one of the bigger ships, no tricks are allowed. My older one is a boogie board fiend and he was always doing barrel rolls, push outs, etc. and when he found out that none of this was allowed anymore, he was very disappointed. He switched to stand up and was even asked to be in the "best of the best" at the end of the week.

 

It is definitely disappointing when something like this happens and everyone suffers because someone (whether it was the guest's fault or the crew member who encouraged that person to do something they were not really skilled enough to do) gets hurt, everyone who goes on the Flowrider knows the risks and signs a waiver. But we all know that the waiver is only as good as the attorney who fights it.

 

We are hoping for Oasis/Allure in December, and between 2 flowriders, the zip line, 2 rock walls, ice skating, etc., they will enjoy it.

 

I only wish that corporate would hear the words from guests who are so disappointed about the severe change in allowances.

[liberiben]

I have emailed Adam Goldstein at AGoldstein@rccl.com to let him know how dissapointed we were in the rule changes. I would encourage anyone to do this as well if they have not already done so. Bombarding them with emails will hopefully push them to get something done faster.

[A&L_Ont]

What I posted is for sessions not lessons. I think if you want private instruction for your private session it will be even more. ;)

 

I just finished my group lesson, here on Allure, so I checked the price board for a private lesson. It is $480 with instructors for up to 6/8 people. I looked more at price than people amounts. It is less for no instruction, didn't look for that price though.

 

Andrew

[Wisdom]

Going on the Liberty in July. That's too bad if you can't do things like barrel rolls while boogie boarding. You're already lying down. You can't fall too far from that position.

 

So I guess you just move from side to side? That would get a bit old fast. We used to do barrel rolls, sommersaults and then throw the boogie board out in front of you and have it come back to you.

 

I have rented the flowrider a couple of times before. It was $300 an hour when I did. I hope it hasn't gone up much if at all.

 

Maybe we'll have to start wearing a helmet and life preserver next. But if we're lucky they'll start with just floaties on your arms.

 

When you give up your freedom to do daring things for the sake of safety, you lose both. (paraphrased from Benjamin Franklin)

[labeachcomber]

... Maybe a little shorter of the line but with seven folks (five boogie boarders, two stand up surfers) she only went four times in one hour...

 

When you sign up for lessons, do you know how many people will be in the group? So it's $60 a person and a minimum of 4 people but perhaps a maximum of 8? If you choose a more popular time, then you might get more people in your group?

 

With 7 people each getting 4 rides per hour, that equates to about 2 min per ride? I haven't done a Flowrider yet, but isn't that the normal amount of time per ride?

 

The $300 an hour sounds ok if you can get a group of six where you all know each other. But I've read as well that it doesn't really include an instructor like a lesson would, it seems like you're just paying for use of the flowrider. And I'm going to guess that it's not during a warm sunny sea day or maybe it's during port time?

[DrD]

We just did this, basically you'll be in a group of 8. It seems unlikely they'd be less as it is popular and we got our last choice of times even though we booked 2 months out.

 

I thought it was great, our group was mostly young kids (like 6-11) that probably would not able to ride it on their own without instructions, and one old guy (45) that had the same issue.

 

That old guy was me and I had a lot of fun! I learned stand-up surfing, it took 3 tries and there's no way I'd have done that in front of a big crowd and without the help and instruction of Ivan from Croatia.

 

I felt it was worth the money.

[Kitty9453]

Thinking of going on the Freedom of the Seas in October for next fall break. My daughter and niece will both be 9. They would love to try this but have never been on a boogie or surf board. If they wait in line and immediately during their turn fall off, they have to get off and get back in line to try again?

[xpcdoojk]

Thinking of going on the Freedom of the Seas in October for next fall break. My daughter and niece will both be 9. They would love to try this but have never been on a boogie or surf board. If they wait in line and immediately during their turn fall off, they have to get off and get back in line to try again?

 

I am 54 and I have been on two cruises with the flowrider. The first I only did stand-up surfing. Loved it. I totally sucked but by the end of 7 days of 4 hours a day I was ok, and had many rides of 2 to 3 minutes.

 

The second trip 2 years later, on embarkation day, I was there sitting in Port Canaveral, going yeah, stand up all by myself, how awesome is that. I get there the RCI person hands me a boogie board. I was like, no I want a stand up board. Only boogie boarding today. So, I am like well I am here I will try it. I went about 10 minutes going back and forth back and forth up and down. I finally loose my balance and I realized I had no desire to do it any more.

 

Stand-up the next morning. I am there at the opening for advanced stand up. I fell twice like i had never done it before. I quickly, got back, and by the end of the week I was in the best of the best. i sucked in comparison to good surfers, but there weren't many young kids on the cruise at the end of January/ end of February.

 

All I am trying to say is that boogie boarding is not hard, and the kids will pick it up quickly, without private instruction. Stand-up, the way it works, is when you first try, you fall almost immediately. They then give you a bit of instruction and you go again. They usually do that the first couple of times you try. If the person sticks with it beyond 4 or 5 falls, they will usually start getting to the point where they can stand for 10 seconds or so. After that it is a matter of riding longer and longer. Eventually, you learn to push your butt out to go one way and then pull it in to go the other, etc. Fun stuff. Most people quit after the 3rd or 4th fall. Falling sucks.:D

 

jc