The Royal Caribbean FlowRider Girl - gone viral

[BecciBoo]

No need to cruise now; after reading this I am sitting in a pool of tears. We will be on Allure next week. I am 62 and thought i might give the '"FlowRider" a try but fear breaking something. If I get the courage I will do it in honour of Camille. Thanks for sharing. Kudos to Rojda and the RC staff.

 

You can do it Takeusawaynow...I did it at 59! Go for it!:D

[CoopColbie]

Great story! So often we come onto Cruise Critic with the expectation of seeing stories of horror and complaints and even the odd argument. We even look forward to these little diversions as we chuckle to ourselves over how silly some people can be. But your story ... a story of beauty and compassion and triumph ... would have to be the best story I have read on this forum. Well done Flowrider Girl and well done RCI!

[CarpeCerevisi]

Kudos to the Freedom's sports staff for their care and understanding. Kudos, also, to the guests who were either waiting their turn or were just watching for their patience and understanding. Sometimes you just have to have a little faith in people, you'll find that the vast majority are very kind hearted no matter where you are.

[riclop]

Very nice.

[mcatmcat]

You post made me smile and cry. I love when they help autism to succeed in their wish.

 

If you recorded this anyway we can see this?

 

 

Thanks you for the story resume. Hard to read the entire post when you are in a hurry [emoji20]

[LilBlackDress]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful story!!

[Cuizer2]

I wrote this story about our cruise on Freedom of the Seas on 1/17. It got quite a lot of shares, and later that day two executives from Royal Caribbean International called me directly to thank me for the story. Enjoy, it was a very special moment.

 

 

The Royal Caribbean FlowRider Girl

LEE ANNE BATTISTON·MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2016583 Reads

 

That is a great story. Thank you for sharing it. :)

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing the story. It's one of those stories that just makes you smile.

[floatel_lvr]

Awesome story. Thank you so much for sharing. Love to hear that the sports deck team made someone some very special memories.

[paigebeverly]

This is awesome.

[The Fun Researcher]

Very touching. Thank you.

 

Dan

[AnonomissX]

Wow, by the time I got the SURFING! part, there were so many onions in the room. Onions, I swear, making my eyes swell up, what is all this water on my face..it was the onions, I tell ya, ONIONS!

 

Now my nose is dripping...

 

~~~~

 

What a sweet, triumphant story! I hope there is a video somewhere... :)

[*love2travel*]

What a touching story. Thank you for sharing!:)

[Scotsgirl01]

What a touching story. Like most of the others I'm smiling and wiping away the tears at the same time. :)

[Ethelfleda]

As an ER nurse it does not do my reputation any good to be sniffling at work when I sneak a peak at Cruisecritic during a momentary lull in the action. Beautiful story!

[GBfromOz]

What a fantastic story!

It's a pity that there isn't more stories like this on CC 😂

[ahughes517]

Is it a little dusty in here, or is it just me? What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing. Really shows how a little patience and understanding go a long way.:)

[njmomof2]

Having sailed with Rojda many times, I was not surprised to see it was her that helped to make this a life changing opportunity for your daughter. She has always been a joy to be around and has been wonderful to my boys.

 

Rojda, along with almost all of the sports staff, are wonderful, incredible people. They go out of their way to make every guest's trip memorable and when I hear a story like this, not only does it renew my faith in people, it reminds me of why my kids and I sail Royal over and over (especially Freedom of the Seas)!

 

Congratulations to Camille on such a wonderful accomplishment. And if you're sailing Freedom and see Rojda, tell her again how great she is!!!!

[A&L_Ont]

Tears in Antigua. I am soon boarding my flight home and hopefully not many people caught me.

 

The sports desk staff are amazing and the "flow rider family" is always there to cheer on any and all riders.

[Canadian Tyler]

Great story! Was Rojda the one wearing usually a bucket hat and pants? We were on Freedom the week before and and I noticed that she was very good with the everyone and was impressed at her attitude, but this impresses me even more. :)

[Host Jacquelyn]

Amazing story!! Thanks for sharing.

[batt01]

If I see Rojda next month I will say something.

 

Please do! I got a call from a Vice President at RCI in Miami who tapped Rojda in on the conversation (from sea) so that she could say hi to Camille and thank me for writing the article. It was a sweet moment and Camille did really well on the phone. Give Rojda a hug from Camille, John and Lee Anne for us!

[batt01]

You post made me smile and cry. I love when they help autism to succeed in their wish.

If you recorded this anyway we can see this?

 

Thank you so much for your kind comments. Can you believe that I got the entire thing on video. Then I dropped my phone in the ocean in Grand Cayman. Fortunately, most of my photos backed up, but I lost the video. I was so sad (for days) about that. That's when I decided to write the story - which touched so many lives, so I think that loosing the video was actually a good thing as I don't think the story really could have been told by the video alone.

[batt01]

Great story! So nice to see a positive post.

 

Thank you! I was starting to get down by negative posts that seem to be more prevalent these days. The positive response has been overwhelming which makes my heart sing. The fact that Rojda wound up getting recognition from RCI is the best outcome - she is the true hero of the story. And, the fact that it promotes autism awareness is also a nice result - neither of which were my original intention. I appreciate you mentioning the positive aspects.

[batt01]

No need to cruise now; after reading this I am sitting in a pool of tears. We will be on Allure next week. I am 62 and thought i might give the '"FlowRider" a try but fear breaking something. If I get the courage I will do it in honour of Camille. Thanks for sharing. Kudos to Rojda and the RC staff.

 

Oh my goodness, now I am crying. If you do - please let us know and post pictures!!!! Fantastic!