Flowrider current policy question

[topnole]

It appears from the literature for an upcoming cruise that flowrider is for “advanced” only now.   Assume that policy is a Covid thing and the workers can’t help you load into the wave.  So that would be like advanced hour in the pre Covid days?  
 

Is that really being done in practice or is that just the official literature being sent out for upcoming cruises that isn’t being followed?   I’m curious because of how it will impact lines and I have a friend coming who has never done it.  By the way it reads, he would be relegated to boogie board only which would suck because I know he will love stand up. 

If they do help you load as they used to do, is there still advanced hour in the morning on oasis class (specifically Allure)?  

[Biker19]

9 minutes ago, topnole said:

Is that really being done in practice or is that just the official literature being sent out for upcoming cruises that isn’t being followed?  

All reporting and my experience is that it is being enforced that way on all ships, for now. You get two chances to load yourself and ride for a bit without wiping out. If you can't do it, you can't do stand up any more.

 

Biker, who hopes the policy stays for a bit longer.

[renza]

We were on allure in March. U have to do biggie boarding first to get the band u can move on to stand up. They did show people how to go into water standing. They did help people as well, yes held their hands. They didn’t make people leave that couldn’t do it. 

[renza]

[renza]

1 minute ago, renza said:

Not one I wanted to send. I had one of them helping him get up. 

[topnole]

8 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

All reporting and my experience is that it is being enforced that way on all ships, for now. You get two chances to load yourself and ride for a bit without wiping out. If you can't do it, you can't do stand up any more.

 

Biker, who hopes the policy stays for a bit longer.

Thanks.  I’ll have to get him up to speed real fast.  Might be worth doing a session at home before we leave.  
 

I guess this means less people in line which is great.  

[Biker19]

Just now, topnole said:

I guess this means less people in line which is great.  

There will still be a lot of one-timers in line and as noted by the other posts, some ships might help newbies.

[mil76]

6 minutes ago, renza said:

We were on allure in March. U have to do biggie boarding first to get the band u can move on to stand up. They did show people how to go into water standing. They did help people as well, yes held their hands. They didn’t make people leave that couldn’t do it. 

Interesting that there is no consistency between ships.  Three cruises so far on Navigator with the new rules, and they said the new policy is here to stay.  The story I was told is that people were suing RCCL because by helping people get started, the crew was a participant in getting people on the wave, so when they fell and got hurt, they could then argue that RCCL had more liability since they helped put that person in that situation.  So it's not even a COVID thing.

 

They gave people two chances a day to do it on their own, then they were cut off until the next day.  And this wasn't just get on the board and nervously ride for 5 seconds and wipe, they had to show some sort of ability to control themselves on the board.

 

Biker is right that you still have to wait for the newbies to do their boogie board test, then get two attempts at doing it, so it's not really like the Advanced sessions.

[topnole]

8 minutes ago, mil76 said:

Interesting that there is no consistency between ships.  Three cruises so far on Navigator with the new rules, and they said the new policy is here to stay.  The story I was told is that people were suing RCCL because by helping people get started, the crew was a participant in getting people on the wave, so when they fell and got hurt, they could then argue that RCCL had more liability since they helped put that person in that situation.  So it's not even a COVID thing.

 

They gave people two chances a day to do it on their own, then they were cut off until the next day.  And this wasn't just get on the board and nervously ride for 5 seconds and wipe, they had to show some sort of ability to control themselves on the board.

 

Biker is right that you still have to wait for the newbies to do their boogie board test, then get two attempts at doing it, so it's not really like the Advanced sessions.

Oh.  That’s even worse than before.  Do they still have advanced hour in the morning for real advanced?

Edited April 28, 2022 by topnole

[mil76]

12 minutes ago, topnole said:

Thanks.  I’ll have to get him up to speed real fast.  Might be worth doing a session at home before we leave.  

He can still do lessons (leave it to RCCL to monetize the new policy).  One cruise there were two kids who didn't have a clue the first day, so they took lessons on the 2nd morning and got to the point where they gave them the blue bands.

 

I haven't seen any true advanced sessions on Nav so far.

[topnole]

8 minutes ago, mil76 said:

He can still do lessons (leave it to RCCL to monetize the new policy).  One cruise there were two kids who didn't have a clue the first day, so they took lessons on the 2nd morning and got to the point where they gave them the blue bands.

 

I haven't seen any true advanced sessions on Nav so far.

This is getting worse comment by comment.  😂

[karebare22]

35 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

All reporting and my experience is that it is being enforced that way on all ships, for now. You get two chances to load yourself and ride for a bit without wiping out. If you can't do it, you can't do stand up any more.

 

20 minutes ago, mil76 said:

They gave people two chances a day to do it on their own, then they were cut off until the next day.  And this wasn't just get on the board and nervously ride for 5 seconds and wipe, they had to show some sort of ability to control themselves on the board.

 

Biker is right that you still have to wait for the newbies to do their boogie board test, then get two attempts at doing it, so it's not really like the Advanced sessions.

This has been our experience as well, on Ovation (last August), Oasis and Explorer. Two attempts (to show control) and that’s it, but not sure if it was two attempts per day, or per cruise. No help from staff getting on.  My husband was disappointed with the limited times for surfing on Explorer, but the shorter line made up for it. Staff mentioned the private lessons to those that didn’t get the blue band.

[Russ Lomas]

My experience with "advanced" stand-up sessions echos most of what others have said here.  They usually give a guest 2 chances to load themselves, with no assistance offered at all.  If you can do that and manage to competently stand for about 30 seconds, you got your blue band.  Some staff members made the person carve turns, but some did not.

 

What really sucks for the "advanced" sessions on the ships with only one wave is that those trying to earn their bands did so in the "advanced" session and ate up a ton of the one-hour session because the employees were talking to the newbie riders and taking 5 minutes to explain it to each of them.  This should be done in the mixed wave sessions, not the so-called "advanced" sessions.  A first timer has no reason being on the wave in an "advanced" session.

 

The staff members often told those who did not get the blue band to book a lesson session.  We found that those who did PAY for the lesson, almost always were given a blue band, regardless of their ability to load themselves competently or ride for 30 seconds.

[irishgal432]

I have been on 7 cruises since restart, Freedom, Oasis, Allure, Odyessy, Harmony,Symphony.

 

They did mixed wave on the ships with 2 flowriders initially and as capacity increased, they opened up both and had both.  They do make you do boogie board first to see if you can do it and then you get 2 tries with out any help per day.  MAKE SURE you know it is per day.  Some staff tell you for the rest of the cruise not per day.  You got a purple band versus white when you passed the test.  They did separate hours advanced stand up and mixed wave for those that had only one flowrider.  They did have group lessons available as well.  They will also adjust based on the number of people doing each.  On one cruise there were very few surfers so they kept mixed wave longer later in the cruise which is actually good because they did not put up the divider for the boogie board.

[tramm7]

Oasis data point from 2 weeks ago:

 

Officially you got 2 tries per cruise. In reality it was 3 to 4 tries if you were close to making it and 2 if you wiped out really quick. No help or hand holding. I did observe employees ask people on 2nd/3rd day...."Didn't you try yesterday?". Some people did try to come again as you don't have anything on record for having tried but most were sent away. Lines were shorter than my last pre-covid cruise as a result.

[gmerick]

Experience from December and February on Anthem:

My first try at Flowrider was in December.  I did boogie twice in Mixed sessions.  I wasn't impressed.  

During the mixed sessions, some passengers were attempting stand-up.  They either succeeded or failed on their two tries (which really worked out to three falls, in each of two turns on the wave).   Most managed to get onto the wave standing, some reverted to boogie, no one went away disappointed.

I wanted to try the stand-up thing, but I'm an overweight senior citizen, and wanted to avoid getting hurt, because I had SCUBA excursions ahead.  I paid for a lesson, and had 6 tries at the wave with great assistance during my hour.  For my 4th session on the wave during the December cruise, I was again in a Mixed session, and did successfully earn my blue band.

During the February cruise, I paid for another lesson on Day 2 AM, got my blue band on Day 2 PM during a mixed session, then participated in 5 advanced sessions.  The Mixed sessions were all somewhat crowded, I could get maybe 2 or 3 turns on the wave in an hour.  The February advanced sessions were very relaxed, with 3 or 4 riders present.  There was plenty opportunity to ride, but often as not, I skipped a turn on the wave.  The Flowrider team were wonderful coaches.  Sometimes I think they encouraged harder skills on us to keep the excitement up and getting an earlier wipeout so the rider rotation went quicker.

 

Big take-away -- pay for a lesson or two, it makes the rest of the cruise a whole bunch more fun.

[rad798]

Reviving this older thread to see if anything has changed for the flowrider in the past 6 months.

Will be on Sympathy of the Seas in a little over a week, just wondering if anyone has been on it lately and what were the rules.

Not being on a flowrider since 2017 and now being older and fatter it should be interesting. 

Mainly wondering if they still have the 2 tries and out with standup without any help still in place?

 

I see the key listed in my planner. (Wonder if it is really available) If so, does the Key give you much more time on the flowrider?

 

Last of all, I thought before, I could sign the liability waivers online before the cruise. I don't see anywhere for that. So, I guess you have to sign the waivers on the ship now?

Edited October 21, 2022 by rad798

[Jkaczanowski]

Sign waiver on ship

 

on Allure in September, white band for boogie.  To try stand up you had to get a green band (given at waiver sign up if you told them you had ridden before).  At the end of 2 or 3 tries (no help) you lost your green band and either got a blue band or you were told to sign up for a class or stick to boogie.  I did a class and did stand up no problem. the rest of the cruise.  Not sure if you could get another green band on another day.   Independence at end of September, staff let me try 2 times and since I was close, let me get in line to try again. Wave had a giant rooster tale in the middle making it challenging for a newbie like me.

 

I’ve heard 1 extra hour per cruise for Key, but don’t quote me on that. 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Jkaczanowski

[xpcdoojk]

So, in May on the Adventure, the noobs, got two chances and then they were supposed to go away until the next day, some stayed and went again, depends on the staff.  Noobs, take longer than advanced usually.  I agree they should tell them they should take a lesson, and chase them off.

 

On our sailing a 13 night sailing, the Key got us 30 minutes.  One of the key complained and we got an extra hour.  The Key is not worth much as far as the FlowRider goes IMHO.  I have the Key coming up in December on the Harmony, I will let you know how that works out.  

 

I am going to have a hard time sailing on single FlowRider ships any more, unless it is to Canada out of NY when kids are in school. 😆

 

jc

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, rad798 said:

Mainly wondering if they still have the 2 tries and out with standup without any help still in place?

Yes, but the staff may allow some leeway.

[xpcdoojk]

I was just looking at John’s dailies from his cruise to Bermuda on the Mariner.  The times for advanced or even mixed wave were not good.  Not a good trend.

 

 

[Jkaczanowski]

4 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

I was just looking at John’s dailies from his cruise to Bermuda on the Mariner.  The times for advanced or even mixed wave were not good.  Not a good trend.

 

 

I think it’s all over the place and probably depends more on ship and staffing. I just pulled the 12 night Odyssey Holy Land that started 2 days ago (we’re doing similar itinerary in May) and I’m seeing at least 2 hours stand up plus 2 hours mixed wave on sea days.  Limassol port day is 2 hours advanced, 3 hours mixed wave.  

[Cigar King]

13 hours ago, rad798 said:

Will be on Sympathy of the Seas

sometimes auto-correct just makes me smile...

[moposh]

14 hours ago, rad798 said:

Sympathy of the Seas

This made me laugh.  😄

[mil76]

20 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

So, in May on the Adventure, the noobs, got two chances and then they were supposed to go away until the next day, some stayed and went again, depends on the staff.  Noobs, take longer than advanced usually.  I agree they should tell them they should take a lesson, and chase them off.

 

On our sailing a 13 night sailing, the Key got us 30 minutes.  One of the key complained and we got an extra hour.  The Key is not worth much as far as the FlowRider goes IMHO.  I have the Key coming up in December on the Harmony, I will let you know how that works out.  

 

I am going to have a hard time sailing on single FlowRider ships any more, unless it is to Canada out of NY when kids are in school. 😆

 

jc

I have only sailed single Flowrider ships since the new rules, and to this point I am loving the new rules.  Early on, the noobs got their chance to do two face plants, then they get shooed away for the day, but the last time (August on Ovation) they wouldn't even let them try unless they said they had done it before, and they only got the band if they could control themselves.  Leaves only a handful of people who can do stand-up and I ended up getting more runs in than when on the ships with 2 Flowriders.  I think the stand-up junkies pick the double Flowrider ships by default, so you tend to get more who can do it on those cruises.

 

For my Ovation Alaska cruise in August I had my wet suit with me day one and ended up having the wave to myself for almost 4 hours, even with it being a mixed session, and it not being that cold.  I have never in my life had to take myself off the Flowrider due to exhaustion and sit and watch an empty wave while I catch my breath, but this was a first.

 

The Key seems to be a better idea for Flowrider purposes on shorter cruises, since it seems they do one Key session per cruise regardless of length of cruise.  On a 3 Day Navigator cruise a guy had the Key and had the wave to himself for an hour one morning.  If you are already going to pay for wifi it makes sense on a 3-day if the Key is only a few bucks more a day, not so much on a longer cruise.  I still miss the early days of the Key when I got 6 Key Flowrider sessions on Liberty with just me and my son every day.