Bring your own skates?

[boatbunny]

We are sailing on Explorer at the end of April. My kids love to ice skate, so they are very excited about skating on "the big boat" again. Last cruise we took on AOS, we lugged their skates with us as we were unclear about renting. That was 2 years ago and they did have skates we could rent.

 

But, friends just came back from Explorer and kindly gave us the Compass for the week. On one of the Daily Activity lists, it mentioned "Advanced Skate", bring your own skates"

 

Does anybody know if skate rental is still available for kids? Ages 5 and 8.

I am really not excited about the extra luggage of skates.

Thanks

[TrentS]

You don't have to bring your own, they provide them and I don't believe there's a charge for them.

[Guest OBAYbee]

We are sailing on Explorer at the end of April. My kids love to ice skate, so they are very excited about skating on "the big boat" again. Last cruise we took on AOS, we lugged their skates with us as we were unclear about renting. That was 2 years ago and they did have skates we could rent.

 

But, friends just came back from Explorer and kindly gave us the Compass for the week. On one of the Daily Activity lists, it mentioned "Advanced Skate", bring your own skates"

 

Does anybody know if skate rental is still available for kids? Ages 5 and 8.

I am really not excited about the extra luggage of skates.

Thanks

 

 

I am just taking a guess here, but I bet the "advanced skate" applies to those who are advanced figure skaters. For them skating on rented skates probably won't be much fun, blades not sharp inproper fit and if they skate regularly they could injure themselves without the proper ankle support etc. So, they basically let you know that you may bring your own.

Just don't bring them with you in carry on. Been there done that and they were removed from the plane.

[BobbieSu]

It is possible that for the advanced skating no one is there to pass out skates and therefore if you don't have your own you wouldn't have any to use. But that is only a 45 minutes session on one day. There are other times available to go when skates would be available. If you are picky about the kind of skates you use then bring your own, because they are not picky about the kind of skates they give you to use. I personally, even if I were a great skater, cannot believe that the amount of skating I would be doing would be worth the amount of space skates would take. There is so much else to do on the Explorer, my son only made it skating once and he had every intention of going every day. Have a really great time! We did.

 

Su

[beachchick]

Yes, for advanced skate you must bring your own skates. But no, you don't need to be an advanced figure skater (kind of hard for hockey skaters to do). You do have to be proficient on the ice--no beginners.

 

For all other skating sessions, skates are available in all sizes. They are the most uncomfortable skates I've ever worn. They are plastic with buckles, rather than leather with laces and hooks. They were hard to adjust and have dulled blades (on purpose I'm sure--keeps the speed down), but wearable. My feet were killing me afterward though. It's a small rink so you really can't speed like crazy anyway.

 

I agree that for such a short amount of ice time, it's really not worth it to bring your own. Just use the ones provided during the open skating sessions. Be sure to watch out for beginners--they seem to come out of nowhere and fall in front of you. (Not to flame new skaters; it's just a fact of life that's more apparent on a small rink.)

 

beachchick

[Candleonwater]

Also, the advanced time is good for skaters who NEED to practice as jumps and spins aren't allowed on the other sessions.

[KJHorton]

I agree with Beachchick. RCL has the most uncomfortable skates I have ever worn in my life. I had a tough time making it very long because my feet were killing me during and after skating. It was fun and I would do it again though (for a short period!)

[boatbunny]

Thanks everyone, I pretty much figured out that the advanced skate was for other than beginners, but I just wanted to make sure. The kids will probably only skate twice, the 2 days we are at sea, but they will take full advantage of the amount of time they can. But, again, it was a pain bringing the skates last time.

 

By the way, I did not have a problem with them on the plane, I put them in a bag we checked, not a carry on. I did check with American before hand as well, and as long as they were not a carry on, they told me no issue.

That was after 9/11, and we fly out of Boston, which since 9/11 is pretty tough on security.

 

Thanks again!

[Candleonwater]

figure skates in checked luggage is always fine... except for those of us who pay $$$$$ for skates! LOL

 

I can't remember do they even have skating on the non sea days?