FlowRider Strategies for Maximum Enjoyment – Freedom

[mil76]

Mil,

We're on the Navigator in June. My 10 y.o. son (travel hockey, tourney baseball, club soccer) will, I think, be a good fit for the flowrider. There is one (or something similar) here in Dallas, and we have 2 lessons each for him and his big sister scheduled before we depart.

 

How does the flowrider on the Nav differ from the others? Why do you prefer the wave on the other ships instead? Just curious.

 

BTW, I loved your earlier post about it and I've read it out loud to both kids, and thanks in advance.

 

I know for a fact that stand-up is 58" (and boogie is 52"). My 12 YO son is only 57" and is pretty good at stand-up, but cannot do it on the ships. If you have already booked the lesson and he's not 58", he probably still won't be able to do the lesson, as we have tried to do lessons as well to give our son a chance to do stand-up on the ship, but they are not allowed to vary from this requirement. In the meantime, he's gotten extremely good at boogie board.

 

Your kids will love the Flowrider on Navigator. From an actual wave standpoint Nav's Flowrider is my favorite. The jets are much stronger so riding the top of the wave is easy, and it has better padding so you don't get the bruises. On my last Nav cruise I realized that they also changed the top of the wave so that you no longer have just the metal rod at the top of the riding surface, and it's now a padded surface. Anyone who has wiped out at the top of the wave will know what I'm talking about. On Allure in October I fell on this bar on my hip and I felt pain for months.

 

I only complaint about Nav's Flowrider is because they are the only ship in the fleet that doesn't do advanced stand-up and Best of the Best, which are things that make the cruise for me, and I feel like something was missing from the cruise when I'm on Nav. For your kids this won't be an issue in the slightest.

Edited April 28, 2015 by mil76
spelling

[LuCruise]

Interesting that the waves vary on the FlowRider on different ships. You would think that it would be the same machines they get.

 

Silly question, but can you hurt yourself on the boogie version? We are not dare Devils in our family (and DS10 would do boogie) but it does look fun to try.

[Clarea]

Interesting that the waves vary on the FlowRider on different ships. You would think that it would be the same machines they get.

 

Silly question, but can you hurt yourself on the boogie version? We are not dare Devils in our family (and DS10 would do boogie) but it does look fun to try.

Yes, we have seen people in crutches and wheelchairs due to Flowrider injuries.

[mil76]

Interesting that the waves vary on the FlowRider on different ships. You would think that it would be the same machines they get.

 

Silly question, but can you hurt yourself on the boogie version? We are not dare Devils in our family (and DS10 would do boogie) but it does look fun to try.

 

Flowrider has been improving the product all along, and they come up with better ways of doing things and therefore you get the incremental improvement on newer ships. I also think the nature of the jets and that much waterflow is that each wave ends up with its own specific traits.

 

Most of the injuries come from stand-up, but you can get hurt doing boogie board as well. My oldest son hurt his wrist doing boogie, but mainly because he was goofing off. The usual boogie board injuries I have seen are when the lighter kids get thrown by the water into the back wall (especially on Navigator with its stronger water flow). It's usually people doing it for the first time that this happens to, since they are unfamiliar with how everything works, and they jump in too far behind the actual riding surface. Anyone with smaller kids (or even smaller adults), I would advise you to make them aware that they need to pay attention to this, and make sure the staff member is paying attention and helping them the first few times until they get the hang of it.

 

As for what happens if someone does get hurt on the flowrider, RCL is very thorough about this, probably because they practically have ambulance-chasing lawyers waiting at the pier on disembarking day looking for people on crutches, so any care you need on the boat due to flowrider injuries is free. You have to fill out a whole incident report, but that's expected given the circumstances. My son ended up having to get x-rays on the ship, but luckily his wrist wasn't broken.

[njmomof2]

Hi, my name is JC and I am a flowrider addict.

 

Hi JC...

 

Both of my boys love it, and we no longer sail ships without a flowrider. Unlike most, we didn't really enjoy the Oasis double flowrider, even though the one was dedicated to stand up. Our favorite is Freedom and we're back on her again in August.

 

I don't ride, but I'm still a "widow". I'm always up in the seats, watching the kids ride, sitting on at least 2 towels for comfort and reading my kindle. While the boys make great friends in line (it's almost impossible not to strike up friendships when you're standing in line every single day together), I usually make friends among the parents/spouses of the riders.

 

As to a board being a great gift, I bought the boys a board last year. They took it for our 2014 August cruise on Freedom and they loved it. I'm hoping oto have it refinished before our August trip this year (Edna, are you reading LOL!?).

[LuCruise]

Flowrider has been improving the product all along, and they come up with better ways of doing things and therefore you get the incremental improvement on newer ships. I also think the nature of the jets and that much waterflow is that each wave ends up with its own specific traits.

 

Most of the injuries come from stand-up, but you can get hurt doing boogie board as well. My oldest son hurt his wrist doing boogie, but mainly because he was goofing off. The usual boogie board injuries I have seen are when the lighter kids get thrown by the water into the back wall (especially on Navigator with its stronger water flow). It's usually people doing it for the first time that this happens to, since they are unfamiliar with how everything works, and they jump in too far behind the actual riding surface. Anyone with smaller kids (or even smaller adults), I would advise you to make them aware that they need to pay attention to this, and make sure the staff member is paying attention and helping them the first few times until they get the hang of it.

 

As for what happens if someone does get hurt on the flowrider, RCL is very thorough about this, probably because they practically have ambulance-chasing lawyers waiting at the pier on disembarking day looking for people on crutches, so any care you need on the boat due to flowrider injuries is free. You have to fill out a whole incident report, but that's expected given the circumstances. My son ended up having to get x-rays on the ship, but luckily his wrist wasn't broken.

 

Makes sense why various FlowRiders would be different as they weren't all installed at the same time.

 

Thank you for the tips. My DS10 will be on the lighter side since he's a kid (but he'll make requirements for boogie) and I am on the small side...so good to know.

[CHolliwood]

I know for a fact that stand-up is 58" (and boogie is 52").

 

I only complaint about Nav's Flowrider is because they are the only ship in the fleet that doesn't do advanced stand-up and Best of the Best, which are things that make the cruise for me, and I feel like something was missing from the cruise when I'm on Nav. For your kids this won't be an issue in the slightest.

 

 

Really?!?!? No Advanced? Damn, I am disappointed as I'll be on the Nav in August and this is a my favourite part....

[chiguypaul]

I am 43, a father of one, a business owner and typically the oldest in the best of the best. I will be tanned, but I could stand to lose a bit from the middle.;) With such a variations of riders, in age alone, it is amazing the friendships that are made. It is easy though when you are standing in lines for hours a day together.

 

It is around a million for a double pump wave, so he better get creative at his auditing or run the numbers to see if you could open your own wave for business. :D If you do, expect to see us all come and visit.:p

 

I know this is an old post, but just wanted to say that I completely agree about the friendships made in the Flowrider lines. The time together definitely bonds. It's fun to encourage one another who you get to know and watch. You spend so much time watching other regulars that you can celebrate any new accomplishments with them. The camaraderie of the regulars is one of the unspoken highlights of the activity.

[Lordnlkon]

Going to resurrect this thread because more people should be talking about the flowrider :)

[DISFANS3]

Go early. have fun...

[Betsynh]

As the OP, I love that you resurrected the thread! For my 55th birthday on the Oasis in 2016, I lasted about 7 seconds -- just long enough for a decent photo without anyone holding my hand. This past year on Freedom, the best rider was a 70-year-old Canadian guy, which totally bummed out the hot shot teens since he made it look so easy. Hilarious to watch. For all those non-risk-takers... I waited to try the Flowrider until after my last excursion in case I got injured. Didn't want to ruin the entire trip! It was all good. Now we are exclusively on Flowrider ships. It's an easy way to get hubby to feed my cruise addiction 😂

[LuCruise]

As the OP, I love that you resurrected the thread! For my 55th birthday on the Oasis in 2016, I lasted about 7 seconds -- just long enough for a decent photo without anyone holding my hand. This past year on Freedom, the best rider was a 70-year-old Canadian guy, which totally bummed out the hot shot teens since he made it look so easy. Hilarious to watch. For all those non-risk-takers... I waited to try the Flowrider until after my last excursion in case I got injured. Didn't want to ruin the entire trip! It was all good. Now we are exclusively on Flowrider ships. It's an easy way to get hubby to feed my cruise addiction

 

Good for you (and for the 70 year old)! Awesome! Don't blame you for wanting to wait until the end. My son loved it but I didn't even try. Not so much because I was scared, but because I wear glasses and don't see well without them. Plus I don't like water splashing in my face so not for me. But fun to watch and I admire those that did . Some are really good.

 

As for strategies...my DS went early...almost when it opened first day, and then earlier in the day before it got too busy. (Best time for zipline too)

Edited March 18, 2017 by LuCruise