FlowRider "Mixed Wave" Sessions Ruin the Experience for Everyone!
"Mixed Wave" sessions on Royal Caribbean's FlowRider claim to offer the best of both worlds. In reality, Mixed Wave delivers a completely ruined "Lose-Lose" experience for everyone.
Royal Caribbean's FlowRider is one of the most exciting attractions at sea, offering an incredible opportunity for guests to master the art of surfing or bodyboarding on a simulated wave. But there's one glaring issue with the way sessions are organized: the "Mixed Wave" session. Marketed as a compromise to allow both stand-up surfers and bodyboarders to share the wave, it's actually a logistical nightmare that ruins the experience for everyone involved.
Why Mixed Wave Is a Lose-Lose for Everyone:
It Destroys Boogie Boarding Efficiency
During dedicated Boogie Board sessions, the FlowRider is divided into two lanes using a barrier, allowing two participants to ride simultaneously. This setup doubles the throughput and minimizes wait times for all riders. Great!
In Mixed Wave sessions, the barrier is removed to accommodate stand-up riders, meaning Boogie Boarders are forced to go one at a time. This instantly doubles everyone's wait time! Drastically longer lines and frustrated participants is exactly what everyone wants. What's worse, most bodyboarders are youngens who don't even care about having the full wave because it's not a precision sport where the extra space is necessary.
Stand-Up Riders Get Minimal Wave Time
Stand-up surfers are hit just as hard. In a typical Mixed Wave session, the throughput is a painfully low 20 riders per hour in perfect conditions:
- Each rider takes about 2 minutes, including falls and recovery.
- Add 30 seconds of staff instruction and 30 seconds of transition between riders.
- Throw in delays for people forgetting to remove jewelry or just not ready to go for any other reason.
The result? A rider in a line of 15 people might get one turn per hour. It's a frustratingly inefficient use of time, especially given that advanced stand-up sessions are already limited to just 1–2 hours per day, while Mixed Wave and bodyboarding dominate the schedule with 3–4 hours each. With the inefficiencies and wait times, it's not even worth it for advanced standup riders to attend the Mixed Wave session.
Mixed Wave Serves Almost No One
Mixed Wave is designed to cater to only two niche groups:
- Bodyboarders who want the full wave: This is an extremely small, selfish minority. Most bodyboarders are perfectly content (and more efficient) with the divided setup.
- New stand-up riders trying to qualify for advanced sessions: This is the only semi-valid use case, but it doesn't need to happen during Mixed Wave. Allowing two qualification attempts during advanced sessions or reintroducing the dedicated Self-Assist session would solve this problem without disrupting anyone else.
What Should Royal Caribbean do?
To fix the FlowRider experience for everyone, Royal Caribbean needs to ditch Mixed Wave sessions entirely.
- Bring Back Self-Assist Sessions: New stand-up riders can qualify during these sessions without interfering with advanced or bodyboarding times.
- Let Riders Qualify During Advanced Sessions: Two quick attempts wouldn't disrupt advanced riders and would eliminate the need for Mixed Wave altogether.
- Stick to Dedicated Sessions: Separating bodyboarding and stand-up riding ensures efficient wave use and happier guests across the board. Take the 4 hours that would have been mixed and make it 2 additional hours of Boogie Boarding and 2 additional hours of Advanced Surfing!
In Conclusion: Mixed Wave Is a Waste of Everyone's Time
Mixed Wave sessions are a logistical "compromise" that tries to please everyone but ends up satisfying no one. It creates much longer lines, reduces wave time, and ruins the experience for both bodyboarders and stand-up surfers.
Royal Caribbean has the opportunity to streamline the FlowRider schedule and make it more enjoyable for all guests. It's time to stop trying to serve everyone at once and focus on optimizing the experience for each group.
Would you like to see Mixed Wave sessions removed? Let's make our voices heard and push for a better FlowRider experience!
