Symphony of the Seas, cruise ships, and climbing walls

The largest cruise ship in the world is currently docked here in Barcelona and will leave in a few days for a Med cruise. (Google Symphony of the Seas for its amazing stats, accommodations, and on-board ocio attractions.) Now, leaving aside—for the first couple of posts anyway—the moral and ethical issues of paper, glass, plastic, aluminum, and human waste disposal...of bilge water treatment...of diesel exhaust and fuel consumption...and of conspicuous consumption in general...Lets get to what really matters: the two 43-foot climbing walls that are apparently on board. Given that, between pax and crew, there could be over 8500 souls on the ship, I figure the odds are pretty high that a MP member in semi-good standing is surely among them and can answer these very important and burning questions: How is the quality of the routes? Who are the routesetters and what is their philosophy? How often do they change the routes? Any autobelays? A lead wall? Any sweet 12s I could project between buffet runs?  Do I have to use a Grigri or will an ATC do? Can I tie in with a bowline? What is their lead/top rope testing like? Can/should I hire a guide? Inquiring and cruise aspiring minds want to know!

I would be willing to bet it is a bunch of large jugs haphazardly thrown up on the wall for the vacationers to thrash about on while their significant other takes instagram pictures for them.

Get in there and give us your report, Dan! 

I've climbed on another Royal Caribbean ship with walls in the 40 foot range and they are set once and forgotten. No auto belays, they have a team of belayers using grigris. Out of all the people on the ship, maybe a dozen others besides myself climbed at all, so I climbed every morning with no lines at all. Most stuff was a jug haul, but they had a couple in the 10+/11-  gym range. They are made harder by no chalk and never being cleaned. The hardest part is the fact the holds are all scorching hot in the blaring sun of the Caribbean and actually burned me. It's more of a novelty being able to climb on a ship at sea.

If you mean the Salmonella of Seas where you get to share a floating cesspit with over 8500 souls for a week where the odds are pretty high that you will catch an infectious diseases the quality of the climbing wall will be the least of your concerns.

Slogger...I’m almost 100% certain you nailed it.

Jeff...good to hear your voice! Let me know if you ever get over the pond to Catalunya. That winter of ‘76-‘77 in Boulder was a profound period for me in terms of climbing thanks to you, and could have been life-changing but I didn’t quite “get it” at the time (philosophy, attitude, motivations, etc.). Now, at 60, the sands seem to be dropping through the hourglass ever more quickly, but I’m learning and having a ball!

Jack...dream job for a dirtbag climber—belaying folks on cruise ships??? Arg, I think not! Great on-board crag description.

Allen...yeah, I haven’t ever been on a cruise and don’t ever plan on going due to the ethical/moral issues I mentioned in my OP. Some of the cruise companies seem to be trying to fix things, though, with recycling programs and a new generation of waste treatment systems. We’ll see. So, for now, not my cup of salmonella tea, as you mentioned.

Dan - likewise! We did some great routes together. So you are  in "Bahth-elona" now? Doing what? I'll keep that in mind!

Yep. Here for the foreseeable future. Retired, flexible schedule. Doing some photography (although not climbing photography).

Dan,  so did you end up going on a cruise and checking out the climbing walls?  

I have many of the same concerns you and others posted both about cruises and the climbing walls on them.  

And I have also never been on a cruise, but my extended family want to try it once to see what cruise traveling is like and I am hoping they pick one that has a wall for me to try each morning. 

Any other experienced climbers given the cruise ship walls a try?

Thomas, I have not been on a cruise and likely won’t. I’m still curious about the cruise ship climbing experience, though, as I see these giant floating cities move in and out of the port of Barcelona all the time. We have had several non-climbing friends visit us en route to their once-in-lifetime cruise. Repeating Thomas here: Anyone else have an update with firsthand experience? Anyone working as a climbing “guide” or “route developer” on one of these ships?