Princess Cruises has apparently closed a play area on one of its biggest ships, after placing the smoking area for the ship adjacent to it.

Cruise blogger mumatsea (Juliet) shared a photo of the play area on Instagram, which included a small climbing area and slide, and explained how she had been told it was closed and that children weren’t allowed to use it.
When she asked why, the crew told her that due to the placement of the smoking area next to it, directly behind the low metal fence separating the playground, the play area was closed off.
It’s obviously a relatively recent change to rules, otherwise the play area wouldn’t have been constructed in the first place. One person did comment that when they visited the ship in 2024, the play area was in use.
Juliet also revealed that, during their cruise, a new sign was added to the shallower pool on the ship saying that, despite it being 1 metre deep, it was now for adults only.
Princess Cruises is generally seen as a family-friendly cruise line, although not to the extent of a cruise line like Royal Caribbean or Disney Cruise Line.
Sky Princess doesn’t have water slides or other attractions that are aimed at children. Its highlights are definitely aimed more at adult guests, including the elegant Piazza hub of the ship, the casino and the Princess Theater.
The ship does operate kids clubs (which this play area was a part of), along with offering a range of fun activities and facilities for younger guests, particularly on the newer and bigger ships.
But you could argue that there are concerns over the forward planning of the cruise line. In 2024 new ship Sun Princess set sail with many of the facilities in the Park19 space closed.
Ultimately the Rollglider, Coastal Climb and Ropes Course features never opened.
It was never officially confirmed why the features were closed, although it’s assumed they were due to problems with construction or safety certification.
They were removed from the ship once she had completed her debut season in Europe, and sister ship Star Princess (due to launch 2025) will not be getting them either.
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Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.
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