Will the Senses Fitness Center Allow Teenagers on Future Cruises?

Update 7/23/21: Today, DCL announced that cruises from the US will resume in August, starting with the Dream. On the website with information about these cruises, Disney announced that teenagers (ages 14-17) will be able to use the Fitness Center, as long as they're with a parent or guardian!

The United Kingdom's Magic at Sea cruises are scheduled to begin next week.  There will be many new health and safety practices in place, and I think they're pretty restrictive.  The DCL website has information about these policies, and even if you aren't going on a Magic at Sea cruise, it's worth checking out.  It's hard for me to imagine how some of the restrictions will work, like having to wait in a virtual line to go to the pools.  At least the pools aren't virtual.

One of the changes that surprised me the most was that teenagers (aged 14-17) will be allowed to use the Fitness Center as long as they're with an adult or guardian.  This is new for the Magic at Sea cruises, and I think it's in place to give teens more to do on the restricted cruises.  Vibe will be open, but its activities will be limited.  So, to stop teens from getting bored, they get to exercise!  Fun...  All guests will need to make a reservation to use the Fitness Center, and they can only use it for 45 minutes per day.  That time limit seems short, but it's good for people who want to exercise but don't like doing it.

Allowing teenagers into the Fitness Center is a positive change.  Before this change, exercise options for teenagers were limited.  We could use the promenade for running or walking, the pools (when they weren't crowded), or the sports deck for a variety of activities.  But now, a much larger selection of exercise activities are available for 45 minutes a day.  I probably wouldn't spend any time at the Fitness Center, but I'm sure many of my peers would.  I don't even need the Fitness Center, I get enough exercise going up and down the stairs.

After this summer's Magic at Sea cruises are over, will teenagers still be allowed to use the Fitness Center?  I think so.  They'll have to be accompanied by an adult, so it's not like a group of teenagers could go around the Fitness Center and bother adults or damage the exercise equipment.  Also, teenagers are already allowed to receive Senses Spa treatments in the Chill Spa, so teens in the Senses area isn't an entirely new thing.  If allowing supervised teenagers into the Fitness Center works well this summer, I'm guessing the change will spread across the fleet when cruises that go places return.  Of course, Disney may want to keep the Fitness Center an adults-exclusive space, but for all the teenagers that would like to use the Fitness Center, I hope this is not the case.

While writing this post, I realized that I have no photos of the Fitness Center.  That makes sense, as I've never been able to go.  If DCL allows teens there on my next cruise, maybe I'll let my phone's camera get exercise and take some pictures!