Seabourne mattresses -- hard, soft, or both?

[Catlover54]

I am booked on two cruises with Seabourne, the first one ever will be in September on the Odyssey in a PH suite , ( that one will be two cruises back to back for two weeks, Athens- Istanbul , and then a week in Black Sea area and back to Ist). The next one (assuming I like Seabourne) will be July 2016 in a veranda suite on the Quest ( Copenhagen- Dover). What opinions do people have about the softness of the mattress options on these ships? Do they have a hard and soft side one can flip to? Anyone have an awfully hard mattress requiring a portable pad to be brought on, like some Princess pax experienced? Are the mattresses in PH suites the same as in Veranda?

 

I have musculoskeletal pains which hard mattresses aggravate so I really like the soft mattresses, or soft sides if they have them ( on the Silver Shadow my veranda bed was heaven, on the Cloud the initial mattress was a rock but the butler flipped the mattress to a cloud, and then on the Spirit we flipped it ourselves to an acceptable side). If there is a good chance the mattress is neither fixed soft nor duel-sided I will plan on shipping a mattress topper or pad with me to cushion the bed, as I will not likely find a suitable one in the ports we will be at if I show up and it is unacceptably hard on arrival.

[secoma4]

Our experience, over nearly 200 days, is that the mattresses are great. Never occurred to me they are hard. I'm sure that if you had an issue they will address it. Make reference to it in you registration details which you need to complete online. There is a section for special requests. You would generally complete this about 3 months prior, but can most likely do it now if you are booked. With pillows there are choices. Just ask the room steward when you arrive.

[2SailingNomads]

We sleep like logs when on Seabourn - my wife who usually gets up long before I do at home often is sleeping when I get up when on-board. (BTW, there is no ending 'e' in the line's name :))

[SKP946]

In my experience with over 150 days with Seabourn if you are not happy with the supplied mattress Seabourn will either replace it or put a soft top on .

[Catlover54]

Update, for those who may be mattress sensitive: I embarked on the Odyssey a few days ago. I am very much enjoying the cruise and fantastic SB service overall, but the PH mattresses in my suite's bedroom seem relatively hard to me. The European friend I am traveling with (who has no musculoskeletal problems and thinks hard bed mattresses are good for you) has no problem with the bedroom mattresses, but agrees the sofa mattress/pads in the living room are much too hard to sit on for relaxation. The bedroom mattresses cannot be flipped to another, softer side, either.

 

The wonderful suite stewardess made heroic efforts the first couple days to somehow soften up the topping on my bed (another blanket, pillows, bed protector, etc.) to no avail. She finally appeared after a couple days and research with an egg crate mattress pad, like is used in hospitals to prevent bed sores, and that has helped tremendously. I had initially suggested letting me use one of the poolside lounger chair covers to resolve the problem, which would have worked well, but that was not allowed (different department). The balcony lounger chairs in my suite are also hard, have no pads, so there was nothing from there to use, (though they do partially recline and are otherwise well-structured). The stewardess told me the Odyssey recently "upgraded" their mattresses, so the older, softer ones (which I probably would have liked) are mostly gone so as to have these more modern ones. She thinks the ones on the Quest (where I am booked July 2016) remain the older, softer ones.

 

The sofa in the living room, however, is hopeless. It is quite a bit narrower than in the picture on the Seabourn site, AND extremely hard (both the sofa side and the chaise lounger side). Given the hardness and narrowness, it is impossible for me (or even my friend) to get comfortable sitting on it, or lying on it, in any position (I am not a particularly large person, but still easily roll off if I lie on my side, plus it hurts). I have a mountain of down pills set up throne-like on the chaise side so in a pinch I can briefly sit there, but mostly for living room style lounging I escape to the lovely SB Square adjustable recliners, or any of the many other very comfortable places to sit on the ship.

I would not book a PH suite again, given the (to me -- admittedly a princess on a pea) uselessness of the living room for lounging.

 

My plan for the Quest next year (where I have a normal mid-ship Veranda suite booked with DH) is to pre-request an egg crate mattress topper, and then to spend my lounging sitting time on the bed (so I will have no need to worry about potentially hard sofa-sitting if I have the topper on the bed).

Edited September 11, 2015 by Catlover54
typo

[Salice Salentino]

I too suffer from musculoskeletal difficulties and a soft supportive mattress is extremely important to me. If not, I can end up with crippling sciatica making it difficult to walk for more than fifty yards at a time. Our last Seabourn cruise was on the Odyssey in the spring of this year and was 32 days long. I found the mattress to be very uncomfortable. So much so that I had to ask the stewardess bring me enough extra pillows to fashion a ‘mattress’ on top of the regular mattress. This helped somewhat, but the pillows often shifted and made moving in bed rather difficult. It wasn’t until the day we were leaving that I saw an egg-carton type of foam pad being removed from another suite. I wish our stewardess had suggested this as an option for me. We were on the Sojourn two years before this for a 33 day cruise and did not have any such difficulty. I will definitely be making an online request for a softer mattress or special padding prior to my next cruise.

[ab21au]

Just got off the Quest and the bed was just like being at home, very comfortable. We also had no complaints with the Odyssey bed last cruise. But we do not like a very soft mattress. I am sure they will do whatever they can to make your bed comfortable for you.

[wripro]

I d hope that the sofas on the Encore and Ovation will be softer. I agree the current ones are way too hard.