Large teenage boy on bunk?

[cmecruise1962]

Traveling with my 19 year old son and his friend (both under 250 pounds) neither one of them was comfortable in the bunk, so we pulled the mattress down between the two twin beds. They were much more comfortable (they switched off being on the floor). We did pick up the mattress each morning, so we wouldn't cause extra work for our room steward.

[Perez1992]

Or you could have them bring you extra blankets and you could make a make shift pallet to sleep on

[sailor_jimc]

Don't need the blankets.. pull the mattress down as previously suggested and ask the room steward for the extra linens. You can explain why. There should be enough room for the mattress on the floor somewhere. As long as you put the mattress back on the pullman in the morning it's no extra work for the room steward.

[jdpc3]

For what it's worth, I cruised with my two teens several years ago, and I took the top bunk. BEST sleep I have ever gotten on a cruise. HANDS DOWN!

 

The getting up and down certainly wasn't as bad as I had feared.

[jiggs]

I would just plan for him to sleep up there, the margin for error on their test likely far exceeded 250 pounds, but to be safe they rated at 250. it has been a while since I've been in a room with an upper, but I don't even know the bunk it self has the rating on it..

 

Same is true of ladders, overhead bins and countless other things.

 

I imagine plenty of people crawled up there at 250 or more without even thinking about it. I'm sure other activities have caused more than one person to be in an upper berth that put it over the limit as well.

 

If you're totally risk adverse and a rule follower, then someone else is going need to go up there. For most poeple crawl up there giving it no further consideration and things don't collapspe on them.

[SadieN]

250# seems to be a cross the board standard.

 

All the bunks I've slept on (Paradise, Elation, Inspiration, Golden Princess) have had a weight limit sticker on them.

 

The Paradise and Elation had wooden ladders, which had wide rungs. The other two had metal ladders with narrow rungs. The metal rungs hurt the feet.

 

Carnival's mattresses are very comfortable. Princess' were ticked using plastic tags (like those holding price tags). Those were very uncomfortable. Needed a foam topper.

Edited May 26, 2015 by SadieN

[hirent]

So far, the most convenient and useful suggestion has been to simply take the bunk mattress and plunk it down on the floor.

A weight rating is not an absolute rule; the bunk likely is tested for more than 250lbs when new. However, this can change based on the age, wear & tear and usage over the years. Considering that it is used by tens of thousands of different people over the years the bunk may not be as supportive as before. The weight rating of course might be given with a number of years and usage in mind but I still wouldn't trust that rating.

If something does happen, you could be looking at health concerns, not to mention any damage that might occur to the room/ship itself.

My advice would be to not use the bunk, simply take and use the mattress on the floor.

Edited May 26, 2015 by hirent

[sassy~one]

the rule is... Max weight 250 dont break the rules.

Edited May 26, 2015 by sassy~one

[theriac]

the rule is... Max weight 250 dont break the rules.

 

I know I could never follow every rule. I occasionally go over the speed limit, yield a red light when turning right, sometimes I even take two samples at Sam's Club. Good for you though being a rule follower through and through.

[jiggs]

Considering that it is used by tens of thousands of different people over the years the bunk may not be as supportive as before. The weight rating of course might be given with a number of years and usage in mind but I still wouldn't trust that rating.

 

Tens of thousands? Max of 100 per year given 3/4 day cruises would be the worst case...after 10 years in service that may be 1000 people...so I guess after 100 years in service I would no longer trust the bunks either.

 

I'd have less confidence that the scale is right, and more confident that the bed will hold him without issue.

 

Get on board, check it out and make a call.

[hirent]

Tens of thousands? Max of 100 per year given 3/4 day cruises would be the worst case...after 10 years in service that may be 1000 people...so I guess after 100 years in service I would no longer trust the bunks either.

I'd have less confidence that the scale is right, and more confident that the bed will hold him without issue.

 

Get on board, check it out and make a call.

 

he he....you are correct! :)

I guess in my head, I was thinking the bunk is used tens of thousands of times, and not thousands of people. :confused:

And even that is a large number!

Let's just say, the bunk is used hundreds of times by hundreds of people.

The point is, depending on the person using the bunk, they may be rough with it and can cause damage that may not be evident.

Edited May 26, 2015 by hirent

[sassy~one]

I know I could never follow every rule. I occasionally go over the speed limit, yield a red light when turning right, sometimes I even take two samples at Sam's Club. Good for you though being a rule follower through and through.

 

MY thoughts were for his safety and the people under him. nothing more!

 

[goracer6]

He is too big for the bunks!

[Perez1992]

Or if you could afford it you could book a connecting room for him that way you all have privacy.

[atlsea]

If I were you I would ask your room steward on the 1st day since he probably has had of experience with this type of stuff.

[tropicaledrink]

If you choose to pull the mattress down to the floor, we've found that the best option is to line the walls with mattresses, rather than just plunking one down in the middle. they **should** all fit if you place one on each wall and it will give you some extra floor space in the middle.

[xeroxme]

I am sure it can handle the extra 5 lbs. as someone said they had a 300 lbs. person up there. I wouldn't be surprised if it can handle twice or 500 lbs. many things get rated at 80 percent of their capacity. In the instance of ladders a 250 lb. rated ladder is actually capable of 1200 lbs. this is for safety reason and wear and tear. I wouldn't worry about the 5 lbs. Besides with all the food on board it's hard to leave the ship without hitting 250. Lol.

[curious_st]

Weight ratings usually have a nice factor of safety on them. I doubt that a cantilevered pull down structure that has some moving parts designed to hold a human with a reasonable assumption of movement would have a factor of safety less than 1.25. It would not surprise me if these beds had a much higher factor of safety, maybe 1.5 or 2.

 

So, if the bed was designed with a factor of safety of 1.25 and the weight limit were 250 lb, then the bed would have been designed for a human load of 312.5 lbs. of course, things were and tear over time. Plus, it's quite possible that a 180 lb man invited a 135 lb femal friend back to his bed in the sky for a little vigorous "exercise," and place irreversible strain on the bed in the past. So, a close visual inspection would be necessary before even the smallest of people climbed up for a nap.

 

If the bed and the supports seem straight, free of dents and bending, and the platform does not give excessively when loaded with a 255 lb human, then it's good. If you see any bends, dents, or the platform is wobbly, then it was already damaged before you even started.

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

We just returned from a cruise on the Fascination on Saturday. I slept on the pul ldown bunk. I'm 6'3" and a weight about 260. I was a little uneasy about sleeping on it. It turned out to be fine and was very comfortable.

[cmptrwiz]

My biggest concern would be weighing in at the upper weight limit 250 lbs and the bead had some "extra wear and tear" factor. The things that normal people do in a bead. Then enjoying the cruise especially in the dinning room, but not the gym. Adding a few new pounds because of great food. Well you get the idea. All of a sudden on a bed who's rating has actually gone down from wear and tear and over use and an occupant who is now over limit because of food.

[Lerin]

We taken the mattress down and set it between the two beds on the floor. Not the best set up but it worked.

That's what I'd do, weight limits are in place for a reason. I'd worry about whoever is sleeping under that bunk, not only on your cruise, but every cruise after.

[rileylewis]

We are traveling on the Conquest. (Shipping out on Sunday! :)YAY!:))

 

I think I'm going to just try and sleep up there. If it is too uncomfortable or too difficult to get up and down in the night, maybe we'll try putting the mattress on the floor (and my son will sleep there). I'm not sure there will be enough room to put it against the wall, though. The room seems pretty small. It's an interior stateroom.

 

We are not going to be able to upgrade ($$), so we'll just make the best of it.

 

Even though some have said it should be fine for my son to sleep up there, I'm a little uneasy about it.

 

Thanks for all your ideas! Maybe someone has a picture of a mattress put on the floor, then I could see how it works? :D

Edited May 27, 2015 by rileylewis

[k2excursion]

We are traveling on the Conquest. (Shipping out on Sunday! :)YAY!:))

 

I think I'm going to just try and sleep up there. If it is too uncomfortable or too difficult to get up and down in the night, maybe we'll try putting the mattress on the floor (and my son will sleep there). I'm not sure there will be enough room to put it against the wall, though. The room seems pretty small. It's an interior stateroom.

 

We are not going to be able to upgrade ($$), so we'll just make the best of it.

 

Even though some have said it should be fine for my son to sleep up there, I'm a little uneasy about it.

 

Thanks for all your ideas! Maybe someone has a picture of a mattress put on the floor, then I could see how it works? :D

 

I have measured these rooms, and the width seems to be quite consistent regardless of interior, OV, balcony, and on many different ships: a few inches over 9 feet wide. The beds, listed as twins, are actually 33" wide. That's for both the regular twins & the upper mattress. So wall to wall mattresses would be 8'3" in total width, leaving about 10 inches of extra space. I think you would lose all that extra space to the bedding/comforter along the sides of the beds, but there should be room. There won't be room for the 2 nightstands in there, but those can easily be moved, or put the mattress in front of them.

 

To put the 2 regular beds together up against a wall, you'll need to first move the nightstands out of the way, then push the beds together & up against the wall. Then put the upper's mattress on the floor against the other wall. Nightstands can be put wherever. If you put the mattress back up in the morning, then the setup might look odd to the room steward. You can inform the steward what you are doing, so that you don't have to bother with putting it up & taking it down every day.

[rileylewis]

Thanks for all the details , k2ecursion! :)

Edited May 28, 2015 by rileylewis

[Zeta3]

We will be on the fantasy and have a triple with no sofa just an upper that for various reasons none of us can use. we have had a trundle before which worked fine. Some other wonderful CC poster had posted this photo of how to maximize space for the triple and this is our plan