How old for upper bunk?

[lolakat]

Hi. My friend has 2 daughters age 3 and 6 at the time of our planned trip. The cabin we booked has the two twins (together as queen) a single pull out and an upper berth. What age do you think is old enough to use the upper berth? She is a little worried about putting her 6 yo up there.

[cb at sea]

6 should be fine! As long as she doesn't routinely "fall out of bed" at home! They do have a railing of sorts, to help keep you in! I would think the 6 yo would be THRILLED to sleep in an "upper"! What an adventure!

[Onessa]

My daughter has always slept like a ROCK (doesn't move once she falls asleep). We've never had an issue, not even the time our ship needed to do two 180 degree turns in about a 10 minute period of time in rough seas at 5:00am (to assist in a distress call).

[boulders]

We have just moved to a new house and ds4 is currently sleeping in his sister's upper bunk. He's now slept there for almost 2 months with no problems. A six year old should be fine.

[smoothy]

DS #1 used an upper bunk without any problem last year's cruise (he was 5) and this year's cruise. You just have to make sure to leave the bathroom light on with the door open a crack so she can see the ladder if a midnight pee break is needed (bathroom light on is also good so noone will miss the bathroom step-up in the dark).

[Emilie]

Well, I feel a little irresponsible reading you :o, but my daughter slept in an upper berth on our last cruise, and she was 2 months shy from her third birthday. If she had fell, it would have been on our bed, so I figured it wasn't so bad. Didn't occur anyway.

[CruiseHobbit]

If the upper berth becomes a concern (she becomes scared, etc) you can always have the room steward make up the sofa so that they can share it. I doubt it would be too much of a problem for them since they are so young.

[ugen512]

My daughter was 4 on her first cruise and loved the upper. As advised previously, it depends on your individual siuation.

[Warm Breezes]

My daughter was 4 on our first cruise too and she had no problems with the upper bunk.

[cantw8togo]

The configuration of the room can play a part in the decision. On our last cruise with HAL, (outside cabin), the upper berth was partially over the beds so that if you rolled out of bed, you would have a soft landing. Three years ago on the Millenium / Celebrity,(balcony cabin), the beds were perpendicular to the upper bunk and if you fell out, it was a 4 1/2 foot drop to the floor. :eek: We didn't feel comfortable with our then 4 yr old sleeping up there in case he fell out or if he had trouble climbing down in the night to go to the bathroom.

 

It is important to be flexible with sleeping arrangements in case things are not quite what you expect.

 

N.

[ottawa_traveler]

The configuration of the room can play a part in the decision. On our last cruise with HAL, (outside cabin), the upper berth was partially over the beds so that if you rolled out of bed, you would have a soft landing.

N.

 

We had the same configuration this summer on HAL and our 6-yr old was fine in the top bunk.

[topspot]

I saw a great suggestion someone else used. The had enough floor space to take the mattress off of the upper berth, and put in on the floor for thier little one. Now that's a smooth landing if they roll out.;)

[crusinmama06]

I always recommend pulling the mattress off the top berth and throwing it on the floor.

 

I started letting my oldest sleep "up top" when she was 8. No way could I trust my 5 year old up there. :)

 

There was a 12 year old (mom was on this board) and her son fell off the top bunk, broke his leg on the cruise. :( So I guess it can happen even in older children.

 

On a side note, I have a friend in real life that has a 5 year old who JUST fell off of his bunk at home last night - stitches needed to close up the gash on his head. :( He needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and missed the ladder.

[lolakat]

Thank you for all the advice. I guess we will see what it looks like and how she feels when we get there. At least we know we could just pull the mattres off if necessary.