Upper Berths for Little Kids

[ToddlerMom]

An FYI about this one. I had searched on this forum about the safety of upper berths and everything I read said they were safe. Our 6 YO DD fell out of the upper berth on the first night of our recent cruise. DH and I were sound asleep and woke up when she fell so we're not sure what happened. Thankfully DD was fine.

 

But after she fell we noticed that there is a sign on the side of the berth that says that it might not be safe for kids under 9.

 

I would not recommend allowing your children to sleep in the upper berth if they are still move around a lot at night.

[dsrdsrdsr]

Any idea of putting an age on the bunk is a nonsense. Basically, upper berths are safe for people who don't fall out of bed, dangerous for people who do. Any warning notice can only be for insurance purposes, because parents will make up their own minds. By and large they're safer for adults than children, because adults are less likely to fall out; but if they do fall out, as you (unfortunately!) found out, children bounce better.

[cb at sea]

Kid's fall all the time...that's what kid's do. The uppers are full sized twins....they aren't "mini" beds.

 

 

Apparently your 6 year old is fine...kid's are flexible and if they take a tumble...oh well...they have no brittle bones!

[gluecksbaer]

Kid's fall all the time...that's what kid's do. The uppers are full sized twins....they aren't "mini" beds.

 

 

Apparently your 6 year old is fine...kid's are flexible and if they take a tumble...oh well...they have no brittle bones!

 

Kids break bones all the time too. Obviously not with every fall, but having a broken bone set isn't how any parent or child wants to spend vacation.

The OP has a good reminder to consider how your own child sleeps and not just what other families felt was safe for their child.

[flhokie]

Glad she was ok! DD slept in the upper berth last year at 4 with no issue. That being said, there was a long & sturdy rail along about 3/4 length of the bed which is the only way I felt at all comfortable with her up there.

[Keith1010]

Thanks so much for your post. It is a reminder of the risk of an upper birth.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

Glad she was ok, our daughter slept on the floor when she was little. We just put the mattress from the upper bunk on the floor.

[monstermac]

I called carnival to request a crib for my 2 yr old son. I was informed I could not reserve a crib for a 2 year old and the upper Pullman bed would be fine for him. The rep even said her 2 year old sleeps in them when they cruise. It was suggested I request one once onboard and if they have some available I could get one.

 

I know my son rolls around alot in his sleep. I would not feel comfortable putting him in the upper bed. Also my son has never slept in bed with me so I don't want to start now. If there is no crib we will have to figure something out.

[travelhound]

I've posted this before, but we were just on RCCL and they won't take a bunk down for anyone under six. Luckily there was a couch in our room and our dd slept there. She just turned five and will be six before we cruise again, but it does make me nervous about putting her up there. Her bed at home is shaped like a boat so it has some curved "porthole" wood about half way down, so she's never really had a chance to fall out.

[mikesteg]

I called carnival to request a crib for my 2 yr old son. I was informed I could not reserve a crib for a 2 year old and the upper Pullman bed would be fine for him. The rep even said her 2 year old sleeps in them when they cruise. It was suggested I request one once onboard and if they have some available I could get one.

 

I know my son rolls around alot in his sleep. I would not feel comfortable putting him in the upper bed. Also my son has never slept in bed with me so I don't want to start now. If there is no crib we will have to figure something out.

 

 

We just pull the mattress off the upper bunk and put it on the floor. In our case, one kid sleeps on the couch and one on the floor. The mattress comes down at bedtime, and goes back up before we leave the cabin in the morning. No fuss, no muss, and mom and dad can sleep at night.

[kellieann5]

We just pull the mattress off the upper bunk and put it on the floor. In our case, one kid sleeps on the couch and one on the floor. The mattress comes down at bedtime, and goes back up before we leave the cabin in the morning. No fuss, no muss, and mom and dad can sleep at night.

 

What a great idea! We are stealing this for our upcoming cruise!

[A&Jfamily]

What a great idea! We are stealing this for our upcoming cruise!

 

Slip the steward a $20 and you can probably get him to pull the mattress down, never pull down the upper (making for more headroom) and store it under the main bed, pulling it out a night for sleeping.

[Prinycesa07]

Good reminder OP!

 

Our last cruise my daughter was 5 and my son was 3. I brought a cot for him because I didn't feel comfortable with him in a top bunk. I knew he moved too much. He was also afraid. We're cruising again in October and he will be 5 & a half. Still debating if I'll let him sleep up there. I think he's calmed down the moving around now and will be okay :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

When my daughter was little, my hubby would take the upper berth. But once we'd switched to Princess, there's a guard rail on their upper berths so we weren't concerned that she would fall off. We would be careful with her climbing the little ladder.

 

Never a problem...and it prepared her for dorm life (she didn't have a choice as to upper or lower bed).

[Lerin]

Wow, glad she is alright.

 

Our oldest slept in an upper birth at age 2 and has never had an issue.

Our youngest will probably not sleep in an upper-ever! She has a way of tripping over air; it is 100% certain a fall out of a bunk bed would happen!

[gingerbumblebee]

When we went last year with our boys (5 and 3 at the time) we were happy to have our 5 yr old on the top, but only with an additional rail put up (P&O did this no problem). Our 3 year old slept on the bottom, still with an extra rail, there is no way I would have put him up top. This meant my husband had to sleep on the other top pullman, but it worked for us.

[luvsviola]

http://www.amazon.com/Regalo-Cot-Deluxe-Sleeping-Navy/dp/B009FRKXKG/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1459408521&sr=8-2&keywords=cot+toddler

 

We took this cot with us when my youngest was 2/3 and my middle was 4/5 so he couldn't go on the bunk. It folds up like a bag chair during the day. Worked great!

[LuCruise]

An FYI about this one. I had searched on this forum about the safety of upper berths and everything I read said they were safe. Our 6 YO DD fell out of the upper berth on the first night of our recent cruise. DH and I were sound asleep and woke up when she fell so we're not sure what happened. Thankfully DD was fine.

 

But after she fell we noticed that there is a sign on the side of the berth that says that it might not be safe for kids under 9.

 

I would not recommend allowing your children to sleep in the upper berth if they are still move around a lot at night.

 

That's scary. Glad to hear she was alright.

Can I ask what ship you were on, and if there was a rail? Our cabin has a pull out sofa and a pullman (i.e. as in what you are describing). Our kids are 6.5 and 10.5 and are planning on taking turns of who sleeps on the sofa bed and who is on the pullman.

[Essiesmom]

That's scary. Glad to hear she was alright.

Can I ask what ship you were on, and if there was a rail? Our cabin has a pull out sofa and a pullman (i.e. as in what you are describing). Our kids are 6.5 and 10.5 and are planning on taking turns of who sleeps on the sofa bed and who is on the pullman.

 

From her posting history, she was on Crown Princess. EM

[cruiselovincouple]

We use pop-up child tents from Peapod for both ours. Easy to flip closed and tuck away during the day and they take up only as much space as our children are tall. No mattress taking up valuable floor space. Works like a charm. They also have flaps so they can't see out while they're falling asleep. We open them once we go to bed but it shuts them into their own little "cocoon" and they fall asleep much faster than they would being able to see us moving around the cabin. Gives us some flexibility and freedom too. We love them, have used them for years.

 

 

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[jubjubjulie]

Do they have trundle beds? We had one on NCL, a bed can be pulled out and popped out from one of the beds