How do you deal with rock-hard mattresses??

[rpmljm]

I'd love to hear your suggestions for how you deal with uncomfortable, hard mattresses when you travel. I know we can request foam mattress toppers, but that doesn't always happen and some cruise lines don't provide them. How do you avoid a painful back from these mattresses? I suppose I could take another suitcase with my own topper. :rolleyes: If you take one, what kind (brand) do you take?

[Shmoo here]

I'd love to hear your suggestions for how you deal with uncomfortable, hard mattresses when you travel. I know we can request foam mattress toppers, but that doesn't always happen and some cruise lines don't provide them. How do you avoid a painful back from these mattresses? I suppose I could take another suitcase with my own topper. :rolleyes: If you take one, what kind (brand) do you take?

If complaining to Passenger Services didn't produce a new mattress, I'd check out the sofa (if the room had one). Ask for an inflatable mattress to sleep on the floor. Or try sleeping on deck in a lounger.

 

I just can't see bringing my own mattress on a trip (or pillows/sheets/any other bedding).

[marchie1053]

I'd love to hear your suggestions for how you deal with uncomfortable, hard mattresses when you travel. I know we can request foam mattress toppers, but that doesn't always happen and some cruise lines don't provide them. How do you avoid a painful back from these mattresses? I suppose I could take another suitcase with my own topper. :rolleyes: If you take one, what kind (brand) do you take?

 

I'll come back to you tomorrow - after I've slept on it ... ;)

[cb at sea]

All I care about is if there is SUPPORT on the mattress! You can ask for a duvet to be put under the fitted sheet, if you need padding. When I think of a "soft" mattress, I think of a saggy, unsupportive surface.....which I've had before. Rather have a supportive unpadded mattress than something with dips and holes!

[panoramaofthepast]

Take an inflatable raft/mattrress and ask the steward to put it under the sheet? It's a thought!

[Essiesmom]

We order the blue foam egg crate mattress toppers and take them with us. We started this with three weeks on Carnival Pride (they no longer provide egg crates), traveling by train to the port. We took them last cruise on Magic from Port Canaveral (drove to port) but mattresses were good so they stayed in the closet. Next cruise is on Fascination, and last year the beds were too hard. We will take them and leave in the car until we find out how the beds are. We are seniors with arthritic joints and firm beds don't work for us. EM

[rpmljm]

We order the blue foam egg crate mattress toppers and take them with us. We started this with three weeks on Carnival Pride (they no longer provide egg crates), traveling by train to the port. We took them last cruise on Magic from Port Canaveral (drove to port) but mattresses were good so they stayed in the closet. Next cruise is on Fascination, and last year the beds were too hard. We will take them and leave in the car until we find out how the beds are. We are seniors with arthritic joints and firm beds don't work for us. EM

 

Good suggestions. We are driving to the port and could take one. If you leave it in the car to see how the mattresses are, how would you go back to the car to get them after you have boarded? Maybe I misunderstood. Thanks

[OCruisers]

Seems your next cruise will be on Grandeur OTS in March.

You might possibly find it helpful to ask on the RCCL forum about how comfortable/or not the matteresses were to those who have recentely cruised on Grandeur.

Hopefully, the old ones that badly needed to be replaced have been . (yn)

[rpmljm]

Seems your next cruise will be on Grandeur OTS in March.

You might possibly find it helpful to ask on the RCCL forum about how comfortable/or not the matteresses were to those who have recentely cruised on Grandeur.

Hopefully, the old ones that badly needed to be replaced have been . (yn)

 

Did that already which is why I am asking the question. I'm told the mattresses are like concrete. One person who posted was using a heating pad as she typed her response having just returned from a cruise a few days ago.:eek:

[Hey Tina]

Me and my body love a rock hard mattress so my way of dealing with it would be to sleep soundly. There's nothing uncomfortable about it. When I sleep in a bed with a soft mattress where I feel like I'm sinking into it it totally sucks and there's nothing I can do short of sleeping on the floor.

[ldubs]

I'll come back to you tomorrow - after I've slept on it ... ;)

 

 

:D Haha

[Keith1010]

I can deal with most mattresses and if it was a problem I would speak with housekeeping and/or guest services.

 

Keith

[spookwife]

Me and my body love a rock hard mattress so my way of dealing with it would be to sleep soundly. There's nothing uncomfortable about it. When I sleep in a bed with a soft mattress where I feel like I'm sinking into it it totally sucks and there's nothing I can do short of sleeping on the floor.

 

 

this. especially my husband. more than once I have woken up to him on the floor or racked out on the couch( that has not been opened up)

 

I need something halfway between rock hard and squishy. saving my pennies for a memory foam. just have to stop booking cruises.....

[Krazy Kruizers]

Since I fractured by back a few years ago, our TA orders the egg carton which HAL still has.

[margeecruiser]

We have been using a Klymit Static V inflatable sleeping pad. We blow them up and ask the steward to put them under the mattress pad. They are available on Amazon. There is an older thread that discussed this same topic.

 

Margee

 

 

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[Essiesmom]

Good suggestions. We are driving to the port and could take one. If you leave it in the car to see how the mattresses are, how would you go back to the car to get them after you have boarded? Maybe I misunderstood. Thanks

 

Once onboard, you can leave again, just have to go through security again on the way back. EM

[Tiggertastic]

We ask for an egg crate topper. Had to gave 2 put on once to make it comfortable other times non are needed. Ncl suites had these beds that were so comfortable we called it the bed monster as you didn't want to get up

 

 

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[rpmljm]

Once onboard, you can leave again, just have to go through security again on the way back. EM

 

No kidding? I never knew that. Is that true for all ports and cruise lines? We'll be at Baltimore on RCCL.

[SRF]

Did that already which is why I am asking the question. I'm told the mattresses are like concrete. One person who posted was using a heating pad as she typed her response having just returned from a cruise a few days ago.:eek:

 

OTOH sailed on Grandeur in August and we were fine with the mattress.

 

Unless you know someone really well, their comments are not really helpful. My too soft may be still too hard for you.

[Slugsta]

As someone said upthread, I find a duvet under the bottom sheet works if a topper is not available.

[Bookish Angel]

We were on Grandeur 09/07 - 09/16/17. Our mattress was awful in interior cabin 3063; saggy, quite thin in spots, and with a noticeable trough on my side. I could also feel hard spots near my shoulders and hips.:(

 

Our steward put a doubled duvet on my side which improved the comfort slightly but was still bad. My hubby seemed to not have an issue on his side despite him being heavier than my 107 pounds.

 

If I was cruising Grandeur soon, I would definitely contact guest services and housekeeping ahead of departure. I'd also do as others have suggested and bring my own mattress topper.

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

We were recently on the Explorer of the Seas and our bed felt like we were sleeping on just the box spring. I have never felt a harder mattress! I woke up after the first night with my shoulder and hip so sore, I was miserable (I sleep on my side). I asked the cabin steward if she could get a mattress topper for us. She did, and it was so much better after that.

[SbbquilterUT]

This is rather like the quality of food issue - very personal. We were fine with the mattresses on Anthem and Explorer this year. Suggest you make plans but also check out the mattress for yourself as it may meet your needs.

[DRS/NC]

I have 2 kinds of very serious arthritis. The ships' beds have been an issue for YEARS!

 

Before the airlines charged for bags, I simply took my egg crate pad in a box as a checked bags. A few years later, I could get an egg crate from my room steward & didn't need to bring one.

 

Since Princess no longer provides the egg crates, I had to find a way to take my own (regardless of the "new" toppers/beds).

 

Now, I sometimes mail the egg crate ahead to my night-before hotel if I'm leaving from a US port. If from an overseas port, my egg crate is a carry-on (it rolls into a cylinder approx. 14" x 10"). Sometimes I attach it to my cane (that makes a seat) & check it as "mobility equipment" (which it definitely is!). I'll be using a walker/rollator on my next cruise, so I'll wrap the pad around the walker & check them.

 

However I have to work it, the pad is with me! I also need it for the pre-cruise hotel bed too.

[lizp]

If complaining to Passenger Services didn't produce a new mattress, I'd check out the sofa (if the room had one). Ask for an inflatable mattress to sleep on the floor. Or try sleeping on deck in a lounger.

 

I just can't see bringing my own mattress on a trip (or pillows/sheets/any other bedding).

 

Oh man.... I bring my own pillow on EVERY vacation, on every trip, on every over-night getaway. If I'm not in my own bed, this pillow comes with me. It's a perfectly squishy down pillow that cradles my neck and doesn't hurt my ears when I sleep on my side. On trips where I haven't brought it... I've been in agony with sore ears, neck, shoulders....

 

Small sacrifice of space (it's down! it squishes into nothing!) for a comfortable and pain-free trip.

 

Also.... Most airlines allow you to carry-on a pillow without specifying the size (they're assuming those neck pillows....) so I usually just carry it on strapped to my backpack.

 

Not quite an answer to the OPs question, but I understand the concern and desire to bring your own stuff!!!