by Libby Zay
Yesterday, the cruise line launched the “Royal Caribbean Bedding Collection,” giving consumers the opportunity to recreate their onboard sleeping experience through the purchase of mattresses, pillows and linens.
“The new bedding collection offers consumers a little Royal Caribbean cruise vacation at the end of the day,” says Lisa Bauer, senior vice president of Hotel Operations for the cruise line, in a statement. The line says the signature bedding collection is “designed for comfort and, most important, quality.”
Royal Caribbean isn’t the first cruise line to develop and sell their own line of bedding. Holland American sells the “Mariner’s Dream Bed,” and Carnival has the “Carnival Comfort Collection.”
“We introduced the Carnival Comfort Bed sleep system in 2005 and it proved to be extremely popular with guests, many of whom tell us it’s the most comfortable bed they’ve ever slept in and provides a truly restful night of sleep,” a representative from Carnival tells AOL Travel News.
“The Comfort Bed proved so popular that shortly after its introduction we began selling the beds on line via a special website. At the time of the launch, we replaced upwards of 25,000 mattresses over the course of a year and the Comfort Bed is included in every one of our new ships,” he continues.
But compared to hotels, cruise lines are just beginning to jump on the take-the-bed-home bandwagon. Hotels have long received requests from guests who want to purchase beds that helped them have a good night’s rest, but it wasn’t until Julia Roberts and Oprah chatted one afternoon about sleeping on hotel beds that the trend really took off.
When asked what her favorite thing to sleep in, Julia Roberts replied: “A Four Seasons bed.”
“Four Seasons’ bed is the only be better than my own,” exclaimed Oprah, making viewers – and hotels – take note.
Perhaps the most well known hotel bed in the industry today is the “Heavenly Bed,” which Westin markets as “10 layers of pure comfort.” The hotel chain began selling the mattress, pillow and linen combo in 2005, a setup that can now be purchased in full for $2,670 and up.
Similarly, Marriott, Swissotel, Hilton, W Hotels, Fairmont, Hyatt and Omni Hotels all offer their linens and bedding online.
If you’ve had the sleep of your dreams on a different bed, hotel bedding manufacturer Downlite has a search option on their website that allows users to find bedding from specific hotels they supply to. Downlite works with hotel chains such as Holiday Inn, Whydham, Fountainebleau, Kimpton, Ramada, Clarion, W Hotels, and Mandarien Oriental, as well as well-known properties such as the Grand Wailea in Hawaii, the Waldorf Astoria in New York, and several resorts in Las Vegas, including the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Treasure Island, Venetian and MGM Grand. Once you find the bedding that allowed you the perfect night’s sleep, you can purchase it direct from the manufacturer.