Please tell me about good experiences at Caribbean Beach!

[MidwestMulan]

Hi All!

We are slated to go to WDW in August. We are currently booked at Pop. My hubby wants to upgrade to Caribbean Beach because of all the great pools and he thinks the theming looks great. (he's not as hip on POR... I already tried that.) I'm very nervous because of everything I've heard about the "dirty" rooms both here and on disunplugged. Can anyone tell me of good experiences they have had at CBR? I would just rather stay at Pop or go all out to AKL.

 

[dansdad]

We've had multiple awesome stays at CBR. It's our favorite moderate resort. We've also recommended CBR to friends and family and they all have stayed a second time.

A bad/dirty room can happen at any WDW resort. But I can say with confidence that CBR doesn't have a problem with dirty rooms. It has gone the longest without a refurbishment, but is getting one now. They've started on Jamaica 44 building.

 

[jessicamouse]

We stayed at CBR last December in a pirate room, and really loved it! I'm surprised to hear about dirty rooms, as we found everything to be exceptionally clean and beautiful. My only complaint would be the distance we needed to walk from our building to Port Royale (food court, shops, etc), but honestly, it wasn't that bad - maybe 7 minutes. The theming of the resort, especially our pirate room, was amazing. I love the Disney details The food court was very nice, the bus system was timely and efficient, and the customer service was wonderful. That said, I'm sure you would find the attention to detail, the quality of food, customer service and housekeeping at any Disney Resort, value or otherwise, so it really comes down to the benefits of the upgrades. If your DH is really interested in the pool, then you can't go wrong with CBR - the pool is wonderful. If your kids are pirate lovers, the upgrade to a pirate room would definitely be worth considering.

Hope this helps! Have fun!

 

[minnie mum]

I would have to agree with the previous PPs. In all of our stays at CBR (our favourite mod resort) we have never encountered a dirty room or had a problem with mousekeeping.

 

[AngiTN]

Having stayed at both Pop and CBR I would say run as fast as you can to CBR and don't look back. We loved our time at CBR and would stay there again in a heart beat. Not a single bad thing to say about it. You'd be hard pressed to get me back at Pop even if it was free. I'm not a fan.

 

[MidwestMulan]

OK, this is really helping! I know my DS and DD would love the pirate ship pool! My biggest concerns had been dirty rooms, bus service, and walking distance, but it seems that they are all manageable.

Decisions, Decisions...

Thanks everyone... this board is so helpful!

 

[Mynamewastaken]

i would jump on that and not look back~

 

[MommyJen]

We've stayed at CBR twice. We decided to upgrade to WL this time but depending on what offers come out we might end up back at CBR in Spetember. We love it there! My kids love the pools. The last time we were the my DS4 loved the water slides at the big pool and my DD2 loved the kids splash area. The food court was decent and mousekeeping was always exceptional for us. Have a great trip!

 

[Sue M]

We had a 10 day stay at CBR. Had a great location in Jamacia near quiet pool & opposite beach. Bus stop was just past the parking lot, very close. Short walk to the bridge over to food court & main pool.
Room was always clean. Great mouse keeping.

I have no complaints about CBR except that they are the only moderate without queen beds. And with the other mods getting complete renos, their rooms are now a bit more upscale.

The grounds at CBR are beautifully landscaped, be sure to walk around, also along the bridge.

If you are thinking of pirate rooms, they are kinda far from the food court & pool.

 

[rmsdsp]

We came home from CBR on 3/7 from a 8 day trip and we could not have been happier with the resort. We booked a room in Trinidad South knowing that we were going to have to walk a bit. Our family of 4 (Me, Wife, DS-4, DH-1) and a double stroller found the walks from our room to Center-town took about 15 minutes. The rooms were clean and there was NO musty or moldy smell. We never waited for bussed and and house keeping had our room in great shape when we returned from the parks. I was apprehensive about booking CBR when reading many of the reviews, but I am glad that I did. We LOVED IT. Reviews can go either way depending on who is writing them. I guess the bottom line is you can always find something to complain about if you look hard enough. We cant wait to go back

 

[donnaf516]

I don't have anything bad to say about CBR, people might not agree but we like it more then POR.

The only reason we're going with POFQ this year is because we prefer queen beds. If they upgraded the beds at CBR that would probably be our new "home". I really wonder why they haven't done it yet...

 

[AngiTN]

OK, this is really helping! I know my DS and DD would love the pirate ship pool! My biggest concerns had been dirty rooms, bus service, and walking distance, but it seems that they are all manageable.

Decisions, Decisions...

Thanks everyone... this board is so helpful!

Take a look at this map. If you request a room in one of the buildings with easy access to the bridge you shouldn't have a long walk at all. And the internal bus stops are abundant all around the resort. We had a room in Aruba 51. It was a standard room.

 

[I Love Pluto]

Although my sig reflects my love for POR & POFQ, we have also stayed at CBR a few times. The beach theme & the island calypso music softly playing in the background are an awesome touch to make anyone fall in love with CBR!

It is extremely clean, the personnel are always smiling, the food court is excellent. The pools are clean & well-kept. The main pool is enjoyable - and it has the "walk-in & have no steps" feature.

You will love it!

 

[BebopBaloo]

We've had multiple awesome stays at CBR. It's our favorite moderate resort. We've also recommended CBR to friends and family and they all have stayed a second time.

A bad/dirty room can happen at any WDW resort. But I can say with confidence that CBR doesn't have a problem with dirty rooms. It has gone the longest without a refurbishment, but is getting one now. They've started on Jamaica 44 building.

CBR is getting a refurbishment now? Do you have more info on the refurbishment? Any fun details?

 

[Zim]

Ok, I guess I'm the odd man out here. Not that CBR was bad (is there really ever a bad Disney resort?) but we've been to WL, AoA, AKL and CBR and that is my order of preference.

We are all about being completely enveloped in "Disney" when we go. We went to CBR for the moderate rate and the pirate themed room. The room theme was fun. However the maze feel to the buildings had us lost. While there are a lot of pools, each building pool is a basic tiny pool. Depending on your building, you may be walking a lot to get to the main fun pool. We only ever went over to the main pool once.

The bus system for this resort got a little old as well, since you have so many stops either coming or going to the parks depending which stop is yours. Add the time to load scooters, and it could be pretty tedious.

I realize of the resorts we've been to, two are deluxe, but actually my personal favorite now is Art of Animation. Talk about being IN Disney, the statues all over the place (including the amazing main pool) are phenomenal. I recommend people go to this hotel just for photos ops with the statues even if they're actually staying at another hotel. The room themes are incredible, even the basic mermaid room (which is where we stayed last September). We're going down in December and just booked the Cars suite - SO excited.

 

[dansdad]

CBR is getting a refurbishment now? Do you have more info on the refurbishment? Any fun details?

There is a link to some pictures on the CBR FAQ thread. I'm on my phone now so it's too hard to post the link.

 

[BebopBaloo]

There is a link to some pictures on the CBR FAQ thread. I'm on my phone now so it's too hard to post the link.

Thanks! I'll find them now that I know they are out there

 

[dansdad]

OK, this is really helping! I know my DS and DD would love the pirate ship pool! My biggest concerns had been dirty rooms, bus service, and walking distance, but it seems that they are all manageable.

Decisions, Decisions...

Thanks everyone... this board is so helpful!

There are so many rooms, non preferred, that are very close to the main pool and OPR. We love Jamaica 45.

We've always had great bus service. We like that each village has its own bus stop so you're never far from one.

 

[Magalex]

Love CBR! We never had any issues at CBR. I love the landscaping of CBR & I enjoy the walk over the bridge to the gift shop/food court/main pool. We always lots of fun at CBR

 

[MAPOrocks]

Our favorite part of staying at CBR was sitting out on the hammocks and watching the fireworks at Epcot. It was so nice and relaxing!