Caribbean Beach FAQ part VI

[dansdad]

Just booked CBR for the last 4 nights of our 9-night stay next month! I was super excited to snag this resort so last minute (was at ASMo, but wanted to try some place new), and I just opened this page to quite a few negative reviews, making me extremely nervous now

I hope I will be pleasantly surprised. Does anyone have suggestions as to room locations? We have a water/pool view booked.

Before our first stay at CBR, I had the same reservations. After some assuring of some members here on the DIS, we decided to give it a try. We just feel in love with CBR, our last 4 trips to the World we haven't been able to stay anywhere else. If you look, you can find bad reviews for every WDW resort.

As far as room locations, we love Jamaica 45. It is just a short stroll across the bridge to OPR and the main pool. Aruba 51 is also nice, but we just prefer the yellow buildings of Jamaica. To us it just screams the Caribbean. Martinique 21, 22 and 23 are also close.

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Just booked CBR for the last 4 nights of our 9-night stay next month! I was super excited to snag this resort so last minute (was at ASMo, but wanted to try some place new), and I just opened this page to quite a few negative reviews, making me extremely nervous now

I hope I will be pleasantly surprised. Does anyone have suggestions as to room locations? We have a water/pool view booked.

I was at CBR last month and was as aprehensive as you are regarding the resort based on all the negative reviews. At one point, I was going to switch to WL. However, I decided to stick with my original reservation. I've now stayed at all the Disney moderates -- and honestly, I don't like CSR. Some people love it, I don't. That being said -- it is personal opinion, much like those that post negative about CBR. The resort is quite large -- and that is misleading as it has 2,000 rooms which is more or less the same size as all the moderates. But, it is only 2 stories high, which makes it seem much bigger as the buildings are more spread out. So, to some people, that makes for a long walk to get to CenterTown. However, the grounds are beautiful so I enjoyed a slightly longer walk than at POR. I personally thought CSR was as spread out.

Anyhow, the next common complaint I see is that the rooms decor is dated, my response is "wait until spring, they are redoing it." The main, and only valid complaint, is that this is the only mod with double beds instead of queens. Didn't bother us as we only needed a king.

If you want to look for negatives, you can find them anywhere -- when we stayed at GF, I looked around the room and said, outloud, wow, the last time I saw decor like this was grandma's living room. However, I then got on the monorail and 48 seconds later was at the MK.

BTW, if you are just looking to kick back and wind down from a long day, I highly recommend the Banana Cabana by the pool -- we watched one of the football games there on Sunday night and then enjoyed a nice stroll back to our room.

Oh, btw, our room was Aruba 5408 which is about as far away from CenterTown as you can be and still say you are in CBR -- we were usually the second to last bus stop when leaving in the morning and only twice in 6 days did we have to wait for a second bus due to no more room -- and both times the second bus was 5 minutes later.

Tom

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

I was at CBR last month and was as aprehensive as you are regarding the resort based on all the negative reviews. At one point, I was going to switch to WL. However, I decided to stick with my original reservation. I've now stayed at all the Disney moderates -- and honestly, I don't like CSR. Some people love it, I don't. That being said -- it is personal opinion, much like those that post negative about CBR. The resort is quite large -- and that is misleading as it has 2,000 rooms which is more or less the same size as all the moderates. But, it is only 2 stories high, which makes it seem much bigger as the buildings are more spread out. So, to some people, that makes for a long walk to get to CenterTown. However, the grounds are beautiful so I enjoyed a slightly longer walk than at POR. I personally thought CSR was as spread out.

Anyhow, the next common complaint I see is that the rooms decor is dated, my response is "wait until spring, they are redoing it." The main, and only valid complaint, is that this is the only mod with double beds instead of queens. Didn't bother us as we only needed a king.

If you want to look for negatives, you can find them anywhere -- when we stayed at GF, I looked around the room and said, outloud, wow, the last time I saw decor like this was grandma's living room. However, I then got on the monorail and 48 seconds later was at the MK.

BTW, if you are just looking to kick back and wind down from a long day, I highly recommend the Banana Cabana by the pool -- we watched one of the football games there on Sunday night and then enjoyed a nice stroll back to our room.

Oh, btw, our room was Aruba 5408 which is about as far away from CenterTown as you can be and still say you are in CBR -- we were usually the second to last bus stop when leaving in the morning and only twice in 6 days did we have to wait for a second bus due to no more room -- and both times the second bus was 5 minutes later.

Tom

I just realized there's only 2 double beds instead of 2 queens, hmm. I was only able to book a water view based on what was available. Will they be able to even attempt to accommodate a king bed request?

 

[KonaKaiTom]

I just realized there's only 2 double beds instead of 2 queens, hmm. I was only able to book a water view based on what was available. Will they be able to even attempt to accommodate a king bed request?

I believe there are King rooms scattered throughout the resort. Personally, the water view at Disney doesn't do much for me. I'm in the room pretty much to shower, change and/or sleep -- I'm more looking for convenience to everything else -- the water isn't going anywhere. That being said, when I'm at a vacation resort that isn't about theme parks -- I always get a waterview.

Tom

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

I believe there are King rooms scattered throughout the resort. Personally, the water view at Disney doesn't do much for me. I'm in the room pretty much to shower, change and/or sleep -- I'm more looking for convenience to everything else -- the water isn't going anywhere. That being said, when I'm at a vacation resort that isn't about theme parks -- I always get a waterview.

Tom

Yeah I could care less about the water, too. Unfortunately it was the only option. I would spare the water view for a king bed, though. Would it even be worth it to attempt the request?

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Yeah I could care less about the water, too. Unfortunately it was the only option. I would spare the water view for a king bed, though. Would it even be worth it to attempt the request?

Christmas is a very busy time of year, but that being said, people do change plans -- it can't hurt to call to see if they can give someone else the magical waterview and leave you with a lowly garden view with a kingsize bed!

Tom

Ask them for room 5408-- I know that is a king bed because that is where we were!

 

[GoofyCampers09]

Getting excited our magic band arrived yesterday ! We leave a wk from today got so much to do packing and getting our Christmas decorations ready for our room! Hopefully we're not the only crazy ones to decorate our window for x-mas in Nov! But if we our you know it's us! Bring on the season it's snowing here and we expect 4 inches today!

 

[AMateus]

Getting excited our magic band arrived yesterday ! We leave a wk from today got so much to do packing and getting our Christmas decorations ready for our room! Hopefully we're not the only crazy ones to decorate our window for x-mas in Nov! But if we our you know it's us! Bring on the season it's snowing here and we expect 4 inches today!

You will not be alone! I finished my "Christmas" window decorations last night! 4 more days for us!

 

[beckydisneyb]

Arriving in 3 days(Tuesday) and now I better pack some decorations. Don't want to regret when my kids see other's windows decorated lol. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[GoofyCampers09]

It's so much fun to decorate and last time we did it people were stopping and taking pictures of our window! My parents were in the room next to us so we did ours in a Mickey theme and they did there's in Pooh! Great memories ;0)

 

[CanadianPaco]

Glad to hear that you got your requests. I'd suggest that you run the air conditioner on high tomorrow and then, if it still smells musty, call mousekeeping and let them know.

What will mousekeeping do about the smell?

 

[dansdad]

What will mousekeeping do about the smell?

Determine if they can get rid of it. If they can't, they will work with the room assigner to get another room. We had that happen to us at BC and POR. We contacted mousekeeping, both times they couldn't get rid of the smell but got us a new room.

 

[caravarela]

Can I ship something from amazon to CBR? I arrive on Saturday and was thinking of shipping some snacks ahead.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[mickeystoontown]

What will mousekeeping do about the smell?

As dansdad said, if they can't get rid of the smell, they will work with the resort to get another room for you.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Can I ship something from amazon to CBR? I arrive on Saturday and was thinking of shipping some snacks ahead.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

I've never used Amazon to ship to the CBR but I don't see why it can't be done.

 

[Belle83]

We just booked CBR for the first half of our honeymoon in January It wasn't our first choice but it was the only moderate left with the room discount. I've stayed there a few times and like it, and DH is excited to try it. The rest of our honeymoon will be on a Disney Cruise and at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Staying at CBR for part of the trip will help us save a little $, so yay!

 

[Lsdolphin]

Arrived today for 5 night stay in preferred room. Room had terrible odor musty mildew smell. Called front desk to request new room. Was told there were no other ground floor rooms in bldg. and head of housekeeping would come to check room. Housekeeper passing by said I "would get used to it"! Was she kidding?!
Head of housekeeping came and agreed odor was significant and brought room fogger to try to get rid of odor. Of course this did not work and maintenance was called as odor appeared to be emanating from A/C. He took out inside of A/C and put in different unit. We went to dinner at Ohanas where server brought appetizers and drinks and after about a half hr was ready to bring us dessert til we pointed out we were never served meat course! After this interesting meal we went to catch monorail back to MK to get bus back to CBR only to find out monorail was not working! We were told to go out and catch a launch or a special bus to MK or we could get bus to Contemporary and then walk to MK. We waited a while for a bus but could not get on and after 2 buses came and went full we decided to try another way.
Then another guest suggested we walk over to the Transportation/ticket CRT and take ferry boat over to MK. We did this and then waited almost another half hr for a bus to CBR.
Our room smelled even worse when we got back and still no fridge! Called front desk again and asked for manager. CM insisted I tell her problem and the said "oh my, you need to speak to a manager. She said a manager would come to our room but he called instead and I have to give whole story again. He confirmed there were no available comparable rooms. He offered to call another moderate resort to see if we could could get a room and after dealing with room and fridge situation since around 2 this afternoon we finally were taken over to POFQ at 10:45 pm where we have beautiful room with a fridge.
What a day!

 

[disneymom06]

Arrived today for 5 night stay in preferred room. Room had terrible odor musty mildew smell. Called front desk to request new room. Was told there were no other ground floor rooms in bldg. and head of housekeeping would come to check room. Housekeeper passing by said I "would get used to it"! Was she kidding?!
Head of housekeeping came and agreed odor was significant and brought room fogger to try to get rid of odor. Of course this did not work and maintenance was called as odor appeared to be emanating from A/C. He took out inside of A/C and put in different unit. We went to dinner at Ohanas where server brought appetizers and drinks and after about a half hr was ready to bring us dessert til we pointed out we were never served meat course! After this interesting meal we went to catch monorail back to MK to get bus back to CBR only to find out monorail was not working! We were told to go out and catch a launch or a special bus to MK or we could get bus to Contemporary and then walk to MK. We waited a while for a bus but could not get on and after 2 buses came and went full we decided to try another way.
Then another guest suggested we walk over to the Transportation/ticket CRT and take ferry boat over to MK. We did this and then waited almost another half hr for a bus to CBR.
Our room smelled even worse when we got back and still no fridge! Called front desk again and asked for manager. CM insisted I tell her problem and the said "oh my, you need to speak to a manager. She said a manager would come to our room but he called instead and I have to give whole story again. He confirmed there were no available comparable rooms. He offered to call another moderate resort to see if we could could get a room and after dealing with room and fridge situation since around 2 this afternoon we finally were taken over to POFQ at 10:45 pm where we have beautiful room with a fridge.
What a day!

What building and room number were you given? We are going in a month and musty mildew smell worries me due to my sons asthma.

 

[5terre]

Any bedding changes going on here? I have read POR and POP have both been switching over to white duvet bedding.

 

[dansdad]

Any bedding changes going on here? I have read POR and POP have both been switching over to white duvet bedding.

Yes. CBR has gone to the triple sheeting like POR and POP.