Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

[marcais]

OK, so when I check in at the Front Desk (I have to do this as they don't send the Magic Bands to the UK, so I have to pick them up at the front desk), and they direct me out to where the bus would pick us up, I should just walk out the front and ask the Bell Service CMs for a lift instead?

 

[dansdad]

OK, so when I check in at the Front Desk (I have to do this as they don't send the Magic Bands to the UK, so I have to pick them up at the front desk), and they direct me out to where the bus would pick us up, I should just walk out the front and ask the Bell Service CMs for a lift instead?

That's what I've done every time.

 

[GoofyGraham]

That's what I've done every time.

For us Brits that don’t understand ‘tipping’, what would be a fair gratuity for the bell services drop-off.

“Tragical depress”.... like it

 

[marcais]

For us Brits that don’t understand ‘tipping’, what would be a fair gratuity for the bell services drop-off.

“Tragical depress”.... like it

For our stay last year we were moving to a villa after a week at CBR, so on the morning of our last day we brought our cases to the Front Desk and put them into left luggage as we weren't picking up our car until 3pm that day.

After getting the car we went back to collect our luggage and after loading the car I went to tip the guy from Bell Services and he refused to accept the tip.

 

[dansdad]

For us Brits that don’t understand ‘tipping’, what would be a fair gratuity for the bell services drop-off.

“Tragical depress”.... like it

I usually do $1-$2 per bag.

 

[dis_guy]

For us Brits that don’t understand ‘tipping’, what would be a fair gratuity for the bell services drop-off.

I'm Canadian so I'm in the middle somewhere. We do tip at certain times here but I don't think it's as pervasive as in the US.

When we were there last week, I tipped our bellmen $5 each time and we left $5 a day for mousekeeping. We did the same for our Magical Express drivers. Mostly because I seemed to have a lot of $5 bills with me.

 

[undone73]

It will drop you off at the Custom House. We always have Bell Services take us and our luggage to our room. It's either in one of their vans or golf carts.

Thank you!! This is great to know!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Like @dansdad, we usually tip $1 to $2 per bag/package.

 

[DisneyDude71]

Any new pics of the progress, or lack of?

 

[BarbieGal457]

I know tipping can get to be a heated topic here on the Dis but I do $2 per bag and then an extra $1, and since I usually have my carry-on and one checked, it typically is always $5 from me. I store my carry-on with them because as soon as I land, if my room isn't ready, I check it with them and head to the parks.

 

[GoofyGraham]

I know tipping can get to be a heated topic here on the Dis but I do $2 per bag and then an extra $1, and since I usually have my carry-on and one checked, it typically is always $5 from me. I store my carry-on with them because as soon as I land, if my room isn't ready, I check it with them and head to the parks.

It’d be the the same for the pair of us, we’re only travelling with carry-on this time. Normally we’d happily walk from check in to a room, but the previous resorts haven’t had the remote check in without footpaths.

 

[CplUseless]

Tragical Depress

Nicely done.

On my last visit I spent about 15 minutes chatting up the 2 guys at the bell services desk. It was late at night and they seemed very bored, so please use bell services as they are there 24 hours a day. Internal bus is for suckers.

 

[Moramoon]

So I was watching the video that Tim Tracker just put up and it looks like they're putting one of the towers between Aruba and Jamaica. We put in our room request for that first building in Aruba closest to the bridge right next to the tower. Does anyone know how long it's taking them to get these things up? I was really wanting that view right next to the bridge, but I'm wondering if maybe I should modify my request.

 

[mickeystoontown]

New video of the construction:

 

[dis_guy]

It sure wasn't *that* loud last week. If Tim had gone over to Building 56, and gone up to the second floor walkway, he'd have seen the tower sections stored between CBR and the Riviera. I have a bit of a bug right now so in the next few days I'll put together a bit of a summary of what we noticed on our trip along with a few photos we thought to take while there.

 

[Vern60]

New video of the construction:

Thanks for the nice video. I really think it's going to be a nice resort when it's all done. I can't wait to see the new centertown and of course the Riviera too. And, having the skyliner to avoid the buses .... magic! I wonder if it will still price with the moderates?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thanks for the nice video. I really think it's going to be a nice resort when it's all done. I can't wait to see the new centertown and of course the Riviera too. And, having the skyliner to avoid the buses .... magic! I wonder if it will still price with the moderates?

I'm wondering that same thing....will the pricing go up when it's more a deluxe style moderate resort.

 

[dis_guy]

Here are the pics I promised. I guess some of you may be interested.

My happy place. A bench on the "island" not facing any construction. Ok, so you can see one crane at the gondola station.



A view across the water of the Banana Cabana and Shutters as they were during our stay.



The Riviera Resort from building 56.



The Riviera again, this time showing the proximity to one of the Martinique buildings.



Gondola tower sections as seen from building 56.



From what I saw, there will be two gondola towers in the resort proper, one between Jamaica and Aruba near the foot bridge and the other near the Jamaica Island Market. We were able to observe the station construction from the bus stop in Jamaica.

That's about all I have for Gondola/construction photos. We weren't in the resort very much this time as we tend towards being park commandos by nature. Next time we will definitely be doing a few more days that include a nap in the middle of the day. My Garmin Forerunner was telling me that we averaged about 20 km per day!

 

[dis_guy]

So I was watching the video that Tim Tracker just put up and it looks like they're putting one of the towers between Aruba and Jamaica. We put in our room request for that first building in Aruba closest to the bridge right next to the tower. Does anyone know how long it's taking them to get these things up? I was really wanting that view right next to the bridge, but I'm wondering if maybe I should modify my request.

We were in building 46 last week. It's about midway between the gondola station construction and the Riviera construction but not too near the tower sites, either. It has good access to the bus stop as well. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. Seemed pretty quiet to us.

 

[Moramoon]

I'm glad to hear that. I'm going to keep an eye on how construction is going and I may modify my request depending on how it's going. Normally we're pretty relaxed when it comes to things like this, but with a 2 year old that we planned on taking back for naps and how loud the construction was in Tim's video it had me worried.