The beauty of these discussion boards is the fact that everyone can put in their two cents worth. You're going find so many differences of opinion.
When we were in the decision making process, we factored in several things.
We had been to WDW 10 times before we decided to stay onsite so we had a pretty good feel of just how big the entire WDW resort was. We wanted something that was fairly centrally located so that it never took us long to get to where ever we were going. We also have two "down days" during our stay where we sleep in and then just explore the resort and generally laze around.
We ruled out the two Port Orleans resorts. We are from Louisiana so we felt we wouldn't truly appreciate the theming because those are the things we see each and every day.
We then started looking at the Coronado and Caribbean Beach resorts.
It looked as if the Coronoado had a very "Southwest" feel to it and the Caribbean Beach had a very "tropical" feel to it. We checked out all the pictures and all the information posted on these boards as well as those posted on
www.allearsnet.com.
We decided to go with the Caribbean Beach Resort. We felt that we could combine a beach/tropical vacation with a Disney vacation. After arriving at the CBR, we were so excited that we chose it!
The tropical theme is carried out in great detail. The resort is made up of several villages with each village being painted a different bright color. There is a quiet pool, a laundry facility and beach for each village.
We were assigned to Room 4154 in Jamaica Building 41. Our room faced a very pretty courtyard. The walk to the quiet pool and beach was less than a minute. The bus stop was just a 3 minute walk and the food court was just a 5 minute walk.
The 340 sq. ft. room was nice and clean. Mousekeeping was great.
The grounds were beautiful. Tropical flowers and trees everywhere. We saw fruits growing all around the resort.
We were pleasantly surprised by the food court and store. Had a larger variety that we thought it would.
Even our picky 9 year old son found something he liked to eat. During the breakfast hours, there were eggs, mickey waffles, breakfast meats, etc. For lunch and dinner, you could dine on deli sandwiches, rotissiere chicken, veggies, fresh made sandwiches, pizza, burgers, chicken strips, etc.
There was lots of tropical themed and Disney themed merchandise in the store. The first thing we purchased was an autograph book and pen. No need to wait in line at the theme park to buy them.
The main pool was pretty busy during our June stay but we didn't mind because we swam in the Jamaica pool which was, by the way, never crowded.
We rented bicycles and watermice at the marina. There is a pirate cruise that the little kids can take. They serve a light lunch and take the kids on a treasure hunt. I can't remember the price but I remember thinking it wasn't that bad.
We lazed around in the hammocks on the beach some evenings. We could even see the Epcot fireworks from Jamaica beach.
The bus service was very efficient. We found that, since the CBR was so centrally located, it never took us long to get anywhere. Sometimes, there were two and three buses at the bus stop at once (picking up and dropping off).
We really enjoyed our stay at the CBR and our next stay is in just 65 days! Can hardly wait!
Hope that this information helps in your decision making process. Lisa
!
We're trying CSR this time around-I hear their bus service is much better. Plus, being from the South already, POR architecture offers nothing new or different for me. Thanks to Buzz's wonderful site & pictures, I'm looking forward to trying CSR! 
