booked CBR thinking of changing to POR...

[cody's mom]

After reading many posts, I'm considering changing our reservation to POR. The food court sounds more convenient with one place to pay, instead of having to pay at several stations. The pool sounds nicer, and I like the idea of being able to take a boat to downtown.

When I booked a room at CBR, I paid for a 'preferred' room. Is this necessary at POR? It would be nice to save some $.

 

[jaysmom4285]

For whatever it's worth, you don't pay at several stations in the CBR foodcourt. You get food from wherever you want, and you pay at a central checkout. I'm not sure what you meant about the preferrred room being necessary at POR. It isn't necessary at CBR, unless you feel it's crucial to be really close to the food court and main pool. There are other rooms, for the regular price, that are as close as some of the preferred rooms.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

You don't pay extra for a "preferred" room at POR. You can only request a certain building or buildings and take your chance. The only thing that cost extra for a room at POR is if you request a waterview.

 

[safetymom]

There are many great rooms at CBR that are not the preferred locations costing extra. CBR also has a great grab and go market in addition to the food court.

 

[Lizzybee]

We've never paid for a preferred room at POR, I can skip the water view, the grounds are very beautiful too. We love POR, but that's the only resort we've stayed at so I can't really compare.

 

[safetymom]

There are no Preferred buildings costing extra at POR. CBR is the only moderate that has the preferred buildings costing extra. You have standard and water view. I think water view in most cases is a waste of money. Their idea of a water view can be creative.

 

[shafke]

Personally I think it is a waste of money to pay for a preferred room at CBR. We were in Trinidad South (the most remote section of the resort) and the walk to the food court took about 15 minutes. The pools at both resorts are comparable and CBR does have a common pay area in the food court.

 

[buffett010]

We stayed at CBR our last trip, and even though the resort itself was nice (and we ended up just over the bridge, so a quick walk to everything), we will not stay there again. From check-in on, we encountered rude, uncaring staff. Mousekeeping was pretty good, but front desk/guest relations staff were just terrible. There was a great girl in the food court that was part of clean-up, and she spent time each morning with my son, chatting with him, and giving him little gifts (like Mickey straws, etc.) That was the type of interaction I had hoped to find. Instead, it was worse than hotels we usually stay at.

We will be at the Poly this time, and will not return to CBR.

 

[safetymom]

The preferred villages are Martinique and Trinidad North. They are on either side of Old Port Royale the food court and the main pool.

 

[berkshire mike]

We stayed at the CBR this past April. Let me just say that I had the same concerns you have. We booked CBR back in November and after I found this site I read some not so great things about CBR. To big, so-so pools, bus service, food court, etc. I was really close to changing are reservations but some people here convinced me not to. In the end I requested Jamaica and was hopeful the everything would work out.

Well we loved CBR! Everything was perfect for us. We had a corner room in Jamaica which was only a two minute walk to the food court. The rooms were nice, clean and enough room for the four of us. The grounds were beautiful! My kids, 11/8, actually preferred the quiet pool, plain old, no slides nothing special. We ate only two meals at the resort and the food was good as was the service. We brought those small containers of cereal which was our breakfast every morning. Refig in the room was great! Ate, short walk to the bus and it was to the parks, most days, until after lunch when we'd catch the bus back to the resort for a swim/relax. Mid afternoon back to the parks until we returned for the night. The kids always convinced us they "needed" to take another swim.

If you must be near the food court then stay with your preferred room. If not request Jamaica, corner room. At the time I made our request they told me that most of the time they can honor them but they won't guarantee it. As it turned out we went to the food court so rarely that even if we stayed in one of the more remote island it won't have been a big deal.

All in all CBR was great! It was are first trip so I can't compare to other resorts. This is a great site but here is what I think can happen; I think no matter which resort you choose, the second you book it your eyes and mind will focus on any negative comment. You'll begin reading about other resorts and you end up only focusing on the positive comments.

Have a great trip!

 

[Linda T.]

My family has stayed at both POR and CBR, and we prefer CBR. CBR has beautiful tropical themeing and nice peaceful walkways. The food court was great with many choices and a central location checkout. The bus service was also very good. We have stayed at Martinique and Jamaica. We like Jamaica, it is very quiet and still close enough to the food court and the main pool. There is a bridge to walk over from Jamaica to the food court and main pool, and my kids love it. CBR is the best!!

When we stayed at POR, we stayed in Alligator Bayou. The room was nice, and it was very close to the food court. We did not like the food court - always very crowded, messy, and not enough variety. The bus service was terrible. We had very long waits. The boat to Downtown Disney was great though. We stayed at POR in 1999, and we will never go back.

Good luck on your decision and have a magical trip.
________________________________________________

1979 - Offsite
1995 - CBR
1997 - CBR
1999 - POR
2003 - CBR
2005 - CBR (June 22nd thru June 30th)

 

[AmyTags]

My dh and I have stayed at CBR 4 times and POR 2. We prefer CBR unless we are stuck in Trinidad South. We just returned from a 2 week vacation at DW and we stayed at CBR the last 2 nights we were there. The food court is good although one morning it was very crowded, the cm's have always been GREAT and my dd (3 in July) LOVES the main pool and slide. We have stayed in Martinique 2 times which is the section I prefer, Trinidad South once, Aruba (last week). I liked POR but I prefer CBR. We will definitely go back to CBR.

 

[cody's mom]

This is a great site but here is what I think can happen; I think no matter which resort you choose, the second you book it your eyes and mind will focus on any negative comment. You'll begin reading about other resorts and you end up only focusing on the positive comments.

Have a great trip!

This is a very good point! Thank you all for your helpful information. I still haven't decided for sure, yet. What I might do is not pay for a preferred room and request Jamaica. That building seems convenient enough.

As far as paying at CBR's food court- my boss said when they stayed there, you had several different areas to get food each with its own check out. If your family wanted to eat different things, you may have to check out at several locations. Is this not the case anymore?

 

[safetymom]

Since the refurbishment at the end of 2002 there are central check outs. There is also a grab and go market.