Caribbean Beach FAQ part V

[skier_pete]

Glad to see you made the change and were able to save some money. First off, I have never stayed in one of the pirate rooms but I have seen them and believe if the curtain is pushed all the way to the side, you won't be able to make out the details of the skull and crossbones.

There's an internal shuttle bus that you can take from the pirate rooms to the Custom House. You'll hop on and get off at Barbados bus stop and then walk the short distance over to the Custom House. I'd call and make sure that they have your second night and the rest of your vacation noted as a "continuing" reservation. This will increase the likelihood of you getting to keep the same room for the rest of your stay. We had a room only reservation for our first two nights and then a package (with free dining) and we were able to keep the same room the entire time. Oh and I also mentioned it when I checked in on our first night.

I think if you push the curtain all the way to the end it is actually hidden by a part of the closet/wall. We were at CBR in late August (non pirate room) and we always had the curtain pushed to the end and it wasn't even noticable.

Never stayed in a pirate room, so can't answer about the curtain. As for getting to the Custom House...from Trinidad South (where the pirate rooms are located), you can take the internal shuttle - which makes a stop at the Custom House, so no need to get off at Barbados - or if a park bus comes first, ask the driver if he still has to stop at Barbados. If he says yes, take that.

For the rest of your stay, hopefully you can keep the same room after the first night. Like the PP said, make sure they are aware it is a continuing reservation. If you are able to stay in the same room, I'm not sure if it requires another trip to the Custom House or not, although I'm thinking it will as you'll probably need new KTTW cards.

Good to know about pushing the curtain over...can assauge DD's fears there.

Good point about Custom House vs Barbados. In particular, when we come back from the park on Friday afternoon, we will probably need to stop at CH to get the new room keys, and therefore will need to stop at Barbados, travel over to custom house, and then take shuttle to our (new) room again.

I am aware of the ways to handle split reservations with guest services. I've had split stays more often than not over the years, and never had to move rooms - though one time I had a pretty major throwdown over it. We do already have the reservations linked, and I WILL make them aware of the link the first night we arrive.

I admit as I think about dealing with this having second thoughts about switching over. This whole "traveling around the resort" thing has me a bit nervous. I really like being able to just walk to the front lobby.

 

[RHMH]

Oh My Gosh....and Holy Mickey Mouse !!
After 2 years of research, reading, organizing, asking, decision making blah blah blah we are leaving tomorrow morning !!
I got butterflies in my tummy. I'm SOOOOOO excited, yet nervous and anxious and feeling overwhelmed......PLEASE OH PLEASE Cross Your Fingers for Me that I made all the right choices for resort, tix, dining etc....

CBR HERE WE COME TO CELEBRATE OUR 20TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY !!!

Any last minute advice ?????

THANKS SO VERY MAGICAL MUCH DIS'ERS FOR ALL THE FABULOUS AND HELPFUL INFORMATION I OBTAINED FROM THESE FORUMS & THREADS !!!!

I'll let ya'll know how our vacation went when we return. There are 8 in our group, 4 adults, 4 kids and 1st time attending MNSSHP too and going to Universal for 1st time to see Harry Potter.....

WOW WHEEEEEE Mickey & Gang here we come !!!

Super excited for you Disney Maniacs - you will love CBR. Don't forget to get your refillable mugs at the food court. Nonstop drinks at the resort during your stay.

Have a great WDW vacation.

 

[RHMH]

Question for all of you CBR experts. If you wanted to be close to the bus, pool, etc but didn't want to pay the preferred rate, what room location would you request? Thanks in advance!

Good Morning - I think Martinique 21 through 26, other Diser's may think different. We stayed at Martinique 21 and it was perfect for us. If you have the time, read our trip report and view our you tube video at the bottom of our count down.

Have a great day.

 

[MickeysMommy]

Good Morning - I think Martinique 21 through 26, other Diser's may think different. We stayed at Martinique 21 and it was perfect for us. If you have the time, read our trip report and view our you tube video at the bottom of our count down.

Have a great day.

Just so you know, Martinique 24-26 buildings are preferred

 

[RHMH]

Just so you know, Martinique 24-26 buildings are preferred

OOOOPP'S - thanks for correcting me.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Good to know about pushing the curtain over...can assauge DD's fears there.

Good point about Custom House vs Barbados. In particular, when we come back from the park on Friday afternoon, we will probably need to stop at CH to get the new room keys, and therefore will need to stop at Barbados, travel over to custom house, and then take shuttle to our (new) room again.

I am aware of the ways to handle split reservations with guest services. I've had split stays more often than not over the years, and never had to move rooms - though one time I had a pretty major throwdown over it. We do already have the reservations linked, and I WILL make them aware of the link the first night we arrive.

I admit as I think about dealing with this having second thoughts about switching over. This whole "traveling around the resort" thing has me a bit nervous. I really like being able to just walk to the front lobby.

Like I said, we did a room only reservation and a package reservation this past trip. I did not take the internal bus to the Custom House. I simply made the walk. It didn't take me very long at all and I enjoyed getting to see other parts of the resort.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Question for all of you CBR experts. If you wanted to be close to the bus, pool, etc but didn't want to pay the preferred rate, what room location would you request? Thanks in advance!

We have stayed in non-preferred buildings in Martinique and our walk to Old Port Royale was about 5 minutes. Same for our walks from our building in Jamaica. As far as walks to the bus stops, I wouldn't worry too much about that since each village has their own stop.

 

[skier_pete]

Like I said, we did a room only reservation and a package reservation this past trip. I did not take the internal bus to the Custom House. I simply made the walk. It didn't take me very long at all and I enjoyed getting to see other parts of the resort.

Yeah, but since we're forced to stay in a Pirate room our first night - the walk from Trinadad South to the custom house HAS to be 15-20 minutes each way. NOT looking forward to doing that before our first day of park wandering.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

Hi all......I'm thinking of changing my ressies to CBR for next September. I do have one question and believe me, I have searched the thread and can't seem to give the computer the correct wording to search for what I need to know....

Question: After we check in, how do we get the Jamaica village? From what I can kind of piece together, we would take an internal bus to that bus stop. But yet, luggage is not allowed on the internal busses, right???? But we'd only have our carryons due to having Magical Express service for the rest of it.

Please help!! TIA!!

If you don't have large suitcases, you can take the internal bus. We had our carryons, which were small bags, back packs, etc and took the internal bus.

Question for all of you CBR experts. If you wanted to be close to the bus, pool, etc but didn't want to pay the preferred rate, what room location would you request? Thanks in advance!

We were in Jamaica 44, it's a little further from the bridge than Jamaica 45 but closer to the quiet pool and bus stop. Jamaica 45 and Aruba 51 are the closest to the bridge and the non-preferred in Martinique are probably about the same distance. Distance to OPR is important but bus stop is equally important IMO so I'd say Jamaica 44 or 45.


To skier_pete: getting around is really quite easy. The internal bus makes regular rounds and like others pointed out, you can easily get off at Barbados too. The resort seems huge on map but it didn't seem nearly as big once we were there.

 

[maryj11]

Thanks for all that replied to my e-mail. We ended up making the switch to CBR - though I can't say it went without problems.

Long story slightly shorter: we had to book our first night (Thursday 11/10) in a pirate room, as that was the only room available in the whole resort (not just with the discount - period). Still saved a bit of money over rack rate in a standard room.

Our second night (11/11) is another room only - standard room with PIN discount (25 % off)

The remaining 8 nights are free dining, giving us an extra night of free dining. Hopefully we will not have to switch rooms yet again.

Overall we saved $221 versus what we were paying at POFQ (which was already a big savings vs rack rate thanks to free dining. (Total savings versus rack rates $1219.)

The one night in the pirate room hopefully won't be a big deal. We arrive late (flight lands at 7 PM) so won't even need to unpack our bags. I really am going to need to figure out how to get back to Custom House, as it looks like I'll have to do it at least twice.

DD8 looked at pictures last night and was very excited about the pool and playgrounds and beaches...but doesn't like the big skull and crossbones on the curtain in the pirate room. (She been waking up at night thinking her stuffed animals are vampires. I'd hate to think what a giant skull looks like in the middle of the night Probably like a giant skull.)

Question: If we just push the curtain back for the night - is it pretty unoticeable that there is a skull on it? (Weirdest question ever asked on this thread?)

Pushing the curtain back sounds similar to some of the things I have done so my DGD wouldnt be afraid at night In her bed she can see out through the hall and into another bedroom and I always have to shut the other bedroom door because she is afraid there is something in there in the dark I think pushing the curtain back will work, if not tie something around it to hold it back.

 

[bumbershoot]

Question: If we just push the curtain back for the night - is it pretty unoticeable that there is a skull on it? (Weirdest question ever asked on this thread?)

I don't think it's a weird question. Pushing it back will totally work. The big IMPORTANT thing to remember, however, is to not pull it back out once she's asleep, so that you can turn the light on in the vanity area and do your nightly thing at the sinks. Why? Because there's an awesome or terrifying (depending on your point of view) effect that happens to the skull/crossbones when it's backlit, and turning on that vanity light definitely makes it backlit!

Doing that without thinking, and having DD wake up while that's happening, would NOT be fun.

 

[Sophie's Mommy]

Which is the best for a preferred room Martinque or Trinidad North ? Which is the prettiest village ? I have been looking at photos and Martinque looks like the closest but not as pretty as the others ? We are thinking of booking a preferred room but looking at the photos Jamaica looks really nice. We have never stayed here before so we would love to hear what you think . Anyone that knows the CBR whats your opinion on this ?

We're at CBR right now and LOVING IT!! We're not in a preferred room, but we are in Jamaica and it's great. Very pretty village and we're in building 46. Close to the Jamaica bus stop and just over the bridge from OPR.

 

[maryj11]

We're at CBR right now and LOVING IT!! We're not in a preferred room, but we are in Jamaica and it's great. Very pretty village and we're in building 46. Close to the Jamaica bus stop and just over the bridge from OPR.

Wow you lucky lady ! Wish I was at CBR, thanks for the info. In the photos it always looked like Jamaica was the prettiest !

 

[mickeystoontown]

We're at CBR right now and LOVING IT!! We're not in a preferred room, but we are in Jamaica and it's great. Very pretty village and we're in building 46. Close to the Jamaica bus stop and just over the bridge from OPR.

Glad to hear that you're having a good stay. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.

 

[milmore104]

Leaving for WDW in a few hours and our 1st stay @ CBR! I still have NOT packed a thing. This is so not like me. I usually bring out the suitcases 45 days before and start packing. I just still don't believe this trip is happening. My "real" life has gotten so many hits in the last few weeks we so need this vacation. But I really felt it would be pushed back a few months or canceled all together. Our 2yo DD goes in for an operation the day after we get back.
But anyway I will be bringing my laptop w/ us when we go and hope and can do a kind of "live" report for you all but w/ 3 kids we'll see. But if I can answer anything for you while I'm there let me know.
WDW here we come!!!!

 

[RHMH]

Leaving for WDW in a few hours and our 1st stay @ CBR! I still have NOT packed a thing. This is so not like me. I usually bring out the suitcases 45 days before and start packing. I just still don't believe this trip is happening. My "real" life has gotten so many hits in the last few weeks we so need this vacation. But I really felt it would be pushed back a few months or canceled all together. Our 2yo DD goes in for an operation the day after we get back.
But anyway I will be bringing my laptop w/ us when we go and hope and can do a kind of "live" report for you all but w/ 3 kids we'll see. But if I can answer anything for you while I'm there let me know.
WDW here we come!!!!

Hello Disney Maniac's - have a great vacation. Can't wait to see your live reports if you have the time. Ride Expedition Everest for us a couple of times.

 

[mcd2745]

Leaving for WDW in a few hours and our 1st stay @ CBR! I still have NOT packed a thing. This is so not like me. I usually bring out the suitcases 45 days before and start packing. I just still don't believe this trip is happening. My "real" life has gotten so many hits in the last few weeks we so need this vacation. But I really felt it would be pushed back a few months or canceled all together. Our 2yo DD goes in for an operation the day after we get back.
But anyway I will be bringing my laptop w/ us when we go and hope and can do a kind of "live" report for you all but w/ 3 kids we'll see. But if I can answer anything for you while I'm there let me know.
WDW here we come!!!!

Hope you have a great time. The one thing I'd like to know is if they are still doing the movies by the pool, or if that was just a summer thing.

 

[DisneyFamily123]

Hope you have a great time. The one thing I'd like to know is if they are still doing the movies by the pool, or if that was just a summer thing.

Here now. Movies every night at 8:30 except one night canceled due to rain: Tangled, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Beauty and Beast, Cars, Nemo, Toy Story 3, Tarzan.

 

[tinkmom2]

I packed about 3 weeks ago I just did my early bird check in for the resort and now have 10 more days to go and 14 more days til I set sail on the Dream

I still can't find the sun lotion I know I put aside?

 

[RHMH]

I packed about 3 weeks ago I just did my early bird check in for the resort and now have 10 more days to go and 14 more days til I set sail on the Dream

I still can't find the sun lotion I know I put aside?

Have A Great WDW Vacation Keep us posted. We'll be waiting.