Caribbean Beach Report

[Pugsley]

Just returned last night from a wonderful 3-night stay at the CBR. Had faxed in a request for Martinique or Trinidad North, but when I checked in they did not appear to have my request. However when I told the CM my preferred buildings he did say he could give me a room in Martinique (Bldg. 23) if I was willing to wait. I said that would be fine. It was about 2:30pm and he said the room should be ready within a half hour. I walked around and explored the resort, and stopped and had a drink by the pool. When I called to check on my room at around 4pm, it still wasn’t ready, so I went off to Downtown Disney and didn’t end up getting into my room until about 8pm. I was very happy with the room, and the building was ideal for me – very close to the bus stop and the parking lot, and a short walk to Old Port Royale. Also very close to the quiet pool and not far from the main pool. And it had a view of a lovely courtyard. I only rode the buses a couple of times, but the service seemed fine. One of the highlights was that (after staying at Disney resorts at least ten times) I finally got towel animals! Yippee! The mousekeeper was wonderful. The first day she turned down the bed, made a bow around the bath mat, set out the things I left on the bathroom counter on a towel, and made an adorable little shirt out of a washcloth. I always bring a little bellman Mickey plush with me, but hadn’t put him out the first day. The second day I left Mickey out and when I returned I found him in the window with his new friend, a huge towel bunny, and a note welcoming me home. And in the bathroom was the cutest small washcloth bunny holding my toothbrush. It was really a treat (even for a grown-up)! I spent a lot of time at the quiet pool, which was very nice (but not quiet, and I found the adults to be louder than the children). The only negatives: I wasn’t wild about the food court (crowded most of the time and I didn’t find the food selections that appealing); the main pool was relatively small and crowded; and there was a lot of noise at night with kids running down the hallways. An interesting check-out situation: I planned to go out early in the morning on my last day and then return before check-out time to change my clothes. Before I left in the morning I put my luggage in the car, so I’ll admit that it did look like I had vacated my room. When I returned to the room at around 10:30am, it had been cleaned, so I left and didn’t use it. Also, I had never received my bill on the door. Anyway, the point of this is that I feel like the room should be mine until check-out time, unless I have actually gone to the front desk and checked out. It really kind of creeped me out that I had a key that still got me into that room when someone else could be checking in at any time. I could have gone in there and used the bathroom or whatever and it would not have been cleaned again for the next guest. I guess the solution would be to leave something in the room so that they know I’m still there. The funny part of this is that later I noticed that I was missing a small pool noodle that I had been carrying. I retraced my steps and couldn’t find it, so I was afraid I might have dropped it in the room when I had gone back there. I wasn’t worried about losing the noodle, but I didn’t want the mousekeeper to get in trouble if a new guest checked in a found it in their room. So I had to sneak back into the room like a thief (this was after check-out time and my key still worked). Sure enough, that’s where I had dropped the noodle!

I have now stayed at all the moderates and my ranking is 1) CSR, 2) CBR & 3) PO, but CBR & CSR and very close and I’d be happy to stay at CBR again. This is totally a personal choice based mostly on themeing and the fact that I prefer CSR’s pool and food court. And I have found CSR to be quieter and a little more adult oriented, which is good for me since I don’t have children.