Caribbean Beach Resort - Don't!

[PurpleChick]

We're there on Monday and I am wondering how busy it is. Was the food court packed?

I think the easter crowds should have died down by then. We mainly used the food court for a late lunch or snack and didn't have any problems. We bought our own breakfast foods for the room which helped us get to the parks on time and then we would usually have lunch at 11:00 in the parks to avoid the crowds. The one morning I did go to the food court for breakfast there was lines at some of stations so I just went to one with no line.

 

[scoutsmom99]

I'm sorry to hear about your stay ..what went wrong? I stayed at CBR in Sept 04 and then again in Jan 05 and both were great stays! I love the CBR theming (it's probably the closest I'll get to the islands for a few more years!) and the way it is set-up.

 

[MariettaC]

Without going into what your problems are I think it is hard for folks to see if what bothered you might bother them.

To start with - We spent well over one hour checking in and I don't mean waiting on line; our rooms were not what we would consider "clean"; my Key to the World card as well as my DD did not work and we found out when a Cast Member would not accept it for payment at MGM, rather embarrassing for both of us; another hour or more spent with the Resort Guest Manager "correcting" the problem only to find out at a park that they cards were still not any good. My son was called four times once at 10pm to ask for payment on the rooms. This was my treat and I thought had been taken care of at time of check-in. Not so. One morning we woke to find we had one roll of toilet paper to share (four rooms and 11 people). I could go on but I think you get the picture. Don't get me wrong we love WDW. We have stayed in many different resorts and would return to any one of them and that's what we'll do next trip.

 

[TigerCheer2009]

Really sorry you had a bad time Maybe it was an off day...or just an off period of time!

Tiger :thewave:

 

[DisneyJen0504]

So sorry to hear you had a bad experience at CBR. We had a wonderful experience when we stayed there and hope to stay there again in the future.
You should contact Disney about your experience.

 

[eeyoregirl]

...my family has stayed at CBR 4 times, and we have had excellent service. Rooms were always clean and bright, and the CMs were very accommodating. Mousekeeping even got into the act, and made animals out of towels, etc.

I will agree that the resort is very spread out, and if you stay in a remote room far away from the center, than it's inconvenient.

On the whole, though, we love CBR. I recommend giving it another try someday. Again, I feel bad that your experience was less than magical.

 

[cdrn1]

We stayed there two years ago and LOVED it! It was so clean and relaxed, great pool bar, loved walking around the lake, and the CM's were great! Towel animals and the whole bit. I would stay there again in a heartbeat but am in the midst of trying out all the other resorts.

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience - We stayed at CBR in 2002 for our first trip and had a wonderful experience !

 

[Morganpics]

My DH & I stayed at CBR a year ago now. First time at a Resort, didn't ask for any particular room, got a great corner room, 2d floor in Trinidad South. We were very pleased and would recommend CBR.

 

[MickeysMommy]

CBR is our Home Away from Home! I am sorry to hear you didn't care for it however, every resort has people who don't care for it. It is the largest resort so you will have to walk at some point.

Hope the rest of your trip was magical

 

[TammySB]

My family really enjoys CBR, we were there in 2002 in Trinidad South location, June 2004 in Martinique and we have reservations for this June at CBR, waited to late to get preferred room, but we love the atmosphere at this resort and have never had any major problems. I would never stay at a value resort, only because the themes do not appeal to us. Everyone has their own opinion and are certainly entitled to it. I've heard alot of negative things about CBR, but personally have never experienced any. I know when you pay the kind of money that we all shell out to stay at these resorts we all expect and should recieve the most magical vacation imaginable. I just hope you have a wonderful vacation wherever you stay.

 

[MegaDisney]

I had a great stay at CBR a few years ago too, but you know what? Even if my stay was lousy, I wouldn't ever tell anyone NOT to stay there. Every hotel in the world has it's share of problems, and as you can see even from this thread, some folks love CBR and some hate it. You will find the same types of responses regarding any resort on Disney property. If I had a negative experience would I let others know about it? Yes, absolutely. Would I tell others not to stay there? No way. Go and experience it for yourself.

 

[mking624]

I had a great stay at CBR a few years ago too, but you know what? Even if my stay was lousy, I wouldn't ever tell anyone NOT to stay there. Every hotel in the world has it's share of problems, and as you can see even from this thread, some folks love CBR and some hate it. You will find the same types of responses regarding any resort on Disney property. If I had a negative experience would I let others know about it? Yes, absolutely. Would I tell others not to stay there? No way. Go and experience it for yourself.

I fully agree with this. My husband and I stayed at CBR back in 2000 for our honeymoon and we didn't get to enjoy it as much as we would have liked because it rained literally all day every day. But we still loved the resort and we plan on staying there for our next trip so we can better experience it. But even if we did have that lousy experience, I agree with MegaDisney and would not tell anyone not to stay there. As said, you will find the same types of responses for just about all the resorts. I personally do not like the All Stars, but I wouldn't tell anyone not to stay there as I know people who love it. I love POFQ, I also know people who can't stand it. We should inform others of our experiences so they know ahead of time how to handle certain situations IF they come up (I stress IF because a particular situation is not an "every single guest" matter), but we should also let others experience the resort for themselves. The fact that some people love it and some people hate it should be good enough reason to allow the individuals to make up their mind on their own. I do a good enough job making a judgment for myself.

 

[CarolA]

To start with - We spent well over one hour checking in and I don't mean waiting on line; our rooms were not what we would consider "clean"; my Key to the World card as well as my DD did not work and we found out when a Cast Member would not accept it for payment at MGM, rather embarrassing for both of us; another hour or more spent with the Resort Guest Manager "correcting" the problem only to find out at a park that they cards were still not any good. My son was called four times once at 10pm to ask for payment on the rooms. This was my treat and I thought had been taken care of at time of check-in. Not so. One morning we woke to find we had one roll of toilet paper to share (four rooms and 11 people). I could go on but I think you get the picture. Don't get me wrong we love WDW. We have stayed in many different resorts and would return to any one of them and that's what we'll do next trip.

I had that problem with my room key at CSR. I found out the only thing to do is go back and start over. Once they code them wrong there is no fixing it! LOL!

As for an hour for check in. If you are checking in a large group it just seems to take forever at Disney. (I have always wondered why Disney hotels take so long to process, but.....it is just one of life's mysteries! And you still don't beat my record 90 minutes dealing with an idiot at GF Child had never apaprently seen a Visa and triple billed me. It took forever to get it fixed!LOL!)

 

[HollisterSweetie]

My family really enjoys CBR, we were there in 2002 in Trinidad South location, June 2004 in Martinique and we have reservations for this June at CBR, waited to late to get preferred room, but we love the atmosphere at this resort and have never had any major problems. I would never stay at a value resort, only because the themes do not appeal to us. Everyone has their own opinion and are certainly entitled to it. I've heard alot of negative things about CBR, but personally have never experienced any. I know when you pay the kind of money that we all shell out to stay at these resorts we all expect and should recieve the most magical vacation imaginable. I just hope you have a wonderful vacation wherever you stay.

When did you book your vacation?? We booked ours a week ago from today and got a preferred room for June

 

[laurenk]

I was part of that Magical Gathering at CBR that my mother posted about. Let me start by saying that we are ALL entitled to our opinions, good or bad. Theses are not opinions but FACTS. Pubic hair in bathrooms upon entering the four rooms. Carpets FILTHY. Underneath the beds had not seen a vacuum in quite some time. My room was the only room that ever got toilet paper for 3 days. We spent AT LEAST 3 hours on the phone from the parks trying to rectify the key to the world card problems. I never got my THIRD set of replacement cards for 4 days. My parents after 2 days. We were told by management that they would be delivered to our room, I had to go get them myself. Was rejected for "being over my limit" even after they "fixed" the problem, over and over. My charges to that point were only 345.00. Buses for EMH never showing up in time to get us there for what is a "perk" for staying on sight. Food court only had one person taking orders, and maybe two people cooking at each counter. It was Spring Break!!! No suprise there were going to be a lot of people. The 1+ hour at check-in was due to the fact that the CM didn't know what she was doing, and used those words herself.

I was sorry to see that my mother had posted about our experience because I knew what would happen, and it did. If it isn't positive about WDW on this board, you shouldn't post it.

I have stayed at all of the resorts on property except for CSR, and GF. It is my opinion that I would never stay at CBR again. I also warn people that this resort is BIG, as many have warned in the past. Too big for us.

Management did try to fix our problem, but there was never any follow-up after every time we had one to see if the problem was actually fixed. Thus, more problems, because they never were fixed. The manager in charge of our issues was very nice, and seemed to want to help to the best of his abilities. He even said " there is no exscuse for this", and "I have nothing to say, there is nothing I can say" in regards to all of our issues(which were more in depth then needs to be posted, you get the idea I hope).

So, no, we do not reccommend this resort, just as strongly as some reccommend it.

 

[debster812]

I was sorry to see that my mother had posted about our experience because I knew what would happen, and it did. If it isn't positive about WDW on this board, you shouldn't post it.

I don't think that's the case at all. We ALL like to hear opinions, and I think just about every single person who posted did express the apologies that the stay was not all you all had hoped. I also think that like other posters have said, initially, there was no indication as to what the specific problems were, and what bothers some, might not bother others, which is why folks asked for specifics.

I like to glean as much information as I can from these boards, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But to say definitively to "not stay at CBR", and not give specifics, that just isn't terribly helpful.

 

[LoraJ]

Management did try to fix our problem, but there was never any follow-up after every time we had one to see if the problem was actually fixed. Thus, more problems, because they never were fixed. The manager in charge of our issues was very nice, and seemed to want to help to the best of his abilities. He even said " there is no exscuse for this", and "I have nothing to say, there is nothing I can say" in regards to all of our issues(which were more in depth then needs to be posted, you get the idea I hope).

So, no, we do not reccommend this resort, just as strongly as some reccommend it.

My friends had similar complaints about the Yacht Club, but would never tell anyone NOT to stay there. That is the difference here. In fact, I read about these problems at every resort. So since they could happen at any WDW resort, would you tell people not to go down there at all?

I am prepared for what could go wrong thanks to everyone who has posted negatives. If the hotel is solidly booked the week I am there, I know I may not have a chance for the problems to be easily rectified.

I like to hear all opinions, good or bad. You just have to understand the reason why she is getting the reaction she is is because of the big DON'T in the title. And then her first post didn't even list the reasons.

 

[sherry8253]

I was sorry to see that my mother had posted about our experience because I knew what would happen, and it did. If it isn't positive about WDW on this board, you shouldn't post it.

I don't that that is true at all. Many people post thoughts that are not positive and some people agree with them and some people do not. Those who do not agree should be able to express their opinions just as those that do agree should be able to say so too.

 

[disneyfan67]

I don't think that's the case at all. We ALL like to hear opinions, and I think just about every single person who posted did express the apologies that the stay was not all you all had hoped. I also think that like other posters have said, initially, there was no indication as to what the specific problems were, and what bothers some, might not bother others, which is why folks asked for specifics.

I like to glean as much information as I can from these boards, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But to say definitively to "not stay at CBR", and not give specifics, that just isn't terribly helpful.

I agree with you. I stayed at the CBR for my first stay at Disneyworld and like it a lot. I think the main problem was that no information was given on what went wrong with the resort and that we as DIS'ers need more info than I'ts bad, don't stay there. After your follow up LaurenK, I understood why you didn't like the CBR and it's a shame your trip had all of those problems. Please write a letter to Disney and report what happened so incidents like what you went through that won't happen again. Resorts are staffed by humans and as we all know humans are prone to make mistakes. I'm really sorry to hear that your trip had all of those problems LaurenK, and hope your next Disney stay will be a great one. You deserve it.