Caribbean Beach Resort FAQ Part 3

[safetymom]

The news beds are on a platform so you shouldn't bang anything.

 

[84disney]

Platform beds will be great!! But we'd go again in a minute as is!! We just loved it.

Ahecht....I'm sorry that happened to you, too. But if you're like us, it was a minor problem. What bldg did ya'll stay in? We really thought Jamaica looked pretty. And I don't think I'd mind a parking lot view because you could use your car and skip the busses sometimes. We never really had bus issues though.

One hint I have....we had an ADR for CP in MK at 8:00. Stupidly, we decided to take our van . We thought we'd get there quicker. I forgot parking for MK was really TTC. So we had to monorail it to MK after parking the van. Only, the monorail that was running that early was the resort loop. We had several stops before we made it to MK, and were a few minutes late to our ADR. Also, I made this ADR from suggestions that it was a good way to start your day early and make rope drop. We even got our bill settled early in the meal. There is no way you can greet all the characters, eat and be done in time for rope drop. It was still loads of fun, and really great food ....we just missed rope drop by about 40 minutes .

 

[Minniekins]

We just returned from our 7 night stay at CBR. We used the internet and it was for a 24 hour block of time....you start usage at 9 am and end usage at 9am the next day. We felt it very worthwhile...and we just left our laptop out. I don't guess I highly reccomend that....it's just what we did .

It is for a continuous 24 hours. So if you are 1st charged at 9am today, your $10 will cover you until 9am tomorrow, no matter how long you actually use the connection. If you want to use the connection again tomorrow at 10am, you will be charged another $10 that is good until 10am the next day. I hope I haven't confused you any more.

BTW, there is no wireless at CBR, I know CR has it and I think one other resort has it.

Thanks guys! Oh well, after I wrote that I really thought that my second option must be how it was, and much more cost effective! But no such luck, my what was I thinking? I just hate adding on another $90 to my 9 night trip for internet! DD probably won't like it but probably will only do at most, 1/2 of the days.

 

[ahecht]

Ahecht....I'm sorry that happened to you, too. But if you're like us, it was a minor problem. What bldg did ya'll stay in? We really thought Jamaica looked pretty. And I don't think I'd mind a parking lot view because you could use your car and skip the busses sometimes. We never really had bus issues though.

We were in Jamaca 41, which was courtyard view but near enough to the corner that the parking lot was only a few steps away. Absolutely loved it.

 

[stmize]

Yeah I am doing the happy dance. AAA called today and our documents were in so we were able to pick them up. 35 days and we arrive at CBR.

 

[MariaEllerºoº]

Here are some great maps that WillCad put together. If you click on the Local Live link for CBR it shows exactly how close Jamaica and Aruba are to OPR. I know a lot of people worry about how far of a walk it is over the bridge and island to OPR. http://www.willcad.org/disney_maps.shtml#mods

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Yeah I am doing the happy dance. AAA called today and our documents were in so we were able to pick them up. 35 days and we arrive at CBR.

Oooh, then that means that maybe mine will be at my AAA office in 2 weeks, because on that day, we'll be 35 days out!!!!

 

[misled3]

only 4 days left......

 

[who me?]

just back from a stay at CBR 10/7 - 10/14. we were in Trin North 3134. The room was nice, not a nemo room but clean and big enough. The room was ready when we got there at 11am which was great (I think it helped that it was a Tuesday check in, according to bell service it is one of the slowest days of the week).

Check in was weird, there were half dozen reps behind the counter chatting with a line of 5 guests trying to check in. When a manager came out of the back they went to windows to help out. At first I thought they were training or something ... I was stumped as to why they thought it was ok to not assist guests checking in.

The pool was great, the hours for getting a quick serve meal are accomodating and the food was good. Disney makes it easy to eat healthy at the resort and all the parks which is great ... I miss the fresh fruit, up here in Boston other than apples nothing is fresh this time of the year. We had a wonderful meal at Shutters.

The gift shop was big and very well stocked and for those who asked before there is a hair wrapping station against the main building near the pool (tatoos as well) and a characturist (sp?) inside. We did the hair and the pics, both were fun and priced well, $2 per inch for the hair and $20 for the pics.

Life Guards are WONDERFUL ! my dd's are 7 and 11 and good swimmers but this doesn't stop me from hovering but I actually did some swimming myself because the life guards were so great. The slide was really fun too even for an old lady like me.

Housekeeping was not great, twice we got back from a long day at the park around 3:30 +/- and the room was not made up. When we called they said "they are still out there" but there was nobody in sight and our neighbors both had their rooms done earlier in the morning. We were gone by 7:30 am both days so it wasn't that we were in the way. Also on different days new towels were left for us but the pile of dirty ones we left for her on the bathroom floor were left behind. Also, by mistake I left the coffee pot full and it wasn't emptied or rinsed. I would have expected that it would be part of the clean up (I normally wouldn't have left it, I am the type that doesn't like people waiting on me, we kept the room fairly tidy and tipped well).

Bus service was fine, not great leaving CBR (10 - 25 mins wait) but leaving the parks it was terrible, we waited for over an hour at Hollywood Studios one day. Another family had to be back by 3:45 for a 4pm airport shuttle, they got in line at 2:40 and missed the shuttle waiting for the bus which arrived at 3:55. Leaving Downtown Disney one day we just got a taxi cause we were waiting forever. It was consistently bad unfortunatley (this was one of my fears before we went). Several Coranado Springs, Pop etc buses came and went before one CB would arrive.

Also, my 11 year old and I witnessed one bus driver call another an "A*****e" because he was behind him and he didn't pull up far enough at Trin North stop .. I won't tell you the entire exchange but it was pretty disapointing to witness ... in fairness we were the only ones at the stop and I don't think he knew we were there, none the less my daughter didn't need to hear that especially at Disney. I know they are only human but it was fairly heated and there were people on both buses.

We did the bounce back for next year but you have to ask for the flyer and I had 2 people say they had no idea what I was talking about. I finally went to the Custom House and a manager said it had expired 10/1 I asked him to double check and of course it was good thru 10/24.

Overall it was a nice resort and the small things didn't bother us too much, just disapointing thats all. We will not be staying at CBR again we are going to try PO and see how are luck goes there.

Anything I might be able to answer just ask away.

 

[jmskinner]

Overall it was a nice resort and the small things didn't bother us too much, just disapointing thats all. We will not be staying at CBR again we are going to try PO and see how are luck goes there.

Anything I might be able to answer just ask away.

Not what we want to hear since we thought we would give CBR a try, only other moderate we have stayed at is POR. We want to check out that pool there at CBR and I booked a pirate room.

 

[nateryan]

So Shutters was good? I've stayed at CBR many times and never have eaten there - I may have to give it a try.

What is Bounceback?

 

[who me?]

nateryan - Yes, we had a nice meal at Shutters my husband got prime rib and I had fish, the dd 11 had steak and I can't remember what my dd 7 had but we were all happy and the service was great. Get a reservation !! It took us 2 days to get in!

Bounce back is their way of getting you back ... free dining if you book a trip within certain dates next year something like 8/28 - 10/1. Your stay can start as late as 10/1/09 to get the deal; the offer ends 10/24/08, you have to book by midnight the day you check out or they will not honor it. Seems like all Delux and Moderate hotels are in on the deal, not sure about availability so if you are there before 10/24 check it out quick.

jmskinner - The pool was great, the kids loved it. It is really big so it doesn't seem crowded. They may have just been having an off week bus / housekeeping wise which is what I kept telling myself. Honestly, there were a few other issues like black mold on the shower curtain rings and cob webs in a few if the corners. yuck. but I didn't blame the woman assigned to our room, that isn't daily cleaning, the resort should be doing scrub downs on a regular basis. Give it a try - The grounds are beautiful and overall the staff was pretty nice. Many people rave about it, I really think it was just an off week.

 

[who me?]

snateryan - sorry ... should have mentioned, if you go to MouseSavers.com you can read more about bounce back and any other deals you might not hear about directly from disney ... check it out often, there were several deals last time I checked. None applied to our trip of course or I was too late to get in on it but its good info.

 

[Minniekins]

You can also get more info on boucebacks and other discount codes and pins, available at varying times, on the Codes and Rates board here on the disboards. If you haven't seen it you can check it out by clicking in the Disney Trip Planning Forums up at the top of this page. There are various threads with info on bouncebacks, what new codes are out there, etc. Hope that is also helpful in addition to the Mousesavers tip!

 

[ahecht]

Bus service was fine, not great leaving CBR (10 - 25 mins wait) but leaving the parks it was terrible, we waited for over an hour at Hollywood Studios one day. Another family had to be back by 3:45 for a 4pm airport shuttle, they got in line at 2:40 and missed the shuttle waiting for the bus which arrived at 3:55.

For future reference, if you've waited 20 minutes or more for a bus, use either your cell phone or the phone at the bus stop to call your resort and complain (the resort number is printed on your room key). Encourage everyone in line with you to do the same. They will eventually either make sure a bus is on its way or send a special one for you. There is no excuse for an 1:15 wait.

 

[PrincessV]

Any updates on which buildings have been completed with the Nemo refurbs? I got spoiled with a free upgrade to Martinique a few weeks ago and am hoping for one over Thanksgiving!

 

[safetymom]

Martinique and parts of Barbados are done.

 

[aaronlisar]

I'm sure this has been asked in this thread before but I don't have time to search the 167 pages and the search function doesn't exactly work but I need to know where I would go for the resort airline checkin at CBR. I'm assuming it is the main building where we check in at to begin our vacation and where ME picks us up but I don't want to go on an assumption.

 

[LuvsTinker]

I'm sure this has been asked in this thread before but I don't have time to search the 167 pages and the search function doesn't exactly work but I need to know where I would go for the resort airline checkin at CBR. I'm assuming it is the main building where we check in at to begin our vacation and where ME picks us up but I don't want to go on an assumption.

There is a concierge desk located in OPR -next to food court. We checked in there last month for SW.

Or you can go to the main Custom House

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Just asking? Has anyone been able to take any pics of the new slide inside the new structure? TIA!!