We just got back this past Saturday, so here are a few notes from our stay at CBR.
We were in Aruba. We requested a Nemo room, but they were all full. The room was lovely though. It was mostly clean. There were areas that could have definately improved, but I really wasn't in the mood to complain about it. Housekeeping came every day, and did a pretty good job. They made the bed, changed out the towels, wiped everything down, vacuumed, and changed the trash. They also arranged DD's toys every day and made us a few towel animals. The rooms could stand to be deep cleaned a little more though.
The place is huge. You can just walk and walk. It was just as beautiful as everyone says it is. We found the beaches very peaceful and wandering around the resort and just taking it in was very relaxing. We didn't find the walk to be negative at all. We very much enjoyed going to Old Port Royale.
Trying to eat at Old Port Royale was not very relaxing. If you happened to go in there when no one else was in there, it was fine. Otherwise, it was loud, the lines were long, and it was general bedlam in there. The CM's were hit and miss as far as friendly was concerned. I can't really fault them for it though, because we saw soooo many guests being so rude to the poor people trying to help them. Not to mention just rude in general.
Note to people, you may think your kids are adorable. I, however, am trying desperately to keep my tired 2 year old in check. Try it sometime.
The buses were somewhat frustrating. We had a few really short waits, and a few much longer ones. It was also either comfortable, or sardines/standing room only. People on the bus were generally nice, but there were a few really nasty ones here and there. Especially regarding the Rascal scooters. I know it takes a while for them to load, and it's an extra wait time, but really....some people are just so rude about it.
Oh, and when we arrived, bell services delivered our luggage, and they literally tossed it in the room. It was laying all over the floor when we came in later on.
The new pool is amazing.
All in all, we found the resort to be charming, although our room was in need of a really good scrubbing. I loved the theme and there was a lot of attention to detail. While we were there, we had dinner at Ohana's and fell in love with the Poly, so we plan on staying there next time, but I wouldn't avoid CBR in the future.