Caribbean Beach Resort FAQ's Part II

[safetymom]

Thank you everyone. I just try to help those planning their vacation. I am close enough I can run over to CBR quite often and like to pass on information to help others planning their trip.

 

[MariaEllerºoº]

You're doing a great job SafetyMom! Wish I could just dash over anytime I wanted. hehe Must be wonderful!

 

[safetymom]

Thank you. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself that I live close enough to drop by CBR whenever I want.

 

[MariaEllerºoº]

My brother likes to rub it in that he can see the MK fireworks from his front porch. He use to work at Animation Studio's but now works for Hard Rock Cafe. He redesigns all the Hard Rock Cafe's around the world. Nice job, except the time he got kidnapped and thrown off a cliff in Brazil. Luckily he fell into a ravine and hung on for dear life. He now jokes about it saying it was the most expensive tour he's taken yet.

 

[pamouselover]

A standard room, is it that far away from everthing?
What locations are the standard rooms in?
We stayed at ASMo in 2005 herbie section and did not think the walk to the food court, etc. was bad at all like people say on this board.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

A standard room, is it that far away from everthing?
What locations are the standard rooms in?
We stayed at ASMo in 2005 herbie section and did not think the walk to the food court, etc. was bad at all like people say on this board.

Worse.

The resort is HUGE. We were at almost the end of the preferred section and we were still a bit away from the main pool. I keep looking at the sections across the way, thinking I'd never leave my room if I had to stay there.

The resort is BEAUTIFUL, but IMO, preferred is the only way to go. We stayed non-preferred at POP last year and that walk was a piece of cake.

 

[safetymom]

I don't think the walk is bad from anywhere unless you are in Trinidad South. Standard rooms are located in every village at CBR. Yes a preferred location is nice but many prefer staying in Jamaica or Aruba and it is a short walk across the lake.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Safety Mom, you're making me chuckle....you can't be serious that the walk is not long. We stayed in room 3311 and while the walk wasn't too bad (it wasn't too good either (cue snare drum).

I couldn't imagine being in those rooms across the street on the other side of our quiet pool. I love the resort and all, but come on, the place is huge.

(for all those wondering, I am not a stranger to exercise)

 

[pperfectmom]

Hi all! We are currently booked for WL for our fall trip, but DH has almost talked me into switching to CBR and now I'm going into full-scale planning mode once again. If we switch(which is definately looking more likely) we will save sooo much money and can add an extra day, hoppers and perhaps have enough left for the PFTS which I really want to do. I'm actually not even too bummed about it. I love the tropical theming at CBR and, since I live in a log home, WL may not be that exciting to me. The main reason I wanted to stay at WL was the extra transportaion options. We will be spending the most time at the MK and EP and will have two little ones to keep up with. We'll likely be using the bus system most of the time, but will have a car and will probably take it on our AK day. Okay..on to the questions. #1 Will the bus system cause more stress than it is worth to use? #2 Does anyone have pictures of the spa?#3 I'll probably request a room in Jamaica 45 or 45 or Aruba 51. Will we have to pay for preferred if I request a bay view? If so, what would be another good location that we wouldn't have to pay extra for? I think I will request a corner room with more windows. I hate to make too many requests though. #4 Also, how much louder would the first floor be and #5 can you sit outside the room while the kids are asleep?

Sorry, there are so many questions that have most likely been answered countless times but I appreciate any help. Also, safetymom, thanks for all the awesome photos. That's what made CBR way more appealing to me. It looks so beautiful and tropical like a vacation within a vacation. Oh, sorry, one more question. #6 I never hear much about Shutters. They don't serve breakfast there do they?#7 Also, how is the food at supper? Thanks!

I guess I got carried away with the questions. I'm not a dork(well...not a huge dork anyway).

 

[pamouselover]

ok, so I might get lost? It looks really big! I am a big fan of walking, I like it, but.... you know you walk a lot when at the happiest place on earth!
What if we drove down and had our own car, would we be able to park it close to our room?
I ask because right now driving might be a option, that I usally would not even consider, but air fare for that week is just nuts.
I guess because it is labor day weekend!

 

[safetymom]

The parking lots are pretty close to the room. There is also an internal bus for the resort.

 

[pamouselover]

THANK YOU!
We will see what the week brings.
Have a great Easter everyone!

 

[catbertdave99]

Hi all! We are currently booked for WL for our fall trip, but DH has almost talked me into switching to CBR and now I'm going into full-scale planning mode once again. If we switch(which is definately looking more likely) we will save sooo much money and can add an extra day, hoppers and perhaps have enough left for the PFTS which I really want to do. I'm actually not even too bummed about it. I love the tropical theming at CBR and, since I live in a log home, WL may not be that exciting to me.......
Also, safetymom, thanks for all the awesome photos. That's what made CBR way more appealing to me. It looks so beautiful and tropical like a vacation within a vacation.

We've stayed at WL and we prefer CBR! We like the spread out nature of the resort -- it keeps it quieter, honestly... Safetymom's photos ARE wonderful, aren't they?? We chose CBR because of her photos and info a few years ago... which leads me to your questions. Just my opinions, but...
(1) The bus service at CBR is great -- just did our second visit to CBR without at car -- longest wait for a bus was 15 minutes, most were like 5 minutes... (2) Safetymom might have a picture of the hot tub -- it's fairly small, to be honest. (3) Just remember that Aruba 51 is the only smoking-optional building at the resort. You can request a bay view, but there's no guarantee you'll get it. The "water-view" option at CBR does cost extra, but it could just as easily be a view of the village quiet pool as a view of the lake. I wouldn't pay the extra, personally, for the water view. We ended up with one by chance in our 2005 trip (photos of the view we had are in the link below). Both times we've had a corner room, not by request, we just ended up with it. This year's trip, we often didn't even open the second set of blinds -- just weren't in the room that much. (4) Our first trip was 2nd floor, this year's was first floor, and I didn't notice any difference in noise at all -- both were really quiet. (5) This year's room, Trinidad 3128, opened out to a courtyard that then had a view of the lake -- awesome! You could easily sit out there at the tables while your kids are in the room asleep. The courtyards are really nice (photos in my 2007 link below). (6) Shutters does not serve breaksfast -- I'm not 100% sure they serve lunch, but Safetymom could tell you. I haven't eaten there, so I'm no help on #7.

You'll love CBR if you try it! It's our favorite!

 

[mollyseven]

I agree about the distance not the getting lost. It is very circular with paths and such and you would never get lost. ...but it is very spread out. We stayed at pop and this year at cbr and cbr is WAYYYY bigger. We stayed in Trinidad North building 31 which was amazing...they upgraded us at no cost at check in...I offered to pay for preferred and they just did it for free. it was magic!!! I'm so glad because the bus pickups were great and we were the closest of any buildings to the main one and the main pool. The entire week there was never anyone in the quiet pool by us...ever,
I would even ask for Jamaica building 45 I think it is directly across the bridge from Port Royale...that is very close also and I don't think it's considered preferred.
So....yes it is a long way from the fartherst building to the main pool and restaurant.....not like going for a quick refill on a drink. I wouldn't let kids go alone like at POP.

 

[Kevin355]

We've stayed 3 times at CBR. The last time was just this past March. We have stayed in Aruba, Trinidad North, and this last time Jamaica (43). I had originally had an upstairs rooms, but because of recent knee surgery, they gave us a lower room. Everything is in walking distance. Only thing we had to do was cross the footbridge to go over the lake to the pool and shopping.

 

[snomofinn]

We stay at CBR every year, we always get preferred rooms, this year we were in Trinidad north right next to Old Port Royale. Trinidad South is quite a walk so I would stay away from there.

 

[pperfectmom]

We've stayed at WL and we prefer CBR! We like the spread out nature of the resort -- it keeps it quieter, honestly... Safetymom's photos ARE wonderful, aren't they?? We chose CBR because of her photos and info a few years ago... which leads me to your questions. Just my opinions, but...
(1) The bus service at CBR is great -- just did our second visit to CBR without at car -- longest wait for a bus was 15 minutes, most were like 5 minutes... (2) Safetymom might have a picture of the hot tub -- it's fairly small, to be honest. (3) Just remember that Aruba 51 is the only smoking-optional building at the resort. You can request a bay view, but there's no guarantee you'll get it. The "water-view" option at CBR does cost extra, but it could just as easily be a view of the village quiet pool as a view of the lake. I wouldn't pay the extra, personally, for the water view. We ended up with one by chance in our 2005 trip (photos of the view we had are in the link below). Both times we've had a corner room, not by request, we just ended up with it. This year's trip, we often didn't even open the second set of blinds -- just weren't in the room that much. (4) Our first trip was 2nd floor, this year's was first floor, and I didn't notice any difference in noise at all -- both were really quiet. (5) This year's room, Trinidad 3128, opened out to a courtyard that then had a view of the lake -- awesome! You could easily sit out there at the tables while your kids are in the room asleep. The courtyards are really nice (photos in my 2007 link below). (6) Shutters does not serve breaksfast -- I'm not 100% sure they serve lunch, but Safetymom could tell you. I haven't eaten there, so I'm no help on #7.

You'll love CBR if you try it! It's our favorite!

Wow! Thanks for the response and I loved looking at your photos. Totally reinforced my opinion that we have made the right decision. The courtyards do look beautiful. Did you feel like you had to keep the blinds closed all the time to keep people from looking in? I really don't like my room to be dark but I don't want people peeking in at me all the time either.

 

[catbertdave99]

Wow! Thanks for the response and I loved looking at your photos. Totally reinforced my opinion that we have made the right decision. The courtyards do look beautiful. Did you feel like you had to keep the blinds closed all the time to keep people from looking in? I really don't like my room to be dark but I don't want people peeking in at me all the time either.

Thanks! No, we didn't have anyone walking by, actually. I'm sure some rooms do, but I guess we were lucky -- probably just had a good location. We loved being on the ground floor -- and my teenage sons enjoyed having the courtyard right there as much as we did. Being back at CBR again just reinforced for us how much we love it... it is truly more beautiful than the pictures can show!

 

[safetymom]

You are so right. The pictures don't do the resort justice.

Catbertdave99. we loved our courtyard view also.

 

[cheesehead7]

It was great to see all of your pictures! We are staying at CBR in late June/early July. I have been a little nervous because of the mixed reviews about this resort on this board. We just came back from Coronado Springs which was great. I am hoping that CBR will be equal or even better! Requested Jamaica 45 because of its location next to the bridge. Can't wait to get back!