Caribbean Beach Resort FAQ's Part II

[CleveRocks]

I just booked! SHe said Martinique and Triniadad North were all booked up, but suggested I check back for any cancellations.

So- she said the next closest would be Jamaica. Building 45 or 51. I checked the map, and 51 looked like it was the Aruba section. Either way, they're both right by the bridge leading to the Old Port Royale area. Has anyone stayed in either of these buildings? Thoughts or opinions? Thanks!

Jamaica and Aruba are essentially mirror-images of each other, as you can see from the map. Both of them are closer to OPR than Barbados and Trinidad South.

Also, keep in mind that the 3 non-preferred location buildings in Martinique, which are Buildings 21, 22 and 23, cannot possibly be sold out. She must have meant that the preferred location rooms are sold out. In Martinique, 3 of the buildings (24, 25 and 26) are preferred location and 3 are not. So go ahead and put in a request for Martinique 21-22-23 -- it's possible you'll get that!

 

[CleveRocks]

I will tell you the things I am looking for if we do pick CBR and would love some one to reccomend which area we should ask for. I do not mind paying extra if it would be necessary to get the things we want. My list of things I would like is rather large. So bear with me please..

1.Close to the "beach"

Here's a link to a map:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/cbrmap.htm

Every village has its own beach. It's not like there's only one. Keep in mind that the beaches, while pleasant, are small and merely cosmetic. Kids can play in the sand and maybe get their feet wet but there's no swimming in the water.

2.NOT close to a playground

Avoid MArtinique 22 and Trinidad South 35. But on second thought, wvwn though those buildings are closest to playgrounds, they're not right on top of the playgrounds, and even if they are, only the water view rooms would see the playgrounds from the balcony/exterior corridor.

5.Relatively close to a pool.

Each village has its own quiet pool, so you'll never be too far from a pool.

 

[fanofdisney]

Jamaica and Aruba are essentially mirror-images of each other, as you can see from the map. Both of them are closer to OPR than Barbados and Trinidad South.

Also, keep in mind that the 3 non-preferred location buildings in Martinique, which are Buildings 21, 22 and 23, cannot possibly be sold out. She must have meant that the preferred location rooms are sold out. In Martinique, 3 of the buildings (24, 25 and 26) are preferred location and 3 are not. So go ahead and put in a request for Martinique 21-22-23 -- it's possible you'll get that!

My original request was for a Martinique or Trinidad North, preferred or not, and she said they were all booked. That's why she recommended the others. I'm hoping to get in on a cancellation, though.

 

[CleveRocks]

My original request was for a Martinique or Trinidad North, preferred or not, and she said they were all booked. That's why she recommended the others. I'm hoping to get in on a cancellation, though.

But what I'm trying to say is that all of Martinique can't possibly be booked in advance. No one can "book" or reserve a specific village.

At CBR, there are only three options you can pay for and thus guarantee. If you can pay for an option, it CAN be sold out. These options are preferred location (Martinique 24-25-26, and all 3 buildings of Trinidad North), water view (some rooms in every village) and king-size bed (some rooms in every village).

Since Martinique 21-22-23 are NOT preferred location and are not exclusively water view or king-size bed, there is no way possible that those 3 buildings are all sold out! In other words, let's say someone hopes to get a room in Aruba. When they make their reservation they can request a room in Aruba, but that request is not guaranteed. Rooms aren't actually assigned until 3-5 days in advance. Furthermore, the resort does not keep tabs on what requests are made on reservations.

So do you see what I'm saying? It's absolutely impossible that the 3 non-preferred location buidlings in Martinique are "sold out" because there's no way to RESERVE those rooms.

Let me put it to you another way. CBR has 2112 rooms in 33 buildings. That's 64 rooms per building. There are 6 preferred location buildings, the 6 buildings closest to Old Port Royale, Martinique 24-25-36 and all 3 buildings in Trinidad North (31-32-33). 6 preferred location buildings, 64 rooms per building, so there are 384 preferred location rooms each night.

With me so far?

For each night, CRO's computer allows only 384 preferred location rooms to be reserved (paid for and guaranteed). The computer doesn't differentiate between the 192 rooms in Martinique and the 192 rooms in Trinidad North, and you are not assigned a room in one village or another when you make the reservation. Like I said, that's not done until about 3-5 days in advance (by hand, not by computer, by a person or people on the overnight shift).

Now, I have NO blessed idea how many king bed rooms there are or how many water view rooms there are, but just to throw some numbers out, let's say there are 300 water view rooms and 100 king bed rooms. So again, using these numbers, 384+300+100= 784 rooms that can be reserved and paid for and thus guaranteed. That leaves approximately 1300 rooms that can't be specifically reserved. The non-water view, non-preferred location, non-king bed rooms in Martinique 21-22-23 fall into that large category of 1300 rooms that can't be specifically reserved. And if they can't be reserved, they can't be sold out.

 

[CleveRocks]

My original request was for a Martinique or Trinidad North, preferred or not, and she said they were all booked. That's why she recommended the others. I'm hoping to get in on a cancellation, though.

And now for the SHORT response to your post ....

Call back and speak to a different CM, one who knows what he or she is talking about. You are bound to get someone who will give you accurate information. You apparently found a CM who wasn't aware that some of the rooms in Martinique are NOT preferred location (and are not king-size bed and are not water view), and thus can't be reserved/sold out.

 

[fanofdisney]

And now for the SHORT response to your post ....

Call back and speak to a different CM, one who knows what he or she is talking about. You are bound to get someone who will give you accurate information. You apparently found a CM who wasn't aware that some of the rooms in Martinique are NOT preferred location (and are not king-size bed and are not water view), and thus can't be reserved/sold out.

Thanks- I will try that tomorrow.

 

[Dusted]

Safteymom and others.... Do you suggest first or second floor rooms? I can only imagine a room with a good view would be better from the 2nd floor? Any room suggestions would be awesome, I am going to this hotel for the first time, and have paid for a preferred room.

Also, do they charge for the coffee used in the rooms?

Many thanks.

 

[KimRaye]

Safteymom and others.... Do you suggest first or second floor rooms? I can only imagine a room with a good view would be better from the 2nd floor? Any room suggestions would be awesome, I am going to this hotel for the first time, and have paid for a preferred room.

Also, do they charge for the coffee used in the rooms?

Many thanks.

Can't answer your 1st question..I only stayed on ground level, preferred location.

But, NO charge for coffee in the room. I learned that here and, there WAS no charge for any of us (5 rooms) in June. Learned and Confirmed!

 

[safetymom]

You really aren't going to be able to see much of a view from your room very well. Unless you enjoy everyone looking at you while you are in your room I don't think it makes much of a difference which floor you are on.

 

[TheWog]

Does anyone know if Christmas decorations will be put up during our stay beginning November 11?

 

[disneytrip4us]

Per SAfetymom's Request, I am posting this here. This was our (me, DH and DS9) 4th stay at CBR and had another wonderful stay. We were in Jamaica 4542. It was close to the quiet pool, like we requested. A little bit longer walk to the bus stop, but with the free dining we needed all the extra walking. ha ha. Resort was great, housekeeping wonderful (except for 1 day when it was just so-so), all of our requests were met in a very quick fashion and we even got late checkout without charge. This time we took an airbed with us that we set up in between the two beds. During the day we just pushed in under the bed so housekeeping could clean around it. We requested extra pillow and blankets for the air bed and that worked out great. Crowds were incredibly low, especially mid week.

 

[TheWog]

Does anyone know if Christmas decorations will be put up during our stay beginning November 11?

Does anyone have an idea of when the decorations begin to be put up?

 

[safetymom]

Usually they go up closer to Thanksgiving.

 

[Dusted]

Thanks. Another silly question, are the coffee cups in the rooms disposable or real mugs? And, in the food court area, are they disposable plasticware, or metal?

These things make a difference to us to know ahead of time...

Thanks.

 

[KimRaye]

All disposable.

 

[smnornes]

I understand that there are towels available only at the main pool. Are they decent sizeed "beach" towels, or more like the in room bath towels? Do we have to check them out, or are they just there for the taking? Thanks for the help!

 

[TheWog]

Usually they go up closer to Thanksgiving.

Thank you.

 

[CleveRocks]

I understand that there are towels available only at the main pool. Are they decent sizeed "beach" towels, or more like the in room bath towels? Do we have to check them out, or are they just there for the taking? Thanks for the help!

They're about the size of a bath towel, and they're there for the taking. No one doling them out, no one counting, no sign up sheet, etc.

 

[smnornes]

can I drop off a photo matte board at the CBR front desk to have autographed...so we can pick it up when we leave 9 days later?????

I want to have one matte done with the princesses for DD5, and another matte done with all of the traditional characters or whoever for DS7. We have several ADR's arranged, but hate the thought of carrying around a 16x20 matte board all day...it'll be destroyed by the time we return to the hotel! Any ideas??? Thanks!

 

[tinkerrn]

We just got back last night from our stay at CBR. We checked in around noon on 9/23. We requested a smoking King room. They told us that there were only 2 king rooms in the smoking section, Aruba 51. So, they put us in Aruba 54; it was a first floor, corner, lake view, king room. I was impressed with the location. Just a few steps and we were also at the quiet pool. We recieved towel animals everyday we were there. The room needed some TLC; carpets needed cleaning, furniture needs to be replaced. I know that housekeeping was really busy, but the room was pretty dirty when we arrived. Black pubic hair in tub and bathroom floor. I cleaned it up. Other than that, the room was kept nice and neat. The housekeeping staff did comment that several staff had not been showing up.
The food court was always busy. We did witness MANY who were just never satisifed over this free dining. It was really sad; parents arguing over whetrher they were entitled to dessert with their breakfast. The food qulaity was not as it used to be. I think the free dining just really has changed the quality of service and food. The cast members just looked way over worked and under staffed. The Disney 'magic' just wasn't what it used to be. However, this was something we observed all over WDW. The service we recieved at CBR was by far better than at the parks or restaurants.