Caribbean Beach Resort - what's the deal?

[aticineto]

Greetings all,

I will be staying at the CBR in May. Five people I know have stayed there (two many years ago, one a few years ago, and the other two mor recently) and they all liked it. On these recomendations i booked my trip.

I have now been reading mixd review of the place on All Ears and Trip Advisor. Some people rave abut it, found it to be clean, good food in the food court, fast checkin, good service, and had an enjoyable stay. Others found the rooms filthy, slow checkin, bad service, and mediocore food. You'd think they were talking about two different resorts.

What's the ddeal? Does it depend on the time of year? Peoples expectations? The room choice (standard vs. preferred - we booked preferred rooms). I am a litle nervous about what I will find when I get there. Please help!

Thanks in advance,

Alfred

 

[dapa4por]

We stayed there in September of 2007, had joining rooms with my parents and brother. We had a great room with a great view right next to the little pool in Jamaca. Anyway the food did stink...was not good at all! The buses were on time but always pretty full! The big pool was great but I think it is closed through all of 2008?! Mousekeeping was alright but no were near great...my brother found blood on some sheets that didnt look like they had been changed the first night we were there It is a very pretty resort but I dont think I would go back...just my 2 cents

 

[ObsessedwiththeMouse]

We stayed there and loved it! I am always surprised that it gets a bad review, but like anything else, there will always be someone that won't like it....

Don't worry and just enjoy your trip. You'll love the CBR!!

 

[stellablue]

I have to say, I think I've seen terrific and not so terrific reviews on basically every resort on here.

I actually heard that the food court food was great!

We are doing a split stay there in two weeks cool1: !!) We do not tend to be too picky about our hotels in general (though blood on sheets would definately prompt an immediate call to mousekeeping-yuck!), so I'm going there optimistic. One thing I do know about this place is its supposed to be very large-this may attribute to some things like a room forgotten to be clean and such.

The way I see it is its WDW-it's going to be great!!

 

[hmillerbarilla]

I've stayed at the CBR many many times and always had a great experience. I think the grounds are lovely, and the each village is a different color and make up a beautiful resort.

Sure the resort is big, but it isn't much more walking than you're doing all day at the world. Book a prefered room if you want.

We like to stay in Jamaica or Aruba and cross over the island to get to OPR. I can't say much about the food--we usually just eat there once or twice on our trips since we usually have ressies in the parks. I have found the food to be quite good--except for the reuben sandwich. blech!

The rooms are roomy, clean and cheerful. I really like the bright colors and the tropical music. Enjoy!!!

 

[LuvsTinker]

We've stayed there 13x since 1993 and never had bad experience. The grounds are very lovely; we like the size of the resort being spread out.

Some Mousekeepers are better than others, but I'm not going to let that damper my trip.

Some room locations are better than others, but I'm not going to let that damper my trip either.

Some buses are full and once in awhile takes a long time to arrive, but I'm not going to let that damper my trip.

The food court is fine - usual assortment: chicken, burgers, pizza, salad, etc. - In all our stays, we've never tried the sit down restaurant.

Enjoy yourself and have fun!

Do keep in mind the pool is closed for refurb. till Sept. - so the patio area may have a bit of different feel to it with walls up around the main pool.

 

[karylrocks]

Does it depend on the time of year? Peoples expectations? The room choice (standard vs. preferred - we booked preferred rooms).

Yes, and more. Any resort experience can come down to how busy it is and who is working at a particular time on any day. I have found that reading Tripadvisor and message boards causes me a lot of discouragement about something I was excited about. CBR is one of those resorts that always gets mixed reviews (as most resorts and restaurants do). The only resorts that come to mind that get primarily good or bad reviews are POR (good) and ASSports (bad). I have stayed at CBR twice and it is fine, not awesome and not bad (just like most of the Disney resorts). I would say don't worry about it and just have a good time. If something goes wrong just know that happens sometimes and go with it, and if everything turns out better than expected you get a bonus.

 

[G8r4evr]

We loved everything about our stay at CBR. Cant wait to go back!

 

[safetymom]

You will have a great time at CBR. You might want to check out the CBR FAQ thread listed in my signature. The first post contains lots of information about the resort

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

I may be staying there on my trip.

It is pretty cheap too.

 

[Renee1061]

My daughter and I stayed at CBR in November and loved it! We were in Jamaica 45, which was a standard building, but it was just a short (and beautiful) walk to Old Port Royale.

I am even thinking of downgrading from WL to CBR for our June trip to save a little money! We loved it that much!

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

Wow! I'm so impressed with your CBR website!!

We also LOVE CBR. We wouldn't stay elsewhere, and we've stayed at Port Orleans, the Beach Club and the Polynesian.

 

[Sinderelli]

Another CBR fan here! I honestly think it has been our favorite resort so far. The room was a nice size, we paid for a preferred room and were right next to OPR in Trinidad North with a beautiful beach view, the shopping was great, my kids LOVED the arcade (a must do on every trip!), mousekeeping was wonderful, in 5 nights we received 4 towel animals, food court was great, I could go on and on. We also watched Illuminations from the balcony outside our room! We had a perfect stay at CBR- not ne complaint.

 

[accountingbabe08]

my room was very clean. The food was great. had a preferred room it was wonderful would definitely stay again.

 

[disneyfan6301]

We have stayed at CB three times--in Jamacia (2003), Barbados (2005), and this last trip (Dec 07) in Trinidad South. We love this resort. In 2006 we stayed at Dixie Landings, uh excuse me, Port Orleans Riverside, where we had stayed in 1993 and 1995, and I actually missed CB. I will admit, I was a bit skeptical about Trinidad South. I had heard all the reports about the walk being sooooo long. My stomach dropped when the cast member told me where we would be, but the walk to OPR seemed no longer than the one from Barbados--just a nice morning stroll. Can't speak much for the food. We just eat breakfast there. This last trip we had to wait about an hour for our room, and we did eat lunch at the food court. We had the pizza and it was good. Until we win the lottery this will probably be our spot.

 

[fairestoneofall]

Dh and I stayed at CBR in August. We enjoyed our stay very much. I thought the food court was nice, our room was clean, check-in was quick, etc.

DH wants to go back this year. I want to try POFQ (split stay with a Mod and CR).

 

[christy08]

We stayed there 2 years ago and really enjoyed it. We booked preferred (Martinique) so it was a short walk to the pool/food court. Part of the draw for us though (w/2 kids under 5) was the big pool and the food court right there, so we could grab a light dinner and eat poolside and get a glass of wine/beer, etc if we'd like. The main pool is under construction through 9/08, so to me, I would go somewhere else, since that "favorite" area for us wouldn't be there durng that time. We're going to WDW in Oct 08 and just booked the WL, but I can say that we would definitely go back to the CBR in the future as we did really enjoy it!! Have a good time!! :

 

[catbertdave99]

We love CBR!! Make sure you check out the FAQ thread in Safetymom's signature!!

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

I really wouldn't worry about it. We've stayed there three times and like the resort a lot. I'm sorry to hear that some people have had a bad experience, but as others have said, all of the resorts have had negative comments posted about them. In my opinion, this isn't something that is worth stressing over - you haven't made a mistake in your choice!!

PS Say "hi" to the island (can't remember the name of it just now) for me - just thinking about peacefully sitting in one of the gliders there is a stress reducer for me!

 

[Mermaid_Ariel]

You have to take everything you read on the Internet with a grain of salt. There will always be people who don't like something. Sometimes it could be a bad mousekeeper, or someone's expectations too high - We LOVED CBR and I can't wait to return there again! Check-in was fast, mousekeeping was great (left us towel animals!), the room was clean, the grounds were gorgeous, buses were fine most of the time, the pool was fun - what more could you ask for?