Carribean Beach

[disney4evr]

I just got back from a week at the CBR. I stayed here 11 years ago and really enjoyed it, I stayed at Dixie Landings in 2000 and really enjoyed it as well. I thought I would try CBR once again. I was not impressed!!! We stayed in Aruba and our room was directly across from the quiet pool (ground level), I will never stay on the ground level, too many bugs. I tipped the mousekeepers daily ($5) for a family of three (which I think is pretty reasonable, since most people only tip $1 per person per day) and got no extra treatment than my sister who was staying in the room next door and did not tip at all. They even forgot to leave us towels and extra cups one day. They were to leave something special in our room for my daughter, which never happened.

So, take this for what it is worth, my next trip I will stay at POR or upgrade to a Deluxe, maybe WL or AKL.

Otherwise, our vacation was wonderful, although it was exceptionally hot - 95+ degrees everyday, not complaining, I would rather have it hot than 40 degrees and raining.

 

[safetymom]

Sorry to hear that you didn't have a great housekeeper. They do make mistakes. Did you call and ask to have the missing items brought to you? When I called housekeeping last week I got my iron and ironing board within minutes. Anything extra that a housekeeper does should be considered a bonus not something you paid for with a tip. You also could have have different maids every day.

For the special item that was to be delivered to the room who did you arrange it with?

I hope you mentioned your concerns to the front desk. We were there last week and had a wonderful time and didn't have a problem with bugs.

The CM's at CBR try to take care of any problems and really want you to be happy.

 

[dahess]

Sorry to hear about trip Hopefully your next trip will be better. We only tip if someone deserves it. I know everyone thinks differently about this situation, but I have worked as a housekeeper, waitress, clothing store associate & worked hard to get tips & I never expected a tip if I didn't deserve it.

 

[disney4evr]

It was out last day there and when we got back and noticed we did not have any towels for the morning before our flight, I had to call and it took them a while to get them to us.

When I checked in the cast member had asked me who my daughters favorite character was and how she was, I really did not know why. After checking in and getting my cards and all the papers. She told me to expect something special one day within in the week from Mickey, who is my daughters favortie, she could not tell me what it was or when it would be there but to expect something.

I will make my next visit more magical, we plan on returning in three years, by then my daughter will be 9 although, she may not believe in the characters as she does now, however, if she is anything like me she will love it no matter how old she is.

 

[safetymom]

I am sorry that they offered and promised something and then did not deliver.

 

[epcotfan]

Originally posted by disney4evr
So, take this for what it is worth, my next trip I will stay at POR or upgrade to a Deluxe, maybe WL or AKL.

I had foolishly thought staying at the AKL on a high floor would prevent getting any bugs in my room since there are interior corridors. Wrong! Once day we returned to find our balcony furniture rearranged and a large dragonfly buzzing around the room which we had to kill ourselves. Funny thing is we've never had anything get in our rooms at the mods or All Stars. LOL.

 

[jwwi]

disney4evr- Sorry that your trip was not magical. I work in customer service-nursing- and have always been advised not to make promises that you cannot keep. I'm not sure what may have happened but it is disapointing to expect something and not have it happen.
I stayed at CBR Jamaica bldg 43 May 10-13. I love that area of the resort. We were assigned Aruba (bldg #?, but far from everything) But when we checked in at 11:30pm I asked for Martinique or Jamaica. The CM was nice enough to reassign us to Jamaica, Yeah!!!!! I thought the location was great, we were on ground floor and had no problem with bugs. We tipped the maids $4/day-there were 4 of us in the room-and we had a towel animal the first day. Nothing else special the other day. We did make requests for extra towels, extra pillows, everything was delivered promptly. The maids at POR during our Halloween trip were much more fun. Lots of little extras each day. I'm sure they were all different. Loved the LOW crowd levels the monday after mother's day-AK,MK, MGM-in one day- very hot.

 

[sarahj]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your stay at CBR. We returned from there on May 3rd and had a wonderful time. When we checked in, we noticed there wasn't a refrigerator, which we had asked for in our reservations. My husband called and it was delivered to us within 10 minutes.

 

[Disneymaddness]

We were also in Aruba last week and on the ground floor. I know what you mean about the bugs, mostly ants, but my sister ,who was above us, didn't have any bugs. I thought it was a ground floor thing too. Anyway, it was our first time at CBR and I would definitely go back.

 

[sarahj]

We were on the ground floor at CBR, but didn't have any problems with bugs. We did have three ducks at our door every morning, looking for something to eat!!! We were in Trinidad North Building 33

 

[disney4evr]

It could have been the exceptionally hot weather, we were there from 5/10 - 5/17 and it was at least 95 degrees everyday. We were in Aruba 54, was anyone there at that time?

 

[safetymom]

I was there 5/13-17. We stayed in Martinique 25. We didn't have any problems with our first floor room. I enjoyed the temps. because we aren't having that kind of weather here in PA.

 

[disney4evr]

safetymom,

I enjoyed the weather as well. I live in PA also, what area are you from?

 

[married2grumpy]

We stayed in Martinique building 24 from May 3-16. We also had a first floor room and thought it was buggy. You had to rush to shut the door each time so nothing would get in. No ants but flying things of all shapes and sizes. Very buggy at the beachs at night as well. I don't know if a higher floor would have changed that much since these bugs had wings! We had a wonderful housekeeper named RoseMarie. She gave us towel animals on the first day but none there after. She did arrange the stuffed animals cutely on the bed each day and also left the kids some balloons that someone must have left at check out time. She was so friendly and was there to say good morning almost every day. We tipped her $5 dollars a day for the 5 of us. We tipped the same at the Polynesian last year and got nothing special, not even a hello when we passed our housekeeper in the hall. We liked CBR a lot and got all of our requests at check in. My husband did complain (to me) that the walkways needed a sweeping and you would never find that at the Polynesian. I quickly reminded him that for $74 a night this was a gorgeous resort. By the end of our stay we really hated to leave. We had a great time!
P.S....I noticed a lot of people who seemed to walk out of the food court without paying. The food court area although just redone was the one thing I would change about the resort. Too slow, in need of a menu that varies everyday, and a way to make sure people pay for their food!

 

[safetymom]

disney4evr, I live outside of Pittsburgh.

married2grumpy. while we were there these hosed down all the sidewalks in Martinique. I am always impressed with how clean CBR is. I agree that they need better menu selections. When we first started staying there in 95 I thought the food selection was better. I didn't notice the people not paying. I think the central checkout is better than it used to be. You can also pay at the grab and go market if you get food there.

 

[married2grumpy]

safetymom-

It was the walkway to the Martinique bus stop that we took each day that really bothered him. Lots of mulch on the walkways that they did not touch at all during our 2 week stay. The rest of the grounds were maintained beautifully and I saw lots of upkeep being done while we were there. The other area needing a cleaning was the tile around the inside edge of the pool. Yuck! I loved CBR though and would stay there again in a second.

 

[disney4evr]

safetymom, I live just outside of Pittsburgh as well, New Kensington/Lower Burrell area. How often do you travel to Disney? Do you go every year or every few years. We are planning another trip and not sure if we should go next year or wait a few years.

married2grumpy, I did not see anyone not paying for their food either. I truly went over in the morning to fill up my mugs and we just ate in our room, and then we would go back over after we returned from the parks and refill out mugs and sit outside by the pool. I did look over the menus, I thought the breakfast selection was fine, how much can you really do with breakfast though?

 

[safetymom]

A short ride up route 28 and I could be in New Ken. My daughter was in the Disney College program this past year so we went 4 times. Before that we tried to go at least once a year, sometimes we went twice. There was a gap of about 3 years in there once.

As many times as we have gone I still haven't seen and done it all. The last several times I flew down to meet up with my daughter in the program. While she was working in the parks I explored by myself. I went into the countries and found all sorts of things I hadn't seen.

BTW, for work next week I will be going back to WDW. The company I work for is participating in a convention. This time I will be staying at CSR. We stayed there once before and I didn't enjoy it. I don't like the Pepper Market. I wish I was staying at CBR but I don't have a choice.

 

[disney4evr]

safetymom, how does one get into the college program. I know my daughter has a long way to go before college, but I hear so many people talking about their children being part of the college program.

It is funny to be communicating over the internet with someone that is so close. I will have to consult you more often on my future trips to WDW. This trip I found different things that I had not seen on my previous trips. I guess no matter when you go there will always be something that you did not see before.

 

[disney4evr]

safteymom, I wish I could be going with you next week. Like you said earlier, the weather here is terrible. I could not believe when we landed at Pit airport the pilot said it was 52 degrees, that was almost 40 degree difference.

I had some friends stay at CSR and did not care for it either, they said it was too big and they did not care for the fact that everytime you purchase something at the Pepper Market they charge you an extra 10% on top of the 6.5% sales tax.

Hope you enjoy your stay, will you be there for the entire week?