We just got back today from 11 nights at CBR. I am happy to report it was a great stay! This was our second stay at CBR, but the first one was over five years ago. I am glad we returned.
We arrived around 11:00 p.m. on Thursday the 22nd. I had done online check in and was happy that this time around, I could request a section. I put Jamaica and Aruba as my two choices and we got Jamaica, first floor, room 4328. We loved this location. The smoking courtyard was right outside our door which at first concerned me, but it was almost always empty and the smoke smell was never a bother. They kept the flower pot/ash trays cleaned out and anyone that used it was always considerate. Dd often sat out there to read and generally had it to herself.
We loved the quiet pool and the beach, both of which were close by. The walk to the main pool and Old Port Royale was easy enough over the bridge, I'd put that walk at 5 minutes tops. The beach was always kept clean, and dh and I enjoyed sitting in the hammock one night and watching Illuminations. The main pool would get packed in the afternoons and I think it needs more seating (but no place to put it so thats not happening) but we did enjoy a few afternoons there. I do think the main pool is a bit more geared to younger kids (ours are 17 and 15) but the quiet pool was perfect. And we did enjoy having two hot tubs and again, liked the main pool just fine but do think that the cool pirate area which is great for little kids, sucks up a lot of space that is totally useless for anyone with older kids. But you can't have everything!
The food court was fine, we had breakfast a couple of times and lunch twice in our ten days. It was all good. I do prefer the food court at POR but what we had was still good and everyone that worked there was very nice.
Our room was very nice, I like the spacious dresser, the fact the trunk has storage space and the large bathroom area with two sinks and lots of storage was great. Really nice and far better than the bathroom at POR we had last summer. Our room was very clean and in good shape. The beds were super comfy. Housekeeping was fine, we had no problems with that.
We had very good luck with the busses in that we literally never waited more than ten minutes for any bus the whole time we were there. The route can take some time, and I can see how some people get frustrated with the time it takes to get through the resort, but we were okay with it. Compared to POR's route and the route some of the other resorts share with each other, it really didn't feel that much if any longer. I just enjoyed the scenery and for Epcot, AK and DHS, we were the first stop picked up and it usually took 10-15 minutes for us to pick up the other stops. MK was a bit different, we were more in the middle for that one. I would rate our bussing as very good and we did not experience a lot of times where the bus would be too full to pick up all the stops. Standing room only sometimes but never a time when the driver could not pick up a stop. Which happened to us on more than one occasion at POR last summer (we were the last stop in the route that stay).
All in all, it was a wonderful stay! We so did not want to come home, the landscaping is so beautiful. All the cm's were great. We did use bell services to get to our room and back to the Custom House for check in and out, but for all our other needs (we upgrade our tickets to park hoppers and dh had our boarding passes printed) we were able to do that at the guest services desk at Old Port Royale. We were also able to easily get our park tickets a day early (we had two room nights before starting our
free dining package) at the Custom House (I am betting they could have done that at Old Port Royale but we just went over to the custom house) which was nice and literally took about two minutes.
I am really hoping we can return to WDW in October. We are big POR lovers, but POR was not available for our dates this trip. Knowing how much we had enjoyed CBR back in 2006, I was excited to return but figured we'd go back to POR next trip. But I think we may just return to CBR instead. We are hoping to go back in October for a week if I can get decent airfare and we'll see but I am putting my money on a CBR choice. While I think the food court and main pool at POR are my favorites, the tropical theme, beaches and quiet pools at CBR are big winners for us. I'll add, we also love CSR so who knows, we may end up there!
I will hopefully post some pictures later, I need one of my tech minded kids to help me figure that out since they are all in my Smart phone!
Great review. I didn't realize you were even going back to CBR. So glad you had such a nice time. I agree with you on many points -- CBR's bathrooms are much better than POR's. POR probably does have a slightly better food court - although my kids would not agree (they just love the CBR food court)! 
The tropical theme, beaches, and quiet pools at CBR are a winner for the best atmosphere, but the POR main pool does have some nice shaded areas. Bus service is about equal at both - very good! 
We got back last monday (booo!). It was our first time there. I have no complaints about it at all. I do wish it was more "Disneyfied" which maybe is just a Value thing? We stayed at ASMU last year and DS says he prefers ASMU, and although CBR was really nice, and I would most definitely stay there again in a minute if it were in any other place than Disney, I like to have more of the "Disney feel" so maybe I should stick to Values. I am trying AoA next and it looks like we'll have everything-Disney shoved down our throats there, lol. 
