Cbr

[UGAFan0829]

I would love to read more on CBR. I know there are a couple of people here who are always great about answering any questions about the resort, but I would love to hear from others who have stayed there recently. The DH and I will be staying there in September, and I'm trying to get as many reviews as I can. I tried to search the trip reports to see what I could come up with there, but I had no luck. TIA!

 

[carol-lamb]

I have stayed at CBR many times over the years - maybe around 12!! I was just there about 3 weeks ago and it was as wonderful as ever. We had a room in Aruba, my favorite village. Love the quiet pool there. Layed on a hammock one day with my DD14 and my son's girlfriend and just had some nice girltalk!! I love Old Port Royale and the calypso music. Had great mousekeeping service. Grounds were very clean, which was contrary to some posts I had read before my trip.

The only negative thing, which was very minor, was that we did have one bad meal at the food court. My son and I ordered personal size cheese pizzas and they weren't very good at all. His girlfriend ordered a Greek salad and it was floating in dressing - and I love a lot of dressing on my salads, but this was really bad. I told her to take it back, but she didn't want to be bothered. I'm sure they would have made her a new one. We just combined the salads that came with our pizzas to hers and that helped, but it was still too much dressing!!! We had chicken caesar salads one night and they were very good. We hardly ever eat at the food court, so whether or not the food there is good or bad is not a real big consideration for us. It would never stop us from staying there. For us to have eaten there twice during one trip is unusual. Our tradition is to usually have caesar salads on our first day. We usually just go there during our stay for pops (sodas).

Feel free to ask my any specific questions and hopefully I can answer them for you.

 

[tammy1210]

We stayed in June and loved it! We're a family of four with two small kids - we went in 2004 and stayed at AKL, and I was a little concerned that we would be disappointed going from a deluxe to a mod - I was so wrong! We'll definitely return to CBR. We went to the "quiet" pool almost daily - we went to the main one day, but it was so crowded that we returned to the other pool. We did pay for a preferred room and I would do that again - we loved being able to walk over in the evenings for a drink refill, or to go to the arcade with a 3-4 min. walk!

The rooms themselves were very nice - I love the beds being high so you can put all of your luggage under them and out of the way. Mousekeeping was great - we got several towel animals for the kiddos and their own animals were arranged each day for them.

We ate at Shutters one night and thought it was very good - not spectacular, but the food was good and it was nice after a long day at MK! The food court was great in my opinion - we did all breakfasts there except when we went to CRT - and several snacks.

The courtyards and grounds are just so beautiful and relaxing - to me that's what I needed after fast-paced days in the parks - it made for a perfect mix!

Have fun!

 

[MariaEllerºoº]

Our family has stayed at Poly, Contemporary Tower, Contemporary Garden Wings, WL, Ft. W Campground, POFQ, All Stars, Pop and CBR. Out of each of these resorts CBR is our favorite for the price, location, amentities, food court and shopping.

Our last stay at CBR was last August for free dining and we're returning again in 43 days. WooHoo! I can't wait! We love Aruba 51 (previously smoking building) or Jamaica 45. We absolutely love the layout of this resort since it's spread out you feel more secluded and not being run over by a mob of people as you can feel at other resorts. I was originally concerned over the amount of walking you could do at this resort since my husband injured himself and is 30% disabled after his deployment to Iraq. However, the walk from Aruba and Jamaica to OPR is a very quick walk taking us less than 10 minutes and we're not fast walkers by any means especially with my husband's injury. The walk across the bridge and island to OPR is lovely, romantic especially in the evenings and the calypso music playing. Be sure to check out the secluded area's on the island where you can find hammocks and picnic tables to eat and an area for children to play.

The food court was delicious each time we've eatten there. Lots of variety and selections to choose from, fresh and delicious. Shutters is also located at OPR, but we have yet to try this since we enjoy the fast service of the food court.

There are two shopping area's at OPR...Straw Market and Trading Post. One has Caribbean Beach themed souvenirs, bathing suits, beach towels, coconut postcards, Pirates of the Caribbean items, etc.... The other has the more traditional Disney souvenirs plus first aid items, luggage, strollers, etc.... Lots to choose from and I have found it to be one of the better shopping area's than other resorts. There's also an arcade located in OPR.

We love the themeing of the main pool with cannons that shoot water, waterfall, slide, hot tub and baby pool. I understand the main pool will be going through renovations starting January of 2008, but not sure when it should be completed or what exactly they plan to do. There's a pool side bar and ping pong table by the pool. We found to have the main pool basically to ourselves mornings to early afternoon and then again once the slide was closed for the night. Each village has their own quiet pool which we found to have all to ourselves each time we visited. You can also find hair wrapping and tattoos here at OPR.

Be sure to take time to walk or rent bikes from the marina area to ride around the path of the resort. It's a beautiful walk. You can also rent watercraft at the marina which are a lot of fun. There are hammocks all along the resort and at night you can view the higher up fireworks of Illuminations.

CBR does not share buses with any other resort. There's an internal bus that goes from each village to OPR. There are separate buses that will take you from the villages and OPR to the Parks. The bus service is fast and efficient. If you just miss a bus don't get discouraged, because there will be another one coming along within just a few minutes. The longest wait was 15 minutes, but most times there was a bus within 5-10 minutes.

Have a wonderful, magical vacation! I hope you'll love CBR as much as we do!

 

[helenk]

We stayed at the CBR this past May and we really loved it. I was really concerned about the resort being so big, as we enjoy staying at the POFQ which is the smallest of the moderates. But the lay out of the resort was just so beautiful, it was nice walking to the food court in the morning, or even late at night. The rooms are bigger than those at the POFQ, the internal bus system worked nicely. The food court options were pretty good too.
We stayed in Arbua and we were close the bus stop, the quiet pool and it was not too far of a walk to the bridge to get to Old Port Royale.

 

[kelleigh1]

More! More! Anyone with photos?

I've read tons of the CBR threads and looked at many pictures, but I just can't get enough. We'll be staying there for the first time in November.

 

[catbertdave99]

First of all, I’m biased – I love CBR. But I’ll try to give as objective a trip report as possible of our visit there this March 24-31.

We arrived on a Saturday morning about 10:30 am. Although the Custom House seemed busy, I was helped within 2-3 minutes of getting in line to register. The CM was very helpful and friendly, and check-in went very quickly – our room was even ready… until the “key-cutting” computer locked up on everyone. This presented a delay while a CM who obviously was the “computer” guy worked hard to get it up and running. Finally, in order not to delay us further, they issued temporary keys and our tickets separately, and asked us to check back later that day at our convenience. Everyone was very nice about it, and the computer was back up and running later when I stopped back there.

The room was neat and clean, with a small towel animal pen holder left for us. We had paid for a preferred location and had a great room, Trinidad North 3128, a first floor room which opens onto a courtyard, which then overlooks the lake. It was terrific. Mousekeeping did a great job with the room; one day the light over the table had a bulb out, and I left a note with our tip – it was replaced by the time returned. Everything else worked the way it should and looked nice.

The Old Port Royale food court was great again – lots of variety in choices. They were out of the shorter, fatter refillable mugs, but they had lots of the taller car-style refillable mugs. They were expecting a new delivery of the shorter mugs this week, I think. No problem for us; we used them a lot through the week, and I can use this kind in my car now.

Servers at the food court counters were very friendly, and the cashiers were remarkably friendly – even joking with me multiple times. It was spring break for us, and probably for lots of others, so the resort was full, but the lines were never unbearable at the various food court counters, and the cashier lines were surprisingly short – they always had just about all the registers running.

The CM’s really work hard to keep the eating area clean. I’m always surprised how clean Disney World is, but the food court and outdoor eating area at Old Port Royale (OPR) was just really great. There are CM’s walking past cleaning all the time.

The Guest Services/Concierge desk in OPR had some really great staff. They helped me with a couple of things, including seat selection for my flight home (wish I didn’t have to leave!) and were very friendly.

Both gift shop areas were fully and neatly stocked and were also staffed with very friendly CM’s. We paid them back for their friendliness by buying some shirts, hats, etc.

Bus service was excellent. We just missed a bus on one occasion, but another arrived about 15 minutes later – our longest wait. We found most buses returned to the resort through the back entrance, stopping first at Jamaica; occasionally they would return in the front and stop at Martinique first. Didn’t matter to us, but I know that can be a hot topic on the boards here. Bus drivers were generally fun and friendly – there were a couple who were really quiet, but most had some fun with the passengers en route.

There were several high school sports teams, mostly lacrosse and a couple baseball, who were staying at the resort. They were no problem, although the bus ride home from the parks at night could be really loud if we got on with one of the teams. The teams seemed to be staying mostly in Aruba and Barbados, with some perhaps in Jamaica – just judging by where they got off. They were always polite at OPR and were usually kept busy during the day. Just a little rowdy on the buses.

I like to start my day by walking with a refillable mug of coffee around the lake each morning, and I noticed CM’s out early replacing plants, filling in sidewalk cracks, and cleaning literally everything. Part of why I enjoy CBR so much is the bright colors and great landscaping and foliage – it was great to see them out taking care of it every day. I would gladly have taken home the plants they were replacing if only I’d had room in my suitcase… oh yeah, my Ohio weather might not be helpful, though….

The main pool was often crowded, and seemed to be where the sports teams hung out at CBR, so we spent more time at our quiet pool than the main one. The quiet pool was never crowded; in fact, a couple times we were the only ones there. Pools were clean, so were the pool decks.

On our previous visit to CBR, we spent a lot of time on the beach and renting boats on the lake. We didn’t do either at all this trip – certainly could’ve, but we just did other things. None of the beaches seemed real crowded, and they were clean and freshly raked every morning… just makes everything look so nice. Parking lots seemed to be in good shape, although we didn’t drive.

On our departure day, I called bell services for a ride to the Custom House. Right on time, a CM arrived with a van and took us and our luggage to the Custom House in plenty of time for our Magical Express pickup.

I’m just always amazed how friendly all the CM’s are and how clean and bright everything looks. Something really hit us on this visit that made us appreciate CBR more, though. Six years ago, we had stayed at WL on our first trip to WDW. My DS13 and I took the boat from MK to WL one day and walked around the lodge and grounds. He made the comment how much more he likes CBR because the lobby and grounds of WL were so loud. I didn’t really notice that myself, but it made me realize the benefit of the spread-out nature of CBR. With several villages of buildings, it’s easy for us to really escape the crowds and get rest when we need to. The quiet pools are an awesome refuge and really relaxing with so few people in them. Walking around the lake in the morning is, for me, a really special time. I really can’t think of anything I’d change there – well maybe just to be able to stay longer each time.

There are a lot of very complete reviews of CBR, so I’ve tried not to duplicate them. I know everyone has their own favorites for their own very valid reasons, but for us, there’s just no substitute for CBR!

I have some new photos of the resort in the link below.

 

[bsbcgirl]

We stayed there a second time this June and had a great experience. It is important to be near Port Royale (the food court), but it is not important to be near Custom House (the check-in bldg). The landscaping and grounds are truly tropical. Bus service is good, but busses tend to be crowded during peak times of the day. Rooms are adequate for a family of four, but not extra roomy. There is plenty of drawer space, plenty of space for toiletries, an iron and ironing board, a hairdryer, and a very small, narrow safe for valuables. (cash, travelers checks, jewelry, ipod, etc) We found the quiet pool in each village a better option during the day, but the main pool with the pool bar a good option for a leisurely evening dip and relaxation. Hope this helps.

 

[Atchley]

You can check out my CBR photos below. They are from July 2006.

 

[safetymom]

I have plenty of photos on my website. You might want to read through the CBR FAQ thread for lots of first hand reports on CBR.