Cbr

[ROEDISNEY]

Sorry about your stay .

 

[EnnEss]

I think the op may actually be a mythical creature that lives under a bridge and eats billy goats, upon reflection.

 

[CleveRocks]

Had a 5 day stay at Caribbean Beach. Took a long time for everything: checking in and out, had to wait in long lines for food, had to wait for the shuttle to take us from the hotel reservation building to our hotel then had to walk from the shuttle to the hotel. Had to wait for the shuttles to go back and forth to the parks. Most of the workers at this hotel were not friendly.

They only had one bar outside by the pool and it was very expensive and when we had a storm they closed the bar so we had no other place inside to go to. You had to walk at least 1/4 to 1/2 mile to get to anything at the resort itself from where we stayed.

The hotel that we stayed in (Jamaica) was dirty and not very clean outside of our room. The food was not good and we only found one restaurant where we could actually be seated and waited on. All the other food places were just stand in line and order then you take it back to a table that you could find that was clean. I asked one of the workers if they could clean one of the tables that we wanted to sit at and she literally took a used napkin that was left at the table from someone else and just wiped off the leftover food from the table to the floor. We were thankful that we had trays to keep our food on to eat off of.

The best thing about this place overall was the big pool they had. The kids had alot of fun at the pool, but, other than that, not to much more to do. I will never stay at this hotel again.

Certainly, there's no excuse for dirty outdoor areas and surly service staff. No excuse at all. You are right to expect better service.

However, as others have mentioned, your complaints about CBR are mostly a reflection of your unrealistic expectations.

Waiting for buses -- this happens at every WDW resort. There's no such thing as a WDW resort that offers on-demand bus service or that promises only 5 or 10 minute waits for a bus to your desired destination.

Only one bar -- a quick look at this or other websites would have told you this.

a 1/4 or 1/2 mile walk from Jamaica to Old Port Royale/you had read it's only a 10 minute walk from one place to another (from post #4) -- Using my favorite runner's routes website, I clocked the distance along walkways from Jamaica 41 (the farthest Jamaica building) to Old Port Royale at 0.34 miles, very much within your estimate of 0.25-0.50 miles. However, unless you are elderly or have some sort of physical infirmity that you didn't disclose, I can't fathom how that walk could take you more than 10 minutes. Two miles per hour is a slow walk for healthy adults ... and 2 mph translates to 1/3 mile per 10 minutes. So either you walk excruciatingly slowly, or you were so annoyed by other things that the walked seemed like longer than 10 minutes. You walk may even have been shorter, if you were in any building other than 41.

only one waitress-service restaurant -- again, a quick look at this or other websites would have told you this. There is no such thing as a WDW Moderate resort with more than one table-service restaurant.

not much more to do at the resort -- not sure what activities you were expecting. Each Moderate offers pretty much only one recreational activity other than sleeping, eating, and swimming ... and CBR offers watercraft rentals. But the Moderates just don't offer a wide range of leisure activities.

If you had done your homework, you'd have known what to expect, and perhaps you would have chosen not to stay at CBR.

I'm not trying to talk you into liking CBR ... clearly that's not going to happen. It's not your cup of tea. Nothing wrong with that. Not every resort is right for every person. But you had information available to you that could have told you that ... and you would have saved yourself a lot of grief.

I've always done my homework when it comes to leisure travel. Before the Internet, I'd spend an hour or two at the local book mega-store with a stack of guidebooks, taking notes about places ... amenities, services, and anything that could influence my decision.

There are plenty of places I've stayed that I hated. But I never hated them because I was dissatisfied with the overall amenities and available services and layout of the property ... because I already knew that stuff.

Lack of immediate busing ... lack of restaurant choices ... lack of bar choices ... possibility of long walking distances ... none of this should come as a surprise, but more importantly, it is all FACTUAL information and is not a matter of opinion and does not change no matter how good or awful the staff members are. It is these variables that help me form a decision about where to stay.

If I'm looking for a relaxing and laid-back beach resort for my vacation and I stay at a hotel in a busy downtown district 6 blocks from the beach, it's not the hotel's fault that I had a bad time ... it was due to my bad decision to expect I was staying at a rustic beachfront oasis.

 

[Sawyer]

Compensation? For what? The OP not being an informed consumer? Having to wait in line for food at a resort with somewhere in the vicinity of 2,000 (so, potentially, over 8,000 Guests at any given time)? Disney not providing personalized, instantaneous, door-to-door transportation between the resort and the parks? CBR closing the outside bar during a storm, likely for the safety of its workers?

The only possible legitimate issues might be the "dirty" room, and the difficulty finding a clean table in the food court - and there's no way to prove those, now. Contacting Disney expecting compensation for what might be true but might just be perception, after the Guest goes home, is pretty pointless. Problems should be addressed WHILE THEY'RE BEING EXPERIENCED, so they can be corrected:
"Hello, Housekeeping. This is room xxxx - the room is not cleaned to our standards. "X", "Y", and "Z" need to be done. Thank you."
or
"Good afternoon, Food Court Manager. We are unable to find a clean table at which to sit and eat the food we purchased. Thank you for your help."

You're right, not much that can be done other than to learn that you get what you pay for. A bitter, bitter pill...

 

[CleveRocks]

Ugh, nothing worse then staying at a sorry, lame resort on your trip. Really validates our practice of staying only deluxe.

I'm just using your quote to help explain myself a little better.

To many people, CBR may be a sorry and lame resort. To many people, it is substandard to have to lace up the hiking boots to get a cup of coffee ... or to have only one restaurant to choose from ... or to have only one bar, a bar that closes due to storms ... and so on. I'm not being sarcastic. I can understand why many people would find such a place to be a lame and sorry place.

But it's not like CBR is advertised as anything that it is not. It's not like the OP was told by Disney that CBR had an on-call car service or a plethora of fine dining choices.

If you go to TGI Friday's or Applebee's or Hard Rock Cafe and order a burger and fries, you really can't complain that there wasn't a petite filet mignon on your roll and there wasn't white glove service and that you had a bottle of Heinz ketchup on your table rather than a ramekin of chef-prepared mango chutney to dip your pommes frites into.

The OP had every reason to expect a clean resort and a pleasant and attentive service staff. But if he orders and pays for fish sticks he can't reasonably complain that he didn't receive Chilean sea bass with a balsamic reduction sauce. It's fine to not like fish sticks. Not everyone is satisfied with fish sticks. Just don't order them and expect a freshly caught broiled filet of something.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Certainly, there's no excuse for dirty outdoor areas and surly service staff. No excuse at all. You are right to expect better service.

However, as others have mentioned, your complaints about CBR are mostly a reflection of your unrealistic expectations.

Waiting for buses -- this happens at every WDW resort. There's no such thing as a WDW resort that offers on-demand bus service or that promises only 5 or 10 minute waits for a bus to your desired destination.

Only one bar -- a quick look at this or other websites would have told you this.

a 1/4 or 1/2 mile walk from Jamaica to Old Port Royale/you had read it's only a 10 minute walk from one place to another (from post #4) -- Using my favorite runner's routes website, I clocked the distance along walkways from Jamaica 41 (the farthest Jamaica building) to Old Port Royale at 0.34 miles, very much within your estimate of 0.25-0.50 miles. However, unless you are elderly or have some sort of physical infirmity that you didn't disclose, I can't fathom how that walk could take you more than 10 minutes. Two miles per hour is a slow walk for healthy adults ... and 2 mph translates to 1/3 mile per 10 minutes. So either you walk excruciatingly slowly, or you were so annoyed by other things that the walked seemed like longer than 10 minutes. You walk may even have been shorter, if you were in any building other than 41.

only one waitress-service restaurant -- again, a quick look at this or other websites would have told you this. There is no such thing as a WDW Moderate resort with more than one table-service restaurant.

not much more to do at the resort -- not sure what activities you were expecting. Each Moderate offers pretty much only one recreational activity other than sleeping, eating, and swimming ... and CBR offers watercraft rentals. But the Moderates just don't offer a wide range of leisure activities.

If you had done your homework, you'd have known what to expect, and perhaps you would have chosen not to stay at CBR.

I'm not trying to talk you into liking CBR ... clearly that's not going to happen. It's not your cup of tea. Nothing wrong with that. Not every resort is right for every person. But you had information available to you that could have told you that ... and you would have saved yourself a lot of grief.

I've always done my homework when it comes to leisure travel. Before the Internet, I'd spend an hour or two at the local book mega-store with a stack of guidebooks, taking notes about places ... amenities, services, and anything that could influence my decision.

There are plenty of places I've stayed that I hated. But I never hated them because I was dissatisfied with the overall amenities and available services and layout of the property ... because I already knew that stuff.

Lack of immediate busing ... lack of restaurant choices ... lack of bar choices ... possibility of long walking distances ... none of this should come as a surprise, but more importantly, it is all FACTUAL information and is not a matter of opinion and does not change no matter how good or awful the staff members are. It is these variables that help me form a decision about where to stay.

If I'm looking for a relaxing and laid-back beach resort for my vacation and I stay at a hotel in a busy downtown district 6 blocks from the beach, it's not the hotel's fault that I had a bad time ... it was due to my bad decision to expect I was staying at a rustic beachfront oasis.

DITTO TO EVERYTHING! WELL SAID!

I am wondering if the original poster had ever been to Disney before.

 

[amyj1024]

To the OP, I agree with most of the posters here. I will be staying at Cbr in a few weeks for the first time, and I have to agree that you may have dropped the ball on your planning. None of what you posted, with the exception of the dirty rooms was a surprise to me. I did check into whether or not a bar was available and what type of dining, etc. We printed a map of the resort and read a lot on this board. If the room is dirty upon my arrival, I would request another...

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Your making me want to switch resorts again, LOL. I was really looking forward to staying at this resort and deluxe is not in our budget this year so i guess I'm going to stay put and try it for myself. Thanks for posting your review.

We stayed at CBR last year and we too had come from Deluxe. We absolutely loved it at CBR. We stayed in a Preferred Room in North Trinidad. We had a 3 minute walk to OPR, the buses were ok, infact when DD had a seizure on a bus, they even got medical services for us. You will always have someone who doesn't like a resort. Just like you'll have some who absolutely love it. Wait and give it your own opinion, we were nervous after staying in WL and moving to a mod, but we loved it so much we booked it again for this year and we are again staying in Preferred. We don't drink much so the bar closing is no big deal to us, the food at the resort is usually only breakfast for us, we eat at parks and then use table service as well.

 

[adamiam]

So here we are at CBR... When we got here last night and my wife walked into the bathroom she screamed! l ran in to see what was wrong and in the tub I see a 1 & 1/2 inch cockroach. It turns out that there was a small hole in the wall next to the tub where they were coming in (building #31 / room #3110). This morning a very nice employee (manager) at the custom house (Nick) moved us to a beautiful room on the beach in building #25. I won't hold it against them. This is Florida after all, and oh yeah they comped the first night and upgraded us to water view.

We just took advantage of the FREE DINING BOUNCE BACK again and booked a pirate themed room for next year (08/23-08/30). The pirate room is awesome! Nick showed me a picture of the prototype. The funny thing was that the big wigs took the key from management to the room so that everyone would stop showing it off before the final design is approved. Take my word for it... VERY COOL! Everything from the refrigerator hidden in the barrel to the carpet that looks like decking on a ship is done in pure Disney style.

FYI I was told that every country in CBR will have one building designated THEME (pirate/Nimo) as of next year.

I love this resort! We stayed at POP the last couple of years and wanted something more. From the new pool to the sandy beaches MORE is exactly what we got.

 

[Muisjes]

thank you for posting. We are staying there in a few months and I like to hear both the good things and the bad things.

Sorry your stay was not full of magic!

 

[ZImkoucl]

This wasn't my first trip to WDW but it was staying on site. As I previously mentioned, CBR was the only option in the mod category, so it wasn't like I had the choice of many mod resorts. I didn't spend hours and hours on this board planning so could I have read more about CBR, yes. I wish I had. But you still expect Disney standards to be higher with what you pay for a room. 1,000 of people a year go to Disney and I doubt they all are extreme planners.

I happened to met a person while at CBR that told me about this site and to post here about my stay. I only joined yesterday.

I didn't know there was a prerequisite amount of time needed in planning before one could post here without being bashed and accused. It's only my opinion.

 

[CleveRocks]

I happened to met a person while at CBR that told me about this site and to post here about my stay. I only joined yesterday.

I didn't know there was a prerequisite amount of time needed in planning before one could post here without being bashed and accused. It's only my opinion.

I hope I'm not someone you see as bashing or opposing you. Personally, I'm glad you posted. I think it helps others (and perhaps you) see the value in doing research before vacationing. I do it no matter where I go, not just Disney World. I feel badly for you that you chose a place that wasn't a good fit for you. As I said in my posts, not every resort is right for every person, and my posts were aimed not at trying to convert you to a CBR fan, but rather to help you (and others) realize that taking some time to look into what you're about to commit thousands of dollars can make the difference between a good vacation and a bad one.

We travel for fun about twice a year, we both have very busy and stressful professional jobs, we have two small children, but thanks to the Internet I can do some travel research at 11 at night or 5 in the morning and still take care of all of my real-life responsibilities.

And as I said, I did this long before the Internet. Book store, guide books, pad of paper. In fact, I took that route about 2 years ago looking for a bed and breakfast on the Maryland Eastern Shore for a long weekend 15th anniversary getaway. The websites I found weren't helpful, so I went for the actual books for more info that I needed. I wanted our little weekend escape to be enjoyable. I didn't want to make an impulsive choice and then be dissatisfied all weekend.

I don't know if you'll appreciate it coming from me, but I want to you to the DIS.

If you return to WDW in the future, I hope you'll take the time to look for what will make you happy, and then go for it based on that info. There are lots of websites and numerous books, and I've found the DIS to be the very best place to come when I need WDW info. I'm taking the family back to WDW in February, but wanted to stay at different resorts than we've been to before (been there twice with the kids), and wanted to try some stuff that we've never tried before (such as an IllumiNations cruise, Fantasmic dinner package, etc.). I ask questions to get hard info and also to solicit opinions. I hope by doing this that I can increase our chances of having a great time, by reserving things that are tailored to our style of vacationing. [One brief example: My wife's favorite thing at WDW is Wishes, the Magic Kingdom fireworks. She loves not only the sight of it, but also the music and narration ... it sometimes even makes her cry. So for this next trip, I thought we'd splurge and get a room at Contemporary with a Magic Kingdom view so she could watch it from our balcony. But then I realized that she wouldn't be able to HEAR the show, and a lot of the thrill would be lost for her, and it would be a huge waste of money. So I posted something like that here, lamenting that it was a no go for me. Then helpful people posted that at Contemporary, they broadcast the audio of Wishes on the TVs, and thus you can still hear the show as well as see it from your balcony. I got on the phone immediately to make that reservation. Info here on the DIS made a HUGE difference in what my wife will experience during this next trip, which is a surprise for her 40th birthday.]

For you, if you stay onsite again, a Deluxe resort will definitely be in order. Reserve as early as you can, to increase your chances of a great vacation for you and your family.

Again,

 

[Disneynutbsv]

CleveRocks is right on with everything he said...and I second it!

 

[kaysmommie]

We stayed at CBR last year and we too had come from Deluxe. We absolutely loved it at CBR. We stayed in a Preferred Room in North Trinidad. We had a 3 minute walk to OPR, the buses were ok, infact when DD had a seizure on a bus, they even got medical services for us. You will always have someone who doesn't like a resort. Just like you'll have some who absolutely love it. Wait and give it your own opinion, we were nervous after staying in WL and moving to a mod, but we loved it so much we booked it again for this year and we are again staying in Preferred. We don't drink much so the bar closing is no big deal to us, the food at the resort is usually only breakfast for us, we eat at parks and then use table service as well.

Thanks for psoting this . Who knows maybe we will love CBR. The theme is exactly what we like. If we don't like it there we will know we have to save longer for a deluxe. I agree the bar closing ealry is absolutely no big deal to me either. I do hope the foodcourt and rooms are cleaned well though. Like you we only eat there maybe twice during the trip for a quick lunch or breakfast.

 

[kaytieeldr]

This wasn't my first trip to WDW but it was staying on site. As I previously mentioned, CBR was the only option in the mod category, so it wasn't like I had the choice of many mod resorts. I didn't spend hours and hours on this board planning

But if you were looking for a room in the Moderate category, even minimal research would have showed you that:
The resorts, except Port Orleans French Quarter, are large and spread out.
The resorts, except (again) POFQ each have a SINGLE table service restaurant.
Port Orleans French Quarter has ZERO table service restaurants.
The resorts each have a single food court, with various stations, serving between 1,000 and 2,000 rooms - so potentially 4,000 - 8,000 diners per day; not all of whom feel compelled to clean up after themselves.
The resorts, except (yet again) POFQ each have multiple bus (shuttle?) stops/pickup locations.
The buses/shuttles do not come on demand, and they do not pick up or drop off Guests at the doors to their rooms - virtually ANY situation would require some type of walk.

No, there is not a minimum amount of research one is expected to do before coming here and complaining. But unless you got the room with NO advance notice (i.e. drove in off the street hoping for availability), it would have made sense to do some research AFTER you booked but BEFORE you arrived. Heck, disneyworld.com has information about each resort. So would Googling.

 

[Troy08]

I thnk a little bit of research would have helped you out. Sounds like you knew next to nothing about this resort.

So you had to wait in line-well welcome to Disney!!!

So you had to wait for buses-welcome to disney-that can happen at any resort, value to deluxe.

So there was only one sit down restuarant-this is a mod-they all have just one sit down and a food court

So the food court was crowded-it's a food court, do not expect gourmet dining or service. Have you ever been to the food court in a giant mall??then you should know what to expect.

Yes, CBR is big, you should have requested and paid a little extra for a preferred room. Much nearer to pool, shops and food.

You didn;'t like having to walk-then you should have booked a monorail hotel.

 

[declansdad]

Ugh, nothing worse then staying at a sorry, lame resort on your trip. Really validates our practice of staying only deluxe. Maybe you'll get some compensation from Disney Management for your trouble.

A resort is what you make of it. We have stayed in category and liked them all. I don't feel that you need to stay in only "deluxes" to validate anything but if that makes you feel better, go for it.

We stayed at CBR this summer and it was a nice resort. It isn't one I feel a big need to return to but we had no problems that were not looked after prompty and efficiently. If my family decided that they wanted to go there, it wouldn't be disappointed.

10 minutes walk would get you from any part of the resort the the food court. If you wanted to walk from one end to the other, it would take longer. But then again, if that is what you were doing, you were probably out for a walk anyway.

 

[nbodyhome]

Much of what you said can be said of ANY moderate resort. Waits for buses, waits in line (the worst line I ever had at check in was nearly an hour at the Polynesian resort). All drinks at Disney are expensive, and be happy the main pool was open - it was closed all summer (and part of the spring) for renovations.

The mods only have one sit-down restaurant each (and Port Orleans French Quarter no longer has one - they share with POR). I actually prefer only having one sit down and a food court. My one complaint about the deluxe resorts is having so few food choices for counter service.

Had a 5 day stay at Caribbean Beach. Took a long time for everything: checking in and out, had to wait in long lines for food, had to wait for the shuttle to take us from the hotel reservation building to our hotel then had to walk from the shuttle to the hotel. Had to wait for the shuttles to go back and forth to the parks. Most of the workers at this hotel were not friendly.

They only had one bar outside by the pool and it was very expensive and when we had a storm they closed the bar so we had no other place inside to go to. You had to walk at least 1/4 to 1/2 mile to get to anything at the resort itself from where we stayed.

The hotel that we stayed in (Jamaica) was dirty and not very clean outside of our room. The food was not good and we only found one restaurant where we could actually be seated and waited on. All the other food places were just stand in line and order then you take it back to a table that you could find that was clean. I asked one of the workers if they could clean one of the tables that we wanted to sit at and she literally took a used napkin that was left at the table from someone else and just wiped off the leftover food from the table to the floor. We were thankful that we had trays to keep our food on to eat off of.

The best thing about this place overall was the big pool they had. The kids had alot of fun at the pool, but, other than that, not to much more to do. I will never stay at this hotel again.

 

[PrincessMama605]

If you return to WDW in the future, I hope you'll take the time to look for what will make you happy, and then go for it based on that info. There are lots of websites and numerous books, and I've found the DIS to be the very best place to come when I need WDW info. I'm taking the family back to WDW in February, but wanted to stay at different resorts than we've been to before (been there twice with the kids), and wanted to try some stuff that we've never tried before (such as an IllumiNations cruise, Fantasmic dinner package, etc.). I ask questions to get hard info and also to solicit opinions. I hope by doing this that I can increase our chances of having a great time, by reserving things that are tailored to our style of vacationing. [One brief example: My wife's favorite thing at WDW is Wishes, the Magic Kingdom fireworks. She loves not only the sight of it, but also the music and narration ... it sometimes even makes her cry. So for this next trip, I thought we'd splurge and get a room at Contemporary with a Magic Kingdom view so she could watch it from our balcony. But then I realized that she wouldn't be able to HEAR the show, and a lot of the thrill would be lost for her, and it would be a huge waste of money. So I posted something like that here, lamenting that it was a no go for me. Then helpful people posted that at Contemporary, they broadcast the audio of Wishes on the TVs, and thus you can still hear the show as well as see it from your balcony. I got on the phone immediately to make that reservation. Info here on the DIS made a HUGE difference in what my wife will experience during this next trip, which is a surprise for her 40th birthday.]

WOW, That is so sweet and romantic.

 

[nbodyhome]

I think it helps others (and perhaps you) see the value in doing research before vacationing. I do it no matter where I go, not just Disney World.

I do this anywhere too. Even if it's just for a night or two, I can spend tons of time on research to make sure it's the right hotel/location.