Resort Thread Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH Resort

[WEDWDW]

Is the only place to get drink refills is centertown market now?

There is also a Mug Refill Station by Banana Cabana and in Spyglass Grill.

 

[WEDWDW]

Recent visit to Disney. CBR has been one of my favorite resorts. On my last trip I went over to CBR to take a look around. I have to say I miss the old CBR, but I keep hoping my old love for the Resort will return. They are making some nice changes and I can’t wait till it is done, but I have lots of concerns.

Yes,CBR will not be the "same"-lying in a hammock with Gondolas passing overhead will definitely be DIFFERENT!lol

I am reserving judgment as to which I like better-the "old" CBR or the "new" CBR/DRR until everything is completed.

 

[MamaJessie]

There is also a Mug Refill Station by Banana Cabana and in Spyglass Grill.

Oh are the freestyle machines out? I know they closed the pop up markets but wasn't sure what that meant for the freestyle machines - my kids thought having one near the room was so neat

 

[WEDWDW]

Oh are the freestyle machines out? I know they closed the pop up markets but wasn't sure what that meant for the freestyle machines - my kids thought having one near the room was so neat

I "think" the Freestyles are still in the Islands.

 

[DisneyMom21]

Just back from spending the past week at CBR. We booked standard rooms and were in Aruba 51. Liked the location, and would stay here again.

Checking in we did encounter an issue that took 2 hours to resolve(not exaggerating)-was very unhappy with the length of time it took to solve a problem that was not caused by us. After getting up at 3am to travel, and not really eating all we wanted to do was check in and then grab a bite to eat before heading to the parks. It was a very unpleasant experience, and it looked bad to our friends we were traveling with as it was there first time at Disney World.

The problem stemmed from our Free Dining Package. We each booked a standard room with the free dining package(separate reservations) and we each paid to upgrade to the regular dining plan. I checked in(uneventful), and then my friend checked in and I was standing with her when the CM mentioned she had the quick service dining plan(at check in for me CM never mentioned). I heard her say that and mentioned we upgraded to the regular dining plan and she said it was not showing up, only showing quick service. As she was checking through records on computer, she said she couldn't find anything that showed we paid to upgrade.

In addition to myself & friend, our spouses & 5 young children were waiting. More time was passing and something that should have been fixed in maybe 15 minutes was now passing an hour. Then the CM had to call someone and was on hold for over 20 minutes while we were standing there. At this point I was really getting upset, how could Disney have paid customers with what should be a minor problem have to stand around so long while a CM has to wait on hold for over 20 minutes-made me feel like since we had already paid and Disney had our money we were not important. I understand issues pop up, but this was an unacceptable amount of time to resolve. I was not feeling well, and was not expecting to be standing there for 2 hours. We arrived just before 11am, and it wasn't fixed until about 1pm.

Standing at the desk that long with 5 young kids restless in seats coming back & fourth was not fun. Of course the problem also was on my reservation as well. While we were standing there another person came over who had checked in earlier with our CM and she mentioned she was also having problems with the dining plan not showing correctly. While the CM was on hold another CM came over after seeing how long we were there and confirmed our CM was on the right phone# since it was so long. After the 20 minute hold, the CM started making changes and had to rebook both of our reservations. We had both already received the texts that our rooms were ready, but the rebooking had caused the rooms to show as not ready. Then another long call on hold-finally the CM got frustrated herself and said she had to walk over to reservations I believe she said on the other side. She came back after a little bit, did some more then ran into the problem again and then had to walk over again to avoid being on hold again. Finally after what seemed like forever we were told the issues had been fixed with the rebooking. After all that time the CM offered us 3 extra fastpasses, which I felt like was the least they could do, especially since we wound up missing the 1st two we had pre-booked because of being delayed so long.

Later that night at a table service dinner when my friend went to pay using the dining plan we were told it only showed we had quick service. We paid OOP, and had to make another trip to the front desk that night upon returning from the parks which was really frustrating and left us wondering would we run into the issue again the next day. We were told it was showing correctly in the computer and just took time to update and we would be ok, of course it didn't leave us feeling to confident.

Sorry to be so long winded, but wanted to explain what happened in case anyone reading this upgraded the Free Dining package as they may experience this issue as well and should confirm when checking in that the dining plan credits show correctly.

 

[WEDWDW]

WOW!

For a 2 hour wait that was not your fault,I would think a free meal or something along those lines would have been appropriate instead of the FASTPASSES.

 

[DisneyMom21]

WOW!

For a 2 hour wait that was not your fault,I would think a free meal or something along those lines would have been appropriate instead of the FASTPASSES.

I know-I agree, I just wanted to get out of there at that point, but it was very frustrating. I should add that the CM mentioned because we booked directly with Disney it was "easier" to fix then if we had booked with travel agent. Can't imagine it taking any longer then it did!

 

[dis_guy]

I'd think they should've at least reimbursed you for the meal you had to pay oop for because you did not yet have the correct dining plan attached to your reservation when you went to the restaurant.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I know-I agree, I just wanted to get out of there at that point, but it was very frustrating. I should add that the CM mentioned because we booked directly with Disney it was "easier" to fix then if we had booked with travel agent. Can't imagine it taking any longer then it did!

My travel agent would have been on the phone with Disney that afternoon, probably getting us some sort of other compensation for that kind of mess. I know because she had to do that for us on our first trip. Sigh. These types of problems occur way too often, imo. I'm so sorry you had to stand there for so long. I'm surprised they didn't encourage you to go sit down nearby while they worked on it.

 

[gorkt]

Yes, I would have been irate. That is something that should take 30 minutes to fix, tops, and they should have offered you a free meal while you were waiting for them to fix it.

 

[BebopBaloo]

I've been following along. I'm hoping to try out CBR in the next year. We had an incident at CSR where our magic bands wouldn't work in the food court because it was too early in the morning of our check in day...or something like that. When I asked about it at the check in desk, the CM kindly shook her head, said it shouldn't have been an issue at all, and gave us a pass for the whole family to get another meal in the food court for free. I wasn't even complaining. I just wanted to make sure the bands were working before we got to our room. I didn't ask for it, or expect it...but it didn't surprise me because that's the kind of customer service that Disney usually provides. Here's hoping that whatever that issue at CBR was about isn't an on going thing.

 

[DisneyMom21]

My travel agent would have been on the phone with Disney that afternoon, probably getting us some sort of other compensation for that kind of mess. I know because she had to do that for us on our first trip. Sigh. These types of problems occur way too often, imo. I'm so sorry you had to stand there for so long. I'm surprised they didn't encourage you to go sit down nearby while they worked on it.

Thanks. Knowing what I know now, I would have told them to sort it out themselves while we went for lunch, but I never expected for it to take so long and I don't think the CM helping us did either-wish someone would of told us to go eat while they did it anyway. I also wish a supervisor would have taken notice of how long we were there, like the other CM did and stepped in to help. When we finally got to our room the welcome note included an email address to let them know about our trip so I plan on sending them a note shortly.

Luckily the rest of trip went well.

 

[DisneyMom21]

Yes, I would have been irate. That is something that should take 30 minutes to fix, tops, and they should have offered you a free meal while you were waiting for them to fix it.

I agree, I feel like they should have handled the situation better. Was disappointed in the first impression our friends had in their 1st trip to DW.

 

[DisneyMom21]

Now that I explained our check-in fiasco, I wanted to update on a few other things that might be helpful to some:

We were in Aruba 51-never heard any noise from construction. Really liked the location, would absolutely stay there again!

Buses: We wound up mainly using the buses for our 6 park days, other then using the monorail parkhopping from MK to EP. The buses were pretty good. We took them at various times-we had PPO breakfast reservations, later start days, etc. so we experienced different times and were happy with the service. We stayed late in the parks, and the majority of times we got on the first bus back to the resort. We were worried it might be bad and knew we could use the minnievan if we really needed it, but we never did.

Bus stop: We tried the Aruba bus stop & Jamaica bus stop the 1st 2 times, but then strictly used the OPR stop as that seemed the best to us and we liked getting off there coming back if we wanted a snack before heading to our rooms.

One day we did encounter a back-up of people waiting for bus to the magic kingdom. The bus stop was crowded, and the bus seemed to be taking a while. I called the front desk to alert them of the problem and explain we were looking like we might miss our first fastpass. They told us to go to guest relations when we arrived at the park (they were able to fix it for us) & that they also would check into the bus issue. When the bus arrived, a second bus pulled in right afterwards, so everyone was able to get on the buses. We later found out that there was an accident on the road near MK so I don't think it was even their fault with the bus delay that day.

Food at the resort: We ate Centertown a couple of times and also used the grab & go. Centertown service was good, we received our food in a timely manner. I tried the braised beef taco and loved them! I had them 2 times, and was hoping to get them departure day but they are not available at lunch despite showing on the menu next to the register. Was sad not to have them one more time-liked them that much! Our Magical Express p/u time was 5:10, and the dinner food was available at 5:00 pm so there was not enough time to get them. Instead we took advantage of the grab & go to use our last 6 counter service meals and took the food for the plane. The Centertown kitchen is closed 4pm-5pm while they make the switch over for dinner.

 

[ninafeliz]

What is the new address for having things mailed to you as a guest at CBR? I know I read it here, but couldn't find it easily on the first page and scrolled quickly back 8-9 pages and either missed it or its further back. Then I searched 114 Cayman Way (because I found that somewhere, but not the rest), and got no results. So I give up, it shouldn't be this hard, I'm going to ask someone to take the time to hopefully give it to me!! Thanks

 

[dansdad]

What is the new address for having things mailed to you as a guest at CBR? I know I read it here, but couldn't find it easily on the first page and scrolled quickly back 8-9 pages and either missed it or its further back. Then I searched 114 Cayman Way (because I found that somewhere, but not the rest), and got no results. So I give up, it shouldn't be this hard, I'm going to ask someone to take the time to hopefully give it to me!! Thanks

1114 Cayman Way
Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830-8411

 

[WEDWDW]

Who is currently doing the live music at Banana Cabana?

Thanks.

 

[omniscientmommy]

are the Martinique rooms still being considered standard rooms since the construction isn't finished? We booked a standard room through UCT and are wondering the chances of getting a room at Martinique or if I should try and request a room normally considered standard. Thoughts?

 

[ninafeliz]

1114 Cayman Way
Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830-8411

Thank you!

 

[dis_guy]

Just a brief shout out to my fellow CBR fans to wish you all a very happy and safe festive season. Enjoy the company of friends and family in whatever tradition you and yours celebrate, and a Very Merry Christmas To All!

And.... I can't believe we'll be at CBR in just 3 weeks for trip #11!

Best Wishes, all.