mousefanmichelle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2006
- Messages
- 1,607
Well we just got back on Tuesday from a 7 night stay at the Caribbean Beach resort. We had 2 connecting rooms in Trinidad North building 32. We were in a ground floor room, 3201 and 3202.
Bus service from the airport was fine. We were the 2nd stop, as POP was the first. We checked in online and everything was set for us at the Customs House when we got there. We had a late check in - arrived about 6pm. The Customs House is nice, the people were nice.
We took the internal bus that we waited for - like 20 minutes - to Old Port Royale stop. Our stop, Trinadad North, was under construction and the busses didn't seem to always stop there so we got off at OPR. We walked to our building, which took a few minutes and got old quick especially at the end of the day when you wanted to fill up that mug! I was glad we weren't in Aruba or anything like that - as it seemed too far to me.
Our room(s) were clean and just like the pictures you see on this website. No different. I don't know if I was expecting them to be different or not but they weren't. We called and got a roll away bed for my nephew - 3 boys in 1 room and me, my dh, and my dd in our room. The rooms were large enough I thought and I liked the curtain seperating the sinks from the beds - that was really nice for my daughter and I when changing. The beds were comfortable but let me warn you - if you are used to sleeping in a king sized bed a double bed stinks! No matter how much you love your spouse those beds are too small!!!!! I don't think I will stay in a moderate again because of those tiny beds. Everything was in working order in our room - we left the door of the cabinet open for the fridge - if you want to keep that thing cold, leave the door open otherwise things are just a little cold.
The grounds are lush and pretty. I wasn't bowled over by anything at this resort though. It was just ok. The quite pools were fine, but small I thought. The large themed pool was great for little kids - ages 10 and under. My kids went on the big slide and said that the stairs to the slide smelled like urine. There was band-aids and some type of cream smeared on the stairs. Overall my kids thought it was kinda gross and didn't go back there. The pool was also very, very busy. In the quite pools there was always big huge gobs of someones hair floating around - kinda gross to me. My kids liked the deep end of the quite pools and overall we all enjoyed our nighttime swims there. Not a lot of people and it was nice to do laundry while the kids swam.
The arcade was fun and we all enjoyed playing games there. The storegift shop was nicely stocked with whatever you needed and we like walking through there often. The food court was busy but had a decent selection of food and we ate dinner there a couple of times - mostly burgers, chicken nuggets, pizza and my dh got a phiily steak and he said it was good. We only ate breakfast there once, on our last day. It all seemed fine. I didn't like that it closed at 11pm. Sometimes we wanted drinks and it was closed.
I liked the colorful buildings, I think that the Customs house should be attached to OPR somehow - as we had to go there for car rental transportation, and to do airline check -in and then go back to our rooms - kinda a pain in the butt. There were a lot of people at the resort as a whole, as the busses were full. Bus service was good and we always were able to get right on -not always sitting -but right on.
I thought the resort was fine but I don't think I will stay there again. I have learned that if you stay delux on your first visit then you will be disappointed staying anywhere else. We stayed at the Grand Floridian in August 08 and WOW! That place is amazing. I am now a hotel snob and it isn't because the CBR is dumpy or the service wasn't good, it is/was, it is because of set up and conveniences really - balcony, indoor walkways, CS place open 24 hours, monorail/transportation and the pool was better. Everytime we saw it we would whine a little. Queen beds are a nice touch too!
All in all it was a nice place and I can see why people like it but it just wasn't for us and that's ok. I am glad I tried it and my family didn't complain so there you go.
We did get to see the AKV Kinandi Village - Oh man are those nice! We took a peek at one of the rooms the nice lady at the desk let us and I have to say the pictures on the websites don't do it any justice - the whole place is so peaceful and beautiful! If I had some money burning a hole in my pocket that is the place to buy into!!!!
Hope I didn't offend anyone with my review!
Michelle
Bus service from the airport was fine. We were the 2nd stop, as POP was the first. We checked in online and everything was set for us at the Customs House when we got there. We had a late check in - arrived about 6pm. The Customs House is nice, the people were nice.
We took the internal bus that we waited for - like 20 minutes - to Old Port Royale stop. Our stop, Trinadad North, was under construction and the busses didn't seem to always stop there so we got off at OPR. We walked to our building, which took a few minutes and got old quick especially at the end of the day when you wanted to fill up that mug! I was glad we weren't in Aruba or anything like that - as it seemed too far to me.
Our room(s) were clean and just like the pictures you see on this website. No different. I don't know if I was expecting them to be different or not but they weren't. We called and got a roll away bed for my nephew - 3 boys in 1 room and me, my dh, and my dd in our room. The rooms were large enough I thought and I liked the curtain seperating the sinks from the beds - that was really nice for my daughter and I when changing. The beds were comfortable but let me warn you - if you are used to sleeping in a king sized bed a double bed stinks! No matter how much you love your spouse those beds are too small!!!!! I don't think I will stay in a moderate again because of those tiny beds. Everything was in working order in our room - we left the door of the cabinet open for the fridge - if you want to keep that thing cold, leave the door open otherwise things are just a little cold.
The grounds are lush and pretty. I wasn't bowled over by anything at this resort though. It was just ok. The quite pools were fine, but small I thought. The large themed pool was great for little kids - ages 10 and under. My kids went on the big slide and said that the stairs to the slide smelled like urine. There was band-aids and some type of cream smeared on the stairs. Overall my kids thought it was kinda gross and didn't go back there. The pool was also very, very busy. In the quite pools there was always big huge gobs of someones hair floating around - kinda gross to me. My kids liked the deep end of the quite pools and overall we all enjoyed our nighttime swims there. Not a lot of people and it was nice to do laundry while the kids swam.
The arcade was fun and we all enjoyed playing games there. The storegift shop was nicely stocked with whatever you needed and we like walking through there often. The food court was busy but had a decent selection of food and we ate dinner there a couple of times - mostly burgers, chicken nuggets, pizza and my dh got a phiily steak and he said it was good. We only ate breakfast there once, on our last day. It all seemed fine. I didn't like that it closed at 11pm. Sometimes we wanted drinks and it was closed.
I liked the colorful buildings, I think that the Customs house should be attached to OPR somehow - as we had to go there for car rental transportation, and to do airline check -in and then go back to our rooms - kinda a pain in the butt. There were a lot of people at the resort as a whole, as the busses were full. Bus service was good and we always were able to get right on -not always sitting -but right on.
I thought the resort was fine but I don't think I will stay there again. I have learned that if you stay delux on your first visit then you will be disappointed staying anywhere else. We stayed at the Grand Floridian in August 08 and WOW! That place is amazing. I am now a hotel snob and it isn't because the CBR is dumpy or the service wasn't good, it is/was, it is because of set up and conveniences really - balcony, indoor walkways, CS place open 24 hours, monorail/transportation and the pool was better. Everytime we saw it we would whine a little. Queen beds are a nice touch too!
All in all it was a nice place and I can see why people like it but it just wasn't for us and that's ok. I am glad I tried it and my family didn't complain so there you go.
We did get to see the AKV Kinandi Village - Oh man are those nice! We took a peek at one of the rooms the nice lady at the desk let us and I have to say the pictures on the websites don't do it any justice - the whole place is so peaceful and beautiful! If I had some money burning a hole in my pocket that is the place to buy into!!!!
Hope I didn't offend anyone with my review!
Michelle
Thank you so much for your honest review. We are staying at CBR for the first time in Aug. I have read many good things and some not so good. But hey we have stayed at values most of the time and had good and bad things. Aug 07 we stayed deluxe at CR and it was wonderful and yet not perfect. We absolutely hated the food court at CR and the pool wasn't that clean plus all those birds etc. hanging around and swimming in the pool was a real turn off. Was it worth $400 plus a night yes & no. But we are on vacation at WDW and that's what matters. I am happy you and your family were still able to enjoy your vacation. Thanks again. 
Moderates can't compare to deluxes at all can they? 
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