So disappointed with CBR!

[DJFan88]

We were in Jamaica 45 and were 2-3 minutes from OPR and 2 minutes from the bus stop.

I've requested that as one of my requests for buildings, but I was wondering if I need to upgrade to a waterview to get that building. Did you book a standard room or waterview?

 

[MarkinNM]

On all ears rate and review, CBR is the lowest ranking Mod... and POP ranks much higher... CBR ranks very close to All star movie.
There are only 2 resorts that rank lower than CBR,
Sports and Music...

WOW that is surprising, I guess the pirate rooms aren’t such a big hit after all?? Seems like lately CBR is either a hit or miss?

POP on the other hand I continually hear great things about, but just as was said before I hope your vacation was great fun in the end!!

 

[safetymom]

Reviews tend to run in cycles here on the DIS. Pop regularly gets bad reviews here and then you get those that love the resort. Same with CBR.

Keep in mind most people are likely to report a bad stay. There are lots of satisfied guests of all the resorts.

The thing that is great about WDW is there is a resort for every taste and budget. If everyone all liked the same resort imagine how hard it would be to get a room there.

 

[weswife]

Oh my,,,, we are booked for May 6!!! We have 3 rooms! Some of the posts are making me question our choice!!!??? We picked CBR for many reasons, beach, sand poools and eating choices! We do plan to relax,, when we can,LOL! We do like it quiet to sleep! My DD is in a wheelchair so the bus system comes in handy! Hmmmm lots to think about!

 

[MarkinNM]

Reviews tend to run in cycles here on the DIS.

I guess so and from what I have read here lately, CBR is on the downward swing of that cycle now, not sure why as I would like to stay there someday.........

 

[praline3001]

Reviews tend to run in cycles here on the DIS. Pop regularly gets bad reviews here and then you get those that love the resort. Same with CBR.

Keep in mind most people are likely to report a bad stay. There are lots of satisfied guests of all the resorts.

The thing that is great about WDW is there is a resort for every taste and budget. If everyone all liked the same resort imagine how hard it would be to get a room there.

Does the DIS have a rate system web page like all ears?
If so I had no idea and would love to be pointed in the direction!
I like the all ears one as it places a number value to the reviews (1-10) so if someone had an OKAY time they can rate a 7 or 8 and then write a review as to why they gave the rank they did. I wish DIS had something similar

They also will state 7.93 (out of 300 reviews...)
That way you know the number rank is based on so many reviews. If only 2 people rate something ...errr its a 50/50 kind of thing BUT if 300 people review a place and it gets a low ranking ~ I personally don't want to risk our trip on staying there, KWIM?

 

[ColeCamsMom]

We just stayed at CBR April 19th thru 23rd and had a wonderful stay. We had a room in Jamica 51, which I would highly recommend to anyone. Short walk to bus station and OPR. We only took one internal bus our entire stay and that was when we were checking out. We left the day the cheerleaders/dance teams were coming in, glad to be out of there. I have stayed at some great resorts over the years such as the Grand Waliea in Maui and CBR was great, no complaints, towels animals, housekeeping left extra towels everyday, we did tip a couple of dollars everyday, maybe that helped. We never waited for buses over 10 minutes coming or going from a park. We ate our incoming meal at OPR with no wait at 12:30 in the afternoon on the 19th, I had the chicken fingers and they were just fast food, not great, not bad. Went to the new pool a couple of times, not crowded, no lines for waterslide, my kids loved the pool, they kept wanting to leave the parks and go back to the pool. I LOVED CBR and would go back anytime! That being said I also discovered Beach Club in the Epcot area and will be styaing there next time, that resort is awesome, but for a moderate CBR is great. One thing, I was talking to a employee and he said that late April and May will be a busy month from now on with school team functions because of the ESPN deal with Disney and televised events happening at WWS. Sorry just a couple of days difference gave you and I such a different experience.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've requested that as one of my requests for buildings, but I was wondering if I need to upgrade to a waterview to get that building. Did you book a standard room or waterview?

I had a standard room.

 

[Gabes_mommy]

OP - I am sorry you had a disappointing trip.

I consider myself a Moderate girl. I actually prefer the outside entrances you have at the mods versus walking down long hallways at the Deluxes. The Values are too loud for me so moderates it is.

We have stayed at POFQ for our last 3 weeks because I love it there so much. We are staying at CBR for the first time in September though because of the new pool. I hope we're not too disappointed.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience at the CBR. We have stayed there three years in a row and loved it each and every time. We never had any problems with transportation, guests, castmembers, cleanliness of the rooms, etc.

I wanted to post a bit of information who may now be doubting a stay at the CBR.

Once, our fridge didn't seem to be cooling well so we called maintenance. They came and brought us another fridge. But, he also told us to open up the door to the cabinet holding the fridge. Once the air started circulating around the fridge, it started cooling perfectly. We ended up with two refrigerators which was nice because we drive and had brought colas, juice , milk, iced tea and bottled water.

If you have dirty room, call mousekeeping immediately and ask them to clean. When we first arrived in our room, we had only three towels and wash clothes. I called mousekeeping and they were there within five minutes.

If you have a lengthy wait for a bus (leaving the resort for a park), pick up the phone in the bus stop and complain. I've read others state they did this and a bus came fairly quickly. I've never done it myself as they always ran efficiently.

I agree with other posters about rude guests. There's not too much that Disney castmembers can do about them. But, if they had gotten really rowdy or bad, I would call the front desk on my room phone and complain.

Unfortunately, everywhere you go in WDW, you're going to encounter castmembers who aren't educated on the dining plan. While everybody at the CBR was pretty well versed in what was included, we ran into lots of CMs in the parks who couldn't tell us what was included and what was not.

The CBR is a large resort but we don't mind it at all. I actually timed my walk from the pirate room buildings and it took us just 6 1/2 minutes to get to Old Port Royale. Other posters have also timed their walk and it took them about the same amount of time. Let me help those who are wondering about the size of the resort....... The promenade around the entire resort (villages are situated along the promenade) is 1.4 miles long. Old Port Royale is located just about in the middle of the promenade. So, even if your building is at the furthest point, you're walk won't be more than approximately half of 1.4 miles.

As Safetymom said, ratings on the various resorts seem to come in waves.

This year, we are staying in a value resort only because we may have family traveling with us who need to stay in a value (otherwise we'd be back at the CBR). I did a whole lot of research and posted a lot of questions here on the boards trying to decide where to stay (even at other resorts in case the family members didn't come with us).

For every good report I read on the CSR, I read a bad report. For every good report I read on Port Orleans, I read a bad one. For every good report I read on Pop, I read a bad one. For every good report I read on WL, I read a bad one. Etc. Etc. Etc.

You're going to read lots and lots of posts saying they absolutely adore XXX resort and then you're going to read lots and lots of reports saying they absolutely hate XXX resort.

Not everyone is going to like a resort's theme or size. Thank goodness Disney offers many different resorts to choose from.

Again, I am sorry that the original poster didn't like the CBR but there are lots of us that really do.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

Does the DIS have a rate system web page like all ears?
If so I had no idea and would love to be pointed in the direction!
I like the all ears one as it places a number value to the reviews (1-10) so if someone had an OKAY time they can rate a 7 or 8 and then write a review as to why they gave the rank they did. I wish DIS had something similar

They also will state 7.93 (out of 300 reviews...)
That way you know the number rank is based on so many reviews. If only 2 people rate something ...errr its a 50/50 kind of thing BUT if 300 people review a place and it gets a low ranking ~ I personally don't want to risk our trip on staying there, KWIM?

Also, please keep in mind that not all of us can afford to stay in a "Deluxe", therefore, they stay where they can afford. I think most claim to have a bad stay because they have unrealistic expectations of the room that they will get. If you are expecting Deluxe ammenities, then by all means stay in a deluxe, don't bother with a Mod, you will be disappointed. But if you go with the attitude that it is a mod and you have realistic expectations of a decent room, a food court, and having to ride the buses instead of the monorail then you will have a great time. My family loves the CBR, and we've stayed at a deluxe, but we'd rather have extra spending money and stay in a mod.

 

[KatMark]

Also, please keep in mind that not all of us can afford to stay in a "Deluxe", therefore, they stay where they can afford. I think most claim to have a bad stay because they have unrealistic expectations of the room that they will get. If you are expecting Deluxe ammenities, then by all means stay in a deluxe, don't bother with a Mod, you will be disappointed. But if you go with the attitude that it is a mod and you have realistic expectations of a decent room, a food court, and having to ride the buses instead of the monorail then you will have a great time. My family loves the CBR, and we've stayed at a deluxe, but we'd rather have extra spending money and stay in a mod.

Great post, mom2taylorandemily!!! And, personally, I don't pay attention to rate systems and very seldom pay attention to "reviews"--as everyone has different tastes, expectations, etc.

 

[praline3001]

Also, please keep in mind that not all of us can afford to stay in a "Deluxe", therefore, they stay where they can afford. I think most claim to have a bad stay because they have unrealistic expectations of the room that they will get. If you are expecting Deluxe ammenities, then by all means stay in a deluxe, don't bother with a Mod, you will be disappointed. But if you go with the attitude that it is a mod and you have realistic expectations of a decent room, a food court, and having to ride the buses instead of the monorail then you will have a great time. My family loves the CBR, and we've stayed at a deluxe, but we'd rather have extra spending money and stay in a mod.

I did not make a statement about Deluxe resorts. What I asked was if the DIS had a rate system like all ears that I might have missed seeing before.
Also, I said POP has a better rating than CBR. Neither of which has anything to do with a Deluxe resort. Last time I checked POP was a value.

Out of 353 reviews the average for CBR is is 8.01
If you read the reviews you can see a trend of common complaints. I wondered if the DIS had the same rating system as most would find it helpful

 

[brajfamily]

we were at CBR last week also and had a very positive experience. We loved the resort, although as someone already said, rent a car. We are not fans of waiting for buses anywhere and with a resort as spread out as CBR, I would imagine the bus waits could be lengthy. We had no problem with the pool, it was crowded but we found chairs to put our stuff on and with 4 year old twins, we never had the opportunity to sit in them! You will hear all sorts of opinions, but in our opinion, CBR was great!

 

[Ariel on Land]

We just got back from CBR yesterday, and thankfully, had a nice time. Honestly, the worst thing I can say about it, was mousekeeping never left us towel animals or did anything cute! When the cheerleaders came on Thursday, that DID make the pool/food court area kinda crowded, and they were definitely annoying, but thankfully, they must not have been staying in Jamaica and didn't bother us otherwise. I thought the resort was beautiful, and I loved the walk around the resort- it was very relaxing. We drove, and only used the bus once, so I guess I can't complain about the bus service since the one time we used it, it was a perfectly adequate experience. There was a sweet, older CM in the food court that kept "teasing" DS when he threw a tantrum- it made him calm down, so that was great!

I'd go back. It would definitely be nice to have a heads up of when massive groups of teenagers will be there, but I suppose that goes for any resort, and any hotel stay.

 

[ireland_nicole]

I'm sorry you had a negative experience, OP; and agree that it can happen at any resort. POR has a great rep, but we really didn't like our experience last Sept.; but loved CBR the trip before.

 

[Scrubba2]

Sorry to hear that CBR did not meet your expectations.
I have stayed at CBR twice, and the last visit to CBR was Feb/2009. We had a preferred location room. And although the Nemo room we had looked slightly worn, it was clean. Our friends who had the connecting room to ours, were slightly disappointed on the condition of the rooms since this was their first visit to WDW and they didn't know what to expect.
The food court was just okay, but it had healthy choices.
I have been fortunate enough to stay at all but the two highest priced WDW resorts, and two of the value resorts. Let me tell you, all of your concerns can occur at any of the resorts, even the deluxes. (I think that our worst luck of the buses was during our stay at the WL when the water ferries were down because of rain). I say this because unfortunately, there is an element of luck with the timing of the buses.
I think that my two favorite moderates are CBR and CSR. The new CBR pool is awesome, and it helps make CBR our favorite.
CBR has more appeal to us during the winter months when we are digging out of the snow.
We have never visited during a peak time though...

 

[Joshua_me]

Two words: Dolphin Swan



Seriously, with a little advanced planning and discounts you can stay at those deluxe resorts for not much more money per night than the 'mods' cost.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Were the cheerleaders part of the dreaded 'Pop Warner' invasion that torments unsuspecting guests every year, ruining their vacations with every shrill screech at 6am ?

That really has to be stopped.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Sorry to hear about your stay..

I find, The 'groups' can ruin the feel of any resort depending on how they act and my own frame of mind at the time. Both play a role.

As for the other issues, I woulda been on the horn to housekeeping about the room and maintenance about the fridge ... the best chance to get these things rectified is while on-property.

After the fact, there's not much anyone can do but apologize.

 

[mom2girly]

Thank you for this post. We will be staying at CBR the end of May and I was getting scared after reading previous posts. We booked the pirate rooms because we thought it would be something completely different for our girls. I would wonder how anyone can blame CBR for the roudiness of the cheerleaders? From looking at other threads this was a disney wide problem!