I stayed at CBR 2 weeks ago. I have stayed at both PO resorts before & love them. I have never stayed at CBR before & had booked it with a
free dining bounceback before the construction was known. PO was not available with the free dining or I would have booked there. So that is full disclosure that CBR was not my first choice.
I did end up with a spectacular deal for the stay: we had the free dining, were offered $75 off a night when the construction first became known & I tried to get moved & I also got the $75 a night gift card that Disney gave to those who booked before 3/19. So the price was crazy discounted. Something I'm sure will never happen again.
But.... I certainly did not feel like I was at the same level resort as PO. The food options, while ok, are nowhere near the same as having a regular food court. We ate at the buffet for dinner once & breakfast twice. I have read great reviews of it, but in reality it is a very small buffet. The salads at dinner, for example, were a Cesar salad & lettuce. Yep, just lettuce. No tomaotes, cucumbers, olives, etc. No add ins at all. Breakfast did have Mickey waffles & usual breakfast offerings. The whole thing reminded me of a school cafeteria with loud Caribbean music added.
The little "Island Markets" are very limited. There were a few prepared salads & sandwiches, small fruit selection, hot & cold beverages & a very small selection of pastries at breakfast. Also a couple of individual cold cereal items. No variety either. Pretty much always the same. I did not try out any of the food trucks so can't comment on them. But there weren't that many of them either.
I did not like that the main lobby can only be accessed by internal shuttle. We were in Aruba, the last bus stop & found the bus service about average for Disney. There was chaos at the stop in the mornings, many buses had limited space by the time they got to our stop but at least the stop was convenient to our room.
The room was ok. Looked like they could use an update as the rug was filthy & the mattress a little saggy. I did not hear any noise from construction, but our room did not face it. You definitely see the construction for the beaches near Jamaica & Aruba. You look across the lake & you see construction. Any theming is gone there. There is construction right next to the main pool. We did not spend any time there & people have reported no noise. I don't see how that can be because it is literally right there, but that's what I have read.
I was ok with the stay given the multiple discounts I recieved. Also this trip we really only slept at the resort, we were not planning any real resort time. If I was planning on several meals or down time here, I would have been very disappointed. Sorry, I rambled a bit, but hope it helps you decide!
