Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

[5kidsmommy]

Lol! I think I was talking with you in the hot tub tonight! I shared my terrible bus story from the Poly!
Glad you are having a wonderful time. I'm a bit on the fence about this trip - not the resort ( I do enjoy the resort), but just Disney in general. I was at conceierge for 30 min while they tried to figure out how to sell me MVMCP tickets and eventually told me they couldn't. What?! Umm, pretty sure you can! Anyway, I did it myself in 5 min on the phone. Lots of small stuff with Disney and the crowds keep surprising me, or getting to me, either one. Still early in the trip, so we will see how it goes.

Yep, that was me!! Small world. We decided on the party tomorrow so I guess I will avoid having the conceriege help me. Hope the rest of your trip goes well and thanks to your info about your Poly experience we are driving to our GF breakfast. I hope the rest of your trip goes better.

 

[Jaime4004]

I just got home from our week at The CBR and cried, The worst resort stay ever. We had multiple problems with the room, wasted hours with maintenance, always with their apologies, and settled for a room in disrepair. Keeping a stiff upper lip, thinking "no whining on the yacht". I wish I had just asked for another room but, did not want to be ungrateful, I feel like an idiot. It was exhausting and found it difficult to enjoy any of it. The week started out unseasonably hot, the air conditioner never cooled the room and on the last evening quit entirely. We are all cold natured, freeze everywhere inside even in the florida summer, I live in florida and have a sweater at arms reach all year round. The room was warm, I found myself fussing at innocent children for any slight holding of the door open. We could not get the room to cool down on arrival, called maintenance, they came in took the brown facade off the A/C unit, looked terrible the unit underneath was missing parts of the grates. I was told by the kind maintenance worker it was a problem they were in the process of taking care of, I just accepted it but, it stressed me out the entire stay until it quit working last night and waited for service instead of enjoying our last night of family vacation.
The resort grounds are beautiful, the walk was wonderful. It was a long walk, we were a good distance from the OPR at Barbados 12 but, I love to walk and did it several times in under four minutes.
The buses were terrible, I do not have the energy at this time to elaborate but, the bus service at the CBR are deal breaker for future stays.

Awww, sorry about your issues! We came back the same day, after staying in Barbados 11. No problems at all with our room. And it was hot. HOT hot. I could not have dealt with an AC not working. And i'll agree on the buses. MK was usually 20-30min wait, no matter what time or direction (to or from). It became a standard joke about my bad luck causing our bus problems. DH thinks I have bad luck on vacations, so it's all my fault. And he's probably correct since I did come down with pneumonia this trip (and not the first time I've gotten pneumonia on a Disney trip!!) We loved the resort, but if we stayed again, i'd probably bring a car. The walk to OPR was about 5 mins for me, which I didn't think was too bad, it's a beautiful walk.

 

[ohboyx3]

You'll see the biggest crowds of the year over Christmas week. However it can be quite doable. Get and use all the Fastpasses you can. That time of year the parks can be open until 2 AM. Use those late nights to get on popular attractions with less waiting. Or use Early Magic Hours or make rope-drop if you're a morning person. You may be able to ride Splash over and over if you can brave the cooler or even cold temperatures.

You have the right attitude, relax, go with the flow, see and do what you can, and have an unforgettable Disney Christmas.

Thank you! We really are excited. I figure the crowds will drop some after New Years. We are there until the 7th. Hoping to catch the fireworks on the 30th at MK and then spend NYE at Epcot. My boys are older. The youngest is 11 so I think we can hang pretty late at night. Yes! We love Splash Mountain!!!!

 

[dis_guy]

Thank you! We really are excited. I figure the crowds will drop some after New Years. We are there until the 7th. Hoping to catch the fireworks on the 30th at MK and then spend NYE at Epcot. My boys are older. The youngest is 11 so I think we can hang pretty late at night. Yes! We love Splash Mountain!!!!

By the third of January you'll see much lower crowds but I found it kinda sad to notice the Christmas decorations slowly disappearing. They'll all be gone by the time you leave on the seventh.

 

[magictam2]

At magic kingdom. Over an hour for the bus already (not even at park close) and I doubt we will even get on the next one. The bus service will probably be a main reason we never stay here again. Amongst bring food poisoned at OPR, loosing almost two days from it, and bus service, it's turning out to be a less than magical trip. We are actually calling the airline tonight to see if we can get a flight a day or two early. We just really don't love CBR. The honeymoon stage was very short lived unfortunately.

Gosh, I'm really sorry to hear you are not enjoying your trip. I hope after a nights rest, things are better in the morning and you all are having a great day. I know I get frustrated with Disney too while there. Disney and ourselves build up such a wonderful, dream picture of our vacations and when it doesn't happened, it can be really disappointing. But for me, after a good sleep and smiles from my kiddos I try to take it all in stride. Good Luck!

 

[gr8tdame]

We booked into the CBR on Nov 8th. Had booked a water view room. We got a 2nd floor corner room overlooking the lake in Martinique 24. The parks have been unbelievably busy. We are staying until the 21st. Everything has been great at the resort other than housekeeping not leaving us towels, shampoo and soap. That is until this evening. We thought we would have an early night and headed back to our room after dinner. None of our magic bands would unlock the door. It is now almost 1 A.M. And the problem with our bands has still not been resolved. They tried to program new bands and reprogram our original bands and still they do not work. Engineering came and said there is nothing wrong with the lock that it is a programming error. The bands worked fine until this evening. The night manager called and said there was nothing to be done until the morning. When we go for breakfast we will need to have a front door runner come to our room to let us in.
Has anyone else had a similar problem?

 

[dansdad]

We booked into the CBR on Nov 8th. Had booked a water view room. We got a 2nd floor corner room overlooking the lake in Martinique 24. The parks have been unbelievably busy. We are staying until the 21st. Everything has been great at the resort other than housekeeping not leaving us towels, shampoo and soap. That is until this evening. We thought we would have an early night and headed back to our room after dinner. None of our magic bands would unlock the door. It is now almost 1 A.M. And the problem with our bands has still not been resolved. They tried to program new bands and reprogram our original bands and still they do not work. Engineering came and said there is nothing wrong with the lock that it is a programming error. The bands worked fine until this evening. The night manager called and said there was nothing to be done until the morning. When we go for breakfast we will need to have a front door runner come to our room to let us in.
Has anyone else had a similar problem?

We have not had that issue ourselves, but quite a few of our family and friends have in the last 6 months or so. They have had the same issue at Beach Club, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Port Orleans Riverside and one of the All Stars. All of them were able to get the issue resolved but unfortunately it did take some time for each group. Hang in there!

 

[msmama]

We're just back from CBR on Monday. It was just...okay. (It was a quick trip, only 2 parks, supposed to be 3, but my son got his usual Disney pukes so we baled on EPCOT).

I'll start with saying that I'm not a fan of moderates in general (with the exception of POFQ). They just don't work for my family of 2 - the bigger rooms aren't necessary (over a value) so I don't really get what I'm paying more for (rather than paying for a deluxe which gets me closer to parks and different transportation). So we were in Aruba 24, a corner room with a connecting door. It was big, but really, the only thing I could think to do with the extra space would be to be able to park a stroller without folding it up.

We ended up getting to CBR earlier than expected, so we went to check in (despite texts that said our room "wasn't quite ready yet") at the custom house. As expected our room wasn't ready, but the CM was able to tell us where and I got a parking pass (which I couldn't quite tell if I needed or not because if I had bypassed check in, I wouldn't have ever gotten one). We drove over to OPR and checked out the gift shop. I got the text that our room was ready while there and we got food and took it back to the room. That was the last time I saw a CM. Had we gotten the text that our room was ready before we got there, I literally would've stayed at the resort the whole time not seeing another soul!!!

I don't like that. I like having the door opened for me and being greeted when I get back to the resort.

We had fantastic luck with busses. Longest wait was maybe 10 minutes for a Disney Springs bus in the middle of the day. MK and HS busses came within 5 minutes of us arriving at the bus stop. Also, both late nights we were the last people on the bus home (a nice perk of only having 2 people to squeeze on).

Like I said, I barely saw anyone the entire time we were there - only from afar. There was a couple waiting for the bus once, but theirs came pretty much just as we arrived. One day I looked for Mousekeeping (I had the do not disturb sign up because we were there in the middle of the day) but only found the cart so grabbed my own extra shampoo and towels. And this was when the resort was theoretically completely full. The last night, there was quite a bit of noise outside though (and a little girl singing Let it Go VERY LOUDLY and off key) which I usually wouldn't have minded, but we had to be up to leave early.

There was nothing specifically bad I could say about CBR, and I would understand that some of what I perceive as negatives, others would see as positives so I just wanted to toss my review out there.

If I have a choice, I wouldn't stay there again (this time it was literally the only room on property less than $800 a night when I was looking) but if I didn't have a choice again, I'd do it happily

 

[ohboyx3]

Gosh..... I'm disappointed with some of the negative reviews. Things are bound to happen sometimes, but when you spend so much money on a vacation it's hard to take and I get that. I'm curious to see how it will be for us, and have to admit I'm a bit worried after reading some of these! Our last trip was spent at Fort Wilderness. DS got sick the first night we were there... ended up taking him to urgent care. Unfortunately is was just a virus that had to run its course. NO quick fix. We were there 8 nights. He was finally fever free our last day. It. was. AWFUL. There was nothing we could do, but make the best of it though. I hope everyone has some better experiences to post soon!

 

[wdw4rfam]

Gosh..... I'm disappointed with some of the negative reviews. Things are bound to happen sometimes, but when you spend so much money on a vacation it's hard to take and I get that. I'm curious to see how it will be for us, and have to admit I'm a bit worried after reading some of these! Our last trip was spent at Fort Wilderness. DS got sick the first night we were there... ended up taking him to urgent care. Unfortunately is was just a virus that had to run its course. NO quick fix. We were there 8 nights. He was finally fever free our last day. It. was. AWFUL. There was nothing we could do, but make the best of it though. I hope everyone has some better experiences to post soon!

Agree. This is the last resort to try in the mod category for us, and I was excited until a few weeks ago. Now I'm nervous. We check in tomorrow, so hoping for e best.

 

[ohboyx3]

Agree. This is the last resort to try in the mod category for us, and I was excited until a few weeks ago. Now I'm nervous. We check in tomorrow, so hoping for e best.

Let me know! We are 41 days till check in!

 

[oj01]

I think what you need to bare in mind is that it is in most people's nature to only post when something negative has happened (even when other people would see some of those negatives as positives).

I would reiterate that we had a fantastic time at CBR in Oct with absolutely no issues whatsoever.

 

[wdw4rfam]

I think what you need to bare in mind is that it is in most people's nature to only post when something negative has happened (even when other people would see some of those negatives as positives).

I would reiterate that we had a fantastic time at CBR in Oct with absolutely no issues whatsoever.

I just said this to DH too. We are easy to please people. We've had horrific buses at POR so we just drive now, so not too worried about buses. I will definitely give my review though either way.

 

[disney*mom*82]

We will be at CBR 12/19-1/2! This is our first time staying at CBR, we typically stay at POR and love it there. I was pretty excited about trying somewhere new until I came on here and saw all the recent negative reviews. I hope everything goes well. We dont really spend much time in the room, as long as our beds are made, clean towels put in there and its clean, I will be happy. Ill have to come back on and give my review....good or bad.

 

[ohboyx3]

We are pretty easy to please as well. Heck.. We are in Disney!

 

[Kevin355]

If I based my resort trips on what somebody says, I'd stay at home all of the time.

I have never had a bad trip to Disney or the Bahamas or NYC...we try to enjoy ourselves all of the time.

Now, about that trip to the in-laws...different story.

 

[KLN112]

Arriving in 9 days!! Happy to hear the bridge is open. Last few reviews on here don't look great, but I'm looking forward to the trip!!

 

[dpswift]

We just cot back last night. Such a disappointing stay. Have not been here in over 2 decades. I was really looking forward to it and wanted to love it. When we got to the Custom House a CM directed us to an open CM who rudely told us she was closed. When I told her we had been directed to her and had done online check in she took us. Eventhough it was my sons birthday and it was noted on our reservation she did not give him a celebration button. We were assigned to Barbados which I was not thrilled with but thought was alright because I did not realize that the bridge was opening the next day. My only request had been to be close to the Food court. It was both noted on my reservation and again on online checkin.

The bathroom door did not shut tightly and the water pressure was extremely low. Busing was terrible. Much worse than I have ever encountered at the values. Our first night it took forever to get back from EPCOT. Yesterday we waited an hour to get to Magic Kingdom. They kept sending one maybe two buses but they would fill at the first stop. We saw at least 10 Animal Kingdom buses go by to the 2 that drove by filled for MK.

I finally lost it 2 days before check out when I did a small load of was and $6 and 2 hours later it was still not dry. The manager said their was not much he could do about it because they did not "own" the laundry services. He offered to look into moving us but I felt it was too late to go through the hassle. I do not know if he had anything available because after looking at the computer he comped us a breakfast.

I am not sure if we would stay there again. I felt better after talking to the manager but the bus situation on our last day was ridiculous.

 

[liquid17]

I find myself wondering about the buses....if there are unreasonable long waits and things like too many AK buses compared to MK buses, is that a CBR issue or a WDW Bus issue?

We've stayed at the CBR 4 times in the past 10 years and are heading there again in January. Sometimes the buses are great and sometimes dreadful, but I never thought of it as a CBR thing. We stayed at the ASMu once as well and the buses were about the same - sometimes great, sometimes dreadful.

IOW, are there resorts at which the bus service is just superior? Well, I expect that they would run more buses to the deluxe resorts as the customers are paying more, but how could the bus service at CBR be worse than any other moderate?

 

[CJK]

I

I find myself wondering about the buses....if there are unreasonable long waits and things like too many AK buses compared to MK buses, is that a CBR issue or a WDW Bus issue?

We've stayed at the CBR 4 times in the past 10 years and are heading there again in January. Sometimes the buses are great and sometimes dreadful, but I never thought of it as a CBR thing. We stayed at the ASMu once as well and the buses were about the same - sometimes great, sometimes dreadful.

IOW, are there resorts at which the bus service is just superior? Well, I expect that they would run more buses to the deluxe resorts as the customers are paying more, but how could the bus service at CBR be worse than any other moderate?

It always surprises me to hear people say that one resort has worse bus service than another. We've stayed at almost all Disney hotels and every single hotel has had good and terrible bus service. The worst we ever had was at Animal Kingdom Lodge, but, we also had great service there. I don't think it's resort specific. The only thing that makes the moderate resorts different is that there are multiple stops. We usually drive now, but we still take the bus to MK. POR and CBR have always been practically identical in good/bad service. I've giggled when I've read peoples' bus experiences on this thread. Guests who were there at the same time can experience great and terrible service. I think it's luck of the draw.