Why so much hate for Caribbean Beach?

[tommygunn]

If the riverside or French quarter were open I’d say go there instead as I feel they are the nicest of the moderates. But CB is much nicer than pop century or aoa. I’d ask for a room not too far from the skyliner.

 

[Aimlynn1]

We stayed at CBR in November, and I don’t want to stay there again.

The Quick Service lunch and Dinner food was awful. Take one bite and throw it in the garbage awful. It also took 45 minutes for them to make a gluten free turkey sandwich, which is just not ok. There is also not enough seating available for the size of the resort.

The internal busses were rarely running. We waited at the Skyliner bus stop for almost an hour and a bus never arrived. It

I wish there was an elevator. Even if it was only one story, dragging luggage up and down the stairs was not fun.

I didn’t have any issues with the actual room, and the overwhelming positive was super friendly staff.

 

[maxiesmom]

I have to agree, it is my least favorite of the moderates. I didn't care for the food, the resort is so huge that it made walking up to the pool or gift shop a chore. I much prefer CSR over CBR.

 

[Dug720]

We didn’t like how to have to take a bus to get to the area with the food court/main pool. At night it was not possible to walk there.

Have they started closing the bridge/walkway or something? I don't recall ever not being able to walk there regardless of time of day.

 

[CMPJETCMP]

If you visit with your own transportation CSR is a far better choice than CBR, as mentioned the rooms feel dated at CBR and dark.

The one upside to CBR over CSR if you are visiting now and you plan to eat quick at the resort is the quick serve dining. Quick serve at the recently opened El Mercado is no different than the hot food you would purchase at your local 7-Eleven.

During non COVID times I would always choose CSR instead of CBR.

 

[_19disnA]

Reviews for any Disney resort depend on a lot of personal opinion. I find that people posting online reviews like to complain and the things they take issue with may not be of importance to you. Which resort you like seems to mostly depend on budget and personal preference.

 

[MomOTwins]

1) Too spread out - OP said they requested a centralized building, but room requests are not guarantees (we have never once had our room requests honored). And no matter where you are, you are going to be a hike from something--far from the skyliners, far from the main lobby (and thus, breakfast), far from the pool etc., and that long walk outdoors is awful when it is hot and muggy or a Florida downpour.

2) No elevators. Not fun if you have a stroller. Again, ground floor room request is not a guarantee.

3) Dining is meh.

4) Skyliner is nice but often not running if there is lightning in the area--every single day of a 9-night stay we had skyliner outages when we were trying to get either to or from the parks, and the bus service is spotty with long waits.

5) Total personal preference, but I hate the way the buildings look--the building colors just look too garish (and yes, I know that is a thing in the caribbean; but I've been in the caribbean and for some reason it looks nicer there, wheras CBR looks cartoonish to me).

 

[Sarahslay]

My issues with CBR are the same I have with all the moderates (aside from POFQ), they're just too big. I hate the distance from most of the buildings to the main building area and food, and I really hate internal bus loops. It's better now with the skyliner, but that doesn't make up for the fact that the resort is sprawling and about half the rooms aren't close to the skyliner or food, it's just always inconvenient. I actually really love the theme of the resort, and they have fixed up the rooms a tiny bit since the big remodel so they are a bit updated......I won't stay in the pirate rooms though, but the regular rooms are nice for moderates. For me it's just he most sprawling, and after all the walking in the parks I don't want to have to do it when I get back to my resort, especially if it's raining. At least at the values and deluxe you're never too far from the main building or the bus stop (or at some deluxe you're inside so you don't have to go out in the rain to get to food).

 

[WEDWDW]

How accessible is Riveria to CBR?

Very.

One of the CBR Islands was torn down to make room for Riviera.

Aruba and Martinique are closest to Riviera.

 

[MomOTwins]

Very.

One of the CBR Islands was torn down to make room for Riviera.

Aruba and Martinique are closest to Riviera.

Really depends on room location again though. It can be as much as a 20-30 min walk from the furthest rooms. Other rooms would be only 5-10 mins away from Riviera, but further from the skyliner.

 

[2minny]

I have stayed there and we liked it! Our room was close to everything, it was clean, on a corner, quiet. The one I will never return to is All Star Music - noisy, chaotic, crowded. But like someone said above, I have found that there is something for everyone, I might love a resort that others hate, some may love I resort that I don't like. You just have to find what works for you, we are all so different, coming from different areas and different backgrounds, the person next door or above you at the hotel could change our opinion, but the next family stays in that room and doesn't have the same neighbor. So many factors! We liked it!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Friends just left Caribbean Beach and thought it was great. She mentioned they had an refurbished room. They loved using the Skyliner, and the pool.

 

[Sarahslay]

Really depends on room location again though. It can be as much as a 20-30 min walk from the furthest rooms. Other rooms would be only 5-10 mins away from Riviera, but further from the skyliner.

When we were at Riviera over Christmas there were people who walked to the riviera station because it was closer to their rooms than the CBR station, noticed it especially on the Epcot line. We were in front of one family waiting for an empty gondola and the man said “yeah, that’s a much shorter walk coming to this station from our room, should probably just come over here to eat too”. Saw them waking from a CBR building that was probably closer than our room at Riviera to the Riviera station, but I wouldn’t want to walk over there if I had a room on the other side of the resort, that’s when I’d hop in a gondola and take a ride from station to station.

 

[Amy11401]

Friends just left Caribbean Beach and thought it was great. She mentioned they had an refurbished room. They loved using the Skyliner, and the pool.

Have only some of the rooms been recently refurbished? And how long ago was that? I always read about the rooms being outdated.

 

[MomOTwins]

When we were at Riviera over Christmas there were people who walked to the riviera station because it was closer to their rooms than the CBR station, noticed it especially on the Epcot line. We were in front of one family waiting for an empty gondola and the man said “yeah, that’s a much shorter walk coming to this station from our room, should probably just come over here to eat too”. Saw them waking from a CBR building that was probably closer than our room at Riviera to the Riviera station, but I wouldn’t want to walk over there if I had a room on the other side of the resort, that’s when I’d hop in a gondola and take a ride from station to station.

Good point—I was thinking of the Hollywood Studios line, which is from the CBR station, but Epcot could be done easily from either stations. The HS situation may also be better now that they allow ROTR boarding groups to be obtained without entering the parks, but when we went you pretty much had to use the CBR stations because the Riviera transfers were sent to the back of the CBR line hundreds of people deep.

 

[MomOTwins]

Have only some of the rooms been recently refurbished? And how long ago was that? I always read about the rooms being outdated.

The refurb was completed in 2018, but it is a resort that gets a lot of traffic and the refurb wasn’t as modern in style as gran destino so to many people it looks older than it is.

 

[DisneyPrincess1]

Being from Minnesota I have always loved the theming of the CB. When we stay here, we usually have a car at our disposal. I have never experienced this place being noisy. It has always seemed quiet to me.....except by the main pool. I prefer this property to any of the value resorts.

 

[Sarahslay]

Good point—I was thinking of the Hollywood Studios line, which is from the CBR station, but Epcot could be done easily from either stations. The HS situation may also be better now that they allow ROTR boarding groups to be obtained without entering the parks, but when we went you pretty much had to use the CBR stations because the Riviera transfers were sent to the back of the CBR line hundreds of people deep.

Not an issue at all at Christmas. We had both HS days, and one Epcot day, on our Riviera leg of our trip and there was zero back up at either station for HS. We left an hour before park open both days for HS and waited only 3 parties back for a gondola at CBR when we arrived from the Riviera station on the first HS day(where we had zero issues getting a free gondola on all of our skyliner trips which was amazing), the second HS day we had zero wait at either station. It really has improved things dramatically, good call on disneys part, I hesitated to stay at any skyliner resort before because of the lines but I haven't had an issue since the 7am change.

 

[MomOTwins]

Not an issue at all at Christmas. We had both HS days, and one Epcot day, on our Riviera leg of our trip and there was zero back up at either station for HS. We left an hour before park open both days for HS and waited only 3 parties back for a gondola at CBR when we arrived from the Riviera station on the first HS day(where we had zero issues getting a free gondola on all of our skyliner trips which was amazing), the second HS day we had zero wait at either station. It really has improved things dramatically, good call on disneys part, I hesitated to stay at any skyliner resort before because of the lines but I haven't had an issue since the 7am change.

That’s good to know! Really was a mess before! Surprised it took them so long to realize it wasn’t working to require everyone get to the park at exactly the same time

 

[Momof3fromTN]

Have only some of the rooms been recently refurbished? And how long ago was that? I always read about the rooms being outdated.

The rooms were not renovated in 2018, they were last renovated in 2015. We thought the rooms were awful. Musty mold smell, dirty carpet, dusty, chipped furniture. They really need a refurb.