Caribbean Beach Resort tips

[The Jungle skipper]

The mods can do it for you. @wdwmagic

Thanks for the tip, I just informed him.
So far:
Good has 46.2% of the votes
Okay has 15.4% of the votes
Bad has 0% of the votes
Never been and don't want to has 7.7% of the votes
Never been but want to has 30.8% of the votes.
Remember, the poll closes July 4 (I'm not holding a poll for 4 months)!

 

[englanddg]

I stayed there in 2010 and 2011. No need to pay extra for Preferred, unless you really just want a water view.

Do NOT do the pirates room. Call and put in a room request for Aruba 51, 52, or 53 with a garden view (preferred gets you a water view, if you really want it) or Jamaica 44, 45, 46, again garden or water "preferred" view. The end goal is that you are "near the bridge". They'll know exactly which buildings. This will allow you to use either the Aruba or Jamaica bus stops (we found that, even though we were staying in Aruba 51 in 2011, it was actually an easier walk to the Jamaica stop).

Another nice thing about these particular stops is that they are among the last to pick up and the first to drop off for many bus routes. This means most days you'll be heading straight to your destination (after a short stop off at Barbados, and at night you will generally (not always) be among the first dropped off instead of having to ride the whole property. This isn't always the case, as sometimes the busses use the main entrance off Buena Vista, which means they will go clockwise around the resort...but many busses enter through the second entrance off Victory Way.

It will also put you close to Jamaica's pool and laundry facilities and the bridge that crosses over to Old Port Royale.

Shutters, the restaurant there, is also worth checking out. The food court is the only thing I can't give the highest marks to. It's not...bad....? But it's not very good either. On par with the Pop food court, in my opinion.

The place gets a bad rap a lot, but we only had good experiences there (outside of wifi in 2010...in 2011 they can cabled internet back, but now I'm pretty sure they are back to Wifi)...

 

[The Jungle skipper]

I stayed there in 2010 and 2011. No need to pay extra for Preferred, unless you really just want a water view.

Do NOT do the pirates room. Call and put in a room request for Aruba 51, 52, or 53 with a garden view (preferred gets you a water view, if you really want it) or Jamaica 44, 45, 46, again garden or water "preferred" view. The end goal is that you are "near the bridge". They'll know exactly which buildings. This will allow you to use either the Aruba or Jamaica bus stops (we found that, even though we were staying in Aruba 51 in 2011, it was actually an easier walk to the Jamaica stop).

Another nice thing about these particular stops is that they are among the last to pick up and the first to drop off for many bus routes. This means most days you'll be heading straight to your destination (after a short stop off at Barbados, and at night you will generally (not always) be among the first dropped off instead of having to ride the whole property. This isn't always the case, as sometimes the busses use the main entrance off Buena Vista, which means they will go clockwise around the resort...but many busses enter through the second entrance off Victory Way.

It will also put you close to Jamaica's pool and laundry facilities and the bridge that crosses over to Old Port Royale.

Shutters, the restaurant there, is also worth checking out. The food court is the only thing I can't give the highest marks to. It's not...bad....? But it's not very good either. On par with the Pop food court, in my opinion.

The place gets a bad rap a lot, but we only had good experiences there (outside of wifi in 2010...in 2011 they can cabled internet back, but now I'm pretty sure they are back to Wifi)...

Why not the pirate room? Both my kids are into pirates, so I thought it would be perfect. Does it A) happen to be the worst rooms on the resort, B) likely has dead bugs/mold/anything bad, or C) just not worth it?

 

[englanddg]

Why not the pirate room? Both my kids are into pirates, so I thought it would be perfect. Does it A) happen to be the worst rooms on the resort, B) likely has dead bugs/mold/anything bad, or C) just not worth it?

No, they are some of the best rooms in the resort...renovated only a few years ago. However, they are only in Trinidad...the WORST location on the resort when it comes to access to Port Royale (the food court, bar, shops, main pool)...

If you ever plan to do a lazy walk to the food court for a late night snack or the bar to hang out by the pool while the kids burn off the last of the days energy after a long day at the parks...yeah, not gonna happen.

They do run a bus that is a designated resort shuttle, and I suspect you'll find yourself using it all the time if you stay there.

Considering the price? Nope...not worth it.

 

[The Jungle skipper]

No, they are some of the best rooms in the resort...renovated only a few years ago. However, they are only in Trinidad...the WORST location on the resort when it comes to access to Port Royale (the food court, bar, shops, main pool)...

If you ever plan to do a lazy walk to the food court for a late night snack or the bar to hang out by the pool while the kids burn off the last of the days energy after a long day at the parks...yeah, not gonna happen.

They do run a bus that is a designated resort shuttle, and I suspect you'll find yourself using it all the time if you stay there.

Considering the price? Nope...not worth it.

Thanks for the tip, but my kids are already RIDICULOUSLY excited, so I won't bring them bad news.
Yeah that bus is probably going to be heaven for us.

 

[englanddg]

Thanks for the tip, but my kids are already RIDICULOUSLY excited, so I won't bring them bad news.
Yeah that bus is probably going to be heaven for us.

Ah, well then...they are gonna love it then!

It's a nice resort. We enjoyed our stays there, and I would certainly stay there again. In fact, after my experience at Pop, I highly considered it for this years trip, but I got a good deal on POFQ and wanted to try something new.

A unique activity, if you ever have a early day back at the resort on your trip, is to be at the pool / outdoor bar area around the time of Illuminations.

You can see a lot of the fireworks parts of it from the hotel. It's awesome to see people so surprised, and my first trip when it happened, I was shocked too (now, it would be something I plan to do!)...

 

[pluto13]

Alright we are staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort for 7 days over Halloween. Any tips in regards to overall trip experience?

It is a great resort with many great amenities with a nice food court.The bus service kind of stinks because there are several different stops. Are you staying in a reg. room or a pirate room? Because the Pirate Rooms are the farthest from the main building and Port Royal. They are located in Trinidad South.

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

It is a great resort with many great amenities with a nice food court.The bus service kind of sucks because there are several different stops. Are you staying in a reg. room or a pirate room? Because the Pirate Rooms are the farthest from the main building and Port Royal. They are located in Trinidad South.

The amount of bus stops is the reason we didn't mind staying in Jamaica. The MK and EP (I remember at least those two) routes were easy. The buses drove in from a side street, made two subsequent stops and flew out the front entrance without going all the way around the resort.

 

[The Jungle skipper]

It is a great resort with many great amenities with a nice food court.The bus service kind of stinks because there are several different stops. Are you staying in a reg. room or a pirate room? Because the Pirate Rooms are the farthest from the main building and Port Royal. They are located in Trinidad South.

Is there at least a bus stop next to Trinidad South? Because we don't mind a large walk, and will most likely eat in the parks. (Except for maybe animal kingdom.) We are staying in a pirate room.

 

[Nemo14]

Every village has a bus stop. Here's a map to show you what others have mentioned:

 

[The Jungle skipper]

Every village has a bus stop. Here's a map to show you what others have mentioned:

Thank you, cause I'm pretty sure none of us want to walk all the way across the resort from the magical express.

 

[ShookieJones]

You got my one "bad" resort vote.
I'm becoming notorious for my bashing of this place so take it with a grain salt because I only stayed once and it was bad experience.
I think the resort is laid out poorly. Too me the rooms have that "cheap motel" feel.
The onsite CS was pretty poor as well.

Anyway..that's my 2 cents.

 

[Nemo14]

Unfortunately I have to somewhat agree with Shookie about CBR. We stayed there several times when our kids were young and enjoyed it very much (I still have my refillable mug that was good forever). However my husband and I went back there for a weekend getaway in December, 2010, and were very disappointed at the changes that had been made. The food court was pathetic, the bus service was really the worst we've ever experienced at WDW, and some of the staff members were very snippy. When I made the reservation, I was recouperating from a knee injury, and not knowing how long my recovery would take, we asked for a room near the bus stop, and explained why. Well, the knee had healed consderably, but our requested room (which the staff insisted was very close to the bus stop) was so far from everything, particularly the bus stop, that I ended up in such pain by the end of that weekend that I had to go back to PT when we got home. All in all we have sworn off ever staying there again - Pop Century is really a nicer resort for less money, or if you want a moderate, go with POR or Riverside.
JMHO of course.

 

[Epicpilot]

Never been to CBR and don't want to based on the very mixed reviews especially recently. I'm fine at my beloved POly.

 

[englanddg]

Thank you, cause I'm pretty sure none of us want to walk all the way across the resort from the magical express.

When you check in from ME, Bell Services will have a van that takes you to your resort, so that's really not an issue.

However, when you check OUT you will need to pre-coordinate that with Bell Services, unless you want quite a hike back to the front desk (located on the north of the property).

 

[englanddg]

Never been to CBR and don't want to based on the very mixed reviews especially recently. I'm fine at my beloved POly.

Poly and CBR aren't even worth comparing...

However, I would take CBR over an All Star any day of the week.

 

[bethymouse]

We stayed in an Aruba room. It was a short walk over the bridge to get to the food/pool area. We greeted Disney Ducks, turtles, and fish daily. Loved the beach area. Saw the high fireworks from EPCOT. The themed pool is very nice! My guys loved the pirate ship kids area.
Shutters was a pretty good Table Service restaurant and the food court is typical of all the others. It got quite crowded at times though.
I don't like the fact that you check in at a separate building! But, if you have a car, it's not a problem.
The buses were sometimes long waits, but all in all not too bad.

 

[Soarin2u]

This was actually my first resort before we feel in love with the CS. I can't recall all to well except for the few nit-picky reasons of why we left. We hated the Food court system, getting food for us picky kids was a pain to deal with and we ended eating mostly at the parks. We got stuck with Trinidad South... Which walks don't bother us, unless it involves heat, and with a few wimpy kids we were on my father's shoulder and dragging mother's leg in no time. We heard the Coronado has almost all the amenities a Deluxe has but the better price of a moderate, so we checked it our the next time we went and we were hooked. We liked the look of The CBR, service was nice, everything was fine but there was some stuff that didn't cooperate with Kids all so well. However this was 11 years ago, we are considering a possible return, now that we've grown up and things have changed...
I'm sure you will enjoy it, and it mostly is a good or bad experience determined by chance ... Have fun!

 

[The Jungle skipper]

Wow thanks for the tips.
So far:
Good has 38.5% of the votes
Okay has 19.2% of the votes
Bad has 7.7% of the votes
Never been and don't want to has 15.4% of the votes
Never been but want to has 19.2% of the votes.
Remember, the poll closes July 4 (I'm not holding a poll for 4 months

 

[The Jungle skipper]

Poly and CBR aren't even worth comparing...

However, I would take CBR over an All Star any day of the week.

Agreed.