Caribbean Beach Resort

[LeeHarman]

Hi All,

My family and I are trying to decided which Disney resort to go for our next holiday. We are looking at the moderate resorts but simply can not make our minds up which one to choose. A friend told us that the Caribbean Beach is a great moderate resort to stay in, but we know nothing about it.

Please can anyone pass on their advice, views, pros and cons etc for this resort?

Thank you all in advance for your help with this and I look forward to your reponses.

Many thanks
Lee

 

[nthebulln7]

My family and I have stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort 3 times and we absolutely loved it! I has a great Caribbean feel and is very nice for a moderate resort. Although I believe the main themed pool is going to be down for a while for some refurbishments, each little sub-section has its own pool. My only advice is that you stay somewhere close the the main hub of the resort which is Port Royale so you don't have to walk as far to get to the food court/ main pool. Hope you have a great time and tell me how you like it!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

We have stayed at CBR twice and my mother, sister, niece and nephew stayed there just last September. It is our favorite moderate resort. It is rather large and saying close to Port Royale is quite convenient. The resort also has a great gift shop and the food court is nice as well.

No matter what resort you select, enjoy your stay:wave:

 

[figmentmom]

We like CBR very much. We stayed in Martinique, and were close enough to the food courts for it to be just a short hop over there. The theming is fun, and the main pool area is fun. If you prefer to swim in quieter pools, there's one located in each "island" area.

Enjoy your stay! :wave:

 

[Master Yoda]

Both CB and CS suffer from one big problem...They are huge and really spread out. This can make for an extremely long walk to the food court, lobby etc. Aside from that CB is great. Our moderate of choice is Port Orleans Riverside or French Quarter. The resorts are not so spread out the theming is great and water transportation to DTD is a huge plus.

 

[MKCP 1985]

The moderates are very different, one from another. Whether Caribbean Beach is right for you depends on many factors.

Caribbean Beach is my least favorite moderate resort of the lot for these reasons:

1. It was the first moderate built and the newer ones have improved on the design and details, IMO

2. Other moderates have better resort amenities. Better sit down restaurants, better bars, better pools and better layouts.

3. It is very spread out and when I was there in October, they didn't have the little carts running around the lake, picking people up and dropping them off like I saw the last time I was at Coronado Springs. If you are traveling with stroller age children, that extra walking takes its toll.

Some positives:

If you want to pretend to be getting away to a Caribbean beach and enjoy an outdoor bar around the pool, this may be the place for you.

The gift shop is very well stocked - more selections than at some others, I thought.

Okay, so I didn't list too many positives. That's because, like I said before, Caribbean Beach is my least favorite of the moderates.

 

[Trishnh]

Hi All,

My family and I are trying to decided which Disney resort to go for our next holiday. We are looking at the moderate resorts but simply can not make our minds up which one to choose. A friend told us that the Caribbean Beach is a great moderate resort to stay in, but we know nothing about it.

Please can anyone pass on their advice, views, pros and cons etc for this resort?

Thank you all in advance for your help with this and I look forward to your reponses.

Many thanks
Lee

Carribbean Beach is a very nice resort--I love the Caribbean theming. But just be aware that the main pool is closed for refurbishment from now until 9/08. I dont know when you are thinking about going but you may want to take that into consideration. It is very spread out but I really dont think it is any more so than the other moderates. It is very nice walking around. Another plus is they have several quiet pools in addition to the main themed pool. They also have nice hammocks on the beaches which are so nice to hang in and relax.

 

[figmentmom]

Carribbean Beach is a very nice resort--I love the Caribbean theming. But just be aware that the main pool is closed for refurbishment from now until 9/08. I dont know when you are thinking about going but you may want to take that into consideration. It is very spread out but I really dont think it is any more so than the other moderates. It is very nice walking around. Another plus is they have several quiet pools in addition to the main themed pool. They also have nice hammocks on the beaches which are so nice to hang in and relax.

Yikes, if that's the case, then I'd stay elsewhere! We LOVE Port Orleans Riverside, also a moderate resort. The theming is quite different, but very pretty and romantic. Transportation is faster to the parks from POR than from CBR, and you have the option of taking boat transportation to Downtown Disney. It's worth looking into, anyway.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

We stayed @ CBR in 2006 and really liked it. The rooms were bright and clean It is a big resort and pretty spread out, but we were in the Jamaica section, only a 5 minute walk over the bridge to the food court, and less than 2 minute walk to the bus stop. Since we were there in November, the pool wasn't a big issue for us.

 

[Ghostdog]

We stayed at CBR in August 2007 and loved it. Our room was in Martinique building #25; close to Old Port Royale and a bus stop. The main pool was a lot of fun, but I read it's being refurbished until 9/08.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Never stayed at CBR, but I am a big fan of POFQ.

 

[CleveRocks]

It is very spread out and when I was there in October, they didn't have the little carts running around the lake, picking people up and dropping them off like I saw the last time I was at Coronado Springs. If you are traveling with stroller age children, that extra walking takes its toll.

CBR has an internal shuttle bus system. It's been there since Day One. It stops at all 6 villages, the Custom House and Old Port Royale. No need to take long walks if you don't want to. Since each village has a bus stop, there's no such thing as a room that's very far from a bus stop.

And unlike the other Moderate resorts, at CBR you can pay extra for a "preferred location" room, meaning that you are guaranteed a room in one of the 6 buildings closest to Old Port Royale, the complex that has the food court, restaurant, main pool, outdoor bar, shops, arcade, water sports rentals, etc.

CBR's rooms are 340 square feet. The rooms in all of the other Moderates are 314 square feet. That difference of 26 square feet is about the size of a full-size bed.

I've stayed at CBR twice and love it there. I also love POFQ. Two very different Moderate resorts, both in terms of size and feel. POFQ is cozy and quaint. CBR is lush and relaxing.

You can't go wrong at any of the 4 Moderates.

 

[Joy Peace]

This is what helped us to decide. Go to allears.net and select accomodations. This will pull up all the resort choices and offer slide shows of the resort and its surroundings. We were originally going to stay at Pop Century but after seeing the pictures of each resort we chose PO Riverside and are extremely happy with our decision:sohappy: Happy Planning!

JP

 

[RNRguy]

all things said about crb is true the family and i stayed there on our halloween trip in oct. i t was very nice. friendly cast memembers, and very good food!

 

[chasraz]

My wife and I love CBR. The carribean themeing is great, love the steel drum music in the eating area and store. We enjoy the walk along the bridge and the fact that it is spread out gives it a romantic charm.

 

[PhilharMagician]

CBR is a nice resort, but is at the bottom of my list for Moderates. Coronado Springs is my favorite of the moderates. It has a very diverse selection of food in the food court and a hidden jem restaurant The Maya Grill. Just like any of the moderates it can be a long walk to get around, but if you need you can always ask for a preferred room. Another great plus to CSR is the main pool area. It by far has the best pool of all the moderates which has a great slide, kids dig site and playground along with a good pool bar.
The pool at the Caribbean beach I believe is closed till sometime in August. This includes the pool bar and hot tub. Slides will temporarily be added to 2 of the smaller pools during the rehab.

 

[disneydudette]

CBR ranks top on our list of moderates for a variety of reasons:

1) Rooms: While CBR is the oldest of the mods, the rooms are the biggest (340sgft) which is actually the same size of the rooms at the WL and 4sqft smaller than the rooms at AKL. The decor may not be as new and "fresh" as POFQ, but still done tastefully. We find the rooms over at CSR to be extremely tacky... guess it's all just personal opinion. The beds sit slightly higher too!

2) Layout: Yes, CBR is a "big" resort. We've never once had a problem with room location though. CBR's advantage in our book is the overall village layout. Every village has it's own quiet pool, beach area, bus stop, and some even have a playground. The only time we really needed to leave "our village" was when we wanted to go to the main pool or food court. We've stayed in Trinadad North, Jamaica, and Aruba and the walk was no more than 4-7mins from our room to main building. Even if we didn't feel like walking, we'd just ride the internal resort bus.

3) Foodcourt: CBR has a great food court that has a little bit of something for everyone. The set-up is great and there was plenty of seating available. It didn't have that "cafeteria" feel like we got at POR and we preferred it over CSRs system.

I would not hesitate to stay at CBR over any other moderate. We feel that we "get" ALOT more for our money there than at any other moderate. Every traveler has their favorites and opinions though and I'd definately explore some of the other moderate resorts! What's great for one family, isn't always great for another!

On a side note, the CBR's main pool is closed till mid sept 2008, not sure if that was mentioned or not!

 

[WildcatDen]

As a family (of 4) we have been to WDW twice and stayed at CBR both times, once in Barbados and the other in Jamaica. We love it there and will head there again on our next visit (unless we can afford a Deluxe). The walk is not necessarily a bad thing. At WDW, we are on vacation. A family stroll from Barbados to Old Port Royal took about 7 to 8 minutes and that was with the kids playing around here and there. As others have mentioned, if a 'walk' is something you would rather limit, ask for a closer 'Island'.

As for the busses. Again, not an issue. Jamaica tends to be the first pick-up and drop off ddue to its location. The 6 islands are basically split into two sections. The main CBR entrance typically serves the three islands (Martinique and the two Trindad's) and the side entrance serves Jamaica, Aruba and Barbados. That is the typica morning pickup. Later in the day, I assume it travels the whole circuit since they may have drop-offs.

We love it and plan on going back.

 

[songbird]

I'm glad to hear that the roms are fairly large. I'm going with my daughter and her cheerleadign team in mid March, and I'm sharing a room with two other moms.

 

[Dink5582]

My partner and I have stayed at CBR twice and loved it both times, we stayed in Martinque and Jamaica and both were ideal for us.

As someone else said earlier there is the internal shuttle which goes round the resort.

I also found that it was ideally located within WDW itself we had the car last year and it was easy to get wherever we needed (although we did bring our Sat Nav)

Unfortunately I am staying off site next year but hope to come back to CBR or one of the other moderates the following year!

Someone recommended POR so might go there.

Have a fabulous holiday CBR really is somewhere you can relax on what isn't always the most relaxing holiday

Rob
x:sohappy: