Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

are the Martinique rooms still being considered standard rooms since the construction isn't finished? We booked a standard room through UCT and are wondering the chances of getting a room at Martinique or if I should try and request a room normally considered standard. Thoughts?
Martinique became Preferred when OPR reopened in October
 


Plan on staying in a regular room at CBR in mid June. It seems that most of the construction is done, what would be the best building/area to stay in as far as the bus stops go? We are not eating at the resort, so no need to go to the main area for breakfast. Just want to get on the first bus to leave/return from the parks
 
Thanks.:)

I have always thought one of the Bandmembers bares an UNCANNY resemblance to Fire Chief Miller of the Main Street USA Volunteer Fire Department!;):)
Mickeys-Very-Merry-Christmas-Party-at-Walt-Disney-World-Magic-Kingdom-November-2014-22.jpg



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Construction is finished which is why the Standard rooms in Martinique have gone back to Preferred.
We have a preferred reservation in July. Are and of the rooms in the new Barbados ( old TN) still preferred or are they all in Martinique? We have stayed several times but never in M and would love to give it a try!
 
Staying at Caribbean Beach for the *first time* January 18-20. We are staying at the Poly for the week with our DVC points and decided to stay the weekend after the Festival of the Arts dates were announced. I have 2 DVC waitlists for the same dates but getting nervous they won't come through. Any suggestions for first timers?
 
Just back from spending the past week at CBR. We booked standard rooms and were in Aruba 51. Liked the location, and would stay here again.

Checking in we did encounter an issue that took 2 hours to resolve(not exaggerating)-was very unhappy with the length of time it took to solve a problem that was not caused by us. After getting up at 3am to travel, and not really eating all we wanted to do was check in and then grab a bite to eat before heading to the parks. It was a very unpleasant experience, and it looked bad to our friends we were traveling with as it was there first time at Disney World.

The problem stemmed from our Free Dining Package. We each booked a standard room with the free dining package(separate reservations) and we each paid to upgrade to the regular dining plan. I checked in(uneventful), and then my friend checked in and I was standing with her when the CM mentioned she had the quick service dining plan(at check in for me CM never mentioned). I heard her say that and mentioned we upgraded to the regular dining plan and she said it was not showing up, only showing quick service. As she was checking through records on computer, she said she couldn't find anything that showed we paid to upgrade.

In addition to myself & friend, our spouses & 5 young children were waiting. More time was passing and something that should have been fixed in maybe 15 minutes was now passing an hour. Then the CM had to call someone and was on hold for over 20 minutes while we were standing there. At this point I was really getting upset, how could Disney have paid customers with what should be a minor problem have to stand around so long while a CM has to wait on hold for over 20 minutes-made me feel like since we had already paid and Disney had our money we were not important. I understand issues pop up, but this was an unacceptable amount of time to resolve. I was not feeling well, and was not expecting to be standing there for 2 hours. We arrived just before 11am, and it wasn't fixed until about 1pm.

Standing at the desk that long with 5 young kids restless in seats coming back & fourth was not fun. Of course the problem also was on my reservation as well. While we were standing there another person came over who had checked in earlier with our CM and she mentioned she was also having problems with the dining plan not showing correctly. While the CM was on hold another CM came over after seeing how long we were there and confirmed our CM was on the right phone# since it was so long. After the 20 minute hold, the CM started making changes and had to rebook both of our reservations. We had both already received the texts that our rooms were ready, but the rebooking had caused the rooms to show as not ready. Then another long call on hold-finally the CM got frustrated herself and said she had to walk over to reservations I believe she said on the other side. She came back after a little bit, did some more then ran into the problem again and then had to walk over again to avoid being on hold again. Finally after what seemed like forever we were told the issues had been fixed with the rebooking. After all that time the CM offered us 3 extra fastpasses, which I felt like was the least they could do, especially since we wound up missing the 1st two we had pre-booked because of being delayed so long.

Later that night at a table service dinner when my friend went to pay using the dining plan we were told it only showed we had quick service. We paid OOP, and had to make another trip to the front desk that night upon returning from the parks which was really frustrating and left us wondering would we run into the issue again the next day. We were told it was showing correctly in the computer and just took time to update and we would be ok, of course it didn't leave us feeling to confident.

Sorry to be so long winded, but wanted to explain what happened in case anyone reading this upgraded the Free Dining package as they may experience this issue as well and should confirm when checking in that the dining plan credits show correctly.

FYI we were just there last week and had issues, too.

We had booked the Ultimate Christmas Package and also a dining package. While we've visited WDW twice beforehand, tt was our first for both packages. When we checked in, I asked the person about the Ultimate Christmas Package and if we needed anything for the events. He said, "nope, just use your magic bands." I then asked about the dining packages and for him to double check that we have them. Also asked information about how to use them. He just said "it will automatically happen at the counter service." Then hustled us out.

Fast forward to lunch, we told the counter service person at Hollywood Studios that we had had a dining plan, they just asked that we scan our magic bands and that was it. I thought it was strange though, since it showed a dollar amount instead of an "amount remaining" which is what I read it would show me. Later, we went to a table service dinner at Epcot, and the waiter basically said we didn't have the dining package. It wasn't showing up in our account. We spoke with the manager, and she tried calling the hotel, but CBR's back office did not pick up. The manager then tried calling Disney directly. I could barely hear the person, the person put me on hold, then hung up on me. In the mean time, the manager told us to sort it out with CBR later.

Later, someone from Disney called my wife while we were on the boat to Hollywood Studios, and it turns out that even though we had booked with Disney, Disney screwed up and didn't link our dining plan with our account because they had been booked separately. So, the front desk person at CBR screwed up by not making sure we had our dining plan linked, even though I repeatedly asked him to. In any case, Disney now said they needed a cc to complete the new reservation with the dining plan. I didn't want to give out my cc in the middle of a boat ride to Hollywood Studios. What they didn't tell us was that when they switched the reservation over, they removed all charging privileges from our magic band. Luckily, we had kept our gift cards with us instead of leaving them with our luggage. But, it was frustrating because that was our only day at Hollywood Studios.

Then, when we got to our exclusive event at Hollywood Studios, they wouldn't let us in unless we had some sort of credentials. Luckily, we managed to speak with the manager of the event and he gave us the credentials. It turns out, CBR was supposed to give us the Ultimate Christmas Package envelopes when we checked in. They were delivered to CBR on Friday and we checked in on Monday. Again, the front desk person screwed up because he didn't give us the package even though I repeatedly asked him for it. The manager of the event indicated that CBR had other issues with this package, too, and that we weren't the only ones.

When we spoke with CBR, the manager's first response after hearing my frustrations was, "Oh, I can refund you your stay and you can leave if you want." That only compounded my frustration (yeah it was close to 11 p.m. at night - where are we going to stay the night and how are we going to book a last minute flight home). He eventually came around and redeemed himself by providing some credits for us and also providing 3 fast passes x day. He also sent a snack and water package to our room the next day.

I will say we did have one other snag that I didn't bother raising - I had asked about our Magical Express confirmation for our trip back to the airport for our departure, and they said it would arrive the night beforehand. It never came. We had to go to the bell service to get a printout the night beforehand to serve as our ticket.

Summary:

1.) Disney screwed up by not linking our dining plan, even though we booked through Disney (so they can't even blame a travel agent).
2.) CBR front desk screwed up by not checking that our dining plan was linked when requested to do so.
3.) CBR front desk screwed up by not checking that our Ultimate Christmas Package information was delivered to us, even when specifically requested to do so.
4.) CBR manager screwed up with his initial response to basically refund our stay so that we could leave (we had flown in as part of a package).
5.) CBR manager did redeem himself by providing compensation, and 3 x fast passes per day. He also sent a snack and water package to our room the next day.
6.) Disney also didn't provide us with our Magical Express confirmation for our trip back to the airport. It was never delivered to our room as they said it would, and we had to specifically get it from bell services.
 
Just back from Caribbean Beach (well 3 weeks ago). First stay and I have to admit its probably my favorite moderate now after POFQ.

Everything was FANTASTIC except for the BUSSES. They were BRUTAL.

Stayed in Martinique building 25. Great location. Heres some photos.
 
FYI we were just there last week and had issues, too.

We had booked the Ultimate Christmas Package and also a dining package. While we've visited WDW twice beforehand, tt was our first for both packages. When we checked in, I asked the person about the Ultimate Christmas Package and if we needed anything for the events. He said, "nope, just use your magic bands." I then asked about the dining packages and for him to double check that we have them. Also asked information about how to use them. He just said "it will automatically happen at the counter service." Then hustled us out.

Fast forward to lunch, we told the counter service person at Hollywood Studios that we had had a dining plan, they just asked that we scan our magic bands and that was it. I thought it was strange though, since it showed a dollar amount instead of an "amount remaining" which is what I read it would show me. Later, we went to a table service dinner at Epcot, and the waiter basically said we didn't have the dining package. It wasn't showing up in our account. We spoke with the manager, and she tried calling the hotel, but CBR's back office did not pick up. The manager then tried calling Disney directly. I could barely hear the person, the person put me on hold, then hung up on me. In the mean time, the manager told us to sort it out with CBR later.

Later, someone from Disney called my wife while we were on the boat to Hollywood Studios, and it turns out that even though we had booked with Disney, Disney screwed up and didn't link our dining plan with our account because they had been booked separately. So, the front desk person at CBR screwed up by not making sure we had our dining plan linked, even though I repeatedly asked him to. In any case, Disney now said they needed a cc to complete the new reservation with the dining plan. I didn't want to give out my cc in the middle of a boat ride to Hollywood Studios. What they didn't tell us was that when they switched the reservation over, they removed all charging privileges from our magic band. Luckily, we had kept our gift cards with us instead of leaving them with our luggage. But, it was frustrating because that was our only day at Hollywood Studios.

Then, when we got to our exclusive event at Hollywood Studios, they wouldn't let us in unless we had some sort of credentials. Luckily, we managed to speak with the manager of the event and he gave us the credentials. It turns out, CBR was supposed to give us the Ultimate Christmas Package envelopes when we checked in. They were delivered to CBR on Friday and we checked in on Monday. Again, the front desk person screwed up because he didn't give us the package even though I repeatedly asked him for it. The manager of the event indicated that CBR had other issues with this package, too, and that we weren't the only ones.

When we spoke with CBR, the manager's first response after hearing my frustrations was, "Oh, I can refund you your stay and you can leave if you want." That only compounded my frustration (yeah it was close to 11 p.m. at night - where are we going to stay the night and how are we going to book a last minute flight home). He eventually came around and redeemed himself by providing some credits for us and also providing 3 fast passes x day. He also sent a snack and water package to our room the next day.

I will say we did have one other snag that I didn't bother raising - I had asked about our Magical Express confirmation for our trip back to the airport for our departure, and they said it would arrive the night beforehand. It never came. We had to go to the bell service to get a printout the night beforehand to serve as our ticket.

Summary:

1.) Disney screwed up by not linking our dining plan, even though we booked through Disney (so they can't even blame a travel agent).
2.) CBR front desk screwed up by not checking that our dining plan was linked when requested to do so.
3.) CBR front desk screwed up by not checking that our Ultimate Christmas Package information was delivered to us, even when specifically requested to do so.
4.) CBR manager screwed up with his initial response to basically refund our stay so that we could leave (we had flown in as part of a package).
5.) CBR manager did redeem himself by providing compensation, and 3 x fast passes per day. He also sent a snack and water package to our room the next day.
6.) Disney also didn't provide us with our Magical Express confirmation for our trip back to the airport. It was never delivered to our room as they said it would, and we had to specifically get it from bell services.

I'm sorry to hear that. I think with the holidays Disney staff is overwhelmed. And one mistake snowballs into another. You think after so many years they would have smoothed out the process.
 
FYI we were just there last week and had issues, too.

We had booked the Ultimate Christmas Package and also a dining package. While we've visited WDW twice beforehand, tt was our first for both packages. When we checked in, I asked the person about the Ultimate Christmas Package and if we needed anything for the events. He said, "nope, just use your magic bands." I then asked about the dining packages and for him to double check that we have them. Also asked information about how to use them. He just said "it will automatically happen at the counter service." Then hustled us out.

Fast forward to lunch, we told the counter service person at Hollywood Studios that we had had a dining plan, they just asked that we scan our magic bands and that was it. I thought it was strange though, since it showed a dollar amount instead of an "amount remaining" which is what I read it would show me. Later, we went to a table service dinner at Epcot, and the waiter basically said we didn't have the dining package. It wasn't showing up in our account. We spoke with the manager, and she tried calling the hotel, but CBR's back office did not pick up. The manager then tried calling Disney directly. I could barely hear the person, the person put me on hold, then hung up on me. In the mean time, the manager told us to sort it out with CBR later.

Later, someone from Disney called my wife while we were on the boat to Hollywood Studios, and it turns out that even though we had booked with Disney, Disney screwed up and didn't link our dining plan with our account because they had been booked separately. So, the front desk person at CBR screwed up by not making sure we had our dining plan linked, even though I repeatedly asked him to. In any case, Disney now said they needed a cc to complete the new reservation with the dining plan. I didn't want to give out my cc in the middle of a boat ride to Hollywood Studios. What they didn't tell us was that when they switched the reservation over, they removed all charging privileges from our magic band. Luckily, we had kept our gift cards with us instead of leaving them with our luggage. But, it was frustrating because that was our only day at Hollywood Studios.

Then, when we got to our exclusive event at Hollywood Studios, they wouldn't let us in unless we had some sort of credentials. Luckily, we managed to speak with the manager of the event and he gave us the credentials. It turns out, CBR was supposed to give us the Ultimate Christmas Package envelopes when we checked in. They were delivered to CBR on Friday and we checked in on Monday. Again, the front desk person screwed up because he didn't give us the package even though I repeatedly asked him for it. The manager of the event indicated that CBR had other issues with this package, too, and that we weren't the only ones.

When we spoke with CBR, the manager's first response after hearing my frustrations was, "Oh, I can refund you your stay and you can leave if you want." That only compounded my frustration (yeah it was close to 11 p.m. at night - where are we going to stay the night and how are we going to book a last minute flight home). He eventually came around and redeemed himself by providing some credits for us and also providing 3 fast passes x day. He also sent a snack and water package to our room the next day.

I will say we did have one other snag that I didn't bother raising - I had asked about our Magical Express confirmation for our trip back to the airport for our departure, and they said it would arrive the night beforehand. It never came. We had to go to the bell service to get a printout the night beforehand to serve as our ticket.

Summary:

1.) Disney screwed up by not linking our dining plan, even though we booked through Disney (so they can't even blame a travel agent).
2.) CBR front desk screwed up by not checking that our dining plan was linked when requested to do so.
3.) CBR front desk screwed up by not checking that our Ultimate Christmas Package information was delivered to us, even when specifically requested to do so.
4.) CBR manager screwed up with his initial response to basically refund our stay so that we could leave (we had flown in as part of a package).
5.) CBR manager did redeem himself by providing compensation, and 3 x fast passes per day. He also sent a snack and water package to our room the next day.
6.) Disney also didn't provide us with our Magical Express confirmation for our trip back to the airport. It was never delivered to our room as they said it would, and we had to specifically get it from bell services.


Sorry to hear you also ran into issues with the dining plan not being linked correctly by Disney! Seems like a couple of the check-in folks just want to move people along and don't bother to make sure everything is correct-not a great first impression. The second person we encountered was good, but then we had to deal with the dining plan issue. Hope the rest of your trip was good!
 

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