Disney's CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT Information & Questions

My Parents got home yesterday from their trip and have finally been bitten by the CBR bug that got us 8 years ago. To them the biggest improvement was the selection and service at Old Port Royale. But the new Banana Cabana is a close 2nd.

This is their first stay since the room refurbishment and they love the look of the new rooms.

Buses were as great the last 2 days as the first 7. They used the Minnie Vans for a couple early ADRs at other resorts and they were picked up at their building.

They were told that the Riviera Resort will be physically separated from CBR. Guests will have to jump on the gondola to get between the two resorts. This jibes with what I have been told also by a different source.

Like I said earlier, they now love CBR as much as we do.
 
We are travelling first time to CBR. We booked a preferred room . I think I see they have minifridges bit do they have microwaves?
Thanks in advance?
 
We are travelling first time to CBR. We booked a preferred room . I think I see they have minifridges bit do they have microwaves?
Thanks in advance?
No microwaves-there are microwaves in the Island Markets you can use as well as complimentary Coffee,Tea and Hot Chocolate.:)
 


I was just reading some posts in this thread about being able to see fireworks. Where are the viewing locations for the fireworks?
Old Port Royale is an excellent spot.:)

Also,the new restautrant,Sebastian's Bistro,has some tables with great fireworks views.

They put us at one of those tables the other night and it was awesome and the staff at Sebastian's is top-notch.:)
 
Officially checked out. Really enjoyed our stay. The improvements are great. Once they get the qs food issue resolved it will be a great and very popular resort.

DH tried to get dinner again yesterday but this time asked before ordered. 50-60 min wait for food.
 
Officially checked out. Really enjoyed our stay. The improvements are great. Once they get the qs food issue resolved it will be a great and very popular resort.

DH tried to get dinner again yesterday but this time asked before ordered. 50-60 min wait for food.

Hope they can get this QS issue under control soon. An hour wait at a food court is just unacceptable. And I keep seeing similar wait times posted in the FB group so it seems widespread.
 


I really hope they sort out the food court situation before the Holidays. We'll be there b/w Christmas and New Years with 9 people including 2 toddlers, 2 other kids, 3 grandparents and no car - so we'll have to eat there at least some. If it's this long in fall, what will it be like then it they don't change something? Crossing my fingers they figure something out. My DH is very impatient with just waiting, as are the kids lol - so this will not go over well. Not that I want to waste that much time on QS either!
 
My Parents got home yesterday from their trip and have finally been bitten by the CBR bug that got us 8 years ago.

Same here. We just got back from a stay(10/2 - 10/8) and CBR was great. I've had a goal to stay in all the non-DVC deluxes and moderates(also stayed a night at POP). We were holding off on CBR after reading some less than stellar reviews from multiple sources but while we were there I kept thinking "THIS PLACE IS GREAT" over and over. Now to start off with we were in a great location in Trinidad North(though we woke up on 10/8 and somehow had been magically transported to Barbados), in building 32 in a corner room(3264). We were an easy walk to the car, to the main pool, to the free style machine and to the bus stop.

Transportation was mostly good, we did have one bad experience coming back from Epcot late at night, which is why we usually drive to our evening park. One bad experience out of a dozen is not that big of a deal. It is also fairly quick drive to most of the parks and also convenient to get off property for a cheaper breakfast or a run to the grocery store(Celebration area).

The pool, while not my favorite or even in the top 3 was more that adequate for us and it was a short walk from our location. The new Old Port Royale area will make this even better. It opened on the day we were checking out so we only had about 5 - 10 minutes to walk through before driving home, really exited to check it out on the next stay. Spy Glass Grill is also a nice quiet place to grab a quick lunch.

The best part was that this was the cheapest we have ever been able to get a room on property(not counting the one night at POP) and that is including the ridiculous parking fee. Couple all this with the addition of the skyliner and assuming prices don't get ridiculously high this will probably be our go to resort in the future*.


* We are checking CSR off the list this Christmas so this MAY change.
 
Just got back from a 10 day, 9 night stay at CBR. Wanted to post my reviews!

We got there on 10/11, so just a few days after the new Centertown and Sebastian's had opened. I unfortunately was not able to send a fax request for my room due to their fax machine not being set-up yet so I was happy to hear that I was in Jamacia. Our room wasn't ready yet so we decided to get some food.
As people have noted the Centertown market is not open for lunch. I found this to be frustrating a few times during our stay. I'm hoping that this changes in the future!
We decided to go eat at Sebastian's. We didn't have any problem getting at table without a reservation. I thought it was very nice in there. Decor was subtle. Our waiter was very friendly as was all of the other staff that we interacted with. The only downside was that our food took 30 minutes. That seemed like a long time to me. However, the food was all very good! We got the pull apart bread. Yum!! Definitely get this. I got the avaocado burger, which was very very good but difficult to eat. It was so messy! I ended up eating my burger with a fork and knife! My Dad got the Jerk wings and really liked them. I can't remember what my mom got but it was good. My DD8 got the pork shoulder kids meal. Man was that pork good! We ended up going to Sebastian's again later in our stay and I got the adult version. Yum!

The pool area is awesome! We swam there a few times. My daughter loved the slide! It is very festive in this area. In the afternoon evenings there was a band/ singers between the pool bar and pool that really made it fun to be at. The pool bar serves basically the same menu as Sebastian's. Drinks were always good :)

The check in area of Centertown is nice. It does not seem loud or crowded on that side of the building. My only comment is the layout is a little awkward if there is a line. It's shaped like an L with desks along both sides. When I went to check-in I wasn't really sure where to stand to ensure I'd be next. I could see someone unintentionally skipping the line. The did have several cast members out in front of the desks with ipads the other times I went up there, which was helpful.

We never ate at Centertown Market QS. The few times it was open when we were there it had really long lines, and a wait to get your food. The one time we tried to eat breakfast there was a line and a 20 minute wait. We heard other guests saying that they tried to eat there late for dinner and it was an hour wait! I'd like to see some other reviews on this area. They also have a grab and go. The food selection there was never good. This is probably best for a drink or a candy bar.

We stayed in Jamacia building 43 room 4324. I thought this was a great location, however it is a little walk to Centertown. We didn't mind it though as we got to walk through Caribbean Cay (the Island). It was about a 5 minute walk to Centertown and about the same to Spyglass grill. The bus stop is also right there. It will also be very close to what I think will be the walkway to the Skyliner. In addition, there was a Island market and a Coke Freestyle machine right by our room. We didn't realize that coffee is free at the Island Market until a few days in! This is for everyone, even if you are not on the dining plan (we were not). We did end up getting refill mugs. I'm not sure that we would have if the Freestyle machine wasn't so close. There was also a little courtyard right in front of our room and the smaller Jamaica pool right on the other side of the building. We never ended up using that pool. If you have a car the parking lot is right there. It is also very close to the new main entrance so it was easy to get in and out of the resort when we were driving.

With the Centertown Market QS closed for lunch, we ended up going to Spyglass grill twice. Once for breakfast (our only sleep in day!) and once for lunch. We enjoyed our food both times. It was a short walk from Jamacia. A lot closer then I thought it would be.

We tried the buses a few times while we were there. Our first day we tried to go to Epcot. This was around 2pm. The board just kept saying bus every 20 minutes. We waited about 20 minutes then decided to just drive.
After my parents left with the car, my daughter and I had to use the buses for the remainder of the trip. We again had some troubles. We did the Toy Story EMM one day and I wanted to be at the park by 7:15 at the latest. I watched the app that morning and saw a bus arrive around 6:30 so I didn't think we'd have any problem. Unfortunately, another bus didn't come until 7:19! I was pretty annoyed. After that the buses came on time for the most part, but were always crowded. Especially coming back from MK. My mom and I also tried to use an internal shuttle once. We waited about 20 minutes and it never came. Was definitely just quicker to walk, we were just exhausted and really hot.
We ended up using Uber to get everywhere on our last two days. I also noticed that the buses never followed the same pattern. Sometimes they'd start with Jamacia and Aruba, sometimes they'd start in Trinidad. Dropping off or picking up was never the same.
While this was definitely annoying, I think you're going to see these problems with the buses at any resort.

The room itself was nice, but nothing special. We just had a standard room. No pirates or pull down bed. It was nice to have the slider doors to the bathroom as I normally got us earlier then everyone else to get ready. We had 3 adults and one child in the room and it never felt crowded. They have the pump shampoo and body wash now instead of the little bottles. The drawers seemed a bit small but it fit all of our stuff in them.

We also declined Mousekeeping. We received an $80 gift card at check-in. They did offer this to us, we did not have to ask. Even with the amount of people in the room and the long stay our room stayed relatively clean. We asked for more towels once and I think they gave us about 30! My daughter did have an accident one night so I had to call and have the sheets changed. They not only changed and made the dirty bed but also cleaned the room and made my parents bed. Other then that we had someone stop by once to ask if we needed anything (that I know of). If they did security checks or entered the room otherwise I didn't see them.


All in all it was a good stay. I would stay there again if they continue to have good rates. I would definitely recommend staying in the Jamacia or Barbados area. They seem to have the easiest walk to both Centertown and Spyglass. If you stay in Trinidad anywhere past Spyglass it's going to take about 10-15 minutes to walk to Centertown. If you stay in Martinique, just know that your lunch options may be limited.
 
All great to hear! I'm happy their bus experience wasn't bad like the pp, I hope we have their luck!

I also hope check in being at OPR doesn't make it too crowded. Although it's like that at every other resort, so I'm sure it will be fine.

I hope to get a Halloween mug next week (we're staying at the BCV this trip, so won't make it to CBR to get one, but keeping my fingers crossed they still have them somewhere in the Epcot area).

I'm so happy to hear they are adding lunch - I just couldn't believe the final plan was to not have lunch at the food court! It should be started well before we get there, so I hope they get it going and work the kinks out before Christmas.
We got the Halloween Mug at Yacht Club when we were there prior to our 3 nights at CBR. Both resorts had them so hopefully you will get lucky as well! That was the first shipment Yacht Club had gotten all year so I was glad they came during our stay!

I was the one with the bad bus experience. We have stayed multiple times and never had a bad bus experience, but this time was a HOT MESS. I finally understand why people complain about the buses. It was horrible. We are always people who get at the parks way earlier than the park opens, so we usually don't have issues. This time was insane. I hope it was just a bad three days. Hopefully we just timed it wrong and everyone else has better luck like we used to :) I loved the resort. I love having the check in at OPR. It didn't seem crowded at all, and we loved the look. It was so relaxing. Hope you have a great trip!
 
Old Port Royale is an excellent spot.:)

Also,the new restautrant,Sebastian's Bistro,has some tables with great fireworks views.

They put us at one of those tables the other night and it was awesome and the staff at Sebastian's is top-notch.:)

Thanks for the information. What time was your reservation at Sebastian's?
 
Thanks for the information. What time was your reservation at Sebastian's?
8:15 PM.:)

Banana Cabana also has great Fireworks Views from several spots as well as a Fireworks View "Area" with benches outside of Sebastian's and Banana Cabana on the walkway right by Barefoot Bay.:)
 
Not anymore, or they're not supposed to anyhow.
Some staff are still telling Guests Uber can come to their Island,but we asked at the main Bell Services location and they said only at OPR,so looks like not everyone at CBR is on the "same page" yet.:)
 
As I mentioned before I do hope they will still have a sidewalk going around the entire barefoot bay for walking/jogging.
We have been able to confirm since we have been here at CBR that there will be a sidewalk "loop" around Barefoot Bay again when DRR opens.:)

There will be no "barriers" between the 2 Resorts(except maybe for the difference in prices!lol:)).
 
We have been able to confirm since we have been here at CBR that there will be a sidewalk "loop" around Barefoot Bay again when DRR opens.:)

There will be no "barriers" between the 2 Resorts(except maybe for the difference in prices!lol:)).

Will DRR and CBR share buses? I assume they will as conventional thinking would be that buses would be less crowded with the skyliner running but If not I think I would totally request building 52 once the Skyliner and DRR open.
 
We have been able to confirm since we have been here at CBR that there will be a sidewalk "loop" around Barefoot Bay again when DRR opens.:)

There will be no "barriers" between the 2 Resorts(except maybe for the difference in prices!lol:)).
Good One :) LOL
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top