We’re going to be staying at Caribbean Beach Resort for the first time for our fall break trip, 10/4-10/11. We ended up picking it because we love using the Skyliner now after our trip last Sept (which I sadly never got around to doing a recap on), but we’re traveling with DH’s best friend’s family again, who need a room for a family of five. So, both families are booked a Standard View 5th Sleeper. My searching of past recommendations here makes me think we want to request Jamaica section, Aruba as second choice, for that sweet Skyliner proximity.
Question 1: Talk to me about the buses. I’ve heard the horror stories. But, I’ve also seen multiple reports that in the mornings, dedicated buses come to Jamaica and Aruba only. How confident would you feel to trust in that for rope dropping MK? We have a goal to RD Peter Pan on our first park day, then AK the next day to avoid using LLMP there. Would you trust a bus at the Jamaica stop or try to head over to Old Port Royale to catch the bus there?
Question 2: Of course, this all hinges on us getting Jamaica section. Sure, I can submit a room request through TP, but our friends don’t have a TP account. When we booked, we included a request for connecting rooms with each other, but now we can’t see the exact language we included, and we would be just as a happy with close by rooms if it meant getting a better location. So I feel like calling and talking to an actual human might be my best bet at this. I saw an old thread where someone mentioned calling Guest Services and having your reservations marked as “traveling together”, which sounds great. Does anyone have experience with a good number to reach out to and any language to use?
Thank you for any advice in advance! Have a kiddo photo from our last cruise this summer for tax.
We’ve stayed at CBR the last two times (2022 & 2024) and are staying there again this year (We check out the day after you arrive!). We were in Aruba both times and are requesting it again. Bldgs 52/54 in 2022 and 55 in 2024. We never had trouble with getting on a bus in the morning, but we were also not trying to be front of rope, just early enough to get some EE kiddie rides done, so not sure if there were more crowded ones before we got out to the stop. We generally try to be at the bus 30-45 minutes before we want to be scanning in to the park, which I know is not enough time for hard core RD.
That being said, in the evenings we more than once took the Riviera bus back with ZERO line and then walked over from there. Once we were the only people on the bus! While the CBR busses were standing room only and still had a queue 50 people deep.
We also found getting coffee from the Riviera cafe easier/faster than walking all the way across to the main building at CBR.
Both of those benefits are better from the Aruba side.
In 2022 we called to have our groups linked as a traveling party. We were 10 people with 4 rooms. Gave them all the confirmation numbers and they were able to put us in 2 connecting rooms, one set in Bldg 52 and another set in Bldg 54. It worked perfectly for us.
I’ve not had a problem there with buses early in the morning from Jamaica.
I’d get a “traveling with” number. I’d indicate in my room request text (in the box where you can put additional information) that you are traveling with X. Their reservation number is X. You’d like request a room connecting to X in the Jamaica section. If we can’t have connecting rooms in Jamaica, we’d like a room near theirs or at least in the same building. Thanks for your consideration.
100% this!!! When we stay at CBR or Pop, we almost always take the Riviera bus and walk or skyline back to the resort. We’ve always been in Jamaica so we skyline to the hub and walk to our room. I’ve yet to be on a Riviera bus that was crowded.
We have stayed in Jamaica 3 times. At least 5 days each time. Used busses twice a day cuz we rest in the middle of the day. Only once did we notice a bus difficulty. All the other times we were at the bus stop by 7 am at the latest. Maybe half dozen other parties there. That one time I mentioned, we arrived about 8:30 or 9 and there was a line to get to the bus stop. A Disney CM with a clip board was sorting guests into lines inside the bus stop. It was a zoo. I’ve no idea why we were so late to the bus stop that one day. I think perhaps we weren’t going to a park but were riding the bus to a park to go to a nearby resort.
If you’re rope dropping and are early to the bus stop, you should be fine.
Traveling together is the language you want. We’ve used it before. I love to talk to CMs. I would call a Disney number and ask who should I talk to.
I think you will have no trouble getting connecting rooms if that’s what you request (once you figure out how to do that.
However:
Getting a room in particular location is never a guarantee, and asking for two rooms that are connecting may significantly decrease your chances of getting a particular location. I would make very clear in your request what your priority is (i.e., connecting? location? nearby to each other?) so that they can give you something that meets your top criteria if your ideal is not available.
I may be jaded cause I never get what I request. But I stay at DVC and those people know what they want, so there’s more competition for requests.
The other aspect of this is to be prepared to 1) call or go to the front desk to change your assignment if you get something that you don’t like; 2) switch rooms on Day 2 if they can’t get you into your preferred room on day 1; or 3) making lemonade with whatever lemons they give you.
We stayed in Aruba at CBR for just two nights last month, and like you, I was worried about the buses for rope drop.
We wanted to be at the front of the AK rope drop crowd for FoP, and I briefly considered walking 9 min to Riviera rather than take a chance on the Aruba bus stop that was 3 min from our room (knowing that it was the last stop and fearing the first bus of the day might be full by the time it reached us at 6.16am). There was no reason to worry: we were THE ONLY FAMILY on that bus.
I would assume MK may be a bit fuller, since it’s a later RD and more people are awake by then - but while chatting with a CM at reception and mentioning that we were the only family on the first AK bus, she also told me that in the mornings, there are always two parallel buses doing pick-ups throughout CBR (e.g. you should never have more than 3 stops besides your own) to avoid buses getting full before reaching the later stops. Our week happened to have particular low crowds, but the CM comment reassured me that they are keeping an eye on this and adjusting bus availability in line with demand.
We loved CBR, especially the Fuentes del Morro pool. Here’s a link to the two days of our trip report that include our CBR stay (the first part of the trip report is about our cruise on the Magic). Have a great trip!
I think you could request Jamaica and traveling with your [friends]. Too many requests will mask what your priorities are.
At CBR we had a 5th person room connecting to one that had only a king bed.
If you’re looking at the room finder, I’d leave the walking distance at any because the Jamaica buildings are all really close to the bus stop.
I would also not mention connecting but definitely traveling together.
The other key thing in my experience in getting closer to your requests is checking in earlier than later. As I understand it, your room is already assigned before you get to Disney. Sometimes the room assigners misunderstand. If you’re there earlier in the afternoon there are more rooms available to move you to.
One trip we got the first resort section the bus stopped at. My only request was close to a bus stop. At the front desk to change to another resort section, that CM wondered if the room assigner had thought I meant first stop instead of close to a bus stop.
The first resort section might have been ok but the building our room was in was much further away from the bus stop than in the building we moved to in the other section.
I’ve stayed in Jamaica and Trinidad. My TA does not care for CBR and tried to talk me out of it but I loved it. The walk from Trunidad was not bad to the skyliner and I also really loved how close we were to buses.
I also really loved having Lyft be able to drop me off closer to my room and it’s probably great if you rent a car since you can park so close (versus the long hike I just had from my room to parking at BWV).
I would recommend spending the $$ for preferred room at Martinique- it was a close walk to everything, Skyliner, pool & lobby. We also had connecting rooms because we were traveling with teens & senior adults. We had a travel agent who got us the connecting rooms so I’m not sure how you could request nearby rooms outside of an agent.
We never had any trouble with buses or getting seats on the bus at the stop outside our building. Overall I liked the resort.
But I stay at DVC and those people know what they want, so there’s more competition for requests.
