"Forced" to book a Pirate room at CBR; now I'm worried.

[MSchaefer]

Hi everyone. Yesterday I booked 4 Pirate rooms at CBR for our family vacation in October. Would have chosen the WLR, but that was not doable for some of the members in our party. Then, would have chosen POR, but no free dining there. So we finally decided on CSR. When my TA tried to book yesterday at 9:30, the allotment of rooms for free dining at CSR was gone

So it was back to the drawing board. (I already knew what building we wanted to be in and possible room numbers for CSR.) Since we needed a moderate CBR was our only choice. Once again, I decided on buildings and rooms: either Jamaica or Aruba. BUT this time when my TA tried to book, all that were left were Pirate rooms. We didn't want to get shut out of free dining, so we took them.

Now, I'm really worried about the distance they are from everything, especially after reading so many posts about them. Is there any chance that one this whole FD thing calms down, we might be able to get rooms in a different building?

Thanks everyone

 

[SGMCO]

It will be our first stay at CBR also. I was a little nervous at first but have calmed down alot. There is a CBR fact thread with helpful tips, also I went to Youtube and looked at Videos of the resort and it is very beautiful. There is alot of walking in WDW period so I come to expect that and I'm not worried about that. I've read that there is an internal shuttle to bring you around the resort, if you have walking issues. If you're still worried you can always check latter to see if any other resorts have opened up and switch. I hope you have a Wonderful trip!

 

[Pooh2]

We booked a very last minute trip the week of Thanksgiving and could not get into Shades of Green but the Shade of Green lady was able to book us into CBR with a discount. We even got an upgraded room. We loved the resort, very relaxing and beautiful. And you got free dining, how can you go wrong!

 

[MSchaefer]

I just keep reading about the Pirate rooms, and how people don't like them. I can handle the walking, and the double beds. BUT from what I've read and the pics I've seen, the pirate room beds don't have a true mattress; they have a box spring and a "mattress" that is about 4 inches thick. People say they are very uncomfortable. If we had gotten into a preferred room, I would feel much better, and actually not be worried at all. It's these Pirate rooms that have me stressed. BUT, still, we'll be in DISNEY!!!

 

[dansdad]

Yes, the Pirate Themed rooms are the furthest away from Old Port Royale (food court, gift shop) and the feature pool. But as others have said there is an internal bus you can take if you feel that a 7-10 minute walk to get there is too much. One of the things we love about CBR is that every village has it's own quiet pool and bus stop so you are never far from one of those. So to catch a bus to the parks, the longest it would take you to get to the bus stop is 1-1.5 minutes. Same thing if you just want a quick dip in the pool.

There is a reason they made those rooms into the Pirate Themed as they are the least desirable location. But there are locations at other resorts that are just as far.

 

[MSchaefer]

dansdad,
I'm not so much worried about the walk (we had long walks at the AKL), as I am about the actual beds. What I've read recently, most people find the beds uncomfortable as they don't true mattresses. I think if we were in a standard or preferred room, I wouldn't be worried at all.

 

[dansdad]

dansdad,
I'm not so much worried about the walk (we had long walks at the AKL), as I am about the actual beds. What I've read recently, most people find the beds uncomfortable as they don't true mattresses. I think if we were in a standard or preferred room, I wouldn't be worried at all.

I didn't notice your post stating that until after I posted my reply. We have not actually stayed in a Pirate Room but have read the same complaints as you. Although friends of ours love the Pirate Rooms and have never said anything about the beds being uncomfortable.

 

[disneyfan55]

While we did not stay at the CBR when these rooms were redone to be Pirate rooms, we did stay there. It is a very long walk and I wouldn't pay more to stay there.

 

[Joe'sgirl]

I stayed with my 7 year old in Sept of 2013 in a pirate room. I admit it is a walk to the main area but its a beautiful resort and the buses run around it at a good pace. If those beds are any different than others I didn't notice and neither did my daughter! She loved the pirate room. I had stayed at Coronado in January of that same year and other than the theme of the rooms, I can honestly say they were the same size and the beds felt exactly the same.

 

[MSchaefer]

disneyfan55,
We had no choice other than Pirate room if we wanted the free dining. That's why I wondered if anyone thought that after all the hype of the free dining dies down, whether or not we would be able to switch room types?

 

[MSchaefer]

Joe'sgirl,
Thank you so much for your report. That makes me feel so much better

 

[disneyfan55]

disneyfan55,
We had no choice other than Pirate room if we wanted the free dining. That's why I wondered if anyone thought that after all the hype of the free dining dies down, whether or not we would be able to switch room types?

People always cancel/change resorts. Once we needed another room and none avail when I first tried, but I actually called daily and one did become avail. That was the 2009 trip. So just keep trying.

 

[bumbershoot]

The mattresses are very thin, but we didn't find them to be uncomfortable at all.

The walk is the furthest, but still not a huge trudge.

The only thing I worry about with pirate rooms is the gigantic skull and crossbones on the curtain separating the vanity from the bedroom area. It's fine in the daytime, but at night if the bedroom is dark, the curtain is out, and you turn on a light in the vanity area, it lights up the skull and can be pretty shocking for any little ones in the bedroom area! So if you have easily spooked kids, be really careful with that. We were given the head's up at checkin, and so we showed DS before going to bed, so that he knew the deal.

 

[diskids2]

People always cancel/change resorts. Once we needed another room and none avail when I first tried, but I actually called daily and one did become avail. That was the 2009 trip. So just keep trying.

I agree with this Keep trying.

I have not stayed at a pirate room and I haven't stayed in South Trinidad....but I've stayed at CBR. If you can get another room category I would do it!

Like you said...you're at DISNEY so that is great.....I would move from the Pirate rooms if you can though. It is really far. JMHO

what are your dates?

 

[o0quirkygirl0o]

You know, when I booked last year under free dining I could only get a Royal Room but really wanted a king room. The person who booked it for me suggested we put in a a note/request that we really would prefer a king room. Because Royal Rooms and Pirate Rooms cost more, there is a possibility that you could put in a request that you really would have preferred a standard room and would like to be placed in on if it is possible. They might be able to honor that request, depending on how booked up the hotel is. Worth a shot, at least.

(Side note, we actually ended up coming around to the Royal Room design and didn't request the King room. We were too stoked to have fireworks in our headboard! Yes, we are nerds.)

 

[Belleandtinker]

We stayed at CBR just for the pirate room and loved the room, but not the walk. Luckily, we survived.

I would do a break even on the free dining vs room discount. Since you can't double dip discounts, maybe a room discount with a better location can make up for the free dining.

 

[disney meema]

We stayed in a pirate room and the beds were fine and comfortable. I would wait until things calm down next week and try to switch to another type of room if your concerned, as for us it never was a problem. My only complaints were the slow buses although others have not had that issue and the buses can occur I guess at any resort. Also I prefer to be closer to the shops and restaurants ect.
We're staying at the WL and I've read some people do not like the beds there ... Yikes!

 

[MSchaefer]

Diskids2,
Our dates are Oct. 1st-Oct. 6th.

Quirkygirl,
Aren't we all Disney nerds? Lol!

Meema,
It's nice to hear a good report about the Pirate rooms. We still might try to change though, especially if we can get a newly refurbished preferred or water view room ;-)

 

[twinboysmom]

We stayed in a pirate room at CBR and we fell in love with the resort. We also loved the room. We found the beds to be the by far more comfortable than any others on wdw property that we have stayed in (except swan/dolphin). I too was also nervous about the beds. We have had some beds that felt like concrete slabs before at wdw and these were soft yet supportive ( but we would have preferred queens but they were fine). Would gladly stay in a pirate room again.

 

[Disneylover99]

We had no choice other than Pirate room if we wanted the free dining. That's why I wondered if anyone thought that after all the hype of the free dining dies down, whether or not we would be able to switch room types?

Last year we booked a CBR standard room because there was nothing left at POR for fd. It took me a few weeks of stalking the website daily but finally a room came available at POR so we made the switch.

The problem for you is that you need 4 rooms. I would think the chances of 4 rooms becoming available at the same time would be slim. I would say either embrace it or look for a RO discount at a different resort instead.