Hi, CBR friends! We just got back from our trip and I thought I'd share my thoughts about the resort. I have stayed there before so I am familiar with it pre-construction. We booked during the gift card window so we got $375 for our five night stay.
The check in process was very quick and the gift card was on record and presented without me having to ask. The CM did a great job explaining the food options, transportation, etc. I had put in a touring plans request for Jamaica 42, second floor, room 4251, and we got 4215, which is on the same side as I requested but on the first floor. I was actually glad we got the first floor instead because it made our walks that much shorter. We had a fabulous view of the beach, it was a short walk to the beach and the quiet pool, and the room did have a Murphy bed which we left closed and used to stow luggage. The room was sparkling clean all week and the only thing that was unusual is that we got no new toiletries at any time. We had all brought our own (4 women) so I'm not sure if Mousekeeping didn't replenish because we had our own stuff sitting on the shelf by the tub, but we did open the resort soaps and had them in use and they still didn't leave any new. They did leave five or six coffee pods every morning, though. It wasn't bothersome to us but that's the first time I haven't had new stuff each day.
We ordered from Garden Grocer so when we got back to the resort the first night around 10:30, we called for it to be delivered and it took about 20 minutes. The CM even brought it right into the room for us and he was really pleasant. We didn't use the freestyle machines but they were centrally located. The ice maker in 42 was not plugged in so we just took a short walk to 41 or 43 as needed and got ice out of the freestyle machines there. We also didn't go to the island markets or use the concierge, so I can't comment on those.
We had a 3-4 minute walk to the Jamaica bus stop. Buses ran like clockwork with the exception of Sunday, 11/12 in the morning, when we waited 25 minutes for an Epcot bus (we had just missed one), and when that one arrived, it was full. Then we had to wait another 25 for the next one, so 50 minutes total. Other than that, we had no problem with wait times - they were anywhere from just a couple to 15 minutes. The resort is so centrally located that rides to all parks and DS were pretty short, especially HS. We didn't have any super long waits for buses back to the resort from the parks or DS, either... we actually jumped on several right as we got to the bus stop. The ride back can be long when staying in Jamaica because it's the fifth stop, especially if there are scooters that need to be taken off the bus... but overall, not bad.
We used the Jamaica quiet pool once and it was warm and sparkling clean. We did not use the main pool or the food tent, but one night we did get off the bus at Old Port Royale to check it out. You do have to walk through scrims but it's a short walk from the bus stop. The food tent itself is really nice and had two beautiful Christmas trees. The food looked good! The food truck was also serving burgers and such. They had lemon water out for everyone, and we got delicious drinks at the bar. There was a great band playing and we enjoyed the atmosphere in that area. We did walk over Caribbean Cay to get back to our room from there and it was 8 or so minutes, which we didn't think was very long. One night we sat on the Jamaica beach with cocktails and listened to the band, and that was really nice.
The CM's we encountered were wonderful, especially Ali from Bell Services. On our departure morning he picked up our luggage and drove us to the Custom House, and explained the whole checked luggage/ME process/timing to us. He knew we were going to take the internal bus back to Martinique to catch a bus to DS for breakfast, and he actually ran over and had the driver wait for us while we had Bell Services hold our carry on luggage for us. He was fantastic!
Regarding construction... You definitely drive through a lot at the front of the resort and you can see the new building going up now where Barbados was. There are cranes, but they didn't bother us. You also see the top of the construction at Old Port Royale but they did a good job of masking it. There is also construction behind Jamaica, which I believe is for the gondola. Seeing it didn't bother us at all and we never heard it, even in the afternoons when we took breaks at the resort. The villages are still absolutely beautiful, clean, and bright. No worries, in my opinion!
It was really crowded everywhere because of Jersey Week, Veterans Day, the last days of F&W, and re-books from Irma, but other than some busy bus stops, we thought the resort was really quiet and peaceful. We can't wait to go back in 2 years. In the Custom House, they did have renderings up of the new Shutters, the QS food court, Banana Cabana bar, and check-in/lobby and it looks like it will be really beautiful, so we will definitely be back!
Let me know if you guys have any questions and I will try to answer them. Have fun on your visits!