Entire Cruise Ship Theme (6978, 6979, 6983, 6981, 6980, 6982)

[BowlInJar]

I received the entire Cruise Ship Theme as a prize for coming in third place in the Playmobil Collectors Club "Mini Diorama Competition."   (Congrats again to Tahra for taking first place!) 

The box arrived a couple days ago, and I spent the better part of the afternoon setting everything up with my daughter today.  How fun!



This post is pretty long with a ton of photos.  If you want to skip the "too long, didn't read" version, here's a video clip of my daughter giving an overview of everything.  (It started out as just a video to show the singing lady's stage light effects, but she kept on going and it's pretty fun to see her share her thoughts on everything.)

https://youtu.be/taTQEbuxxbA





The theme includes the following items:

6978 Cruise Ship
6979 Island Juice Bar
6983 Singer with Stage
6981 Diving Trip with Speedboat
6980 Personal Watercraft with Banana Boat
6982 Surfer with Beach Quad

Let's start with the Cruise Ship first!

6978 Cruise Ship





I love how the logo is raised/embossed on these new larger boxes.  It doesn't show well on the photos, but it's a nice touch!



My first impression is that it's much larger than I had anticipated!



I didn't really take photos of the parts before I assembled it, but it went together pretty quickly.  The stickers took the longest amount of time, but I'm a perfectionist with them and do it very slowly so that they are always straight and balanced.







I love the staircase used for embarking onto the ship.



It detaches and then you can close the door.  How cool!



The slide on the back of the ship really cool too!



The  bottom floor slides in and out of the hull.  Nice touch!

The lid of the captain's bridge comes off, so that you can have him access the various controls.

[BowlInJar]

Also, there is a storage area for the life vests up front too.



The life boat can be raised and lowered from the stern of the ship.  You can detach it too!



And here's a close up of the klickys.



I think the mom's mini skirt is a little to mini.  Hahaha!

Overall, this is a pretty awesome set with a lot of play value.  My 9 year old daughter has been playing with it off an on most of the day and she's having a blast.  Especially, when you add the others sets into the mix, which brings us to….


6979 Island Juice Bar

Out of all the sets in this theme, I was most excited about this one.  We've been on a couple Disney cruises and their private island, Castaway Cay, is truly amazing.  This set really reminds me of it!  After setting it up and playing with it, I'm convinced Playmobil nailed it with this one!!!  Good job Playmobil!





Also, my wife and I have become pretty big fans of Tiki bars in recent years and I love that aspect of this set.  I'd love to be sitting on the beach, sipping on a pina colada while my kids had fun playing in the sand and going down the slide!





The various birds and the sea turtle are a nice touch too!

We had a lot of fun making people climb the tree, kids sliding, enjoying their 'coconut milk' and what not.  This is a great set!

Oh, and here's a close up of the klickys.



Looks like her skirt fits appropriately.  On second thought, maybe we didn't have the one on the cruise ship mom fitted properly.  I LOVE her leigh and the flower in her hair.   We visited Hawaii this past summer and it brings back good memories!

I love the guy's shirt too.  Has a cool retro 70's vibe to it.  (And now I have the love boat theme stuck in my head. )

https://youtu.be/ZmUlKPthrag

While we are thinking about cruise ship songs, let's move on over to the singer set.

[BowlInJar]

6983 Singer with Stage





This is my 9 year old daughter's favorite set in the theme.  She loves that you can change the singer's costumes, and the color changing disco floor is just too cool!

It has LED lights inside that change colors and move in various patterns.  You can cycle through them by clicking the little black button in the front center of the stage.









Here she is placed inside the cruise ship.



So yeah, what about the other excursions for our passengers to experience on their adventures?

[BowlInJar]

6981 Diving Trip with Speedboat

Seems like scuba diving, snorkeling, and swimming with dolphins are always a hit with cruisers.  No different here!





Compared to the items we've looked at so far, this set is fairly basic.  But still fun.  Noting that it was a challenge to line up and apply the sticker for the wood "deck" of the boat.  (Getting it to line up perfectly for the seat openings and what not took some patience.)



My kids were especially stoked on the secret compartment up front, that they can use to store the extra snorkeling gear.



Here are the klickys.



Noting that you can remove the scuba gear and place a snorkel in the diver's mask.  Two for one, how fun!

Oh, and the dolphins!   A nice touch!!

[BowlInJar]

6980 Personal Watercraft with Banana Boat





We got a few chuckles from this one.  We've seen those banana boats before, but never had the opportunity to ride one.  It just seems like a funny (but fun) thing to do.  Happy that our klickys get a chance to try it out!



Noting that the blueparts of the wave runner (jet ski, or whatever you call it) were incredible hard to snap onto the body of the watercraft. 



And the klickys.  Love the monkey shirt on the little boy!!



Last but not least, we have the beach surfer dude!

[BowlInJar]

6982 Surfer with Beach Quad





Really not a lot to say about this one, other than he's a great addition to the island fun. 





It's worth noting that the wheels must be assembled, which is not surprising.  The rubber tires are very hard to apply to the white wheel hubs.  My 9 year old daughter couldn't even come close to getting them on, and it took a bit of effort on my part.  Certainly not a big deal, but I do like that my kids can typically assemble most Playmobil sets on their own.  (Although, being the perfectionist, I insist that they let me do the stickers. LOL.)

OK… so there's the run down of the sets individually.  Let's take a look at a few photos of everything working together.









Final thoughts…

I feel incredibly luck to have received this prize from the Playmobil Collectors Club (PCC.)  I think there were about 75 or so entries, and pretty much all of them were amazing.  I still can't believe that I won.  But happy that I did.



All in all, this is a fantastic theme.  Like many of you, my collection has grown quite large over the years and I try to stick to my core themes (Western, Knights, and Victorian.)  But it's always fun to venture out of your comfort  zone every now and then,  and I'm stoked that the PCC gave me the opportunity to do so!

[bogol]

Thank you, BowlInJar, for this in-depth review of the cruise ship theme! I guess I'll have to get it for my daughters as well (or for myself? I'll see).

There's just one thing bothering me a bit: as far as my memory goes this is the first playmobil ship (or boat) ever which is not designed to also float on actual water. I understand that the playabilty of such a large vessel would be less fun if you'd have to lift the top to reach the lower deck(s) but I have to cope with the idea of a playmobil water craft that shouldn't be put in water.

[BowlInJar]

Thanks Bogol.  That's an interesting point about the cruise ship not being "ship worthy" for the water.  I can see how that might be disappointing to those who like to play with them in the water. 

Personally, we have a couple pirate ships and a few other vessels and we have never placed them in water, so it didn't even cross my mind.  From that perspective, I think I'm actually quite happy that this one doesn't actually go in the water, as you noted, it adds to the "playability". Noting the the red life boat can go in the water, and the box advertises the battery powered propellor accessory to be attached to it.  (And the boat with the dolphins and scuba diver advertises the RC version of the propeller accessory.)

[Salamander]

Congrats on your win! Your diorama is lovely!

What a great prize!! (Also congrats to Tahra!! What did she get for first place?!?!?)

That boat is waaaaay nicer then it looks in promo pictures! And the singer set is great, no wonder your daughter loves it!

[leefert]

Thanks for the awesome review. I now want that singer's set too. I like the color changing effect.

Congrats again on your winning!