LEGO® Creator Cruising Adventures - 31083

I purchased this boat for my son after many visits to the lego section and him picking it up. I caved and bought it. It was fun to build and a huge hit. He uses it to transport his mini figures to a party island.

My 3 year old son built it with me just providing guidance. This is a review on the main build which is the boat. PROS: - the boat is very sturdy. Feels really solid. - I was amazed at the attention to detail and how the small pieces contribute to the boat. CONS - The challenge was more on the difficulty understanding what changed from one step to the next especially when it came to similar colors (white). Perhaps it would be good to emphasize more in the instructions. Overall, we really enjoyed the build. Because of that, we have a hard time dismantling it to create the other builds in the set :) It's really great for father and son bonding.

The Cruising Adventures set, being one of the latest 3-in-1 sets, while ripe with diverse building instructions, fares best as the star attraction - the yacht. Of the 3 models, this one stands out with exquisite detail along both vessel exterior and interior. Everything important that a real yacht would have is hinted at and modeled accurately. The exterior detail is visually interesting, with really cool utilization of the slanted tiles on the side to achieve the light blue stripe. For anyone who needs a seafaring vessel to add to their lego flotilla, you can't go wrong here. The beachshack/mini sailboat build is a decent one, if not a little less inspired. The model detail there is serviceable. This build has decidedly less play value, but is a decent add for any Lego beach. The helicopter would come in dead last for me. The tower and helipad are too small and frankly, a little boring. The helicopter itself seems out of place against other Lego choppers and comes off as a way to achieve 3-1 status. If you need a chopper for your Lego city, there are better options at lower prices. Build difficulty is about average for a 3-1 set and most will complete the yacht build in 3-4 hours, complete the beach house build in 2-3 hours and complete the helicopter/helipad in 2-3 hours as well. Great set.