This is one of the best designed lego sets of the last few years. Lots of details, rare pieces, nice color scheme and playability. I got it for 50% off!. It can fit great into a variety of themes. Im very impressed and happy at getting this set.

I got this set the day after Christmas from Target, where it was on clearance for 25 dollars. This set is amazing, especially at my price, but there are definitely things missing.

Pros

• The two pieces at the bottom of the boat are nice, but surprising because those have to cost twenty dollars total.
• The ship has many details, such as the anchor, that add value to this set.

Cons

• The declusion of a mast really is disappointing.
• The blue on the ship just looks plain weird; Beauxbatons got transportation jealousy.

This set is cool, especially for 25 dollars, but it does feel very (and I stress the very) incomplete. Buy it, but I recommend getting an MOC imagination on.

This set was an interesting one, obviously since I'm writing this review now I didn't get this set when it was in stores. I bought this set, the Target exclusive that included 4 extra minifigures (see below), on Bricklink for $45.

Overview:

Price(for me): $45 was a pretty good price seeing as the original price was (i believe) $50.

Worth: With the 4 extra minifigures and the lowered price and all of the accessories it was well worth my money.

Pieces: The pieces were a combination of mostly tan, dark red, medium blue(or as I call it: "Jayko-blue") There were a few uncommon pieces (such as the medium blue half barrel) but mostly ones seen in a lot of other sets. The only real complaint on this section is the big boat pieces that are both clunky and also not at all connected on the bottom which is annoying for carrying. 3/5

Accessories: The highlights of this section are the gold pieces, the shields that adorn the side of the boat, and the sextant which hadn't been seen since 2003. only complaint in this section is that instead of using real cloth sails as in set #7018, "Viking Ship Challenges the Midgard Serpent", which came out in the same year. 3/5

Minifigures: This set mostly came with 3 minifigures, Viktor Krum, and Professor Karkaroff both in winter garb. These two by themselves seen to be a bit scant, it would make sense, for a set this large to have more minifigures. In the Target exclusive, the set also includes, Albus Dumbledore, the Waking/Sleeping Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter in his Triwizard Tournament outfit. With these extra minifigures, the set is worth it's price in minifigures. 5/5

Overall: 4/5

Overall this is a very good set. I ordered it off eBay in August 2008 for about $40 dollars, which I think was a reasonable price for this retired set this large.

I love the large scale of this set. When put together it looks very impressive.

This avoids one of the cliches of some previous Harry Potter sets. Harry Potter sets have a knack for putting in out-of-place treasure chests, or hidden compartments with random stuff that doesn't make sense. While there are many cool features in this set, such as a diving board, an anchor, a hidden cellar, steering wheel, and removable layers for the cabins, all the movable parts and "secrets" seem to fit in the ship setting.

I am extremely happy with the way the designers handled the masts. I would not have been nearly as happy with this set if there had been big paper or cloth sails hanging over the set. The little fins to give the impression of sails without putting in conspicuous paper parts was great. The only cloth parts are flags at the top of the masts which, while a little long, do not get in the way. I am slightly bothered by the off center back mast, but I can't find a better place to put it.

Some people might be bothered by the small cabin on the ship. When closed, it is entirely filled with little knick knacks with no room for mini figures. Personally, I wasn't bothered. If you are displaying the ship, it looks nice and you wouldn't want to hide mini figures inside it anyway. If you are playing with the set, the cabin is detachable and has hinges to give space for the characters.

Onto mini figures. The set normally comes with Victor Krum and Igor Karkaroff. I was disappointed that the only difference between the figures was the heads. They both have the same dark grey pants and dark grey/brown fun jackets, and a goofy looking black hat. They could have given Krum a student uniform, or given an alternate hair piece for each character as well as the hat. Normally this set comes with only two people, which is kind of small for a set his large. Why couldn't they include a generic Durmstrang student, or Karkaroff's Aide?

This set is also available in an edition with four bonus mini figures, which are Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore. The extra people are nothing special, don't fit in, and are all available in many other sets.

Anyway, this is a pretty good set that I would recommend to any Potter or Lego fan.

This is my first ship. A bit pricey, but worth the money.
Good Stuff: Fun to build.
Bad Stuff: Found an omission: Sextant goes inside the flip top table. I wanted the hull to be in more than 2 pieces. Ship masts are taller than Hogwarts towers, and is therefore out of scale.