This was my first big set since I "re-invented" Lego and a great beginning. It's a great set to build, it looks great and great to play with. So overall a 5 brick rating.

Building it is great fun, lots of details and both big and small parts. It is not an easy set, I only had evening hours to do it so it took me several days to complete it. But great fun when finished.

Nice parts with a good color setting, different shades of brown, yellow shutters etc. A nice amount of mini figures with sufficient weapons, a shark, a monkey, a parrot; everything is there. Some critical words too, the front sail is not very stable and the little bricks which have to hold the big sails on their place keep falling off.

Playability is very good, my 5 year old son has replayed all the adventures in the building book. Nothing then good words here too.

The price was if I remember well €80,00 (new) which it is worth all the way. If you can get it second hand for the average price of €65,00 (Bricklink) buy it !! It is definitly worth it.

After some weeks of eyeballing this set in the local toystore, I decided to buy it today. For only 49 EUR it was a real steal, since most stores sell them for 100+ EUR, if they even have a set left.

So I started building, the set has - like most new sets - a modular build, which is nice.
The set contains three main objects: the ship, the rowing boat and the shark. Now this shark is quite the shark, it is bigger than the rowing boat so beware little soldiers of me! The shark could easily eat the boat.

The rowing boat is blue, which is a nice, refreshing change. Old sets always used the kinda boring brown or red ones. But then again, blue is my favourite colour so I might be biased.

The boat itself is huge, it is 44 CM high and 56 CM long. It consists of three parts, the bow, the middle and the stern. The bow is ok-ish, the mermaid and sail is nice but the big piece where the sail rests on was a real pain to set correctly. You'll see why.

The middle of the ship is ok-ish, there are of course the two cannons and two ammunition crates. Place for four pirates. Too bad they didn't fill the little round gaps in the middle plates. But it's not too bad I guess. I really like the red gunports on the ship.

Now the stern, it's quite big, as a stern should be. You can pick the whole upper part up and reveal the chambers below, but I find it annoying to put the stern back in it's place. The back of the stern will move back and forth if you push it and there's a whole captain's room in it, complete with treasure map and a little table. The stern also has two nice big, frontal doors and six windows.

The masts are really nice, and the sails are nicer than you would think. Pictures made me feel the sails are a bit kiddish but in reality, for some reason, they are not. Or I'm just weird. That's possible too.

Bottom line is that you should buy this set, especially if you can find it for the price I paid for it.

Even though I am a loyal Imperial soldiers fan and G.I. Joe US military fan, I have to support the Pirates when I say they make a kraken of a great ship! For my birthday, I decided to purchase the LAST Brickbeard's Bounty at my local Value Drugs store. This drugstore is awesome! It gets brand new LEGO sets every month! They have had the largest Star Wars to City to Indiana Jones to Duplo to Pirates to Technic to Creator to Bionicle ;(, and more! And when I went on November 20 of 2009, I saw they had 2 Brickbeard Bounties and 2 of those ole' Space Police Galatic Enforcers! All at a retail price of $99.99! A drugstore, for medicines and little trinket toys, sells 100-dollar LEGO sets! I mean MEGA Bloks would have been more common, but having a local LEGO dealership only 6 minutes of walking away, even less, is great! Now, when I opened that set, I just started RIPPING pieces out! Instructions booklets then ship hulls then flags then little parts! It took me 1.75 hours to complete, and now for the grandest moment, here is my pros and cons list!
Pros:

*8 grand mini-figures! Great job LEGO on the mermaid charm and the Admiral's daughter!
*Flags and sails! I love anything with old historical wooden ships, and with these nice sandpaper sails and plastic flags, I am having a wonder of a time!
*Cannons! On wheels!
*A pirate captain's cabin to DIE for! The sctructure and detail of the cabin is just... amazing to the tea! Even more than the tea! :)
*Everything about it! The whole whole thing is just so great, I have LIMITED CONS!

Cons:

The Imperials get a little untreated. I mean LEGO could of made a little larger of a boat, like a patrol boat, and have a great fight with that! But then of course, the price would bump up, and I got this set for 20% off!
The pirate skulls can get a little repetative, a pattern like swords and two guns or something could of been a supplement, but that has no major impact!

When I went on LEGO Shop last night to look at their Pirates sets, the BB was listed as "Hard to Find". All the sets were! The two great impulse sets were discontinued! Pirates is supposedely ending this August, but there is that rumor that LEGO is returning with a bang in 2011, but having the grand chance to have this terrific set at my local drugstore is the best thing for a LEGO fan! Did I mention it was the LAST one there? It amazes me that a drugstore can have the set you always wanted, while LEGO Shop does not!
And just as a reminder for all Pirates fans, the January 2009 wave of Pirates sets will stop production starting August 1, and the Imperial Flagship is rumored to end its productions next January! Let's cross our fingers, LEGO Pirates fans, that we get our Pirates 2011 hints this summer and September! Pirates! Imperials! Pirates! Imperials! The Brickbeard's Bounty is the great buy! ARRGHHHH

Wow....was the reaction I had when I was half way through building the set. I was not done with the captain's room, not even close to hoisting the sails or installing the masts.

I love the colors, the attention to small details. Great set to own and build. I enjoyed every moment of the build and could not help but stop in between to admire the design.

I am sure that this ship (hopefully, one of many more) will be my favorite. I do not feel like taking it apart. Go out and get it.

I've always wanted a LEGO Pirates set but none were out at the time. When I got some LEGO'S from a guy that didn't want them and it had the old 80's Pirates in it. Later on, I received the 2009 LEGO Pirates ship. It is awesome! I love the cannons and the Captain's Quarters. This is a must have for kids and AFOL'S.