Build a Bear at Sea Review

[NebrMom]

I'm writing this review of the Build-a-Bear at sea workshop because before we left I could not find very much about it and my 9-year-old DD was very excited about it.

We sailed on the Breeze out of Galveston Feb. 5, 2017. There were two workshops, the first on the fifth night (Thursday) at 4:15 pm after returning to the ship from a port excursion. It was in the Limelight Lounge.

The second workshop was on the seventh night (Saturday) at 3:15 pm on a sea day. It was in Camp Ocean.

IIRC, both workshops were listed in both the daily Fun Times and the Camp Ocean schedules.

We attended both of them and bought an animal each time. (My DD had been saving up her money for months for this)

Both workshops worked very similar to each other. Each family's name was written down in the order they arrived, later they are called up 2 or 3 families at a time.

Everyone is given a small foam-filled heart and they do a cute little ceremony where you touch the heart to your head to make your new friend smart, tuck it in your elbow to make it strong, etc.

When your name is called, you choose the animal you want to make. I think they do occaisionally change out the animals (or different animals on different ships) because what information I could find before the cruise showed a calico cat that was not available on our cruise.

I saw a snow leopard, rainbow heart bear, pink bear, spotted dog, turtle, monkey, shark, rabbit, the Carnival Bear (white bear with red and blue inside ear and a whale tail symbol on his foot, I think) There also was one labeled rainbow heart cat but my cat-loving daughter thought it just looked like another bear.

There also is a rack of clothes, shoes and other accessories (ie. sunglasses) you can purchase for between $8-12.

A crew member helps the child add stuffing using a machine that looks like a giant gumball machine filled with fluff. The helper puts the animal on the spout of the machine by way of the hole in the animals back. The child is in charge of the foot pedal that runs the stuffing machine. They will ask the child to do a "hug test" to see if they want the animal filled more or less.

The next step is to another crew helper who tightens the strings on the animal's back, ties them off and cuts off any excess. If you have chosen any clothes they also will dress your animal for you. (Which is helpful because I watched one helper put a pair of shoes on a bear and it did not look easy)

From there all that is left is the pay station. Each animal is $26, no tax. You just put it on your sail and sign card.

Carnival's website says this is available on the Breeze, Conquest, Dream, Ecstasy, Fascination, Imagination, Inspiration, Legend, Magic, Miracle, Paradise, Triumph, Victory and Vista.

 

If I can figure out how, I will add photos of the process and options as well.

[NebrMom]

The build a bear line up on the first day in Camp Ocean

Clothes

shoes

[NebrMom]

Pictures of the animals available

Bunny

monkey

pink bear

puppy

rainbow bear

rainbow cat

shark

turtle

end display (displayed with clothes)

[Shaded Lady]

Thanks for this review... I was thinking of getting a build-a-bear from our Breeze cruise for my grandson as a gift (he's not sailing with us). How uncomfortable would I feel if I went to the workshop without a little one, just to make it for my grandson?

 

thanks in advance...

[originalgeek]

Wow it sounds like they really brought the whole experience from the land-based stores. (I've taken my granddaughters to get them). Sounds like something my wife would like to do on Miracle next year. Lol, we aren't afraid to do kid stuff if they'll let us. (We had a blast at Dr. Suess breakfast even though all our kids and grandkids were back home).

 

Thanks for the review and the pics!

[NebrMom]

Thanks for this review... I was thinking of getting a build-a-bear from our Breeze cruise for my grandson as a gift (he's not sailing with us). How uncomfortable would I feel if I went to the workshop without a little one, just to make it for my grandson?

 

thanks in advance...

 

There were a few parents/grandparents there who were obviously getting it as a gift, but one woman in line behind us to pay admitted that she had always wanted one and decided it was time to just get it for herself. :)

[originalgeek]

Thanks for this review... I was thinking of getting a build-a-bear from our Breeze cruise for my grandson as a gift (he's not sailing with us). How uncomfortable would I feel if I went to the workshop without a little one, just to make it for my grandson?

 

thanks in advance...

 

ha, I'm not OP but I can guarantee if they let kidless adults in we'll roll up in there just like we belonged. If you wanna make a bear for your grandson don't let anyone tell you you should feel bad about that or that you can't. Well, except for Carnival employees - I reckon they would have the final say on that..

[originalgeek]

There were a few parents/grandparents there who were obviously getting it as a gift, but one woman in line behind us to pay admitted that she had always wanted one and decided it was time to just get it for herself. :)

 

there ya go. That's good news too. My wife would probably make one for the kids AND one for her.

[JaniceB]

My friends daughters did this on the Breeze in January. She said it was a great experience and thought the cost was excellent for what you received.

[NebrMom]

I admit I had never been to a build a bear in a mall, etc. so I didn't know how much they followed the process there. Here are a few more photos of the process.

Take a heart (ignore the wild hair on DD she had just come back from an all day excursion :D )

Choose your animal

get it stuffed

get it "sewn"

 

At the first workshop they had cookies and a photo backdrop but at the second one there was just coloring sheets

 

The little bear cookies looked so worried :)

[originalgeek]

I admit I had never been to a build a bear in a mall, etc. so I didn't know how much they followed the process there. Here are a few more photos of the process.

Take a heart (ignore the wild hair on DD she had just come back from an all day excursion :D )

 

 

At the first workshop they had cookies and a photo backdrop but at the second one there was just coloring sheets

 

The little bear cookies looked so worried :)

 

Looks like they made a pretty decent compromise between the full scale stuffing machine at the mall store (It's a big Dr Suessian looking contraption lol) and the stuffing station on ship. Still get all the experience but maybe a little less hardware which is fine and understandable on a boat.

 

Incidentally my wife already told me we're doing this on or cruise next year. She been ignoring my texts all day until I told her about the build a bear lol. She didn;t wanna hear how much I would be spending tomorrow on Metallica tickets but Build a Bear got her attention.

 

Oh and yeah, around me, cookies need to worry.

[Shaded Lady]

At the first workshop they had cookies and a photo backdrop but at the second one there was just coloring sheets

 

WELL!!!! If there are cookies I'm all in!

[Kanyon71]

Awesome. My daughter will be very interested in this, she already has a few of them. Thanks for the review.

[sassyredhat]

Thank you for this review.

Our G-daughter will be 5 when we go, and I was planning to do this with her.

Patti

[dawnjam1]

We have done the workshop on several of the ships including the Breeze. I am excited to see they have gotten the machine now as in the past we hand stuffed them with the same material! Super cool!

[JordyM]

My daughters 20 and 17 and I each built a bear on the Magic at Christmas. No one batted an eye that we didn't have littles with us.

 

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[deborahjo]

Wow. We have been doing Build a Bear for 4 years and have never had all this happen. We walk in pick out our creature. Stuff it and leave.

 

We are 2 adults and build them for our Labrador retrievers. No one cares that we have no kids with us.

 

 

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[kirbym099]

Does anyone know if the Valor is still doing the carnival sponsored build a bear since the actual Build-a-bear shop still says coming soon?

 

 

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[sk8rmomof3]

Thank you SOOOOOO much for the information. That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for! Kind of hoping it would be one day 1. I wasn't planning on bringing stuffed animals for the kids and was hoping they'd get to make a bear day one. I'm so glad it sounded like it was worth it! My kids want to do this! I hope one of them picks the Carnival bear since it's the only place you can get it!

[fivemonkeysplus1]

I didn't care to do this until your post 👍🏻 We've done it here several times...but that shark <3 and we're swimming with sharks in Belize. I'm in!

[CruisinHoneymooners]

Thanks SO MUCH for posting this, I've dug and dug, too, hoping to see more details about this. I'm looking forward to surprising my son with it on our cruise next month. :D

[easyboy]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

[jaskie]

My daughter loves BB, so I know we will be hitting it.

[5ten]

I don't know if I should tell my kids about this or not. LOL

[Domergirl]

This is a great review, and I'll be excited to try the real build-a-bear experience at sea!! I wanted to post to make sure that people understand that this Isn't on all ships yet. We were on the Fantasy last week, and even though the Funtimes calls their event "Build a Bear"....it's really the same old "Beary Cuddly" that's been around for years. My daughter still enjoyed it...but it's a different experience, different selection, etc. The carnival website will tell you which ships have which experience.

 

 

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