We visited the HMS Victory with our 3 and 6 year old. Our eldest absolutely loved it (and so did we). Our youngest thought it was ‘boring’ and the highlight of his trip was buying a plastic sword in the gift shop. Due to our children’s ages, we did not get the audio guide and just walked around the ship, having an educated guess at what certain things could be for and asking the occasional question from the informative guides. When we left we got the £5 souvenir book on the HMS victory which is great value and very informative. I was pleased to learn that the poop deck had nothing to do with poo! I struggled understanding the ticket system online so here’s an idiot’s guide to buying a ticket: 1. Get an annual pass. It’s amazing value, even if you only visit once because you can visit as many attractions as you can squeeze into your day. 2. Your ticket gets you into the whole site. When you buy it, you don’t have to choose a specific attraction so choose your arrival time carefully because that is the time you enter the dockyard and from there you go to the ship(s) you want to see 3. There’s a boat trip included in the annual ticket (I do not recall this being mentioned online). Buying a ticket separately is £26 for a family. It was a great way to see the non-historical ships currently in port although at 45 mins long it got a bit boring for the kids. We had a sandwich/wrap lunch in the main restaurant and the quality is far higher than what you usually get at a tourist attraction. Great coffee too and fair prices. It was a fantastic way to spend a few hours. Can’t wait to go back and visit the other ships and museums on site.

As some exhibitions were closed on a Monday and the weather wasn't kind for a harbour tour, rather than just get entry to a couple of exhibits, we went for the annual pass and plan to revisit in warmer weather. Obviously the Victory is a must see. HMS Warrior was interesting and we enjoyed the museum. We had a pricey little lunch in the cafe attached to the Mary Rose exhibition (not included in the dockyard ticket) which was convenient for the Victory but on another day, with better weather, we wouldn't have bothered.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day there and look forward to returning on our ticket sometime next year. The Victory with the audio commentary is amazing and we felt we were actually in the battle at one point. The Mary Rose is just fascinating with all the items they have recovered along with the ship itself. The queues are part and parcel of the times we are living in but move quickly and the guides explain what is going on. The only negative was the cost of the food, so take a picnic, £5 for a sausage roll, £3 for a muffin!!.

It was an embarrassing experience on Sunday 8th March 2020, when we took two of our grandchildren ages 6 & 9 to the Portsmouth Dockyard Action Stations ( Inactions more like) for a day out. They are very active children who have thoroughly enjoyed our periodic visits to the dockyard in the past. However, how things have deteriorated over the last 3-4 years. Often they go into the Action stations area to play on the various activities, but they are lucky if they can hardly find any of the interactive games actually fully functioning at all. The controls on some, video interactive games stuck, and cannot be rest. No staff on duty to supervise or operate the 9 pad games until late afternoon; no-one at all to supervise the mast climbing opportunity. Or available for the under 5 year olds climbing area. Even in the the horrible history area, the ‘splat the rat’ projector was switched off , and the man on duty was only providing cover during someone else’s dinner break, but had no knowledge nofbhowcto turn it on for us. When the children don’t want to walk around looking at the ships, or go on the boat ride all day long, there is little else for them to do. They would probably have had more fun in a public playground. When we first went to the dockyard, there were long lines of queues of children waiting to have their go on something or the other. Nowadays, I considering you would be wasting your money spending it on a child’s pass, although I believe the under 5 ‘ves are entitled to free entry? Why doesn’t the manager of these areas I have raised regarding the broken down games or limited activities do anything to improve them. Fancy allowing the standards to drop so low. It’s probably not a profit making venture. It beggars belief. Go there if you must. The Museum, ships, harbour trip , Gosport submarine, and explosion experience are excellent for those who want to learn about these things of an historical interest. But, it’s boring for younger children, when a lot of the activities there just aren’t in operation. That’s all I needed to say.

Really is a must do if in Portsmouth. Ideally if you have the time doing bits over two days or more is best ( ticket valid for a year) We had a full navy ticket and this is only 50p more than 3 exhibits ticket so really worth getting. ( Cheaper to get in advance) There really is so much to do for adults and children. Guided tour of HMS Victory very good. HMS Warrior enormous but not a major amount of information. The guided Harbour tour also very interesting. The museums have a massive amount of exhibits with a trip across to Gosport to the submarine museum also included. If you have limited time then really need to do some research and prioritise.

The guided tour of HMS Victory took about an hour and was very interesting. Much better than just wandering about, providing useful background information and historical fact. There are some very steep stairs and extremely low ceilings so take care. In complete contrast the Warrior is a much larger and more spacious ship - no guided tour available but you get an information leaflet and a map. Quite a lot to explore. The museum has some interesting exhibits, there is a special section dedicated to Nelson but loads more. Given the weather was wet and breezy we didn't take the harbour tour even though it was included in the ticket - but there's an excuse to head back in the next 12 months. We had lunch in the Mary Rose Cafe (this exhibition costs extra and is not on the dockyard ticket but the cafe and shop are open to the general public). The cafe was serving mostly expensive sandwiches and not much selection. We parked in the dockyard parking area just up the road - £5 for 4 hours.

There are a lot of price choices so do check. It isn’t cheap and you pay for a ‘year’ which is great if you’re a local. The dockyard has numerous attractions, some are included within your admission fee others aren’t. For example the Mary Rose exhibition has a separate charge. The overall area is flat and easy under foot. Lots of places to purchase food and drink. Other facilities available. Great area for kids within the ‘Action Stations’ building. Overall you can easily spend a good few hours here and learn a lot about naval history over the years.

Managed to get myself a discounted annual pass so plan to visit the historic dockyard a few times during the Spring and into Summer but to start things off I thought I would try the Mary Rose as a Winter visit - note the Mary Rose is a separate attraction and requires a separate ticket. Separate review posted for the Mary Rose too. So over the course of the next few months I'll reviews for a number of the dockyard exhibits. The Dockyard itself has lots of family connections for me so it is always great to have a walk around. So whether it is HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, a harbour tour, Action Stations, the museum exhibitions, lunch or a drink in the Boathouse then there is plenty to see and do. Think it will be Victory next for me, havent done that for years. At the time of visiting then the new carrier HMS Prince of Wales was in harbour. A huge vessel towering above others. But thats the dockyard for you a mix of old and the new. The dockyard has its own car park which is ideal and decent value if you are staying the whole day but if only for say a couple of hours then there is also Gunwharf Quays car park nearby. Outside the dockyard is a memorial to the "mudlarkers" who used to dive into the mud to collect coins that were thrown into the mud by people using the ferries. Lots of history around this place.

Fabulous day out. You need to book a time slot and tickets on-line - making entry to the site easy. Good Covid practices in place. We opted to book a year pass which will allow us access to all of the many ships and museums (including those in Gosport) over the next 12 months. This ticket is excellent value if you are local and want to visit throught the year or simply want to spend more than 1 day exploring. There is definitely enough to see over several visits. Staff excellent and very knowledgeable. Some of the staff in character roles explaining the history of the ship - making the experience very interactive. If you are going just for the day I'd recommend planning a full day as there is certainly enough to see and do (obviously dependent on the access your ticket allows). We did the harbour cruise (takes about 45 minutes) which was informative and definitely worth it. Very interesting to see the historical vessels alingside the operational ships of the Royal Navy. We opted to get on the first cruise of the day, which was fine re availabilty, but noted that the later cruises were full and some customers were disappointed as it's on a first come first served basis. We didn't eat in the dockyard but there were lots of options if you wished to and several benches for picnicking. Overall excellent value and a great day out. Thoroughly recommended for lovers of maritime history and non.

Our youngest son has applied to join the Royal Navy, so we decided to spend a long weekend in Portsmouth, concentrating on the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. We bought the Ultimate Explorer ticket which sounded, on the face of it, quite expensive at £39 each but it turned out to be fantastic value! It enables access to all the various museums for up to one year. We managed to fill three amazing days visiting the Mary Rose, HMS Victory, M33, The Submarine and Explosion! Museums at Gosport and enjoyed a remarkably interesting harbour tour into the bargain. If you haven't been for a few years, treat yourself! Every single element of the experience has been greatly improved – particularly the new home for Mary Rose, which finally brings it all to life and the audio tour of Victory, which is nothing short of outstanding. We were nervous about visiting during Covid but we needn't have worried - a lot of work has been done with minimum disruption and it was virtually deserted anyway, which is a huge shame. Get along and help support this fantastic resource - you will not be disappointed. My only criticism is the way that booking your visits online works (or doesn't) – it is clunky, frustrating and seems unnecessary.