The kids and I had a lovely time on the Matthew Turner on Saturday, thank you so much for organizing the outing for us.  I love that it was as immersive as we wanted it to be — rather than trying to elicit interest by lecturing or instructing, the crew just did what they do and invited us to participate by picking up on our clues and responding to our questions with interest and insights.  The crew were so welcoming and invited the kids to participate in a way that got them excited and built lasting memories.  

I was also very impressed by how self-contained the system is — everything that the ship needs is built from within — even the skills of the crew.  Felix explored and found the microscope photos of plankton — so his interest in the other functions of the ship have been seeded :)