Any info on this one would be helpful. My wife and I have booked it for August, 2005.

What cruise line?
What ports?

Royal Caribbean - Jewels of the Seas - deluxe ocean view with balcony sailing from Harwich, England to Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Estonia - back to Harwich.
Any comments?

We've been to a few of those ports, and here's what we did:

Stockholm: Vasa Museum, self guided walking tour of Gamla Stan (with stops at various places along the way), Royal Palace, Nobel Museum, Nordic Museum, changing of the guard.

Oslo: Vigeland Sculpture Garden, Kon-Tiki Museum, Viking Ship Museum, Fram Museum. Ran out of town before we saw the Maritime Museum and the Askerhus (?sp) Complex.

Helsinki: self guided walking tour, central market, Senate Square, Lutheran Cathedral, Russian Orthodix Cathedral, Rock Church, Museum of the City of Helsinki, #3 tram around the city.

Estonia: self guided walking tour of Tallinn old city, with assorted stops.

St. Petersburg: two day tour with Red October

Copenhagen: Resistance Museum, Carlsburg art museum, history museum, design center, Resistance Museum, Rosenburg Palace, Christianborg Palace, changing of the guard, evening at Tivoli Gardens.

What cruise line did you take and do you think it was worth the price? What was the age mix onboard ship?

We were on the Orient lines Marco Polo.

We selected it because it started in Scandinavia (as opposed to England), and didn't include stops in either Germany or Poland, and did include both the fjords and the cities.

The ship wasn't fancy, but was OK. Yes, we thought it was worth the money. There were no children on the ship, and very few people under 40.

How does Royal Caribbean compare with other lines for this 12 night journey?

Have been investigating Norwegian Cruise Line - Norwegian Jewel departs Dover, England 8/23 similar ports Germany instead of Estonia. New ship. Also 12 nights check their site for comparison. We are also trying to compare with bus tour.

abram - did you feel you had enough time in each port?

We had two days in Stockholm, two in St. Petersburg, three in Copenhagen and one in each of the other ports. No, there wasn't enough time to see/do everything we wanted, but there never is on a cruise--that's the nature of the beast.

I did the same cruise in June, 2003 I did pre cruise in London and was very glad that I did. This cruise is very busy and i would have hated the jet lag to spoil it. Also, I think it's very foolish to spend that money on air fare and miss London. I regretted that I hadn't booked a post cruise in Paris while I was there. Some had; it was an option with RCCL but I didn't think take it. Have regretted it ever since.

Talin was a surprise. I wanted to stay there! The people are so hopeful, so ready to embrace the freedom so recently won. Compared to the depression I sensed in the Russians in St. Petersburg, Tallin was a great relief.

I took the ship's tours in all the ports as I knew that if anything happened, the cruise line would help. I travel alone, and only speak English so that was best for me. In St. Petersburg, I didn't have to buy a visa as I was with the ship's tour . The guides and buses and excursions were excellent. There were enough stops for shopping for me, (about 30 minutes each day). Those who took the ship's tours but wanted more shopping were very disappointed. However, the info clearly stated that shopping opportunities would be limited. The ship berthed at the commercial port which is quite a distance from the main attraction. I was glad that I booked full day tours as it would have wasted 2 hours each day to come back to the ship and leave again after lunch. The lunches were excellent. We went to very nice restaurants, were served Russian cuisine complete with vodka and folk entertainment.
My only regret is that I missed the ballet. I booked the night canal tour instead and the barge was not comfortable. The windows misted because the outside temperature on the water was so much colder than inside. Going outside was too cold and the steel steps too slippery.
abram's suggestions for the other ports are good. I did the glass blowing tour and liked it very much.

I felt sorry for the staff. On this itinerary, the time changes going east and back were hard. I was tired. I don't know how the crew manages such extreme changes for months. Their exhaustion showed in tiny mistakes and clumsiness in the dining room etc. Of course, they don't complain and were very gracious and professional.

One way I made life easier for myself was to order room service breakfast every day. That way, I could have a liesurely breakfast and still make the early morning tours.

Bon voyage

If you had it to do over again, would you take the Scandi land trip instead of the cruise? It's seems alot less expensive, but still hectic with in and out of hotels, moving bags, keeping up with the group, etc.

No, I'd still do the cruise, but that's one woman's opinion.

The time and energy it takes to coordinate all the details of getting from one city to another, deciding how much time to spend in each city, finding a dozen hotels, and more restaurants, packing & unpacking so many times were more than I wanted to spend.