Review of Jewel of the Seas August 5th-17th 2007 Cruised with my niece DN, her roommate, A and A's Mum G. G and I are both in our 50s, the girls 30. Apart from me all from NY and NJ. Pre-cruise Picked the three Americans up on Friday morning and drove to Essex for our two night stay We stayed at Mistley Thorn, a lovely pub with great food. After a dreadful Summer weather wise in the UK, the weather changed that weekend to warm and sunny and this was the weather that would follow us all cruise. On the Saturday we visited Colchester and shopped and had lunch and then in the afternoon we visited Flatford Mill and Constable country. First Day We left for the 15 minute journey to Harwich and we parked the car by 11 o'clock. Our luggage was taken from us and we just made the short walk across the railway tracks to the ship. Check in at the Diamond checkin was a little slow as there was a family ahead of us who seemed to be causing problems with checking in their teenage kids. Why, we never found out. It was taking three of the checkin agents to deal with them. Anyway checkin was complete by 11.30 and boarding had already started so it was quickly on onboard for us. We have been on two of the Jewel's sister ships, Brilliance and Serenade so it was like coming home. LOL Our cabins would not be available until 2 so we did our usual things like checking out our dinner table, second sitting deck 4, a table for 6 so two people would be joining us, setting up appointments in the spa, booking both Chops and Portofino for later in the cruise. We then ate our first lunch in the Windjammer before checking out our cabin. 9078 the same as we had had on Serenade in Alaska, on the hump with a very deep balcony. We took part in the quiz in the Centrum and G won an art auction print. We went back to our room and our bags were arriving so we unpacked. the first time we have ever unpacked before safety drill. After the Safety drill-very civilized as we had to go to the Schooner bar for sailaway we went to the Sky bar and met people from our cruise critic forum. The first dinner we met our two dinner companions, two lovely ladies, aged 75 plus from London. They were good companions over the 12 days. Day two-day at sea This was the first of 4 sea days-not going into too much detail as each sea day was usually the same-late breakfast, reading, trivia, late lunch sometimes in the seaview cafe, some as this one was, a formal night, Spa appointments for manicure, pedicure, massage or facial for DN and me-not all on the first sea day but on the 4 sea days. On his first day we had our meet and mingle-most attended and we had a nice photos taken that was for sale later in the cruise. the cruise director Clodagh turned up and was very friendly and funny. there were raffle tickets and G again won-this time the RCCL goody bag with all the items they usually give as prizes in trivia. We played trivia about 10 times - won once but tied three times and lost on the tiebreaker question which sometimes was something stupid like 'how old was the staff member doing the questions?' We also won Name that tune once and tied again for first place another time. I did not make any note of the food we ate at dinner each night. Just to say the food was really lovely and we all found something we like. Day three-Oslo As I have said the weather was lovely all cruise so a warm sunny day greeted us here. We got off the ship and walked along the dock to the ferry dock and caught the ferry over to the museums-visited the Viking ships and then walked to the Kontiki and Ra museum. We then crossed back to the city, walked and shopped a little. Had coffee to use up our Kroner and G did some sweater shopping. Went to the shops at the dock while A and G visited the Nobel museum. Using up the rest of the money became a familiar tale in each port except in Finland where they use Euro and I can use those when I go to my apartment in Spain. Day 4-Copenhagen. We used the ship's shuttle to get into town-a waste really as they dropped us not too far from the ship and we had to take a taxi to City Hall as we had decide to do a walking tour with Hans Christian Anderson-not him of course but an American dressed and acted like him. Enjoyable tour and then we had a drink as it was by now very hot and we needed the break. We then split up with A and G taking a canal cruise and DN and me shopping along Stroget, the long walking street. Had a delicious cake and iced coffee in a very classy coffee house-As a result of this extravagance we didn't have as much Kroner left in Denmark to spend at the port! And then we all met up again and the girls spent 15 minutes on the bikes you can hire for 20 Kroner. DN and I walked back to the ship and A and G shopped a little and took the shuttle back. Highlights tonight we dinner in Chops-lovely of course and at 12.30 we passed under the Great Belt bridge a great site. Day 5-another sea day and Formal night Day 6-Stockholm-this was our only ship excursion when we went to the Ice Bar. Had a fun 15 minutes and then a walking tour of the old town where we had our only rain of the cruise-a 10 minute heavy shower. After our tour we stayed in the old town, saw the changing of the guard and shopped a little. DN was thrilled to go to a very big H&M store. We then rushed to catch the shuttle back to the ship. Sat on the balcony for hours to watch us leave Stockholm through the archipelago. Highlight tonight was winning $720 on a slot machine. Day 7-Helsinki-Got the hop on hop off bus and toured the city. Visited the Church of the Rock, the cathedral, bought some nice Villeroy and Boch china with my winnings from last night. Went to the market and bought a nice necklace. In most of the ports so far we just had a snack in town and ate in the Windjammer after getting back on board. Days 8 and 9 St Petersburg We had arranged to join up with an other couple to take a tour with Alla. We were lined up at 7 to get off the ship and after three coachloads going to Moscow they let us off. It was nice to see and hear a little band welcoming us. We managed to do the impossible-get an immigration clerk to smile-this one was having a catnap and had to be woken by her boss and so smiled sweetly at us as she had been caught. Elena the guide was waiting for us. V our companion and emailed and negotiated a great tour. We started off very early visiting a cathedral where as it was Sunday there was a service. The choir, although small, was wonderful as the acoustics were incredible. We then toured the city a little before arriving at the Hermitage. We had special early entry. We had a lovely tour seeing some of the main artwork. After we went to a lovely little restaurant called Russian Kitsch which seemed with its cartoons on the walls and ceiling to poke fun at past leaders. We had a taster of some Russian food. In the afternoon we went to the Peter and Paul fortress to visit the Romanov tombs, The Church of the Spilled Blood and St Isaac's Cathedral-all very beautiful. We then had a quick stop at a cafe where we had coffee or milk shakes along with a complimentary shot of vodka. During the day we also visited two souvenir shops-mainly for the bathrooms but the shopping was nice too. (anyone seeing a pattern here about shopping)? We then did an extra by going to Yusopov Palace owned by the main who killed Rasputin and saw we had been poisoned and then shot. We were back on the ship by 6.30. Exhausted. Tonight we went to Portofino-on every cruise we have been on I have always preferred Portofino to Chops and this was the case here too. The next day we had a later start, travelled to Tsar's village to visit Catherine's Palace-amazing what they have achieved after almost total destruction by the Nazis. We then went to Peterhof to see the fountains (palace closed on Mondays) and the Monplaisir palace of Peter the Great. We then went back to St Petersburg by hydrofoil, did a little more shopping and then back to the ship. This was the first port we had seen another cruise ship-one of Holland America. Day 10- Tallinn A more relaxed start. Just walked around the town, had a little lunch, climbed to the top for the view. Shopped (yes) in the little market by the shuttle stop. Very nice people. Good prices.G and I took the shuttle back and the girls walked. Star Princess was docked next to us. The last two days were sea days. After 7 cruises we both agreed that this cruise was one of the two best along with Brilliance three years ago-the staff were wonderful-Christian was our steward-very quiet but a nice man especially when the last day my niece had accidentally left a lot of dollars out on the bed and he had seen me in the library and brought it to me. Our two waiters were good too Ashvir from India and cannot remember the other one's name.The only entertainment we wnet to were The American Drifters,Quest and the Love and MArriage Show- too busy socializing and with late dinner we sometimes just went to the casino after dinner.We met some lovely people on Cruise critic and they made it a great cruise for us. .