My husband and I just returned from a great two week cruise to the Scandinavian capitals with Voyages of Discovery. I had never heard of this cruise line but found it on the Cruise Critic website and chose it based on itinerary, the fact that it sailed out of and returned to Harwich, the prices seemed good (even with the miserable exchange rate) and we were looking for something with an academic focus rather than multiple amenities. Plus I enjoy being with Brits (there were only about 60 Americans aboard vs. 500 or so Brits, Australians and a few others.
We have sailed previously on Windstar, Princess and Oceania and enjoyed them all. Oceania had the same number of passengers and we knew it would be a hard act to follow, especially in the dining department. We knew the Discovery was an older ship but were pleasantly surprised at the lovely public rooms and the all over high level of maintenance. It looked so graceful on the water and along the pier unlike the huge boxy cruise ships that are so ubiquitous nowadays.
The cruise package included two nights at a nice London hotel, a half day tour of London and a smooth transfer to the pier at Harwich. We also had a nice non stop flight on British Air from Seattle which the cruise line arranged very reasonably. My only disappointment with the arrangements was our choice of cabin on the Pacific deck. I wish we had spent a little more money for a superior cabin on the Promenade deck which we saw on the last day. The cabins were much larger, with a bathtub and on a quiet deck. We had asked for our cabin to be made up with one bed which made it very crowded and it didn't even have a bedspread so it didn't look very cheery. It was quiet, had lots of storage, a functional bathroom with a great shower (tiny) and an excellent cabin steward. It had a small TV which we mostly used to watch the excellent shore excursion and historical lectures which were offered frequently and televised round the clock. We were quite happy there but it would have been nice to have more space and nicer surroundings.