My husband and I were also on the July 26 Jewel sailing. We agree that some of the port days were shorter than I imagined, and I booked 3.5-4 hour excursions. I was disappointed that we didn't have a lot of time for shopping/eating in each port. Having said that, I also TOTALLY agree that this route as fabulous and I truly don't regret the longer excursions.
The town that Ashland referred to a ghost town was okay with me--we had taken the Blue Puffin tour as well and loved the shopping at the North Cape and overall experience. The one open shop was sufficient for me (and I am 1/2 Norwegian and a pretty focused shopper).
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Amsterdam was a great port! We spent two nights there beforehand and one after due to the times of the return flights. Beforehand, we walked around, toured the Anne Frank House, took the canal boat tour, etc. After the cruise, I wasn't sure that we could get off the ship and get to the airport in time, so we stayed an extra night near the airport. We took the "Windmills, Cheese, and Wooden Shoes" tour from Royal upon departure. They dropped us off at the airport and we took a hotel shuttle to our airport. After checking in, we walked into the town of Hoofddorp and had a great Italian meal. The front desk hooked us up with a taxi as their airport shuttle started running at 6:30 am, which is when we planned to be at the airport.
In short, I don't think that you can make a bad choice, but we highly recommend the Arctic Circle/Fjord cruise.