This month, I was fortunate enough to spend a week on a cruise ship, the MSC Preziosa. From Southampton, the trip would take us to Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge and Le Havre. Four countries in a week!

I had been looking forward to the holiday, not only the shore visits but the time at sea, relaxing on the ship and the copious amounts of food and entertainment on board. In particular, I was looking forward to some pen time, writing up my journal in the cabin or any of the comfortable lounges and dining areas when time allowed.

I took four vintage fountain pens. These were a Conway Stewart 15, a Burnham 61, another Conway 15 and an Eversharp Skyline. All are lever-fillers and freshly filled with Waterman inks: Intense black, Serenity blue, Audacious red and Harmonious green, respectively. My plan was to rotate these four pens, writing with a different one each day. For journaling, I brought a Leuchtturm A5 dot grid hardback notebook.

This system worked well. Each day’s entry was written in a different colour from the day before. In practice there was some overlap, when I wrote some more about the previous day but would already be on a new colour.

Another benefit would be the ease of measuring the page capacity of each pen (all recent acquisitions), by counting the pages written in each colour. However none of them has yet run dry and so this test is still in progress.

Another holiday pursuit, was seeking out fountain pen shops wherever we travelled. I had long been telling myself (and my wife tells me too) that I do not need more fountain pens, but I take it that such rules do not apply when outside the UK jurisdiction. At the very least, they are less rigorously enforced.

Over the course of the week, I managed to buy six fountain pens! These were all modest purchases, ranging in cost from three Euros, up to 60 Euros at most, all cartridge-converter pens and all with steel nibs. Nevertheless, finding and buying each of these brought me a great deal of pleasure and they continue to make me happy, long after the cruise is over. Here is an account of the new pens that came home with me.

Hamburg.

Despite its proximity to the UK, this was only my first time in Germany. A well-travelled friend had once told me that the pharmacy chain Mullers, often sold school pens, from brands such as Online. Our taxi dropped us near the splendid City Hall and from there we walked almost seven miles with our tourist map, taking in the main sites including churches, the concert hall, and the historic dockland warehouses.

I did not come across a Mullers but we did briefly visit a modern shopping mall, Europa Passage where I had a quick look for any pen shops. I found a hobby craft shop called idee, where a helpful assistant showed me a small selection of Lamy Safaris. One of these, in a new “light rose” with matching clip and finial, appealed to me. I was surprised to find that all the Safari fountain pens were inked and could be tested before purchase. This pink one wrote very nicely (as expected with Lamy) and this became my souvenir from Germany.

Rotterdam.

I had Googled for fountain pen shops in Rotterdam and the top result was Hummelman. After a nice walk across the bridge from the cruise terminal and along the waterfront and a visit to a few of the main attractions in the city centre, such as the market, the cube houses and City Hall, I took a walk to find Hummelman. This turned out to be a couple of miles from the centre but was well worth the visit.

I learned that this family-run shop had been established in the 1930’s and now run by the third generation of the family. The genial proprietor, Vincent, kindly allowed me to take some photos and to take my time having a long browse around the displays. It was such a treat to find a bricks and mortar store with such a wide selection of brands and models and an enthusiastic and knowledgeable owner. I chose a green Monteverde Ritma – a large and hefty metal pen with a glossy gunmetal magnetic cap, and a blue Faber-Castell Essentio (or Basic), which was also in metal. Previously I had seen only plastic barrelled version with rubber grip section. Both of these pens were available in various colours and nib widths.

Vincent saw me studying his vast display of inks, which reached from floor to ceiling and referred me to his helpful book of ink swatch cards, carefully made by hand and grouped by brand. He told me that his father does the swatches. I chose a Jacques Herbin Lie de thé.

Of these two pens, I am finding the Faber-Castell to be easier. The fine nib is a joy: firm but smooth and effortless. The body and finish definitely feels like an upgrade from the plastic and rubber versions I had used before. As for the Monteverde, the glossy polished metal section is slippy, as I might have known. The magnetic cap works well and leaps into place with a click to fit flush with the barrel, whether on capping the pen or posting the cap. On my model, the stealthy black fine nib needed some smoothing and this, coupled with the insecure grip, makes the pen a bit tricky to use, but it is a handsome and weighty beast.

Zeebrugge.

This is the port for the stunningly beautiful medieval town of Bruges, about 30 mins drive inland. When I was there last, in 2016, I had sought out a pen shop that I found online, named De Corte. This is another shop now owned by the third generation of the family, having started in the 1920’s. I have fond memories of finding the shop but having to peer at the window as the shop was closed. Fortunately the proprietor, Iris de Corte spotted me and allowed me to come inside and look around, as she was taking product photos for a proposed website.

This time, the shop was open and I was happy to find Iris again, serving a customer. When I reminded her of my last visit of 8 years ago, she laughed and said that she had still not set up the website! She far prefers to meet customers face to face and to enable them to try a pen before buying. She told me that the number of such fountain pen shops is now very small. When I mentioned Hummelman’s in Rotterdam, she told me that she knew them! It is a very small world.

Of course, I wished to buy a pen from Iris. I chose a Caran d’Ache 849 in red – the colour of Caran d’Ache and of the Swiss flag. As the joke goes, “You could say a lot of bad things about Switzerland but their flag is a big plus.” When I had first tried one of these pens, several years ago, I had dismissed it as being too slim and having an uncomfortable step down from barrel to section. However in practice, having spent time using the pen, neither of these points is an issue for me. I enjoy its pencil-like hexagonal cap and barrel, the satisfying click on capping the pen and the neat way the cap can be posted, flush with the barrel. It also writes very well.

Le Havre.

My wife and I had booked an excursion from the port of Le Havre, to visit Honfleur. This is a picture-postcard town of pretty timber-framed houses, picturesque streets of shops and art galleries and interesting churches and waterfront places to explore: an absolute gem.

Before getting immersed in this historic town, I popped into a supermarket for a quick look for a stationery aisle. I found one and could not resist buying a fountain pen for three Euros, including two cartridges. It had no brand name other than the name of the shop, “Casino, stylo plume” on the blister pack. Back outside, I loaded a cartridge, putting the second one in the barrel as a spare. After the pen had sat in my pocket for a few minutes, I tried it out in my notebook. To my surprise, it wrote immediately and with a lovely smooth flow. If only all pens were this good!

My final pen purchase of the trip came at the end of the day, back in Le Havre. Again, it was a supermarket in the city centre where I found an ideal souvenir: a Waterman Allure, made in France, in brushed stainless steel and with an improved plastic grip area. When I had bought an Allure previously, I disliked the grip section with a surface that defied gripping. In frustration, I had gouged grooves in it to stop the pen sliding around in my hand. Thankfully, this problem has been fixed, at least on the stainless steel versions now sold in Le Havre!

Again, this Waterman wrote beautifully, straight out of the box and makes a great EDC pen, encased in steel and with its large capacity Waterman cartridge.

The following day, our cruise ended and we disembarked at Southampton, tired but happy. I was pleased with my purchases. Returning with six additional pens inked will delay the emptying of my four vintage pens but this is a small price to pay for the joys of the holiday haul.