We are under 30 days away. I have been planning this trip for so long that it has started to feel abstract — like something that exists in spreadsheets and browser tabs rather than real life. That changed this week.
I booked the speciality dining. I sorted the drinks package. I printed the boarding documents, which felt slightly ridiculous given we are still weeks out, but also felt like the right thing to do. There is something about holding a physical piece of paper with your name and cabin number on it that makes it real in a way that a PDF on your phone does not.
The itinerary is: Venice sailaway, then Katakolon, Santorini, Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Rome, Rotterdam (two nights), Cherbourg, Zeebrugge, and back to Southampton. Twelve days. Nine ports. I have been reading about every single one of them for months.
Rotterdam is the one I am most curious about. Two nights there — which is unusual for a cruise — and I have a list of 15 things I want to see. Cherbourg is the one that surprised me most when I started researching it. And Zeebrugge is basically a day in Bruges, which I have wanted to visit for years.
The thing I keep thinking about is the Venice sailaway. We board in Southampton, sail to Venice, and then leave Venice in the evening. I have never been to Venice. Leaving it by ship at sunset is going to be something.
Under 30 days. It is real now.
Paul
29 April 2026
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