Atlantic crossing from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale on HAL's Nieuw Statendam

This was our second assignment for Holland America since 2020.

Shipboard

This was also our 2nd experience on one of HAL's Pinnacle-class ships. (See the Hawaiian cruise for more ship details.)
Of course, there is different art around the ship, so these photos are just a sample.

We did not stop at the port on the Azores because there were too many people on the ship that were sick, so there was an impromptu piano concert by Elliot Finkel in the piano bar. We've had the pleasure of hearing him play on the Main Stage and on the smaller venues on several HAL cruises. He plays classical, jazz, and all of the American songbook.

He seems to have such a good time playing. When we do our early morning walks around the ships when he's on board, we can hear him rehearsing either back stage on on the Main Stage or in practice rooms elsewhere. I talked to him one morning on this cruise after he finished his early morning session to let him know that we really appreciated his work. By the way, I also gave an extra presentation on this day and I happened to mention to the cruise director that is was my birthday, so she led the audience in a Happy Birthday song for me. How nice!

Like the Koningsdam, the the LED screen is impressive.

Cartagena, Spain

We had been to this port on the 2015 World Cruise.

 
We liked the coffee guy sitting on the roof of a coffee bar. And we took our traditional adventure shadow photo.

Giant murals depicting what was there in earlier times.

 
This space was also a vegetable & herb garden.

The ancient amphitheater was being restored.

We had gained some altitude and were looking down on the ship.

Above the ancient amphitheater was a modern one.

The view from the summit was amazing.

English ivy (Hedera helix) was in bloom and attracting bees.

There were quite a few peacocks around the summit area.

There are tiled murals along the road on the way down, which depict the history of the area.

 
I took a photo of this old olive tree in 2015, which I use in my olive presentation. Back then, it was surrounded by lavender.

 
These are remnants of mills for grinding various grains into flour.

On a church...

While there was a significant amount of restoration work around the city, some buildings are now in good shape.

 
A tribute to Vikings?

 
We had had a lovely day in this beautiful city.