She Sails Away

As if I need to be tagged to find live blog food pics? 😁 Thanks for trying though.
Sounds like you'll be fine, lounge-wise, either way but hope you continue to have your choice of the two.

As I’ve already mentioned, boarding was very timely and efficient.  We stopped by our mustard (sic) station on the way in and got that out of the way.  Then straight over to the specialty dining kiosk near the dining room to make our specialty rezzies.  No one else in line…easy peasy.  Woohoo !
 
On our way up to our room to sneak the keys off the stateroom door, we ran into Gigi, the Suites Concierge.  I asked her if there were any Pinnacle exclusions to the Suite Lounge.  Very sheepishly, she said, “Yes.  Only the top 30 allowed in the Concierge Lounge” (EX STILL has not converted their Concierge Lounge to a Suites Lounge despite the fact that they underwent a dry dock fairly recently.  Why ??).  She continued, “If your key works, you’re allowed in”.  My heart sank as I’m certain that we would be excluded.  I’ve been waiting for this to happen.  It was just a matter of time.  “oh well” I tell myself.  It’s not the end of the world.  Truly, the Crown Lounge is actually nicer than the Suites/Concierge Lounge on this ship since the Concierge Lounge is still, inexplicably, located in an uninspired inside room on deck 9 while the Crown Lounge is up in the Viking Crown are with an ocean view.  “We’ll be fine”, I said, as I choked back the tears of disappointment. 😜😜
So I went and snatched the keys from the door (we’re right by the elevators on deck 8 so I was and out like a special forces recon team.  Nobody saw me come or go (except for security, of course)).  Even though I knew it was a waste of time, I told Dan that we had to try the key to see if it would open the Concierge Lounge door.  I held my breath.  I slipped the key in.  I heard the “click” that the lock makes when it magically unlocks the door.  The light blinked.  I couldn’t believe our luck !  Our successful record for Suites Lounge access was still intact !  Yippee !  Now…are we in the top 30 Pinnacles ?  That’s a big “no” unless there are only 29 Pinnacles on board !  So either it’s a one-time lock glitch OR Gigi was hedging her bet.  I guess we’ll find out the next time I try to get in !
I got my cappuccino, and a stale lemon cookie and we waited in the [absolutely deserted] Concierge Lounge until it was time for lunch.  For those who need to know (Mike ?  …the tag-thing isn’t working !) here are some pix of the unimpressive treats in the Lounge for embarkation.
Poor Dan.  He’s all alone in the Lounge !
 
 

Instead of making yet a new topic, I decided to add some cruise related news from Norway to this post:
Norwegian newspapers report that this year there will be 5049 cruise ship dockings in Norwegian ports, a new record (pre covid record was 1985...), and that co2 pollution from cruise ships this year will SURPASS domestic flights! So as much as  you all love visiting my country, it is understandable that they are limiting cruise ship visits from next year... 

Our wonderful TA from MEI, Jennifer, gave us and my parents a bottle of wine and a cheese and fruit plate. She gave the kids some cupcakes. So we are stuffed from two meals in the last 5 hours, and we have a whole cake, cupcakes, and cheese/fruit plates in our rooms. We need an @OCSC Mike in our bathtub to help us eat it all.

Not too bad (luggage) for four adult-sized people! We each got the bulk of our clothes into a small suitcase and then put overflow, shoes, toiletries and all the cruise specific stuff into the larger two. And we each have a backpack for the airplane. 

Pancake definitely does NOT want us to leave without her.

Current situation 
I imagine @jbrinkm is getting a taste if this as well 

Hideaway Beach at 12pm. It was getting louder...

2nd lunch: crispy island fish sandwich, fries, and caramel brownie. The fish was good, the fries were fries, but the brownie was amazing.

We used Juneau. We used AlaskaShoreExcursions dot com. The camp had a banner that said Alaska X, so that may be the name of the group.
 
they were phenomenal, but it was not a glacier thing. We went to a dog sledding camp; everyone there was training for the Iditarod. It was incredibly fun.

Freedom holds a special place for me. It was the first cruise after the epic re-opening of cruising, after the Covid shutdown. It was thrilling to be on board and I thought Freedom was the most beautiful thing ever. I brought my husband, he was six months post-hospitalization from original Covid and he was weak and tired. (Still dealing with some longterm Covid fallout even now). We spent hours lying in those colorful cabanas on deck and watching the ocean. So relaxing!
 
loving your blog and photos. 😊 Solo cruising is awesome! And Miami is very fun to sail from.

Looks like the Norwegian Sun is on the neighbor island today!

Freedom holds a special place for me. It was the first cruise after the epic re-opening of cruising, after the Covid shutdown. It was thrilling to be on board and I thought Freedom was the most beautiful thing ever. I brought my husband, he was six months post-hospitalization from original Covid and he was weak and tired. (Still dealing with some longterm Covid fallout even now). We spent hours lying in those colorful cabanas on deck and watching the ocean. So relaxing!
 
loving your blog and photos. 😊 Solo cruising is awesome! And Miami is very fun to sail from.

Freedom holds a special place for me. It was the first cruise after the epic re-opening of cruising, after the Covid shutdown. It was thrilling to be on board and I thought Freedom was the most beautiful thing ever. I brought my husband, he was six months post-hospitalization from original Covid and he was weak and tired. (Still dealing with some longterm Covid fallout even now). We spent hours lying in those colorful cabanas on deck and watching the ocean. So relaxing!
 
loving your blog and photos. 😊 Solo cruising is awesome! And Miami is very fun to sail from.

A little update: sadly Urban Zoo in Bergen has permanently closed, but the Aquarium is still open! 

NOW I made it censored. 👍
It's a cheeky pie.

I LOVE this. That sounds like an amazing cruise!
I was just checking out the cabanas up on the pool deck area today trying to figure out which one I want for Day 3 Nassau. I'm leaning towards the one that is furthest away from everything.

MDR Welcome Aboard menu/night. I was a bit apprehensive about doing the MDR as a solo cruiser, but it went brilliantly. I was in and out in 45 minutes. I went with the tomato soup (scalding but delicious), southern fried chicken (omg good and thoroughly cooked!), and key lime pie (good). It seems very appropriate that "food porn" seems to actually be exhibited here with what appears to be a censored bar across the key lime pie (chocolate). 🤣 And, of course, my first Shirley Ginger on board. ❤️
All around me were tables of college students. There is a group of 8 college guys at the table in front of me, and I was a bit worried how that was going to go. However, I could hear them being extremely polite and really excited about the menu. They did prove they were college students though when they cheered for the waiter who showed up with alcohol and toasted to him. 🍻

Freedom holds a special place for me. It was the first cruise after the epic re-opening of cruising, after the Covid shutdown. It was thrilling to be on board and I thought Freedom was the most beautiful thing ever. I brought my husband, he was six months post-hospitalization from original Covid and he was weak and tired. (Still dealing with some longterm Covid fallout even now). We spent hours lying in those colorful cabanas on deck and watching the ocean. So relaxing!
 
loving your blog and photos. 😊 Solo cruising is awesome! And Miami is very fun to sail from.

#bezosclub

Balcony view

My view in the MDR. I'm at a two-person table by myself, but every. table. around. me. is filled with college students. THEY LOOK SO YOUNG OMG WHEN DID I GET OLD.

It got better, because we got to go down and do the turnaround before heading out.

For the time only being 1pm…looks like the pool area is also beginning to HOP!  But with those gorgeous blue skies…why not?
 

Yes! Getting more excited as the days pass. 😃

This will be fun!