We drove to Harwich having already paid for the car parking, this was painless and our bags were soon taken and our car parked (by us), it was brilliant sunshine it might have been different if it had been raining.
shuttle bus to the terminal and into the normal check in line this process only took a few minutes and we were soon headed to the ship we were on board by about 12 noon.
Our cabin was 8560 and was sold as obstructed view but we couldn't find any obstruction.