Thanks to the hotel shenanigans, I didn’t get the train I’d intended; Not a big deal. There was one to Rotterdam soon after, so I caught that instead. (the planned one would have taken me to Schiedam Centrum, where there’s also a metro stop on the line out to Hook of Holland, where the ferry port lives)
The Rotterdam option took me back to Rotterdam Centraal, and while I could have taken a different metro line to get to the one I needed, it was only a ten minute walk, so I strolled down beside a canal and got some walking in, since it’d be the last chance for a while.
Boarding had started when I arrived, and at the advice of a ticket booth lady I snuck in ahead of the probably German youth football squad while they were trying to take a group photo, on the grounds that they’d take forever to get through departure passport control.
You can’t see in in this view, and I forgot to photograph the deck plan, but the passenger deck is roughly divided into three bits; Bar at the back (with a little ‘casino’ and access to the back deck, Cafe in the middle (where the duty free shop is), Restaurant and another Bar at the front. This is all down one side of the ship; There’s a Truckers Restaurant and the paid-access lounge on the other side, and presumably the Crew Stuff?
The ferry wasn’t crowded, but there were definitely more people than any of the night crossings. The probably German youth football team made their presence felt in a multitude of ways, but it was probably dribbling a football down the length of the passenger deck that prompted an announcement on expected behaviour.
The downside, I think, of the day ferry? There’s not a lot to do, especially when you’re traveling by yourself. There were comfortable spots to sit & read, or watch the waves, but I was still a bit jumpy and unsettled from the hotel shenanigans, so I couldn’t do those things for very long.
Probably different if you’re with a group?
At one point I was reading, or attempting to, in the bar area, and noticed that the view outside seemed less blue than earlier. It turns out there was a reason for that.
Eventually we got to Harwich, and I ended up at the back of the queue for disembarking, because I’d much rather sit in a comfy chair than stand in an unmoving queue. There was a moment of “of course you did” on the very long corridor/access way from the ship to the terminal when someone’s dog, who’d presumably been holding it in for a bunch of the trip because they were clearly inside, decided that the access way was close enough to outside and emptied their bladder.
On an easily mopped floor, to give them credit.
But also a floor with a slope to it, so the puddle chased them for a while.
The trains don’t line up with the ferry particularly well, and given the choice of sooner but indirect vs. later but direct, I’m happy to wait a bit. Got into Liverpool Street Station at maybe 10:30pm, and because I really didn’t like the idea of arriving at a friend’s place at midnight or later, I’d booked a hotel near the station.