Jane McDonald: "There’s a cruise for every person on the planet"

In 2015, there were a record 1.7 million UK and Irish cruise passengers, and the figure for last year is expected to be another all-time high; only the Germans are sailing away in greater numbers. Affordability isn’t the only reason Brits are increasingly opting for cruise holidays. There’s a lot more variety on offer these days, including many more river cruises and specialist sailings catering for passengers with an interest in everything from wine to wildlife.

In her latest series for Channel 5, McDonald tries out four cruises she would never have booked for herself: a mega-ship with 4,300 passengers, a converted Scottish trawler, a riverboat up the Danube and an Alaskan cruise.

“Even when I stopped doing The Cruise, I still took a cruise holiday every year and, like most people who go cruising, I found a ship that I liked and kept going back,” she explains. “I never would have gone anywhere cold because I wanted to sunbathe with a pina colada. But it was exhilarating going to Alaska; seeing the icebergs, dogsledding, flying over a glacier in a helicopter – it was like being in a Bond film! The scenery was breathtaking.”

She’s also a river cruise convert. “You pull up in the middle of Vienna or Budapest – these places of fantastic interest and culture – which you can’t do on a big ship. Vienna was fabulous. They’ve got massive windows on a river cruise, which you can open to get the fresh air off the water and hear what’s going on outside. And I loved just watching the world go by. Every single time I gazed out of the window it looked like a postcard.”

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Exploring the Inner Hebrides; main picture: on an adventure cruise in Alaska

But the biggest revelation was the trip round the Inner Hebrides in a refurbished herring trawler, which she shared with ten other passengers and four crew. Boutique cruises like these come with a bigger price tag, but, “It was like having your own private yacht and because it was such a small ship, we could get into all these little nooks. We docked every day and could look all over the different islands, and then the captain served us dinner every night.

“This show has changed my perception of cruising. I think there’s a cruise for every person on the planet. You can go on a cruise with eight people or with 5,000 people, so it depends entirely what you’re looking for.”

Cruising with Jane McDonald is on Channel 5 on Fridays, 9pm

Radio Times Travel: Luxury European river cruises down the Rhine, Rhone and Danube from £1,099pp

Jane’s top tips...

1. Be adventurous

“Don’t just do the same ship and the same holiday because there’s a whole world out there. I’m really pleased I’ve done this show because otherwise I would have been stuck in my ways forever.”

2. You can go it alone

“This is the perfect holiday if you are single because there are loads of people in the same boat — literally! The cruise organisers even hold single nights where you can go and easily meet other passengers who are travelling on their own.”

3. Splash out on a balcony

“It’s worth the extra for a cabin with a balcony if you’re somewhere hot. You can have your morning coffee out there, sit and read to your heart’s content and enjoy a glass of wine in the evening while the scenery goes by.”

4. Consider hidden costs

“You used to have to tip the staff who had been looking after you at the end of your holiday, which could end up being quite a lot. Now there are a lot of packages where it’s all-inclusive, including tips. You pay upfront and you know you won’t have a bill at the end of it.”

5. Don’t stress about dress

“A lot of ships have a casual restaurant as well as dining rooms you get dressed up for. Then again, there are still many ships out there where it is a big thing to get dressed up on a night, so you can pick whatever suits you. To cut down on clothes, I always stick to whites and blacks or creams and browns. You won’t need as much froufrou stuff on a cold cruise.”