Original title
Cruising with Jane McDonald
Released
2/10/2017
Origin country
GB
Genre
Documentary
Status
Returning series
Number of seasons
7
Number of episodes
27
TV presenter and former cruise ship entertainer Jane McDonald hosts a travel show in which she embarks on a series of ocean odysseys aboard some of the world's largest and most luxurious cruise ships.
Jane McDonald travels on the Rhine from Germany and through France and Switzerland. Along the way, she visits the world's best Christmas markets and creates her very own Christmas on board a truly magical festive cruise.
A look back at the best bits, the never-seen-before out-takes and bizarre moments from the past four series of Cruising with Jane McDonald. Plus, a version of the festive classic The 12 Days of Christmas is sung by carollers from Jane's home town of Wakefield.
The singer embarks on a Christmas tour of Norway by cruise ship, beginning her journey in Bergen, where she visits the world's largest gingerbread city. She meets a swimming Santa on a trip to Scandinavia's biggest natural aquarium, before venturing deeper into the Arctic circle to sample mead at a traditional Viking midwinter festival in a replica of a longhouse. Finally, she takes a snowmobile ride across the Russian border.
Previously unseen highlights of the singer's trip in which she explored Iceland aboard the Ocean Diamond, which began life as a ferry, but now braves the freezing Arctic seas to provide passengers with breathtaking views of the country's rugged shorelines.
Funny moments from the singer's series of voyages around the world.
The singer recalls two festive cruises in an edition featuring previously unseen footage. She starts on the SS Antoinette, travelling up the Rhine, then visits some of the world's best Christmas markets sampling traditional food and drink and getting to grips with unique customs. The Wakefield wonder then goes in search for a Nordic Crimbo on board the Norwegian institution the Coastal Express. Starting in Bergen, Jane feasts her eyes on the world's largest Gingerbread City then continues her cruise to visit Scandinavia's biggest natural aquarium for an encounter with a swimming Santa.
Jane heads to Miami where she boards a 4,300 capacity 'mega-cruiser'. She and her fellow passengers stop off in Nassau in the Bahamas before heading to the island of St Martin where she meets a host of sharks.
Joined by just six other passengers on what is easily her smallest ever cruise, Jane enjoys unseasonably good weather as she visits the puffin-packed Treshnish Islands, and Fingal's Cave on Staffa, which inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture.
On her first ever river cruise, Jane heads to Budapest's Szechenyi Baths, before a visit to the moving World War II memorial, Shoes on the Danube Bank. Then, after a waltz and a wurst, Jane makes her way to her final stop of Passau, Southern Bavaria.
Starting in Vancouver, Jane cruises around Alaska, enjoying a dog sledding adventure on an ice field, visiting the Glacier Bay National Park, meeting the cast of the nightly onboard musicals and taking a cooking lesson from ship's executive chef en route.
Jane takes her first Scandi-cruise aboard the Viking Sky, visiting Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm, and doing everything from meeting cats to becoming the fifth member of ABBA.
Jane stops off at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, catches the Tour de France in Marseilles and hits the Italian Riviera in Genoa.
Jane takes a river cruise down the Rhone from Lyon to Arles in Provence. She visits a food market, enjoys the glorious scenery, tries wine-tasting and takes a hot air balloon ride.
Starting and finishing in Havana, Jane takes a trip round Cuba where she falls for the people, the buildings, the music and the 50s cars. She has lunch on the floating Rasta Raft, and enjoys a salsa session before gate-crashing a house party where she discovers no-one parties like Cubans party!
Jane heads to the Golden State, boarding a 3,000 berth cruise liner in Los Angeles which plots a course for San Francisco. On board, she meets former Dallas star Linda Gray, attends a wedding, and has an all-over massage in which her body is coated in chocolate.
From Reykjavik, Jane boards the former ferry Ocean Diamond for a voyage around Iceland's rugged shorelines. Highlights include hot geysers, the aurora borealis, whale watching, a dip in a lagoon, a visit to a puffin rescue centre and joining in a rettir (rounding up sheep from the mountains).
Starting off in Ho Chi Minh City, Jane samples the sights, sounds and sumptuous cuisine of Vietnam, before setting sail up the Mekong to Cambodia where she visits a floating market before ending up at Ankor Wat, one of the oldest religious monuments on Earth.
Jane gets a feel for New Orleans before boarding the world's oldest steamboat for a trip along the Mississippi. On board there are sing-along piano bars and a theatre, and excursions include a trip to a former plantation, and the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
Jane finds herself centre stage at the Sydney Opera House, before embarking on a trip that takes her from Australia to New Zealand via Tasmania. Her first glimce of NewZealand is the spectacular Milford Sound, before she stops in Dunedin to experience its Scottish Heritage.
Jane continues her cruise to the North Island, including a trip to capital city Wellington, quad-biking 900m above sea level, meeting a traditional Maori tribe and a helicopter tour over Auckland, before finally heading back to Australia to climb all 1,438 steps of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Jane is sailing around South America in style aboard a luxury ship. Starting in Valparaiso, Jane joins a street art tour before beginning her journey south along the Chilean coast. She visits Patagonia and the Falklands before learning how to dance the tango.
In Argentina, Jane visits Puerto Madryn in Patagonia, the largest Welsh settlement outside Wales, and Eva Peron's famous balcony and tomb in Buenos Aires. In Uruguay, she goes shopping in Punta Del Este, the Monte Carlo of South America. She ends her cruise in Montevideo, Uruguay's capital, where she visits one of the country's oldest wineries.
Jane heads off to uncover the mysteries of the Mediterranean on an island-hopping tour of Greece, including a segway through Athens, champagne in Mykonos, and the stunning sunsets of Santorini.
Jane heads to Portugal for a luxury trip down the river Douro. In Porto, she discovers the roots of a similarly named fortified wine before boarding the stunning ship and setting sail down the Douro. The cruise takes her to the architectural wonder of Lamego, Vila Real and the homes of Mateus Rose. She even manages a trip to Spain to visit Salamanca.
In Kolkata, Jane visits the colourful chaos amid the largest flower market in Asia before setting sail on the Ganges River. Stop-offs include the temple of Kalna, and Murshidabad where she explores the grand palaces of the city and discovers a religion close to her heart, before going off the beaten track to see some local artisans at work.
The voyage concludes with the second part of Jane's journey across India, which sees her fully immersed in her cruise on the sacred Ganges river. After visiting the home of the Hare Krishna movement, she is invited to join the masses making the pilgrimage to the sacred city of Mayapur, where she takes in the spectacular shrines and ceremonies. After the cruise reaches its final stop, Jane continues on land to the famous `Pink City' of Jaipur, and then onto the Agra. The curtain falls on her trip of a lifetime with an emotional visit to one of the wonders of the world - the Taj Mahal.
Jane uncovers a little-known cruise route in the Great Lakes of America and Canada, where she jet-boats across the perilous rapids outside Montreal.
Jane enjoys new adventures in the Mediterranean, taking in a vintage car tour of Rome, the £8k-per-night hotels of Monaco, and the tapas of Barcelona's world-famous La Boqueria food market.
Starting in photogenic Budapest, Jane rides a sumptuous steam train built at the peak of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, boards a luxury river ship to the blossoming post-communist cities of Bratislava and Belgrade, and visits Dracula's castle.
In her final adventure of the current run, Jane cruises the Adriatic from historic Dubrovnik, via Venice, to the spectacular Roman city of Split and the beautiful bay of Boka.
The singer returns to embark on more voyages around the world, beginning with the first of two programmes charting a trip to the Caribbean aboard a new luxury liner. The first leg takes her south-east from Fort Lauderdale in Florida toward the private resort of Princess Cays on the island of Eleuthera, and from there she continues along to the Virgin Isles and St Thomas, ending on the island of St Martin.
The singer concludes her journey around the Caribbean, visiting Grand Cayman for a spot of horse-riding along the beach. She then heads to Roatan off the coast of Honduras, discovering the wonders of the deep aboard a submarine, before finishing her trip on the Mexican island of Cozumel, where she parties the night away at the colourful local carnival.
Jane books a four-berth private luxury river cruiser to travel along the Thames from Hampton Court to Henley-on-Thames to celebrate the 70th birthdays of her good friends Sue and Olwen. At Shepperton Lock, where they meet lock-keeper Steve Newman, who shares his 46 years of knowledge of with Jane, before heading for Windsor.
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