Instead, after check in, a jolly Australian photographer snapped souvenir portraits against a backdrop of flags, then it was a quick trip up the gangplank to be greeted by a row of smiling crew in whites.

A burst of sunshine reflected the euphoria I felt as we pulled away from the docks in Dover. Tea was being served in the Palm Court and through the plate glass windows the white cliffs seemed to glide past.

More and more of us are taking the civilised departure option on a cruise from a UK port (more than 270,000 now do so every year, according to the Passenger Shipping Association). To tap this rich seam, American cruise companies are joining established British lines and basing ships in UK ports for the first time this year (see below).

To taste cruising American style, which has proved so popular with Britons in the Caribbean and the Med, and see the British Isles from a new angle, my boyfriend Michael and I joined Crystal Symphony’s 11-night Celtic Memories cruise, all the way round from Dover up to Scotland, to Ireland and back through the English Channel.

Despite being hotel-style on the inside with balconied cabins galore, Crystal Symphony has a pleasing symmetry and an impressive, pointy prow.

But it was with some trepidation that I made my way down the endless corridor, which disappeared into a telescopic dot to our “penthouse with veranda” on deck 10.

Most passengers seemed to be there as much for the boat and its facilities as for the destination. The route seemed by the by. Their reasons for being on the cruise included: “We got a good deal” and “Our parents paid for the whole family to celebrate their ruby wedding.”

We signed up for two excursions. A delightful half day guided walk on Mousa, a Shetland Island bird sanctuary where seals basked and there’s an Iron-Age broch (defence tower); and a long coach trip from Invergordon: short steam train journey and Culloden.

A big ship means more choice — more restaurants, more bars, more shops, more to do in the evenings. And as we passed under the Forth Bridge, we had the novelty of standing on Deck 13 and gazing up in awe as the ship scraped through with 4ft to spare.

But the downside is that it can’t get in close to the ports of call. For Edinburgh we were berthed in the particularly unlovely docks at Rosyth. In Dublin too, we were in distant docks a good half hour from the city.

At “Waterford” it was a tender transfer to the quaint seaside resort of Dunmore East followed by a 12-mile (19km) coach shuttle into town. The tenders were frequent, queuing rare and the coaches free, but hanging around was inevitable and cut into shore time.

It didn’t bother most guests, and we returned hours before the ship sailed at midnight from a day in rainy “Dublin”, grateful to be back in the embrace of the “Crystal family”.

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