Almost everybody—whether a cruiser or not—instantly recognizes the theme to The Love Boat, one of the most popular romantic sitcoms of all time. On November 5th, the cast of the famous television show reunited for a highly anticipated one-hour appearance on CBS’s daytime talk show, The Talk.
Hosts chatted with six of the regulars from the iconic sitcom: Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing), Jill Whelan (Vicki Stubing), Bernie Kopell (Doc Bricker), Lauren Tewes (Julie McCoy), Ted Lange (Isaac Washington), and Fred Grandy (Gopher Smith). Frequent guest star Charo also made a surprise appearance. The actors reminisced about the many interpersonal relations and conflicts behind the scenes, as well as their excitement at the unexpected success of the beloved sitcom.
The Love Boat debuted in 1977. Despite being panned by critics, the show proved incredibly popular and ran for 10 years. The show had a unique format that interwove several story lines during a single one-hour episode, and was known for attracting guest appearances from top actors of the day, including Florence Henderson and Janet Jackson. The Love Boat spun off several made-for-TV movies during its run, as well as a second series in the late 1990s.
Interestingly, while The Love Boat was mainly filmed on a Hollywood set, the story took place on the real cruise ship featured in the opening credits: the Pacific Princess. Owned and operated by a Royal Holiday cruise line affiliate, Princess Cruises, the Pacific Princess became one of the most widely recognized ships in the world. As The Love Boat, she has likely introduced millions of people to the concept of cruise vacationing.
The original Pacific Princess—now 43 years old—had a capacity of 640 passengers and 350 crew. She left Princess Cruises in 2002, was operated by a few other companies, and now rests in Turkey awaiting breaking. Fortunately, with the purchase of a newer ship in 2003, Princess Cruises kept the tradition alive by rechristening the new 680-passenger ship with the same name, so that cruisers today can still sail aboard the Pacific Princess, daughter of The Love Boat.
