The Love Boat - just a fun post

[Chunder Worthy]

And no ever pays for drinks--- no S&S cards in sight.

 

And after all the drinks and dinner with the Captain, everybody's SO polite, because nobody dares visit the, uh, -- well, they just HOLD it! And remember, TV's first flush had already occurred on All in the Family.

[caribill]

I love the size of the cabins and everyone has a window!

 

Especially since in almost every cabin on the Real original Pacific Princess there were only twin beds (one a real twin, one a fold down from the wall) that could not be put together.

 

By day

 

 

 

At night

 

[sue2go]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who not only loves watching the show... but enjoys the way cruising is portrayed. How about the confetti throwing as they leave port?

[Camelia-]

that we saw every week on the ship..when one of the "children" misbehaved or got in trouble.Daddy Captain was always there to advise and help out..loved it! Also my first introduction to the Mexican ports..so I count it as a very instructional show..lol! I must say that on a recent cruise on the CB I was in heaven watching all of the reruns!! It was like a trip down memory lane as I saw those old familiar faces again..it seemed that every actor wanted to guest star on the Love Boat!

 

Camelia

[Nezmo]

Especially since in almost every cabin on the Real original Pacific Princess there were only twin beds (one a real twin, one a fold down from the wall) that could not be put together.

 

By day

 

 

 

At night

 

 

That reminds me of my first cruise on the MS Seaward in '90. I swear the cabin was just like that. The Seaward was not known for large cabins yet the ship was large for it's time.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Nezmo

[sprint180]

It is funny when you hear interviews with the cast how they talk about the show was so hugely popular. They went all over the world etc. I know I loved the show when I was young. But even the few I've watched on youtube they don't show much outside the ship.

Curious how the show would go over now. It was just a much more innocent time wasn't it.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Guess what? I have the show on right now -- Pop TV sometimes shows a few episodes in the mid afternoon. This episode is set on a non-Princess ship and Julie McCoy isn't the CD (I checked on IMDB and apparently this was after she got canned so her sister Jody is the CD). They're in Copenhagen and the captain is on shore in his uniform. Aren't the officers allowed to wear street clothes while in port?

[redtogo]

We sailed on the original Pacific (Love Boat) Princess in 1989. I remember trying to find familiar features from the show. One thing I found was the center pool which had a Mermaid statue in the middle of it.

[shredie]

Some lucky people are booked on the 50th Anniversary cruise on Pacific Princess to celebrate the "Love Boat," (even though this one isn't the original PP.) :):D;)

[GreySkies]

Don't forget always being greeted by the head staff when boarding the ship.

[calisilent]

Dang. The Love Boat TV show is not realistic? That's why I signed up for our cruise. What do we do now? We have prepaid gratuities and onboard credit. Isaac is featured on a the Princess web site. I thought he would be serving us drinks. Don't tell me anymore. Next thing you are going to tell me is the Santa I saw at the mall is not the real Santa. Of course he is the real Santa. Everyone knows that!

 

Haha! I don't care how fake the Love Boat Show was. We have been recording it on Pop TV and watching an episode a night! I just love watching it and counting down the days to our cruise and Isaac ( or his clone) serving us a big blue frozen umbrella drink!

 

Cathy:D

[sue2go]

Haha! I don't care how fake the Love Boat Show was. We have been recording it on Pop TV and watching an episode a night! I just love watching it and counting down the days to our cruise and Isaac ( or his clone) serving us a big blue frozen umbrella drink!

 

Cathy:D

 

I'm with you there!!

[Flafun888]

I wish Netflix would get this series...be a blast to watch it anytime I wanted.

[Pierlesscruisers]

We just returned from an Alaska cruise on the Pacific Princess (THE Love Boat). They have a TV station that shows nothing but Love Boat episodes. It was rather fun to turn on during the short periods we were in the cabin. Since I have just watched multiple episodes the comments have made me laugh.

 

I also loved the crew in shorts, long crew socks and white shoes!

 

Guess I'm going to have to go on a cruise on the Pacific Princess. I don't think I ever watched that show. I remember it being on and I remember seeing glimpses of it, but I don't think I ever watched one whole episode.

 

Tom

[geocruiser]

It all started with this book.

 

Love Boats by Jeraldine Saunders. She was a CD and wrote the book which was then turned into "Love Boat"

 

I also like the way people who did not know their cabin would walk on to the ship and Julie would give them their cabin assignment.

[USNUZULOOSE]

Interesting to see people just walk onto the ship from different ports.

[Colo Cruiser]

That reminds me of my first cruise on the MS Seaward in '90. I swear the cabin was just like that. The Seaward was not known for large cabins yet the ship was large for it's time.

 

 

NCL was never known for large cabins. :rolleyes:

[caribill]

Guess I'm going to have to go on a cruise on the Pacific Princess. I don't think I ever watched that show. I remember it being on and I remember seeing glimpses of it, but I don't think I ever watched one whole episode.

 

Tom

 

The current Pacific Princess is a great ship, but it bears no resemblance to the original Pacific Princess.

 

[bob brown]

The Love Boat TV series was credited by many for really getting the masses into the cruise market. It worked for me....

My first cruise was in July 1991 on the Pacific Princess from Whittier to Vancouver.

She was built in 1971 by Nordseewerke of Emden, West Germany for Flagship Cruises and named "Sea Venture". Princess acquired her in 1975 and renamed her "Pacific Princess".

Back then, we used real keys to open our cabin (F422), an outside with portholes. Our S&S card was made of paper, in a plastic sleeve. That little gem of a ship had almost everything a large modern cruise ship has today...:)

[COMBOY]

The whole story about how the TV series got started is quite interesting so please let me share it's story.....Way back in the late 1960's Princess Cruise had one ship - The Princess Italia. It was originally built by Costa Cruise lines; however, due to financial issues the ship was chartered out to a new start up line called Princess Cruises. It was modern and sleek. It was to replace the first chartered Princess ship - the Princess Patricia which is where Princess got it's company's name. It did not have the Princess Logo - The Sea Witch on the funnel. Now, on the Princess Italia there was a beautiful former model who worked as a Cruise hostess....Jeraldine Saunders. Princess chartered a second ship...The Princess Carla; again from Costa Cruises. This ship would carried the famed Sea Witch logo on the funnel.

 

Jeraldine was promoted to cruise director for its' first Alaska season. She was the first female cruise director as it was mostly men that were cruise directors back in those days. During her career as Cruise director she would write letters to her mother back home and share stories about all the passengers and their romances she had seen on board ship. Also back then crew could have more interaction with passengers. Jeraldine's mother was so impressed with her daughters writings that she sent it to a friend of hers that was a book publisher. He loved it and ask Jeraldine to write more chapters. It was eventually published as "Love Boats." (I believe you still can got a copy on Amazon.com)

 

Around 1975 Douglas Cramer bought the rights to the book to be produced under Aaron Spelling Productions (Charlies Angels, Fantasy Island, etc fame) to do a pilot episode of The Love Boat. It followed a very similar format of Love American Style with 3 different stories during the one hour TV show. Now, they needed a ship to film aboard and Douglas Cramer contact both Sitmar and Princess Cruises marketing departments based in Los Angeles. Neither were interested as they felt it would be too disruptive to the passengers. When Jeraldine Saunders heard about this rejection she call the President of Princess Cruises, a good friend of hers, Stan McDonald, and told him this would be a great marketing tool for his fledgling company and he whole heartily agreed....and as the say goes....rest is history.

 

So filming began and not only was it not disruptive to the passengers; but many people specifically requested bookings those sailings where filming would take place to either watching filming or be extras. But it became too difficult & expensive to film on board so they built a set at Paramount similar to the Pacific Princess ship....Lobby, Pool, lounge, cabins. These areas are larger compared to the ship to accommodate the filming equipment and easier filming angles.

 

During it's run from 1975-1986 it was a smash hit and top rated show on Saturday nights at 9PM followed by Fantasy Island at 10PM. Initially most of the stars were B actors; however, due to it's popularity current top actors and/or old TV/screen legends were casted. I heard they vied to be on the show because on the show's popularity. Working with them was so wonderful because they were so professional and knew their line with ease. The crew (Capt, Cruise director, bar tender, Purser, Doctor) all became famous and recognized world wide.

 

Now, they didn't always film on board the Pacific, The Sun and Island Princess, but did film on other cruise ship like The Royal Viking Star, Stella Solaris of Sun Lines, Ocean Pearl were filmed on board. The show ceased production in 1986; however, several special two hour shows were made follow by a rather flop remake of the series call The Love Boat-The next wave in the 1990s.

 

Fast forward - the whole cast of the Love Boat rode on this years Regal Princess Rose Parade float in Pasadena California on New Years day.

[Lulubelle45]

Where do I start?

Does anyone remember actually cruising in those days...and compare it to the show?

 

 

 

Second...Julie the "Cruise Director"...Well, I have now sailed twice with women as cruise directors--but both very recently...And it was not until recently that I even had an American...Back in those days, I think all of the Cruise Directors were British! And, what the heck was her job as "Cruise Director"? Seems all she did was match people up romantically and tend to people's depression when their relationships were going slightly astray (so they'd always get back together by the show's end)...She certainly didn't host shows or any typical cruise activity.

 

 

Funny you should mention this! On my first cruise 5 years, on NCL our cruise director was a woman named Julie! She was seen all over the ship as the MC to the game shows, announcing all the programs dancing in the nightclubs and mingling with the guests. I was later told she was exceptional in her job and not the norm.

 

True I haven't seen another cruise director that even comes close . She was either American or Canadian.

 

As for Doc...it was the LOVE BOAT after all ;)

[Lulubelle45]

Favorite episode was the Alaska one when Julie tried meeting up with her love I Teresa from a previous episode. Seeing Vancouver pretty Canada Place was very interesting

[Lulubelle45]

Guess I'm going to have to go on a cruise on the Pacific Princess. I don't think I ever watched that show. I remember it being on and I remember seeing glimpses of it, but I don't think I ever watched one whole episode.

 

Tom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favorite episode was the Alaska one when Julie tried meeting up with her love interest from a previous episode. Seeing Vancouver before

Canada Place was very interesting

 

Not to mention the Alaska ports

[Iamcruzin]

I really like how the passengers stand outside on Promenade Deck with the ship at speed and their hair never moves a millimeter. Now that's some strong hairspray.

 

Sent from my D2-927G using Forums mobile app

 

There was one episode that had a scene with Loretta Swit and I think Robert Reed on the AFT deck and in the background you could see a chair cushion blow off of a chair yet. I guess that scene was shot in front of a green screen. I tend to watch what's going on in the background now since I have seen all of the episodes a thousand times. Next time you watch take notice of how many times the same background actors circle the pool on the lido deck.

[Iamcruzin]

Hard to see how they competed with those land-based all-inclusives--like Fantasy Island...At least there you had a foreign-born staff and the entertainment factor of being greeted by a midget!

 

 

I would book Coochie Coochie before Da Plane Da Plane.