I'm currently binge watching The Love Boat - how realisticly did it portray cruising?

[TheCruisingAccountant]

The Love Boat is a thick slice of American pop culture cheese, more representative of the era it was filmed in than anything else, with very little connection to any sort of cruising "reality".

 

I would not have it any other way, either.

 

I likely never would have ventured aboard a ship if not for having seen it as a kid; to me as an 8 year old, growing up in a small Canadian lumber town, the Pacific Princess was about as exotic and far out there as the USS Enterprise was

[billco]

You can watch Love Boat nearly 24 hours per day on any Princess cruise. There is one channel dedicated to the show broadcast in all state rooms.

 

 

 

 

I am currently on the Diamond Princess. There is one Love Boat episode available on the on demand tv.

[Sacto Rick]

I am currently on the Diamond Princess. There is one Love Boat episode available on the on demand tv.

 

I think they only ran one episode on the Grand last Thanksgiving also. I thought it was strange. If you're going to play them, do a full season or at least 5-8 episodes. It's not like they don't have them available.

[CruiseGal999]

I believe there have been 3 seasons of The Cruise on British ITV.

 

I'm only on the 2nd episode of The Cruise ... and it's good. But I don't want a documentary. I would love a re-boot of The Love Boat .... with all it's Hollywood unrealistic glitz/glam/romance. That's what made it so much fun to watch.

 

BTW ... the couple who won 'Most Travelled' on the 1st episode ... WOW ... the wife was FIERCE. I worried about the other people up for the title if she didn't win 1st place!

[myfuzzy]

I'm only on the 2nd episode of The Cruise ... and it's good. But I don't want a documentary. I would love a re-boot of The Love Boat .... with all it's Hollywood unrealistic glitz/glam/romance. That's what made it so much fun to watch.

 

BTW ... the couple who won 'Most Travelled' on the 1st episode ... WOW ... the wife was FIERCE. I worried about the other people up for the title if she didn't win 1st place!

 

I thought that was a UK program...Your location says Florida, how do you get the program?

[CruiseGal999]

I thought that was a UK program...Your location says Florida, how do you get the program?

 

I'm streaming on the computer.

[myfuzzy]

I'm streaming on the computer.

 

Hmm, I going to look into that....thanks:)

[CruiseGal999]

I'm learning some things watching The Cruise. Like, I didn't know they had an 'Employee of the Month' competition. If it's depicted accurately on the show, it is very important to all employees on the ship. From the Captn. on down.

 

I'll keep that in mind and be generous with my comment cards.

[Sophie&Rufus]

The dressing fancy and lit candles, were probably fairly accurate at that time. Normal Rooms were not that big in 1977 when I first cruised. What I think is funny, is the bartender seemed to work in every bar on the ship. I suppose unless he had a day off, he was the only bartender! 🤪

Yes!! DH and I always feel a little bit bad for Isaac. He's never not working!

 

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Forums mobile app

[panntlt]

As someone who was lucky enough to have worked on the show in the camera crew, I feel that I must explain. Regarding cabin size, don't forget that we were on a stage. The cabin needed to accommodate a 6 foot dolly, a dolly grip, 2 camera crew members, the director, script supervisor, and the actors. Yes, sometimes we had a "wild (removable) wall" to accommodate the shot, but not always.

Most of the show was shot on stage, but the location trips were unbelievable. I think that we were the first American TV series to shoot in China, in a cruise from Hong Kong to Japan. We were on the Inaugural voyage of the first Royal Princess. Florida through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles. Carrying cameras up 13 decks was a experience, to say the least.

I was lucky enough to see the world with the Love Boat, and now that we are Elite Members, who else would we sail with?

[susancruzs]

Great thread! I loved the show, but when I went on my 1st cruise in 1982 (I was 35), I knew my cabin would be small! :)

 

My best memories of how cruising was come from the 1st Royal Princess, 1986, two week big band cruise. I was 39, friend 42, not many of us under 50! :D Les Brown and his band were on board, everyone dressed very nice every night, no casual clothes in the evenings, ever. Watching everyone dance before dinner to the band was awesome, you felt like it was a step back in time. One of my best cruise memories.

 

My first cruises in the 80s to mid-90s will always be special, cruising will never be like that again. I enjoy cruising but the early cruises were the absolute best.

[1emerald1]

As someone who was lucky enough to have worked on the show in the camera crew, I feel that I must explain. Regarding cabin size, don't forget that we were on a stage. The cabin needed to accommodate a 6 foot dolly, a dolly grip, 2 camera crew members, the director, script supervisor, and the actors. Yes, sometimes we had a "wild (removable) wall" to accommodate the shot, but not always.

Most of the show was shot on stage, but the location trips were unbelievable. I think that we were the first American TV series to shoot in China, in a cruise from Hong Kong to Japan. We were on the Inaugural voyage of the first Royal Princess. Florida through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles. Carrying cameras up 13 decks was a experience, to say the least.

I was lucky enough to see the world with the Love Boat, and now that we are Elite Members, who else would we sail with?

What a great job you had! I have that episode you refer to, the Royal inaguaral, saved on my DVR. Love it, reminds me of the old itineraries that sailed the Panama, which were my favorite. Boarded in Los Angeles, stops in Puerto Vallart and Acapulco, Costa Rica, full transit, St. Thomas and other Carribean ports.

[Coral]

As someone who was lucky enough to have worked on the show in the camera crew, I feel that I must explain. Regarding cabin size, don't forget that we were on a stage. The cabin needed to accommodate a 6 foot dolly, a dolly grip, 2 camera crew members, the director, script supervisor, and the actors. Yes, sometimes we had a "wild (removable) wall" to accommodate the shot, but not always.

Most of the show was shot on stage, but the location trips were unbelievable. I think that we were the first American TV series to shoot in China, in a cruise from Hong Kong to Japan. We were on the Inaugural voyage of the first Royal Princess. Florida through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles. Carrying cameras up 13 decks was a experience, to say the least.

I was lucky enough to see the world with the Love Boat, and now that we are Elite Members, who else would we sail with?

 

What a great experience!!

[lindros2]

Funny how it's 9 years after this topic was started...

I subscribed to Paramount+ and have been binge watching The Love Boat for the past 2.5 months (it's often painful to watch). First season really felt amateur, and film quality was terrible (everyone's eyes looked bloodshot).

But once you get into it, the destinations are really cool (we just did an Alaskan Cruise in 2023 - crazy to compare Mendenhall Glacier in 1978 vs. 2023), some of the special guests were neat (Pointer Sisters, Joe Namath, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, just about every actor from 1970s and 1980s shows), and it's quirky.

Still find the short doors - and tall ceilings - funny.

And, boy, how have safety regulations changed.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Interesting how every cabin was large enough to accommodate at least 10 people standing around and it *still* did not show any beds! And those aisles were big enough to drive a car through!

[Napagirl]

I've been watching it now and then on YouTube. I love how fancy everyone dressed for dinner. 

[NavyVeteran]

I've been on several Princess cruises, and DW and I have visited medical several times. However, I have never seen the ship's doctor hit on any of the passenger women. I suspect if he did that he would be off the ship at the next port.

[startedwithamouse]

Doc's been on a couple of our cruises this year, and he is a delight!

[sunviking90]

I love watching them when we are on our cruises. I especially look for the season premiere episodes that were often 2 parts and filmed on location and really on the ship. Last night we watched one from the 80’s (with the new cruise director) filmed on the Vistafjord from Genoa to Lisbon. For some reason the Vistafjord needed Captain Stubing and the gang to world that cruise 🤣

[deltahog]

Watched in the 70s and watched again in the last few years on the old reruns.

 

Obviously the most unrealistic part is the personal greeting from the "stars of the ship" (stars of the show) as you board.  On an episode I saw recently, Captain Stubing took a liking to a lady as she was boarding, started wooing and romancing her immediately, invited her for private dining, went to her cabin, etc.

 

Made me wonder who was in charge of navigation, personnel, etc.

[lindros2]

5 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Doc's been on a couple of our cruises this year, and he is a delight!

What about Seigfried von Kapelhoff?

[lindros2]

After reading the new posts - thank you - it makes me want to be on a boat…

 

[donaldsc]

On 3/22/2018 at 10:23 AM, firsttimer2018 said:

For those of you that cruised in the 70s and 80s:

 

Gopher was offered a tip and he says he can't accept a tip per company policy. Was this ever true?

 

The rooms are huge. Were these suites or just sound stage fiction?

 

Did everyone really dress this fancy for dinner?

 

Lit candles on the table for dinner?

 

What else strikes you as very realistic or just made up from the show vs reality?

 

What is realistic - absolutely nothing except the name of the ship.  It was a TV show and what part of any TV show is ever realistic.

 

DON

[cr8tiv1]

8 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

I've been on several Princess cruises, and DW and I have visited medical several times. However, I have never seen the ship's doctor hit on any of the passenger women. I suspect if he did that he would be off the ship at the next port.

 

After many, many, many cruises, I finally made it to the Medical Center.  Had the best doctor I've had ever; well, maybe an exaggeration.  But he was funny and very personable.  He even accompanied me to my cabin.  

 

Don't get too excited.  He wanted to see which brand of Paxlovid I had brought with me and administer a covid test to my cabin mate.  

 

I remember when....they had many episodes on the room tv.  I enjoyed relaxing and watching them without commercials.  Fun Thread.

Edited September 2, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[dickinson]

I once heard that the large cabins and hallways because they were on a soundstage and needed room for the large cameras that were used.  Probably also the reason why situation comedies all had families living in what seemed to be large homes.  

 

I am also guessing that the writers were free and loose in their storylines about all the socialization between crew and passengers.  

 

Both dh and I enjoy watching the reruns on MEtv Sundays at 5 pm.  Today we are boarding the Enchanted Princess in Athens for 7 days for our own cruise adventure.