Anyone here sail on the Loveboat, which the 1980's TV show was based on?

[vakamalua]

As broke newlyweds in the late 70s, we would order a pizza on Saturday nights and watch The Love Boat while dreaming of traveling the world.  Our very first cruises as young newlyweds in the very early 80s were on Home Lines (the Oceanic and the Homeric)--there will never be another cruise experience like that.  Now-defunct, it was an Italian line; the entire crew was from Italy.  Although the ship was tiny compared to today's behemoths, it was classically beautiful.  The food was fabulous.  It was the first ship to have a roll back roof over the swimming pool for rainy or cool days.  And everyone was assigned a deck chair (no chair hogs!) and their own deck steward--he would roll a towel and place it behind your head before you could lean back. Those were the days!

 

In 1988, we booked a Christmas- New Year's New Zealand-Australia cruise on Sitmar's FairWind.  Sitmar was another truly great Italian line. By the time we sailed, Princess had bought Sitmar and we sailed on the FairPrincess--the name had changed but nothing else including the original wonderful Sitmar crew and the fabulous food.  The unbelievable part was that the cruise was over booked and we were upgraded to the OWNER"S SUITE and seated at the Captain's table!  Our two-room suite was across the hall from the Captain's and he would order us a huge breakfast every morning and sometimes even stop by in his robe to be sure we were satisfied.  We even had a cocktail party for our table mates in our suite and the Captain stopped by. The itinerary, the friends we made, the crew, the service, the food...what a cruise--it spoiled us forever!

 

Back to the Love Boat and the Pacific Princess...we had the chance to sail on the original Love Boat Pacific Princess in 1999 with our nine-year old daughter who was already a cruise veteran .  It was the Northern European Capitals itinerary (London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm and Oslo). By then the ship was somewhat showing her age but was still a real gem--small, beautiful and classic.  We had so much fun getting family pictures taken on the 'famous Love Boat staircase' and pretending we were Isaac the bartender doing ' finger pistols.'    A great trip, great ship and unforgettable memories!!!

 

Well, no longer newlyweds ; )  we've had many years of cruises and travels to almost 50 countries.  Our most recent Princess cruise was just in January-February on a fantastic dream trip to South America and Antarctica on the great Coral Princess (just one month before Coronavirus!).

 

Many thanks to The Love Boat and the Pacific Princess for inspiring a lifetime of travel!  My husband and I still sing the Love Boat theme to each other as we board any cruise ship...it's always EXCITING AND NEW!  May the cruise lines continue and we all find a way to cruise safely in the future...

 

[Treasure Hunter]

We sailed on the Pacific Princess with friends in 1992. It was a Med cruise from Rome to Venice. We had "suites" at the front of the ship with balconies at the front. All the single beds were bolted to the floor. The rooms were very plain.  The dining room staff were all Italian. The food  was fabulous with Caesar salad, pasta Alfredo, and cherries Jubilee made at table side. All tours had dancers or singers as chaperones and you got to know them really well. We sailed into Venice grand canal at 6:00 am as the sun rose. The Captain woke everyone up and insisted we all be out on deck and that we would never forget it. He was right.

[Hulagirl]

Yes, sailed on the Pacific Princess in 1983.  This is when it was doing the LA to Acapulco run.  The ship seemed so big then and beautiful.  Somewhere I have a picture of me on formal night standing on the curved staircase that is always so prominent on the show.  

 

Remember when we left Puerto Vallarta having a sail a way out at the center pool area they use for most scenes.  That was back when they had gentlemen sailing that danced with ladies that were single. 

 

Of course there was no buffets then or specialty restaurants and the cabins were pretty tiny.  Had a fantastic time anyway. 

 

Susan

[MISTER 67]

21 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

Sitmar (Fairwind) in 1988 was my best cruise experience even on an old converted 1957 Cunard oceanliner. It was a 10 day Caribbean cruise & was considered my first Princess cruise after Sitmar merged with Princess. Six months later sailed on the same ship as the Dawn Princess but it was missing the great pizzeria and many of Sitmar’s all Italian & Portuguese crew...great times! 😃

Our first cruise was on the Fairwind back in December 1982. 

Sitmar was a great line and they couldn't do enough for you, great service and food with wonderful Italian dishes available everynight. Great Pizza too! Those were the days when Caviar and Champagne were served on formal nights and at the end of the cruise a log was left in your cabin with the names of all the passengers included and you could buy all the menus from the week for 2 dollars. Prizes for trivia and other games were very nice, not cheap key rings.

We were so sad when Sitmar merged with Princess in late 1988, we sailed the first cruise on the Sky Princess after they changed her name from Fairsky. The crew and officers (still Sitmar) did a great job but were not happy with the merger as no one knew what was down the road for them.

Edited April 15, 2020 by MISTER 67

[opshannon]

We sailed on the Pacific Princess in 1999. It was a 14 day European cruise out of Dover. It was an amazing itinerary because it was a small  ship that could go places most ships can't/don't go now. We transited the Kiel Canal for example (I had the worst allergy attack of my life during that transit. I sneezed for about 10 hours that day. Something was blooming in Germany that my nose did not like!). One of the biggest memories was that when you got back from an excursion, let's say 4pm, there was very little food available. They did seem to have hot dogs on deck most days. We ate lots of those with cups of water after we got back on board from our tours. The other memory is that on the final night when they take your luggage, they basically just piled it all up in the atrium. What a sight!

 

Oh one more memory, when we transited into the North Sea on one night of the cruise, the seas were so rough that it was like being on a roller coaster. My stomach literally jumped as it does on a roller coaster as we crested the waves. It was in the middle of the night, so we couldn't see how big the seas were, but it was unlike anything I'd experienced before or since.

[seacruise9]

On 4/14/2020 at 2:16 PM, NavyVeteran said:

We sailed on the original Pacific Princess on a 7-night cruise to Bermuda round trip from New York in 2002. It was the last season that Princess had the ship, and they had already announced that they were sailing her. When we returned to New York, Gavin MacLeod met us at the pier and welcomed the passengers ashore.

 

Sailing on her was fairly similar to sailing on other Princess ships. This was our fourth Princess cruise - our earlier ones were on the Sun Princess in Alaska, on the original Regal Princess from New Zealand to Australia, and on the original Royal Princess around the tip of South America. Compared to the other ships, the Pacific Princess was definitely older and ready to be retired - but nothing interfered with our enjoyment of the cruise.

 

Our cabin was much different than the ones on the show. The interiors on the show were shot on stages in Los Angeles and were much, much larger than the cabins on the ship. Our cabin had two single beds that could not be converted to a double - and they called her "The Love Boat".😉

 

We did not see the captain and other officers walking around the ship all day. As far as I could tell, the ship's doctor was not hitting on any of the female passengers - at least, not in public.

 

I was interested in seeing Bermuda, and this small ship was a good fit for Bermuda, since we were able to stop at three different ports there. However, one of the main reasons I selected this cruise was to sail on The Love Boat on her last season. That show was the first introduction to cruising for me and, I suspect, for many of us.

 

 

 

 

Hi, 

 

I also sailed aboard the original Pacific Princess to Bermuda in 2002. My particular cruise was in May (the second cruise of the season), but unfortunately Gavin MacLeod did not greet us in New York. Because I am a big fan of the television series, I intentionally chose this cruise so that I could try this ship. As you noted, it was widely promoted as the ship's final season with Princess. The staterooms were small, but this was a nice (and well-designed) ship. The seas were very rough on the return sailing to New York and the gift ship was closed due to broken glass. I'm very glad that I did this cruise. It reminded me of the cruises that I did on similar ships in the 1970s and 1980s.

 

Chuck

Edited April 15, 2020 by seacruise9

[Charles4515]

I sailed on Pacific Princess to Bermuda in 2001. I booked her because the itinerary. Besides the great Bermuda itinerary, we did all three Bermuda ports, St. George’s, Hamilton and Royal Navy Dockyard was also a great sailing because it was an older ship the crew went to extra lengths to take care of us. I also remember that the cruise director’s staff was the entertainment staff. It was one of my favorite sailings even though the water that came out of the faucet for the bathtub was rust colored.....

 

 

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[Scout10]

We sailed on the original Pacific Princess on a 7-night cruise to Bermuda round trip from New York in 2002. It was the last season that Princess had the ship, and they had already announced that they were sailing her. When we returned to New York, Gavin MacLeod met us at the pier and welcomed the passengers ashore.
 
Sailing on her was fairly similar to sailing on other Princess ships. This was our fourth Princess cruise - our earlier ones were on the Sun Princess in Alaska, on the original Regal Princess from New Zealand to Australia, and on the original Royal Princess around the tip of South America. Compared to the other ships, the Pacific Princess was definitely older and ready to be retired - but nothing interfered with our enjoyment of the cruise.
 
Our cabin was much different than the ones on the show. The interiors on the show were shot on stages in Los Angeles and were much, much larger than the cabins on the ship. Our cabin had two single beds that could not be converted to a double - and they called her "The Love Boat".[emoji6]
 
We did not see the captain and other officers walking around the ship all day. As far as I could tell, the ship's doctor was not hitting on any of the female passengers - at least, not in public.
 
I was interested in seeing Bermuda, and this small ship was a good fit for Bermuda, since we were able to stop at three different ports there. However, one of the main reasons I selected this cruise was to sail on The Love Boat on her last season. That show was the first introduction to cruising for me and, I suspect, for many of us.
 
 
 
 

The 50th Anniversary Cruise for Princess was wonderful. I loved almost every minute of it. The cruise director was so funny and super personable. She made the trip really fun also. The Love Boat cast were very personable and went on many of our excursions with us. The only small complaint I would have is that the average of the passengers was 65 I think the cruise director said. Also, all passengers were elite except for 30. So very fun!


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