The Love Boat Cruise: A Celebration at Sea

The Love Boat Cruise: A Celebration at Sea sailed onboard the Regal Princess. Between August of 2012 and March of 2013, Fincantieri S.p.A. in Monafalcone, Italy, built this Royal-class ship for Princess, the cruise line that was the original setting for the TV show. The Regal Princess was christened by the original Love Boat crew—Gavin McLeod, Bernie Kopell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange, Jill Whelan, and Lauren Tewes—in November 2014, and her maiden voyage was in May 2014.

Boarding photo for the Regal Princess

Our cruise was seven days, and eight nights, including the first day in Galveston, Texas. This meant that we got three port days and three at-sea days. The ports for this sailing were Cozumel in Mexico, where we spent two days, and Roatan in Honduras, where we spent one.

Deluxe balcony on the Regal Princess

The rest of the cruise was standard cruise fare, with some Love Boat sprinkled in. The cast of the Love Boat—specifically Bernie Kopell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange, Jill Whelan, and Lauren Tewes—were onboard, as was Charo, who had been a guest star in 11 episodes. It started off with the sail-away party, which the Love Boat stars hosted. Jill Whelan got involved in some of the game shows throughout the week and even joined as a co-host for the Love Boat karaoke. The rest of the crew had a few things they did as well, with Ted Lange doing a cocktail mixing class. Unlike a chartered cruise, like the Star Trek or ComicCon ones, it wasn’t all Love Boat all the time.

Premium tiramisu on the Regal Princess

On the first at-sea night, Charo put on a spectacular performance. Being a classically trained Spanish guitarist, her musicality is second to none, and it was a fun time with the crowds being eager for more.

There were meet and greet sessions, where you got a chance to meet the stars, get an autograph or a photo, and chat for a few moments. I had a chance to talk to Fred Grandy for a short while as he was walking the ship and managed to pass on a greeting from a mutual friend, which he thanked me for.

In Roatan, Honduras

Unlike Star Trek: The Cruise—which I have been on three of now—you did not see the Love Boat stars around the ship as much when they weren’t doing something on the stage. There was very little ability to interact with them outside of the scheduled items. This is understandable, as the passengers were not exclusively here for the Love Boat part of the cruise, and some were just here for regular cruising, unlike Star Trek: The Cruise, or, I suspect, ComicCon the Cruise. What this does though, is make this much more like a regular cruise, as opposed to a chartered themed cruise. This is kind of borne out in that Princess themselves planned and sold this cruise, as opposed to the Star Trek cruise which is a chartered cruise sold by Entertainment Cruise Productions. Also, per some of the passengers, this cruise was sold as a regular cruise before it became the Love Boat Cruise.

In general, all of your standard cruise tips apply, but in this case, it is worth knowing about Princess Medallion. This is the new thing on Princess cruises that has replaced the standard cruise card. It is a little fob that you get either mailed to you before the cruise, or you can get it when you check in at the port. This fob is your access to everything onboard the ship. It will be scanned for drinks, for specialty dining, for casual dining, in the casino, and for any onboard shopping. Because it is connected to your shipboard account, you can also use this in some ports where the stores have agreements with Princess.

Princess has three tiers of dining—Complimentary, Casual, and Specialty, with the last two having an added cost, although if you have at least Princess Plus, you get two free Casual Dining meals included. Princess Plus also includes 15 drinks per day—which includes alcoholic drinks (up to $15) and specialty coffee—discounts on premium drinks, two premium deserts, high-speed Wi-Fi for one device, and a few other perks. Talk to your travel advisor when booking to take advantage of this right away. The Princess App lets you track all of this while you are onboard, so you can keep a good eye on your spending.

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