It was a night
of love, or possibly L-U-R-V-E, as the stars of TV comedy The Love Boat
gathered for the christening of cruise ship Regal Princess this week.
Six actors from
the original cast acted as godparents and a host of performers who made guest appearances
had walk-on parts in the lavish ceremony in Port Everglades, Florida.
Two Princess
ships were used as locations for filming the series which ran for 10 seasons in
the late 70s and early 80s.
Gavin MacLeod,
who played Captain Stubing, was joined in the naming by Fred Grandy (Gopher,
the chief purser), Ted Lange (Isaac, the bartender), Bernie Kopell (Doc,
the ship’s doctor), Lauren Tewes (Julie, cruise director) and Jill
Whelan (Vicki, the Captain’s daughter). Together, they pulled a ship’s
telegraph to send 50 bottles of Champagne crashing against the ship’s hull -
marking the start of celebrations of Princess’s 50th anniversary next year -
and a final bottle by the ship’s pool.
The galaxy of
stars also included Don Most, who played Ralph Malph on Happy Days; Jamie Farr,
the cross-dressing Corporal Klinger from M*A*S*H; Florence Henderson, the
mother in The Brady Bunch; singer Jack Jones;
Golden Globe and BAFTA winner Diane Ladd; Falcon Crest star Lorenzo Lamas;
Doris Roberts, the mother-in-law in Everybody Loves Raymond; Marion Ross, Mrs
Cunningham in Happy Days; Frank Sinatra Jr; Dallas actress Charlene Tilton;
Knots Landing’s Joan Van Ark; and Adrian Zmed from T.J.Hooker, among many
others.
Star of the
show, though, was singer-comedienne Charo, who appeared in eight episodes of
the Love Boat and was a regular on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. She brought the
house down with a flamboyant flamenco guitar performance.
A video tribute
to the company’s history included reminiscences from founder Stan McDonald, now
94 and enjoying retirement in Seattle, and glimpses of the Duchess of Cambridge
launching sister ship Royal Princess in Southampton last year, and Princess
Diana christening an earlier ship of the same name.
Princess
Cruises’ president Jan Swartz said the event was not just about love, but about
passion - “50 years of passion and a passionate founder who believed travellers
could be drawn to the seas.”
The £460 million
Regal Princess carries 3,560 passengers and has its own TV studio and one of
the biggest spas at sea. The almost identical sister ship Royal Princess will
be sailing from Southampton throughout next summer, in competition with
P&O’s Britannia - being built to a similar design - and Royal Caribbean’s
Anthem of the Seas.
