Have you ever watched the 1980s hit television series “The Love Boat”? If so, you’ve probably heard of the Pacific Princess and Island Princess. Thanks to the show, these two ships catapulted Princess Cruises into the national limelight giving the brand a much-needed awareness boost at a time when the cruise industry was quickly changing.
But did you know that the Pacific Princess and Island Princess were NEVER intended to cruise with Princess Cruises. In fact, they were commissioned, designed and built for a RIVAL cruise line… Let’s explore their story and learn the history of Pacific Princess and Island Princess, and where the Love Boat cruise ships are now!
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Image References:
Permission / License:
Henderson & Cremer Collection
Ian Boyle / Simplon Postcards: https://www.simplonpc.co.uk/PacificPrincess.html
Sound Effect from Pixabay: https://tinyurl.com/35fxsn84
Video by Sarowar Hussain: https://www.pexels.com/video/a-boat-sailing-in-the-upper-new-york-bay-4737890/
CC BY:
Pacific Princess CC.0 Dashers https://tinyurl.com/2vhdk5n2
Island Princess CC BY SA 3.0 Stadtarchiv Kiel https://tinyurl.com/26jtjzsk
Island Princess CC.0 Dashers https://tinyurl.com/3bt9hzen
Island Princess Deck Scene CC BY SA 2.0 Glenn https://tinyurl.com/ckduue4y
Discovery CC.0 MKFI https://tinyurl.com/yc7mmrmz
Island Princess CC BY SA 2.0 Glenn https://tinyurl.com/bdhj685m
Discovery CC BY SA 4.0 Pjotr Mahhonin https://tinyurl.com/y66uaut4
Pacific at Fort-de-France CC BY SA 4.0 Boato Giuseppe https://tinyurl.com/235kfk3p
MS Pacific CC BY SA 2.0 Aah-Yeah https://tinyurl.com/5n6492m7
Sea Venture CC.0 EPA https://tinyurl.com/5n73rtj2
Discovery CC BY SA 4.0 Pjotr Mahhonin https://tinyurl.com/jpvahrrd
Discovery CC BY SA 4.0 Pjotr Mahhonin https://tinyurl.com/pjtorwaj
Nordseewerke Emden CC BY SA 3.0 Frisia Orientalis https://tinyurl.com/3y8m7e63
Italia as Ocean Princess CC BY SA 3.0 møssefa https://tinyurl.com/2pzyssvz
Royal Viking Sky CC BY SA 3.0 Wolfgang Fricke https://tinyurl.com/a9uw2uer
Discovery CC BY SA 4.0 Pjotr Mahhonin https://tinyurl.com/y66uaut4
Pacific / Acif CC BY SA 3.0 Eustace Bagge https://tinyurl.com/m8ty4prx
Scrapping at Aliağa CC BY SA 4.0 FAith Takmakli https://tinyurl.com/r2trewgf5634
Discovery CC BY SA 3.0 —=XEON=— https://tinyurl.com/4tw6fafd
Discovery CC BY SA 4.0 Pjotr Mahhonin https://tinyurl.com/Tallinn28Apri
Tags: #PrincessCruises #LoveBoat #theloveboat #islandprincess #pacificprincess #princesscruise #cunard #cruising #cruiseship #cruiseline #oceanliner #history
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Have you ever sailed on The Love Boat?
great backstories!! Thank you Chris
Thank u for info on Love Boat.
Thank you, Chris.
Appreciate your research and presentation of ship and cruise line history.
Interesting to get some 'behind the scenes' information on The Love Boat.
Nice video on the ships. I sailed several times on the Sun Princess, Island Princess and Pacific Princess during the 80s. Life on board was very different then and the memories are good.
Fascinating history
I sailed on the Pacific Princess for my honeymoon- in 1985- 12 day Med cruise. it was great!
Enjoyed the video- quite a history.
The original Princess Love Boat used in the made for TV movie and original pilots was the Sun Princess (original P&O Spirit of London). You should do a video on that ship.
Hi Chris another interesting video im totally confused now as I did the Maiden Voyage on the Spirit of London with P&O and always thought that she became one of the ships used in the Love Boat. Could you please share a little information about her just to clarify things for me. Many Thanks Tony.
For those who are unaware, the cast from the television series "The Love Boat", are the godparents of the Regal Princess.
Cannot confirm nor deny that I may watch some old eps when on a Princess cruise… very nostalgic😂
I'm lucky to say that I worked on the first Sky Princess (prior Sitmar Fairsky)and Royal Princess. But I had the chance to get aboard both Island and Pacific Princess when we ran into them on any port.
Thanks for sharing about these two icónic Vessels.
Very interesting. In my early teens, I was a HUGE fan of 'The Love Boat.' Thanks for providing such great info!
1982 was on the pacific princess as a 10 year old and still going on princess cruises to this day with my wife and kids
I love this.. I was 8 when the Sea Venture arrived in NYC in 1971. They were "our" new white Norwegians in NYC, the others were all being home ported in Florida or San Juan. They were our first new ships since Hamburg and QE2, but were geared for a regular port call in NYC. AS a kid, I realized there were very different than the older ships, even Oceanic and Homeric, which was one of their direct competitors. Their interiors were modern, brightly lit, and so luxurious. There were design touches the imitated QE2, but she was much more a smaller and more modern version of Oceanic, with their magrodoomes. At 550 feet they were 224 feet smaller than Oceanic and you realized it as soon as you got on. Lower ceilings, and VERY compact cabins. But they were successful. They even had the first TV commercial for a cruise ship I think…I still remember the jjingle. It is my understanding that they were not profitable due to their small size, (but one of the older historians might have more insight. I visited Island Venture on her maiden arrival, 5 Feb 1972, and fell in love with them. I finally got on board Sea Venture for a Bon Voyage Party in 1974, but Island Venture remained my fave. I was heart sick to know she was moved to LAX for Princess.. they were stealing our ships..lol and then I remember seeing the first brochure for the "Pacific Princess" and being very upset that they were taking my Favorite remaining Saturday ship. Princess had a way of teasing you with their announcement brochures. Bow shots, which to a ship geek, were easily identifiable, but no story to confirm which ship they were.. Sun Princess' first brochure made me thing they had taken the Southward, but then I soon learned the Spirit of London Story. I'll seer if I can find pics for the other media site…lol Thanks for a fab video..
Great video but the Love Boat was a terrible show and Princess cruises has run out of ideas in 2024.
2:18 That ship's officer has obviously been taking the stairs.
How interesting
We Still Love Watching The Old Love Boat TV Series. 😀 We Were On The Discovery Princess Love Boat Themed Cruise October 2022 And Got To Meet The Remaining Love Boat Cast. What A Wonderful Cruise That Was. Thank You For Sharing Some Love Boat History
wish they would bring back the 700 passenger LOVE BOATS and base them out of Baltimore so they wouldn't be in competition with Carnival's Panorama making its runs to the Mexican Riviera…
Is that captain Hudson I see hiding in the background?
Chris, one major correction. Flagship Cruises (Sea Venture and Island Venture) never competed with the then West Coast U.S. sailings of Princess. Rather, they were intended to compete with Home Lines SS Oceanic (which most consider the first purposely built cruise ship of our time) and SS Atlantic in hot NYC market. Sea Venture the first of the 2 came onto the NYC market with a coveted downtown Hamilton Bermuda berthing location and for a while that was all very exclusive to them. Oceanic was too big to dock in downtown Hamilton. SS Atlantic once she came out was then able to do the same and compete with Sea Venture.
2:50 alert Alert ALERT! Captain Hudson photo bomb! Thanks for the video, born in 71 The Love Boat was pretty formative TV for me in Canada. Have always loved ocean liners and cruise ships and it started with what I watch on The Love Boat. A music video was filmed on the ship in 2010 before scrapping, its a must watch Mistura Pura "Angels On A Cruise". keep up the amazing channel, love to you all 🙂
The ships now have the music as their whistles
I was fortunate enough to sail on the Island Princess on a Black Sea cruise in 2012, after the ship was purchased by Voyages of Discovery and the ship was renamed Discovery. What a great experience standing along side the captain while he docked the ship from the small outdoor bridge that was used when docking. The ship was old and not much by today's standard, but it was one of my favorite cruises of the more than 100 cruises I've taken on numerous cruise lines. Thanks for the history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeG51Qz3v7c