All Aboard the Love Boat!

From being 8 years old I fell in love with the idea of being involved in cruise ships. How was I to know that years later it would be a huge part of my life!

The Love Boat cast reunited aboard Pacific Princess in the Port of Los Angeles to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Princess Cruises. From left: Bernie Kopell (Doc), Fred Frandy (Gopher), Ted Lange (Isaac), Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing), Cindy Tewes (Julie) and Jill Whelan (Vicki Stubing).

On the 3rd December 2015 Princess Cruises was officially 50 years old. It all began 50 years to that day on board the Princess Patricia and what happened next was the beginning of cruising as we know it. The cruise line celebrated by recreating that first cruise to Mexico with a line up from the cast of the series ” The Love Boat” which put Princess Cruises on the map.

The first episode of the series was shot aboard the 730-passenger Sun Princess, with Pacific Princess and Island Princess becoming the floating stars of the show. The show aired from 1977 to 1986 and I remember telling my mum I would work on board it one day.

Fast forward 13 years to the age of 21 and I embarked the Pacific Princess in Vancouver and spent the next 3 years sailing the high seas.

Isaac the Bar Tender had nothing on my skills!

As I said Princess Cruises has a lot to answer for as its also where I met my husband, Bruce, when we both worked on the Royal Princess in 1992.

Hubby and I

At the age of 44 I was chosen out of the whole of the UK travel industry to represent them as the “Royal Correspondent” for the build up and naming ceremony of the new Royal Princess.

I was flown to Monfalcone where I filmed a short video on the building of a cruise ship and was also lucky enough to be there when the Duchess of Cambridge named her in Southampton.

Paul Ludlow (UK Sales Manager of Princess Cruises at the time) and myself in Monfalcone.

Videoing for the travel industry.

It was great to share the Royal Princess with my husband as it was where we had first met and started our life together.

Bruce and I

Princess Cruises is still and always will be a very integral part of our lives and we have just booked to cruise on board the Emerald Princess in September 2016 with our four children who will be 19, 17, 12 and 9 at the time of travel. I for one can’t wait to be on board a Princess ship again.