The once fabled Love Boat is unceremoniously cast adrift,
run aground, abandoned, cast to the winds, struck the shoals, scuttled, lost at
sea, or scrapped.
Remember the Love Boat?
Probably not.
The sappy, feel good, sit com sailed on ABC from 1977-1986.
It always had a happy ending as passenger after passenger, and even crew
members, saw their bright future after a cruise on the Love Boat – none more so
than Fred Gandy, “Gopher,” the ship’s purser. Fred was a Harvard grad, who jumped the
sinking sitcom in 1986 to get elected to Congress from Iowa as a Republican by
3,000 votes. A win is a win.
On the other hand, Lauren Tewes, the ship’s Cruise Director,
had a real life problem with cocaine in 1984. She was an especially happy
cruise director until the Princess sailed without her.
The episodes, even the travel logs, were memorably
unmemorable, like saccharin. However, The Love Boat was a welcome, escapist
respite from the malaise of President Crater.
The show sparked a boom in the cruise industry, showing us
the cruises were not limited to retirees sailing to the Caribbean.
The Pacific Princess was the cruise vessel featured in the
show, although sister ships sometimes subbed and most of the scenes were filmed
on sets on shore.
It last sailed as a Princess in 2002. The Princess actually
lost her allure in 1998 when it was discovered that the ship had been by drug syndicates
in the Mediterranean. She hadn't aged well.
Cast adrift, the erstwhile Princess went through many
owners.
The Pacific Princess became too small to be efficiently run
by today’s major cruise lines. The initial capacity was 646 passengers,
subsequently increased to 780. Today’s Caribbean Princess carries 3,080
passengers and the massive Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas can carry 6,400
passengers.
The ship has been out of service since 2008. It is currently
sitting at a dock in Genoa, having been acquired by a Turkish company, Cemsan,
which will ship it to turkey to be scrapped. The previous owner could not pay
the $5 million asbestos removal bill.
The Love Boat, the unloved, unwanted Love Boat, will not even
be sunk at sea.
No bon voyage, no au revoir, no hasta la vista, no happy voyage,
no “having a great time – wish you were here,” no ceremony.
The Love Boat hasn’t been missed in a decade.
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