News Article

1/5/1997

ORIGINAL LOVE BOAT CAST WILL CHRISTEN DAWN PRINCESS - - INAUGURAL TO CELEBRATE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF TV CLASSIC
Princess Cruises Launches National Search for Love Boat "Look-Alikes" With Ten City Tour, Hosted by Gavin MacLeod

It's been twenty years since The Love Boat went on the air and revolutionized cruising. Now, for the first time in over a decade, all six original Love Boat cast members -- Captain Stubing, Gopher, Isaac, Doc, Julie and Vicki -- will reunite to christen Princess Cruises' new Dawn Princess in May.

To celebrate the debut of the 77,000-ton ship, which is the twin "look-alike" to the highly successful Sun Princess introduced last year, the company has launched a ten-city search for look-alikes of the original Love Boat cast. Six winners, one for each of the cast members, will receive a trip to Fort Lauderdale during the week of May 5 to join in the inaugural festivities of Dawn Princess, plus a cruise aboard the ship's May 10 inaugural sailing through the Panama Canal.

Gavin MacLeod will host the contest in each market. The winners will join him and the other actors -- Fred Grandy (Gopher), Ted Lange (Isaac), Bernie Kopell (Doc), Lauren Tewes (Julie) and Jill Whelan (Vicki) -- to christen the Dawn Princess in Fort Lauderdale on May 8.

"One of the most gratifying aspects of having done The Love Boat for me is to hear from fans how much they looked forward each week to the fun escape the show provided, and that it gave them something to dream about," said Gavin MacLeod, a.k.a. Captain Merrill Stubing and company spokesperson for Princess Cruises. "So many of our fans related to the characters in the show and it'll be fun to re-live those memories as we search for the cast's look-alikes."

The search will take place in ten cities across the country from January 11 through February 1, as follows:
" Saturday, January 11 Phoenix
" Tuesday, January 14 Dallas
" Thursday, January 16 St. Louis
" Saturday, January 18 Minneapolis
" Tuesday, January 21 Cleveland
" Thursday, January 23 Atlanta
" Saturday, January 25 Miami
" Tuesday, January 28 Philadelphia
" Thursday, January 30 New York
" Saturday, February 1 Los Angeles

"With this year being the 20th anniversary of The Love Boat, what more fitting way to celebrate the debut of our newest ship than to pay tribute to a show that did so much for our company and our industry," said Rick James, Princess' senior vice president of sales and corporate relations. "We're delighted to provide the occasion for the original cast to reunite after all these years, and that they've all enthusiastically agreed to be the godparents to our new Dawn Princess."

The pilot episode of The Love Boat, shot aboard Princess' 730-passenger original Sun Princess in 1977, began the relationship between Princess Cruises and the show, which eventually became oneof the highest rated and longest-running shows (more than ten seasons) on television. The Pacific Princess and Island Princess were the primary floating stars of the show, while later episodes and specials were filmed aboard many of Princess' other ships in destinations around the globe.

The 1,950-passenger Dawn Princess will be one of the largest cruise ships in the world and will offer its passengers the same innovative design as its sister ship, Sun Princess. The ship is being built to a unique set of specifications designed to do away with perceived on board regimentation, and will offer passengers unparalleled choice in onboard dining, entertainment and accommodations. The ship will spend its inaugural season in Alaska, moving to the Caribbean in the fall.

Princess Cruises is one of the industry's "big three" cruise lines and operates a fleet of nine ships offering nearly 150 different itineraries and calling at more than 200 ports around the globe.

For information about the time and place of each casting call, interested contestants can call (212) 872-8194. People who live outside the cities where the search will be conducted may enter the contest by calling 1-800-PRINCESS.