Love Boat scrapped – but still lives on

Fans of television’s Love Boat are mourning the loss of the ship which was the setting for the 1970s series. The one-time Pacific Princess (above), which has been laid up in Genoa, Italy, since 2009, is to be scrapped.
The 1971-built vessel has been sold for €2.5 million (£2.1 million) and will be towed to Turkey to be broken up.
Cheesy as the TV series was, it was a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic from 1977 to 1986, and is responsible for turning a generation of holidaymakers into cruise passengers. Gavin MacLeod, who played Captain Merrill Stubing, took centre stage at the naming ceremony for the cruise ship Ruby Princess in 2008.
The Love Boat is still not dead, however. Sister ship Island Princess was also used in the series and continues to sail – as the Discovery for the UK’s niche cruise line, Voyages of Discovery.
The 710-passenger ship will be undergoing a multi-million pound refit later this year, before joining the line’s new ship, Voyager, which is due to enter service in November.