Leisure cruising began in the early 1800s as a way for people to get to their destination before air travel. Ocean liners boomed in the first half of the 20th century, leading to the launch of Cunard’s Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth liners that traversed the Atlantic. But by the time airline travel became more convenient and affordable to travel in the 1950s, cruise lines were left scrambling to draw passengers—until "The Love Boat" premiered in 1977.
The ABC series, produced by TV legend Aaron Spelling, was broadcast to millions of viewers for 10 seasons, showing viewers passengers of all ages having fun and seeing the world on board Princess Cruises’ Pacific Princess and its sister ship, the Island Princess. As the series' catchy theme song crooned, “Come aboard, we’re expecting you!”
“None of us thought it was going to amount to much except we got a free cruise and some perks along the way," says Fred Grandy, who played "The Love Boat’s" Gopher. “But this vacation became accessible to middle class buyers, that's what took off. It wouldn't have happened without the show—and there was a fair amount of false advertising in that.”
Ted Lange, who played "Love Boat" bartender Isaac, says he didn’t think viewers "were going to buy” that “young girls in bathing suits” who appeared on the show were actually taking cruises, since sailings largely served an older clientele at the time of the series premiere. Lange remembers how early ships contained refrigerators to store dead bodies, and “one or two people” even passed away when the cast filmed the pilot. "We literally flipped that so that young people started considering taking a cruise,” Lange says.
Cruises Start to Draw Younger Passengers
According to the Cruise Lines International Association’s 2024 report, the average age of cruise passengers is 46, and 36 percent of cruise travelers are under 40. Virgin Voyages launched in 2021 aiming to provide kid-free voyages to the 34-to-62-year-old demographic, and in 2026, Royal Caribbean’s CEO claimed the average age of its demographics falls within the millennial generation.
Travel expert Bobby Laurie explains that cruises initially drew in retirees and wealthy travelers due to the time commitment, cost and the limited entertainment options that made for a “quiet, relaxed, refined experience.” “It wasn't an industry where you would go on family vacations,” he says. “It was very expensive.” Today, one-third of cruisegoers travel with at least two generations, according to CLIA.
Families also "were not booking summer vacations or school break vacations to Europe” because “it was just way too pricey,” Laurie says. But "The Love Boat," which filmed episodes in Australia, China, Italy, Greece and Mexico, showed Americans that international destinations were accessible in a financially feasible way.
Seeing Lange on screen helped minority viewers picture themselves on a cruise ship, too. “Over the years, I've had Black people come tell me, ‘I'm glad you were on that show because me and my wife, we took cruises to Mexico,’ and they had never considered it before,” he shares. "For minorities, it opened the door.”
In 1970, an estimated 500,000 people took a cruise vacation; by 1997, that number had jumped to 5 million.
