Who watched the Real Love Boat?

[dave_k58]

I 

[Kay S]

47 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

They need to think out of the box in order to fill the Sun Class ships because of the increased cruiser capacity.  Once again, if you no longer feel that Princess fits your idea of a good vacation, vote with your wallet.

Thinking outside the box, over the curb, into the gutter and out to sea? I would imagine they thought about all of this before they began with the Sun class.  I don't think they built a mega ship and then thought "Oops, we gotta fill that thing."  Good business sense would say they were thinking inside the box from the get go.  What they did not want is the sophisticated Princess cruise experience of yore and the loyalty cruisers that went along with that.

 

It is possible, you know, to both express disappointment with Princess and go elsewhere to cruise.  I'm sure Princess would like for us to stop criticizing them, but in the case of this show, I would say they've invited it.

[CruizinSusan70]

23 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Thinking outside the box, over the curb, into the gutter and out to sea? I would imagine they thought about all of this before they began with the Sun class.  I don't think they built a mega ship and then thought "Oops, we gotta fill that thing."  Good business sense would say they were thinking inside the box from the get go.  What they did not want is the sophisticated Princess cruise experience of yore and the loyalty cruisers that went along with that.

 

It is possible, you know, to both express disappointment with Princess and go elsewhere to cruise.  I'm sure Princess would like for us to stop criticizing them, but in the case of this show, I would say they've invited it.

You do realize that you're not the target audience of the show.  95+% of the people on this thread did not like anything about the show for various reasons.  Don't really think that the bean counters care.

Personally we tend to spread our cruise choices over various lines.  We spent our first time on Princess on the Discovery for 14 days in April and will be on the Majestic for 14 days next year visiting Alaska for the first time.  Had a great time and looking forward to many more cruises on Princess on their newer builds since that is what we prefer.

So, since somebody doesn't like where Princess is going, it's counter balanced by my DH and myself, since we are looking forward to many future Princess cruises.

[PrincessLuver]

9 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

With the Sun Princess and her sisters being built with larger capacity different marketing strategies need to be implemented in order to spur additional cruisers to try Princess.

I will infer that you don't like the fact that possibly some younger cruisers would try out Princess and this rubs you the wrong way.  

Learned a long time ago that we don't make the rules we just play the game.  If you don't like the game that the bean counters are playing at Princess, you do have other lines you can sail with.

 

Well stated and totally agree.  Princess will have no problem filling its' new ship even though some of the old timers seem to think the sky is falling.  Princess is and always has been the Love Boat.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, BackseatCruiser said:

 

In large, maybe, but don't forget the Columbo episode, "Troubled Waters," two years earlier (1975), which perhaps popularized murder at sea.

 

And I think there are dozens and dozens of great old movies featuring cruise ships, such as the Marx Brothers ("A Night at the Opera") and Marilyn Monroe ("Gentlemen Prefer Blondes") - which certainly made me interested in cruising!

 

Oh, and I guess a few movies about big cruise ships that didn't end so well for the ships!

 

Were these cruise ships as we know them today or were they just Trans-Atlantic transportation?

 

(No stopping at multiple ports in Iceland and Greenland on the way along with shore excursions)

[Kay S]

57 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

You do realize that you're not the target audience of the show. 

I am very perceptive that way.  I thank you for all your advice, but I think I'll continue to express my disappointment with Princess.  Should anyone find that a problem, I would encourage them to ignore me.  I have certainly made use of the Ignore User function myself.

[caribill]

8 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

If you prefer the older, smaller ships in the fleet instead of the newer larger ships of the Royal and Sun Classes, you still have choices and there is no reason for you to move on.  

 

 

"Smaller" means something different now than a few years ago. What was smaller on Princess then were ships with 700 to 1200 passengers.

 

Nowadays smaller on Princess means 2100 passengers.

 

In the not to distant future smaller on Princess may be 3100 passengers.

 

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

They need to think out of the box in order to fill the Sun Class ships because of the increased cruiser capacity. 

 

All of Carnival Corp, not just Princess, has a strategy of expanding capacity to meet normal growing demand. It is not the intent to flood the market with too many berths so that prices have to be discounted.

 

As new larger (and more efficient) ships are introduced, the intent is to dispose of the smaller (and less efficient) ships so that capacity is not growing faster than the normal growth in cruise passengers would occur.

 

To me it is not a case of what age passengers Princess is trying to attract. It is more can they attract passengers or any age who love to repeat FLL-St.Thomas-St. Maarten-Private Island-FLL (or similar elsewhere in the world*) itineraries over and over.

 

(* think visiting Cozumel in the Western Caribbean or Barcelona in the Med for the umpteenth time)

[LibertyBella]

 

I would like to know if any of the writers on this thread are under thirty-five and/or single and looking for "love."  Also, is there anyone who has never been on a cruise, Princess or any other line.  Of course we are disinterested--we are already EXPERIENCED in life and cruising.

 

Yes, I admit I watched the show, just for "cruising" entertainment.  I was supposed to sail Regal this Summer, but they kicked us off for a group charter.  I do want to see some of the Mediterranean ports, and I like the snapshots of the ship.  I will be sailing the same itinerary next year on the Enchanted Princess.

 

No, I am not a reality TV fan, nor did I meet my significant other through an online dating site or by swiping, or whatever else young people do these days.  I am sure that having a free cruise to find a partner is unique and fun.  

 

By the way, I sailed the original Pacific Princess back in the early eighties, not at all a Love Boat experience.  I will say the majority of the people on my cruise were senior citizens, and I was not even twenty-one.  Guess what-- I hung around with all the workers-- crews, officers, band members, etc.  I spent  a lot of time on the crew decks and went to their parties.  

 

I did not become a die-hard fan of the Love Boat show, but I did become a die-hard fan of cruising!!

 

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by LibertyBella
typo

[caribill]

28 minutes ago, LibertyBella said:

By the way, I sailed the original Pacific Princess back in the early eighties, not at all a Love Boat experience.

 

Maybe because inside and window cabins (balcony cabins did not exist) did not have a bed for two people.

 

There was a couch which turned into a bed at night and a fold out bed from the wall perpendicular to that first bed.

 

 

[datone]

Well it was a big flop here in Australia.

 

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/channel-10-reality-show-the-real-love-boat-suffers-low-ratings-in-premiere-week/news-story/2485c0718d7611b7899c7d18195c2d20

[c-boy]

2 hours ago, datone said:

Well it was a big flop here in Australia.

 

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/channel-10-reality-show-the-real-love-boat-suffers-low-ratings-in-premiere-week/news-story/2485c0718d7611b7899c7d18195c2d20

aw, well then. The water flows in a different direction down under. Even though I'm a big fan, below deck down under hasn't caught on here either. Aw well every thing has it's first go.

[cruisefam38]

Although the total number of viewers rating the show is still small, a 4.0 rating on IMDB, lower than first morning average of 4.7, is not encouraging. 

Could there possibly be positive chatter on the most popular social media platforms, particularly platforms with a young adult age demographic?

[azbirdmom]

7 hours ago, datone said:

Well it was a big flop here in Australia.

 

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/channel-10-reality-show-the-real-love-boat-suffers-low-ratings-in-premiere-week/news-story/2485c0718d7611b7899c7d18195c2d20

 

Very interesting.  It's a different cast than the show we saw here in the USA.  Only the captain is the same, the host and cast are a different crew.  I didn't realize that they filmed two different shows for the US and Australia.

[Wishing on a star]

I wonder if any of those who feel that they must 'express disappointment' actually know that their negative opinion just simply does not matter to TPTB.  (I would guess that isn't the case)   Time stops for no man.

[CruizinSusan70]

11 hours ago, Kay S said:

I am very perceptive that way.  I thank you for all your advice, but I think I'll continue to express my disappointment with Princess.  Should anyone find that a problem, I would encourage them to ignore me.  I have certainly made use of the Ignore User function myself.

The only way to truly express your disappointment with Princess is to sail on other lines.  As time goes on, people mature and their tastes evolve and possibly change.  The same is true with cruise lines.  Because of the pandemic and the billions lost, they need to slightly pivot in order to generate dollars.  There are bean counters at all of the cruise lines that make these decisions on a daily basis. 

I will infer that you had many enjoyable trips on Princess in the past and you're lamenting the fact that Princess is adapting.

[CruizinSusan70]

10 hours ago, datone said:

Well it was a big flop here in Australia.

 

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/channel-10-reality-show-the-real-love-boat-suffers-low-ratings-in-premiere-week/news-story/2485c0718d7611b7899c7d18195c2d20

I believe that the show you're referring to is a totally different show than the one on CBS.  The cruise director on the CBS show is Matt Mitchum, who used to be with Carnival.  The cruise director on the Aussie version is Hannah Ferrier, who was the chief stew on below Deck for multiple seasons.

[caribill]

10 hours ago, datone said:

Well it was a big flop here in Australia.

 

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/channel-10-reality-show-the-real-love-boat-suffers-low-ratings-in-premiere-week/news-story/2485c0718d7611b7899c7d18195c2d20

 

The article does say it was on opposite a very popular TV show on another channel, so many viewers did not tune in to see how bad it really is.

[Kay S]

3 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

I wonder if any of those who feel that they must 'express disappointment' actually know that their negative opinion just simply does not matter to TPTB. 

This is painfully obvious.  Venting is healthy.  I suggested earlier a solution for those who do not want to brook naysayers.

[4cats4me]

Should have used a 60+ dating format instead of the usual 20/30 age group.   

[CruizinSusan70]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

The article does say it was on opposite a very popular TV show on another channel, so many viewers did not tune in to see how bad it really is.

Did you not read the previous posts that there are two different shows, one for the US market with Matt Mitchum and one for the Aussie market with Hannah Ferrier?  Supposedly the Captain is the same on both shows.

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, 4cats4me said:

Should have used a 60+ dating format instead of the usual 20/30 age group.   

But the 60+ demographic is not what they are trying to attract.  They hope to replace them with young people.  I think that's the whole point of the show.

[SiliconCruiser]

19 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Maybe because inside and window cabins (balcony cabins did not exist) did not have a bed for two people.

 

There was a couch which turned into a bed at night and a fold out bed from the wall perpendicular to that first bed.

 

 

Looks like a crew cabin.

 

[SiliconCruiser]

1 hour ago, Kay S said:

But the 60+ demographic is not what they are trying to attract.  They hope to replace them with young people.  I think that's the whole point of the show.

But the 60+ (way plus) is the demographic that identified with the "Love Boat".  Perhaps someone in Hollywood needs to create a new idea based upon one of the party lines (like Carnival) rather than trying restore an antiquated story line from a half a century ago. 

What's next?  A remake of Ozzie and Harriet?  Or maybe a new version of "Your Show of Shows"?

 

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, SiliconCruiser said:

But the 60+ (way plus) is the demographic that identified with the "Love Boat".  Perhaps someone in Hollywood needs to create a new idea based upon one of the party lines (like Carnival) rather than trying restore an antiquated story line from a half a century ago. 

What's next?  A remake of Ozzie and Harriet?  Or maybe a new version of "Your Show of Shows"?

 

I take your point, but the Princess people producing this show are trying to attract NEW and young cruisers.  That's why they are using young performers.  The show is not a good idea, IMO, but it's what Princess is doing.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Did you not read the previous posts that there are two different shows, one for the US market with Matt Mitchum and one for the Aussie market with Hannah Ferrier?  Supposedly the Captain is the same on both shows.

 

Not sure what that has to do with the Australia show being on opposite a very popular show on another network at the same time with that being one reason for low viewership.