The ceremony will take place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and officially launch Princess Cruises’ golden anniversary celebrations. The line, which began sailing in 1965, will mark five decades of operation from the end of this year and throughout 2015.The Love Boat was a romantic comedy show that ran for ten seasons from 1977-1987 and became one of the highest rated and longest-running programmes on US television. It was mostly set on board Princess Cruises ships and is credited with helping the industry expand to its current size.

The main six Love Boat cast members will reunite to christen Regal Princess: Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing), Fred Grandy (Gopher the chief purser), Ted Lange (Isaac the bartender), Bernie Kopell (Doc, the ship’s doctor), Lauren Tewes (Julie the cruise director) and Jill Whelan (Vicki the Captain’s daughter).

After her naming, Regal Princess will begin her maiden season of Caribbean cruising.  

Regal Princess is sister ship to Royal Princess, which was launched last year by HRH, The Duchess of Cambridge. The ship is the 18^th in the Princess Cruises fleet and has:

·        Capacity for 3,560 guests
·        1,780 staterooms
·        19 decks
·        1,346 crew
·        16 bars and restaurants including three dining rooms
·        A spa and fitness centre

The ship also includes several signature Princess Cruises’ features including SeaWalk, a top-deck glass-bottomed walkway that extends 28 feet over the edge of the ship, and Princess Live, a television studio with on board programming throughout the day.

At a length of 1,083 feet, Regal Princess is longer than the height of the Shard, the tallest building in the UK. And at 217 feet high is taller than 15 double-decker London buses stacked on top of one another.

Last month Princess Cruises revealed that it has reached an agreement to build a 600m euro sister ship to Regal Princess and Royal Princess, which will launch in 2017.

Info courtesy of Princess Cruises