The 10 Coolest Stars to Set Sail on The Love Boat

The Love Boat was a very popular television series that ran on ABC from September 24, 1977, to May 24, 1986. Each episode featured romantic adventures of often famous passengers aboard the cruise ship Pacific Princess.

As a young person growing up in the 1980s, the show was one of the gateways that allowed my imagination to soar as I vicariously lived adventures through the eyes of the ship’s famous guests. I didn’t go on a ship until more than a decade later, when I joined the United States Navy. However, my years watching The Love Boat primed my mind for the many port visits that I made as a Navy sailor.

The history of The Love Boat actually began in 1970 and 1971 when two sister cruise ships were built and launched as the M/S Sea Venture and the M/S Island Venture. Princess Cruises later purchased the pair and renamed them the Pacific Princess and the Island Princess.

Because the two vessels were virtually identical, the production was able to use them interchangeably. While the Pacific Princess was the primary star featured in the opening credits, the film crew frequently shot episodes on the Island Princess whenever her sister ship was unavailable. This flexibility allowed the show to maintain its sailing schedule without interruption.

In this list, we’ll take a look at some of the coolest stars who set sail on board. Many of these stars, such as Tom Hanks and Janet Jackson, sailed aboard the Pacific Princess before they became superstars. All aboard! We’ll lift the anchor and be underway shortly!

Related: 10 TV Shows That Deserved More Seasons

10 Season 4, Episode 1 (1980): Tom Hanks

When an actor is rising to stardom, one lucky break often leads to another. In 1980, a 24-year-old Tom Hanks landed his big break alongside Peter Scolari in the upcoming ABC sitcom Bosom Buddies. The show featured the misadventures of two single men in creative advertising who disguised themselves as women to live in an affordable apartment. Likely capitalizing on the buzz surrounding their new talent, The Love Boat producers invited Hanks to play a womanizing fraternity brother named Rick Martin in the season four premiere. In a later interview with Oprah Winfrey, Hanks revealed that he wasn’t exactly thrilled about the role but accepted it to be a team player for the network.

This appearance marked a significant moment in Hanks’s filmography as it served as one of his first credited television roles, just as he was on the cusp of fame. While his character, Rick Martin, was an arrogant former fraternity brother who bullied Gopher, the performance revealed the undeniable charisma that made Hanks a standout even in a guest spot. The episode provided a rare glimpse of a young actor developing the comedic timing and screen presence that would later propel him from sitcoms to Academy Awards.

Perhaps the most important contribution this episode made to Hanks’s career was the lesson it taught him about managing his own career trajectory. Hanks later credited this experience with giving him the courage to refuse future typecasting. When ABC subsequently asked him to appear on Fantasy Island, he declined the offer because he felt that his time on The Love Boat had sufficiently paid his dues. This critical decision kept his schedule and reputation open so he could eventually land his breakout film role in Splash and transition into a major movie star.^[1]

9 Season 6, Episode 19 (1983): Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox had two huge career breaks: being cast as Alex P. Keaton on the hit NBC sitcom Family Ties in 1982 and being cast as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy in 1985. However, he also sailed aboard The Love Boat in the 1983 episode titled “I Like to Be in America,” which was the 19th episode of the show’s sixth season. The episode originally aired on February 26, 1983, around the time Fox’s career really began to take off.

In the segment titled “He Ain’t Heavy,” Fox played Jimmy Cowens, a spoiled teenager traveling with his parents (who actually looked old enough to be his grandparents), who were portrayed by Barbara Billingsley and Don Porter. Fox’s character was incredibly abrasive, and he spent much of the cruise harassing a crew member with a level of arrogance that was completely different from the conservative nice-guy image he portrayed on Family Ties.

This Love Boat role gave audiences an early glimpse of the dramatic range that would later make Fox a Hollywood superstar. Much like Tom Hanks, Fox used his Love Boat guest spot to develop and refine his screen presence, and to prove to directors and producers that he had the acting chops to deliver emotional weight alongside good comedic timing. His appearance on The Love Boat represents a time capsule of a very young actor on the verge of a defining career breakthrough.^[2]

8 Season 2, Episode 9 (1978): Conrad Bain & Jamie Lee Curtis

In 1978, Jamie Lee Curtis starred in one of the most unforgettable horror films of all time: John Carpenter’s classic Halloween. The film’s producer, Debra Hill, cast Curtis as the main protagonist, Laurie Strode, in part because Curtis’s mother was Janet Leigh, the star of another horror masterpiece, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

While Curtis was just earning her title as the “Scream Queen,” Conrad Bain was already a television veteran. Born in Canada in 1923 and classically trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Bain had spent decades on stage before landing massive breaks in the 1970s: first as Dr. Arthur Harmon on Maude, and then as the wealthy patriarch Philip Drummond on the smash hit Diff’rent Strokes.

You might think that the trajectories of a rising horror movie icon and a sitcom dad would never cross, but they did on November 11, 1978. In the Season 2 episode “Till Death Do Us Part—Maybe,” Bain played a divorced father named Les, and Curtis played his daughter, Linda. In a delightful twist that only The Love Boat could pull off, Les’s ex-wife was played by none other than Janet Leigh.

This episode offers a fascinating look at three distinct generations of Hollywood talent sharing the same frame. Watching the chemistry between the star of Psycho, the star of Halloween, and the star of Diff’rent Strokes makes for a surreal and memorable voyage. It stands as a unique pop culture artifact where a fictional family drama played out between a real-life mother and daughter and one of TV’s most recognizable fathers.^[3]

7 Season 7, Episode 11 (1983): Kirstie Alley

The producers of The Love Boat had an uncanny ability to time the booking of stars right as they landed their first big breaks. In 1982, actress Kirstie Alley played a young Vulcan Starfleet officer named Lieutenant Saavik in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, widely considered one of the franchise’s strongest entries. The role was Alley’s breakout performance, and in 1983 she starred in the Love Boat episode “The World’s Greatest Kisser/Don’t Take My Wife, Please/The Reluctant Father.” She played Marion Stevens, while her real-life husband, actor Parker Stevenson, portrayed her on-screen husband, Matt Stevens.

This appearance was a victory lap for 1980s television royalty. Stevenson was already a certified teen idol thanks to his role as Frank Hardy on The Hardy Boys, making their on-screen pairing a genuine “power couple” moment. For Alley, trading pointed Vulcan ears for cruise-ship couture shattered her stoic sci-fi persona and previewed the sharp comedic timing that would later earn her an Emmy on Cheers.

When Alley passed away in December 2022 following a private battle with colon cancer, the emotional response from the entertainment world underscored how beloved she was. Tributes poured in from former co-stars like John Travolta and Ted Danson, celebrating her talent, humor, and warmth. Her guest appearance as a young actress aboard the Pacific Princess remains a memorable snapshot of her early stardom.^[4]

6 Season 3, Episode 18 (1980): Loni Anderson and Donny Osmond

Actress Loni Anderson will always be remembered for playing receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, but it took her a long time to reach her career breakthrough. After her first acting role as a bit player in the 1966 film Nevada Smith, which starred Steve McQueen, she struggled to find work for about a decade. In 1978, her luck changed when she won the role of the receptionist at WKRP, a struggling fictional AM radio station. Interestingly, Loni Anderson appeared on The Love Boat three times, playing three different characters.

Donny Osmond was such a huge star as a child and as a young adult that he needs little introduction. However, his path and that of Loni Anderson crossed in The Love Boat‘s Season 3, Episode 18, where they played brother and sister Danny and Kitty, bringing a touch of funny rural chaos to the high seas alongside Happy Days matriarch Marion Ross and Dr. Strangelove legend Slim Pickens. It was a rare opportunity to see the polished teen idol and the sitcom bombshell trade their glamorous personas for exaggerated country accents in one of the series’ most eclectic casting choices.

This specific appearance highlights exactly why The Love Boat became such a cultural phenomenon: it was the only place on television where a teen pop sensation, a sitcom sex symbol, and legendary character actors could share the screen in a single storyline. While critics often dismissed the show as meaningless fluff, episodes like this allowed actors like Anderson to break typecasting, stepping away from her sophisticated radio receptionist persona to showcase her comedic timing and adaptability in a role that was worlds apart from the halls of WKRP.^[5]

5 Season 3, Episode 15: Veteran Comedian and Actor Milton Berle

Sometimes, actors have to demonstrate their acting chops by playing characters that are a little bit of a stretch to believe. In Episode 15 of The Love Boat‘s third season, which aired in December 1979, Milton Berle played a character that couldn’t be much further from his real-life career path: that of a prizefighter. While audiences knew Berle best as the host of Texaco Star Theater—where he often performed in drag—he was cast here as Ed “Flash” Taylor, a retired heavyweight boxer. It was a casting choice that demanded viewers forget decades of slapstick comedy and accept “Uncle Miltie” as a credible physical threat.

In the episode, Berle’s character sets sail aboard the Pacific Princess only to discover that one of his old boxing rivals is also on board. The rival, Jack McTigue, was played by none other than Alan Hale Jr., best known as The Skipper from Gilligan’s Island. The decades-long tension between the two men gives the director ample opportunity to exploit both dramatic and comedic beats, as the aging fighters posture and threaten to settle their score right on the Lido Deck.

To be honest, although both men were meant to be decades past their boxing primes, neither actor looked particularly menacing. Berle was lean and lanky, while Hale was pudgy and jovial, making the idea of them trading blows slightly absurd and genuinely funny. Still, both men sold the grittiness of the rivalry through sheer commitment to the bit, proving that even comedic legends could tap into a tougher edge when the script demanded it.^[6]

4 Season 4, Episode 7 (1980): Betty White

From an acting perspective, the late and great Betty White was what master horse trainers would call a thoroughbred. She possessed a drive and work ethic that carried her through a career spanning more than seven decades—several times longer than most actors remain at the top of their profession. She is best remembered for playing Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, but those iconic roles represent only a fraction of her enormous body of work. From 1951 to 2015, she appeared on television and film thousands of times.

The Love Boat was a lighthearted show that audiences didn’t take too seriously. It thrived on good, clean, mostly family-friendly fun and required a steady stream of guest stars compelling enough to bring viewers aboard each week. By 1980, White had long been established as an actress people loved to watch, making her a natural fit for the series. In Season 4, Episode 7, she played a neglected wife whose husband was portrayed by White’s real-life spouse, Allen Ludden.

In the episode, conflict arises because Ludden’s character is far more interested in a racehorse he secretly entered in a steeplechase than in his wife, prompting White’s character to seek attention elsewhere. On a historical note, this was one of the final times the couple appeared on screen together before Ludden’s death in 1981. The episode remains a genuine and touching glimpse into the chemistry of a Hollywood couple famously devoted to one another and has endured as a fan-favorite voyage aboard the Pacific Princess.^[7]

3 Season 8, Episode 20 (1985): Janet Jackson

During the 1980s, Janet Jackson’s older brother Michael far outshined her in terms of superstardom, but her 1986 album Control was her announcement to the world that she was a star in her own right. The producers of The Love Boat were particularly adept at booking two kinds of guests: stars long past their prime and stars just before their ascent. Jackson fit squarely into the latter category when she appeared on the February 2, 1985, episode—almost exactly one year before Control was released.

In this Scandinavian cruise adventure, Jackson played Delia Parks, a young woman who appeared innocent but was secretly involved in a nefarious plot. She served as the accomplice to a mad scientist named Dr. Fabian Cain, portrayed by the legendary Telly Savalas. The storyline ranks among the series’ most eccentric, featuring a robotic duplicate of the ship’s bartender, Isaac, created to help execute a heist. Jackson’s character seduces the real Isaac to keep him distracted while the robot impersonates him.

The role marked a sharp departure for Jackson, who played a villain rather than the sweet characters audiences knew from Good Times and Diff’rent Strokes. Acting alongside the Kojak icon allowed her to stretch creatively and demonstrate dramatic range just before launching one of the most influential pop careers of the decade.^[8]

2 Season 6, Episode 25 (1983): Catherine Bach & Heather Thomas

An actress has truly hit the big time when she inspires a cultural phenomenon based on a single piece of clothing. The term “Daisy Dukes” did not exist until the 1980s and refers to the extremely short denim shorts worn by Daisy Duke, a character played by Catherine Bach on The Dukes of Hazzard. The CBS series ran from 1979 to 1985, and Bach’s Southern belle became one of television’s most successful marketing creations—thanks not only to her wardrobe, but also to her charisma and personality.

Heather Thomas rose to fame around the same time playing Jody Banks on The Fall Guy, Lee Majors’ next hit after The Six Million Dollar Man. Like Bach, Thomas became an instant pin-up icon, with her famous bikini posters adorning teenage bedrooms across America. The media frequently pitted the two actresses against one another in a tongue-in-cheek “battle of the bikinis,” cementing them as the defining sex symbols of early 1980s television.

On March 26, 1983, The Love Boat producers managed to book both actresses for the same cruise in the episode “The Dog Show: Putting on the Dog.” While fans may have hoped for a crossover between Daisy Duke and Jody Banks, the two actresses appeared in separate storylines and never shared screen time. Bach played Pamela Hodgekins in a plot involving a lost dog, while Thomas pursued her own romantic storyline, making their near-meeting a memorable piece of pop culture trivia.^[9]

1 Season 5, Episode 20 (1982): The Love Boat Musical

Sometimes, the producers of popular television shows truly swing for the fences, assembling special episodes with larger budgets or extraordinary guest lists. One of the most fondly remembered episodes of The Love Boat is “The Love Boat Musical,” which aired on February 27, 1982, and allowed its cast and guests to showcase serious musical talent.

The musical voyage of the Pacific Princess served as a loving tribute to the Golden Age of Broadway and jazz. The guest list read like a Who’s Who of entertainment royalty: Cab Calloway, the iconic “Hi-De-Ho” man; Carol Channing, forever associated with Hello, Dolly!; and the powerful vocalist Della Reese. The episode also featured Ethel Merman, Ann Miller, and Van Johnson. The storyline centered on the ship’s crew and passengers staging a musical revue, giving these legends a chance to do exactly what they did best.

For fans of entertainment history, this episode stands as arguably the most culturally significant hour the series ever produced. Seeing icons of stage and music performing alongside television regulars created a rare bridge between eras of show business, resulting in a historic episode that remains one of The Love Boat‘s most enduring achievements.^[10]