“Love Boat” Actors to Sail Princess at the Rose Parade

Princess Cruises will have its first-ever float in the 2015 event.

Here's a quick brain stickler: Are there more flowers at sea or boats on land?

There may be more blossoms on the ocean, in the form of leis and corsages and buffet table centerpieces, but the boats on land are fairly plentiful, too. And they'll grow more so on January 1, 2015, when the first-ever Rose Parade float from Princess Cruises rolls grandly down Colorado Boulevard.

Make that Grandy-ily, too. Fred Grandy -- helloooo, Gopher -- and five more of the original cast members of "The Love Boat" shall be aboard the bud-bedecked boat. Err, float, rather, and they'll be waving and smiling and celebrating the 50th anniversary of Princess Cruises. (Indeed, the float is part of the company's wider half-century party.)

Let's give a shout-out for the other performers set to appear on the boaty float on New Year's Day, the people who were very much a part of many of our Saturday nights back in the late '70s up through 1986: Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing), Ted Lange (Isaac), Lauren Tewes (Julie), Bernie Kopell (Doc), and Jill Whelan (Vicki, Captain Stubing's daughter).

They'll be aboard the flowery bow, and depicted behind them on the whimsical vehicle? Scenes of the cruise line's new Regal Princess traveling to iconic destinations around the planet. Iconic destinations, of course, rendered in the natural materials that have been a staple of the famous parade since its late 19th-century beginning.

Some 24,000 flowers, in fact, are expected to cover the stunner of a ship, and the landmarks it depicts, too. Phoenix Decorating Company is the outfit behind the 60-foot by 24-foot float.

The theme of the 2015 Rose Parade is "Inspiring Stories."

The Scene

Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.

Social Nature, a Descanso Gardens pop-up, will offer sips and snacks this spring and summer

Things to do this weekend: WonderCon, a pop culture wonderland, alights in Anaheim

Do you remember some stories from "The Love Boat"? Of course you do. Did you want Julie's feathery-cool haircut? You still totally do. Would you have sailed with that crew in a second? In a second.

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