Is it true that Princess nearly said “no” to the Love Boat opportunity?
I will never forget the time when an executive came in to tell me: “I got rid of this person who wanted to make a deal with us on putting a T.V. show aboard the ship.” He told me a little bit about what it was, and that night I left the office and came back the next morning and said, “Hey, I’ve been thinking about this more — let’s put this back on the front burner.” It was a big commitment for us, the small company that we were. And carrying this 100-some crew was costly. It turned out that it was “The Love Boat” that we nearly threw out — but it was an incredible success. And the show made the cruise industry jump way ahead, years and years with that one program. Q: How did the purchase by P&O come about? When we sold to P&O it was my feeling that there was an opportunity to grow. They had the ability to build the new ships that were necessary to support growth for cruising in the U.S. And they were willing to do that. Under the agreement, I would stay and manage the company and be
