Putting the love in Love Boat: How 20 couples are celebrating Valentine’s Day with Princess

• Around 20 couples are renewing their vows on Princess‘ Royal Princess.
• We chat to Jennifer and Joey who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.
• There is even a couple onboard who met on Princess’ original Love Boat.

It’s a big deal getting married or renewing your vows. It’s an even bigger deal to do it on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean surrounded by 3000 guests. But this is exactly what twenty couples from all over the world are choosing to do onboard the Royal Princess for Valentine’s Day this year.

When we say 3000 guests, of course, we are referring to the 3000 fellow passengers, who probably don’t know the wedding couples who are choosing to tie the knot (or renew the knot) onboard, but it is being held in the central atrium (piazza) of the ship at 12:15 pm sharp for all to see. Possibly not as private or romantic as a small chapel or an intimate beach setting – but certainly a whole lot of fun!

The vow renewal trend

And, knowing the Princess style and flair, it is absolutely going to be a moment to remember. For a start, the ship’s wedding planner is the ultra-flamboyant Louie Pieter Engelbrecht, from South Africa. Louie lives and breathes his role of celebrating the love of couples onboard. Whether it’s scattering the rose petals or arranging the bouquets, Louie makes it happen.

“I find that the Australians are more broad-minded than Americans when it comes to having weddings onboard. We usually have about one wedding per month in the Australian season. And Australians are more likely to do something in the spur of the moment.”

“I also find we are getting more renewal of vows, especially in the age gap between 60s and 80s. I have found a unique trend of the couples getting married onboard are couples who originally met onboard. There’s a couple in their 70s and 60s who are getting married and who met on the original love boat, which is amazing. It’s like a fairytale story!”

Meet the couples getting hitched…again

One couple renewing their vows onboard on Valentine’s Day is Joey (59) and Jennifer (60) Corpus from Indianapolis. They have timed their cruise to New Zealand to coincide with their 30th wedding anniversary and are also celebrating their recent retirement and finally being empty nesters.

“This is our fourth cruise, and we wanted to do something that involves warm weather, culturally different places to visit, and romantic,” says Jennifer who admits she is the organiser of the pair.

“For me, the secret to a long marriage is to make sure you stop to regroup and that you’re both working towards the same goals.”

Less of a planner is Joey who says “In our age group, people have been married a long time and start to take each other for granted.” For him, the secret to staying happily married is to always agree with Jennifer!

Asked if they’re planning anything special after the vows together Jennifer says, “We are having dinner in the Crown Grill.” Meantime, Joey looks on admiringly and simply says “That sounds good!”.

Speaking of the Crown Grill, Executive Chef Daniel Skrba from Bosnia says, “We have extra lobster organised for the Crown Grill for Valentine’s menu.” The ship’s galley has been busy baking multiple love-themed desserts and dishes to be distributed right across all the ship’s dining venues. Guests choosing to dine in the specialty restaurants will be given roses.

“There will be plenty of champagne flowing”, says Chef Daniel. “Plenty of cocktails, fruits, love boat cakes.” When asked if there are any extra special ingredients he is incorporating into the ship’s menu for Valentine’s, he replies “Of course!… Love.”