BREVARD HISTORY: The ocean liner Carla C was the inspiration for “The Love Boat” and docked at Port Canaveral in 1979

June 25, 2024

Cruise Hive Awards: Port Canaveral voted best cruise port in the US, to host 7.3 million passengers in 2024

Port Canaveral has once again taken first place at the Cruise Hive Cruise Ship Awards, an annual event honoring the best in the industry. Port Canaveral is the second busiest cruise port in the world, with over 4.5 million cruise ship passengers passing through last year, but long before it became a major cruise port, the ocean liner Carla C paid a visit to Port Canaveral in September 1979. (Image of Port Canaveral)

BREVARD COUNTY • PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – Port Canaveral was once again named winner of the Cruise Hive Cruise Ship Awards, an annual event honoring the best in the industry.

With over 4.5 million cruise passengers last year, Port Canaveral is the second-busiest cruise port in the world. But long before it became a major cruise port, the ocean liner Carla C visited Port Canaveral in September 1979.

Carla C was the inspiration for The Love Boat, a romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986. The 20,469 gross ton ship was 600 feet (182 m) long and 800 feet (244 m) wide and was originally launched in 1952 as a French ocean liner named SS Flandre for the French Line.

For comparison, Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras was built at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, is a 180,000 gross ton, 1,130-foot ship with a capacity of 6,500 passengers and is scheduled to reach her homeport in Port Canaveral in 2020.

According to reports, a group of producers came up with the idea for the popular television series “Love Boat” and wrote the first scripts on board the Carla C.

Costa purchased the former SS Flandre in the late 1960s and renamed her Carla C. She was subsequently renamed Carla Costa and sailed various routes in the Caribbean.

In 1992, Costa sold the ship to the now defunct Epirotiki Line, which renamed it Pallas Athena. The ship was scrapped after a major fire on March 23, 1994.