‘Brady Brunch’ and ‘Happy Days’ stars to christen Princess ships

I don’t usually report on the godmothers cruise lines choose to christen their ships. The job of a godmother is relatively unimportant from the standpoint of a cruise passenger. The famous women chosen by the cruise lines usually help with advertising and then pull the lever that smashes a bottle of champagne against the ship’s hull during the naming ceremony.

However, Princess’ most recent choice of godmothers was too amusing to pass up. When the Emerald Princess and Royal Princess have a joint naming ceremony over Mother’s Day weekend in May, two pairs of TV mothers and daughters will become the ships’ godmothers. Florence Henderson and Marion Ross (the moms on the Brady Brunch and Happy Days) will name the bigger Emerald Princess, and their television daughters, Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady) and Erin Moran (Joannie Cunningham), will christen the smaller Royal Princess.

As someone who grew up with these shows in the ’70s and ’80s, I’m amused that these stars are being dragged from obscurity to re-create their mother-daughter roles for the purpose of advertising Princess’ new ships. Then again, Princess has been awfully fond of ’70s television ever since its ships starred on The Love Boat. Gavin McLeod (aka Captain Stubing) makes the occasional appearance on a Princess ship, and is helping Princess with its new Department of Romance.

If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of these quintessential mother-daughter duos, look out for possible TV coverage of the May 12 event in Santorini. Who knows—it might be the catalyst for another reunion show. A Very Brady Cruise, anyone?