by Richard Barry
The breeze is flowing gently through your hair as you gaze out at the moonlight as it dances across the sea. Your thoughts turn to fantasy as you think back on the great love stories of our time and silently wonder, “Is it really possible to fall in love on a cruise ship.?” I am here to tell you that not only is it possible, but it happened to me! I would like to share a true life love story that took place on “The Love Boat.” My name is Richard Barry and I performed as a headline entertainer on Princess Ships for many years as a Singing Impersonator, Comedy Impressionist, and Multi-Instrumentalist.
I met my wife, Mary Frances Hansen on an Alaskan cruise. I was sitting in the cocktail lounge when I saw the most beautiful, vivacious woman I had ever seen in my life. It was love at first sight. I didn't know at the time, Mary Frances was a social hostess for Princess. She had put together a class reunion and was sailing with 80 of her classmates. She also had just won the title of “Ms. Texas Senior America 1997.”
We kept running into each other everywhere. I did my best to avoid talking to her because I knew she would be gone in 7 days, and I would have a broken heart. Unfortunately, as she interpreted it, she told her sister, I had no personality at all and I was a real dud!! As the cruise continued on, it was finally showtime for me in the main showroom. Mary Frances was there, and after seeing my impersonations, especially Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Chuck Berry, and Willie Nelson, she gave me another chance. The next time we ran into each other we sat and talked for a while, and that's when I learned she was a social hostess with Princess.
After spending time getting to know each other we both knew there was something there. We agreed Mary Frances would book a cabin for herself at the employee rate for a two week cruise. We sailed from Hawaii to Bora Bora, Moorea, Kiribati, Tahiti and back again. By the end of the cruise, we knew we were both in love.
We met on the Star Princess in Alaska in 1997 and got married on the Island Princess in 1998. Back then a captain could not marry people. Fortunately, there was a Baptist Minister on board who heard us talking about getting married and asked if we had set a date. We told him we were both working on ships and didn't know when both of us would get time off to plan a wedding. Lucky for us.... He told Mary Frances and me he would be happy to marry us on the ship.
When we talked to Janet Edwards, the Cruise Director, she got so excited and thought it was an excellent idea. She closed the lounge on Deck 10 and decorated it like a first-class ballroom. Mary Frances even had an aisle to walk down with a red carpet lined with velvet ropes. Captain Roger Knight was my best man, and Janet Edwards was Mary's maid of honor. Janet planned the entire wedding, and it was a fantastic black-tie event. All the girls in the production show were her bridesmaids. The officers all came in their dress uniforms, and many of the guys wore their tuxedos. When we were pronounced husband and wife as we were sailing by the glaciers, I sat at the Grand Piano and played “You Are So Beautiful” in Joe Cocker's voice to my new bride! (All the women thought that was sooooo romantic!)
After the wedding, and the reception was over, it was time for everyone to go back to work. Janet had us come on the stage in the main showroom and she announced we had just gotten married. The orchestra started playing and we danced our first dance on the stage. The audience gave us a standing ovation. Beautiful memories to treasure always. We are now going on 27 years of marriage. We have traveled to 139 countries and all 7 continents. I will sum it up by saying, there really is love on the Love Boat and you never know who you are going to meet!
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