This series was based upon (or "inspired by", as the end credits put it) Jeraldine Saunders 1974 novel "The Love Boats." She wrote the book from her personal observations while serving as a hostess on a cruise ship.
Laugh tracks became very unpopular in the 1970s and 1980s, so much so that shows like All in the Family (1971) and Cheers (1982) would announce that they were filmed before a live studio audience. This was the first show in several years that was not filmed in front of a studio audience, and still had a laugh track. When it was cancelled in 1987, it was the last show of its type to have a laugh track.
Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing), Bernie Kopell (Dr. Bricker) and Ted Lange (Isaac Washington) are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series.
Two Princess cruise line ships regularly appeared as the Pacific Princess in the show. In addition to the real Pacific Princess, her sister ship, the Island Princess, stood in at times, although since the pools on the aft deck were different (the Pacific Princess pool was a cluster of three connected circular pools of varying depths, while the Island Princess pool was more rectangular in shape) it was easy to tell which ship was which. Both ships changed ownership several times after the show ended, and were finally scrapped as of 2014-2015.