The fanfare was dialed back because of Hurricane Milton, but Princess Cruises began sailing its newest ship Sun Princess out of Port Everglades over the weekend.

The biggest ship in the Princess fleet debuted out of Europe earlier this year, but has now begun its winter Caribbean sailing season from the line’s primary Florida homeport in Fort Lauderdale.

The 177,882-gross-ton ship has a 4,314-passenger capacity based on double occupancy. It’s the first of the line’s new Sphere class of ships, the first to run on liquefied natural gas, part of parent company Carnival Corp.’s efforts to reduce emissions.

It’s also the first LNG ship to home port out Port Everglades following the debuts of LNG-powered ships at Port Canaveral and PortMiami.

This is the third iteration of the name Sun Princess. The first two versions sailed for the line from 1974-1988 and 1995-2020. The pilot episode of “The Love Boat” TV series was shot on board the original Sun Princess in 1977.

It’s a big jump in size from the line’s recent Royal-class ships including 2022’s Discovery Princess, 2020’s Enchanted Princess and 2019’s Sky Princess, which come in at around 145,000 gross tons with about 3,660-passenger capacities.

The ship made a three-night media preview sailing departing Port Everglades late Friday, despite having to cancel a welcome party the previous night because of Hurricane Milton. It cast off still under cloudy skies although the dangers of Hurricane Milton had already passed away from Florida the day earlier.

As it sailed out, guests on board were treated to a drone show hovering above the south end of the port channel in Dania Beach, playing up the Princess “Sea Witch” logo alongside images of hearts as the line’s omnipresent love theme with its ties to “The Love Boat” including one message that read, “I Love Fort Lauderdale.”

It even sounded the first few notes of the TV show theme song from the ship’s horn while departing the channel — the part where the lyrics go, “Love, exciting and new. Come aboard. We’re expecting you,” but not finishing the tune, although a few from the waving crowds on shore could be heard shouting back the climactic retort.

“There is no doubt that Princess is iconic now to Fort Lauderdale and is the marquee brand in the port,” said cruise line president John Padgett during the sailing. “I think it’s fabulous and and the community has embraced Princess tremendously. You know, the drone show yesterday was kind of a testament, because it was really about the community.”

The catchphrase “I Love This” is omnipresent about the ship. Padgett said he watches old episodes of the show every time he sails, and thankful for what the show did to open up the cruise industry to more people.

“We’re not reliving ‘The Love Boat.’ We’re just making sure that we understand what that DNA is, and now we’re amplifying that going forward,” he said. “So you see it sprinkled in.”

He said it’s an attribute of the overall strategy.

“At the end of the day, listen to the theme song, and it sings our brand,” he said. “So if you have a theme song, it sings your brand. Why wouldn’t you use it?”

On board were Princess executives and a lineup of some of its celebrity partners that have new venues and collaborations on board. That included Italian butcher Dario Cecchini, who has been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations,” “Top Chef” and most recently in the Netflix series “Chef’s Table.”

Also on board was Chef Rudi Sodamin known for his restaurants on Holland America and Carnival. He brings two venues to the new ship including one partnered with artist Romero Britto called Love by Britto.

Other partner venues involve Royal Chef Darren McGrady, celebrity mixologist Rob Floyd, sushi Chef Makoto Okuwa and 13-time world pizza champion Chef Tony Gemignani.

“These aren’t celebrity chefs that license their name to a restaurant. These are craftsfolk. These are artisans,” Padgett said. “These are masters that work with us on our menus in our kitchen, teaching their techniques, the recipes.”

The new ship has 30 food and beverage venues including a thematic magic experience called Spellbound by Magic Castle with a sponsorship from the famous Hollywood, California venue.

Padgett said the line has upped its game on the fundamentals as well, such as the quality of meats and selection of wines.

“I’ll say the overall most distinguishing experiential elements are the elevated food and beverage program,” he said. “It’s second to none. We put a ton of effort in it. It’s the best of the best at large scale, but still that small-ship service. And so I think that as a category, I’m most proud of that.”

Former model and TV show host Tyra Banks, who is now in the ice cream business, was also on board as well as nature TV personality and now Princess Cruises’ ambassador Jeff Corwin.

Padgett said he’s also fond of the the massive ship’s atrium feature called the Piazza, which falls within a massive glass sphere that swells out from the sides midship, and is the central place for many ship activities from musical performances to passenger contests.

“From a feature standpoint, the next-level Piazza is, to me, spectacular because it just takes the ethos of the brand, which is about connecting peoples and cultures, and it gives a venue where that’s happening almost 24/7,” he said.

Another spherical feature on board is geodesic, glass space on the top deck called “The Dome,” home to avant-garde acrobatic performances that augment main stage shows in the ship theater called “The Arena.”

One thing not on board the ship was a planned adventure ride that was going to be a mashup of a zipline and hang glider called the Sea Breeze along with a climbing structure called Coastal Climb. The line announced this summer it would not be taking delivery of those attractions.

The ship returned to Port Everglades on Monday to begin its season of mostly alternating seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries through March 2025.

A sister ship Star Princess is set to debut in 2025 and sailing in the Mediterranean.