BLAST From The Soap Past: A Santa Barbara Reunion Is Coming To The High Seas!

If you’ve ever wanted to go on a cruise with Cruz from Santa Barbara, your ship has come in! Actors from the beloved NBC serial are partaking in a Santa Barbara Reunion Fan Cruise later this year and YOU can join them!

In addition to A Martinez (Cruz), five other members of the show’s cast are set to be on board a Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship headed out of Miami, Florida on November 4, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. It will return on November 8, 2019 at 6 a.m.

On board for the Santa Barbara Reunion Fan Cruise are Nicolas Coster (Lionel), Lane Davies (Mason), Harley Kozak (Mary), Judith McConnell (Sophia), and Louise Sorel (Augusta).

For information on the cruise, click here.

“I’m pleased, but more surprised that 30 years later we’re still as fondly remembered as we are,” Lane Davies tells Soap Hub.

The fan favorite credits the show’s creators Bridget and Jerry Dobson as well as timing for the show’s success, especially its popularity in Russia which skyrocketed once the show was sold overseas.

“I think we were so refreshing after communism and dark Siberian winter nights. Something about the show really captured the Soviet imagination.”

Davies says that plenty of photo ops, autograph sessions, and ‘face time’ are planned for the cruise.

“There will be some panel stuff,” Davies shares. “We’re planning a tribute not only to Jed [Allan, who played C.C. Capwell], bless his soul, but everybody who has departed this mortal coil since the show ended.

“What we’re really looking forward to is a shared experience with the fans. They’re not just going to go into a room with other fans and watch 20 minutes of Santa Barbara highlights. We’ll be there with him.”

The cruise will reunite Mason and Mary DuVall, the couple torn cruelly apart after Mary was killed off when a giant “C” from The Capwell Hotel fell off and struck her on the head, killing her.

“I had begged the writers not to make [Mary’s exit] that final,” Davies recalls. “They were trying to find a logical way out to get me [off the show for a little bit] to do Shakespeare for the summer. I said leave yourselves an out, but they squashed her like a bug. The fans almost burned down the studio.”

As a result, Mason was (no pun intended) at sea for a while, but then came the highly popular Mason/Julia (Nancy Lee Grahn, Alexis, General Hospital) pairing.

“We started juicing up the scenes we had together, giving the writers the idea to put us together.”

Part of the proceeds from the cruise will go to The Conasauga Shakespeare Coalition, an organization near and dear to Davies, who serves as its artistic director.

First up is a production of Henry V at the Burr Park Amphitheater in Dalton, Georgia on June 13, 16, 20 and 22 at 8 p.m. Proving talent runs in the family, Davies’ son, Nathan, will play the title role.

Check out Mary’s final scene in the clip below!