The plot line of going to Europe by ocean liner, rather than flying, was due to the American Export Lines wanting to advertise their liners the S.S. Constitution and the S.S. Independence. In exchange for the plug the company agreed to finance the elaborate set construction for the series European episodes.
Bob Gilbreath, the person who actually piloted the helicopter (Frank Gerstle portrayed the pilot onscreen), would later die in a helicopter crash five years later.
In the beginning of this episode, after the messenger on the bicycle parks his bike in front of the ship, a man with two large boxes on a cart pushes them in front of the bicycle. As Lucy holds Little Ricky for another kiss, the audience cannot see that a person on the other side of the boxes (which are open on the side facing the ship), is attaching Lucy's skirt to the bicycle so that it gets stuck when the messenger tries to leave. The man then pushes the boxes out of the scene just before Lucy is shown with her skirt stuck in the bicycle's wheel.
Bob Carroll Jr.: I Love Lucy (1951) writer, as the bearded passenger with a camera that Ethel speaks to as the boat is leaving.