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SS Americanis ?


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SS Americanis ???? I think this was a ship I went on in the late 70's. Does anyone remember this ship? I am not really sure if that was the name so that is what I am trying to find out. If anyone emembers this ship please let me know. I do remember we went to Bahamas. Thanks for any help you can give me.

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The Amerikanis, best that I can remember, was owned by Chandris, but chartered to Costa Cruises for Bahamas service many years ago....I believe in the late 70's or early 80's.

 

I do know, for a fact, that she was scrapped several years ago. Even when she went to the scrappers, she was reportedly in pristine mechanical condition...

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N7786W Flyer...Thank you so much, so that really was the name? I thought it was, but I really wasn't sure.Sorry I spelled it wrong but if I wasn't even sure of the name, you know I didn't remember how to spell it. LOL:D Again thanks for replying to my question... Also I do remember it was a greek ship.....

 

 

 

fishing_boat_sm_nwm.gif

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N7786W (probably the first username I've ever seen on this site named after an airplane's reg number!) is correct - she went to the breakers in 2001. Her last season of active service was 1997.

 

There is an entire site dedicated to the very pretty AMERIKANIS here written by a British fan.

 

She was built in 1953 as Union-Castle's KENYA CASTLE for their Round Africa service. In 1968 Chandris bought her and rebuilt her as AMERIKANIS ("American maiden" in Greek) for the American cruise market. At the time she was a strikingly modern vessel - as I recall, the first cruise ship to have televisions in every cabin. Aside from a charter to Costa from 1980 through 1984, she was successfully employed by Chandris right through to the end in 1997. In 1989, Chandris had started Chandris Celebrity Cruises, (later the "Chadnris" was dropped) and the existing company became Chandris Fantasy Cruises (later just "Fantasy Cruises"). Fantasy was slowly phased out and by 1997, AMERIKANIS was the last ship of the old Fantasy fleet left. She spent the next four years laid up in Greece and was finally scrapped in 2001, just two years short of 50 years old, after an incredibly productive career.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm glad I finally found out what happened to this ship. This was my very first cruise (4 young ladies) in August 1974, NY to Bermuda...loved it. Did not sail again until August 1994, NY to Bermuda on RCCL Song of America. Memories. Thanks.

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My husband called VTG somewhere in the mid-80's and said he looked at my calendar and I was free between X and X date and what could they suggest. They called back with a cruise on the Amerikanis--6 days to Bermuda. The conversation went like this: "How much?" "Five hundred for you and five hundred for the missus." "How much for my two boys?" "They are free other than port charges of $24.50 each if they share your cabin." "Let me get this straight. They are going to feed my boys (then about 13 and 8) for free for six days." "Yep" "Sold". Cost us about the same to get to NYC as to take the cruise but we had a wonderful time. My youngest still takes pride in the fact he only screamed once when I had to carry him on my motorscooter (lol).

 

tucker in Texas

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  • 1 month later...

In October of 1984, at the ripe old age of 22, my future wife and I were sailing on RCCL's Song of America when we ran into hurricane Josephine. The Captain told us we will be sailing alongside the Amerikanis during the storm (he never mentioned hurricane). Nearly every table, chair, and liquor bottle fell over on our ship as we braved the swells. Yes, we were dumb enough to spend much time on the upper deck where we could barely breathe with the intense winds! I guess that is why we were about the only ones out there!

 

As we watched the Amerikanis struggle, the screws were visible several times during the largest swells! I was not able to get any photos of the screws exposed, but I did get a photo that gives a good idea of how intense the trip was! Fortunatley, this only lasted one night.

 

Sorry, the photo attachement is not working for me despite my efforts to keep it within the size requirements. I'll send it as soon as I get it figured out.

 

This was one of my favorite cruises!

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  • 7 years later...

My first cruise was ALSO on the Americanis, out of New York in the early seventies. I remember going to the Bahamas but maybe we did Bermuda too, and I remember feeling sick the whole time. I seem to remember spending a lot of time in a movie theatre watching James Brown. After all these years, I am finally ready to try again.

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SS Americanis ???? I think this was a ship I went on in the late 70's. Does anyone remember this ship? I am not really sure if that was the name so that is what I am trying to find out. If anyone emembers this ship please let me know. I do remember we went to Bahamas. Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

Yes - I remember this ship! It was owned by Chandris (which is now Celebrity). I sailed her out of Baltimore in the late 70's.

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We cruised her sometime in the '90's - Christmas cruise - "cruise bus" itinerary -- picked up and discharged passengers in St. Thomas, Martinique, and Caracas. English speakers were in the minority - Our TA was very embarrassed when she realized what the itinerary was and was going to get us on the new Celebrity ship instead but we refused. If the ship had stabilizers they were not engaged - yet we had the time of our lives!

 

The entertainers on board produced a fantastic new show for us each evening - one of them was a former Cirque de Soliel clown who engaged us with creativity and humor that did not require language -- and had us rolling on the floor laughing when he did about 20 minutes on a unicycle in extremely heavy seas.

 

That ship was, at the time, suffering from age but it was easy to see that she was a Grand Dame of the seas.

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