Amerikanis intro page

Chandris Lines

rhms Amerikanis

The Amerikanis used to be Union Castle Line's Kenya Castle. (Union Castle Line ships used to sail from Southampton to South Africa and I was lucky enough to do a voyage there on Pendennis Castle with my parents when I was 16). She was taken over by Chandris in 1968. She did some transatlantic trips but from the 1970's until 1996 she was a cruise ship.

1968 plans of Amerikanis very kindly sent to me by Nigel Allan, click to view but afraid you wont see crew accommodation!

Side View

Ottawa Deck

Lisbon Deck

Rome Deck

Washington

Jerusalem

Athens Deck

Sun Deck

Boat Deck

In 1996 she was laid up in Greece waiting to be scrapped, see these pics, kindly sent by Larry Schmieder from New Jersey USA.

Former ferry Mediterranean Sky (vessel on the right), Amerikanis (in the middle) and the Sea Harmony (ex Statendam) in Eleusis Bay. Since then, The Sky has been beached as she started to take on water, the Amerikanis has been sent to the scrap yard and the Sea Harmony silently awaited her fate, until she too was sold to the Indian breakers. Click here to see an upsetting pic of the Amerikanis just abandoned in the scrap yard, you have to scroll down quite some way

Heard in December 2001 that she has now very sadly been scrapped, see email :The Amerikanis was taken on her last voyage by a Russian skeleton crew to Alang beach near Bhavagnar in India sometime around June (2001) as I was on her and she was half scrapped. I managed to get quite a lot of pieces off her from lifeboat station boards, officers only etc, lots of wood fittings including the wooden benches. Best regards Mark Jameson (Mark has a site www.trinitymarine.co.uk and has just opened a shop devoted to nautical antiques in the historic port of Tynemouth in South Devon U.K.)


Happier pics from Larry: Moored in Grenada 1991	Moored in Curacao 1991

When I joined we were doing weekly cruises to Bermuda. We then sailed with an empty ship, (party time!) to Boston. From there we did a couple of Caribbean cruises and it was during the second one, in September '71, that we were trying to get away from a hurricane. The sea was an amazing sight, the height of the waves was incredible. From our cabin porthole it was a bit worrying, one minute you could only see sea and the next only sky! She rolled over so far you began to wonder if she was going to recover. The last cruise from Boston was a three day cruse to nowhere. Back to New York and then, after one more Bermuda trip, started regular Caribbean cruises. I loved both Bermuda and the Caribbean and had some wonderful times ashore both shopping (gold in St Thomas & French underwear in Guadeloupe!) and enjoying the beautiful beaches. Nights out in Puerto Rico at the fabulous El San Juan hotel with it's casino, over the top decor, and famous stars in cabaret are a great memory.

In April'72 the ship had to go into dry dock in New York. Some of us did a Greyhound trip to see Niagara Falls. We only saw them from the American side, we couldn't go into Canada as our visas only allowed us to enter the States where the ship was docked. We then flew to Washington for a couple of days and then back to New York. We were so lucky to have had the chance to do a trip like that whilst we were supposed to be working! I also loved sailing from New York. Such an exciting city and being there so often we saw almost everything. The shopping compared to UK was so cheap as well!

We then carried on with Bermuda trips and I flew home from there in May'72.

As I said in my history I loved my time on Amerikanis, made great friends and saw wonderful places. Dorothy, one of the other hairdressers, made the famous remark, " these bloody passengers, they spoil our holiday every cruise"!!

Now click for the photos.