Braulio Mercader  Lives in Germany

I just visited your website.  I spent my 1980 Christmas in that ship.  It couldn't be better.  I don't care what people say about those new mega cruise ships, I still prefer the smaller old-type ones like the Amerikanis or the Carla C  The memories will last forever!  I'll be very happy if you put my email in your Guest Book on the site.  As a matter of coincidence, I just found a couple of pictures from my trip in the Amerikanis.  I need to scan them, so I will email them to you tonight.  About me, I'm Puerto Rican.  My first name is Spanish, but with a Greek origin.  I lived in Germany for a few years until last year, when I moved to Washington D.C., and now are in the process of moving back to Germany in July. 

Here's a picture, Dec'80, during the emergency drill in the Amerikanis.  The lady next to me was a Mexican passenger I met during the event.  When I took the trip, the ship was managed by the Costa line, but the only way you could tell was because of the big C painted in the funnel.  The rest was Chandris!  Just before our departure from San Juan, a lot of people from the Carla C (which was moored just behind the Amerikanis) boarded the ship.  The Italian sailors of the Costa Line went on strike (asking for a salary increase due to a recent earthquake in Italy), so the passengers were relocated in the Amerikanis.  The Carla personnel was so upset for the Costa Line move that they kept throwing empty cans and other stuff and shouting all

sort of "funny" things to the escaping passengers!  Last time I saw the ship was by 1984 while being worked on in a San Juan shipyard, this time under the Panamanian flag.  It made me sad, since the cool thing was to see it with the Greek flag and the name of the port of Piraeus written in the stern.  Something that was neat is that it had a disco in the very front, I think was underneath the bridge.  Dancing with a couple of drinks in a choppy sea was quite fun!    

	This is a pic from Braulio of modern Cruise Ships in San Juan.
More memories of San Juan