The Cruise from Hell is finally over.
A crippled Carnival cruise ship pulled into Mobile, Ala., last night, finally reaching the shoreline that’d been so tantalizingly close all day for desperate passengers.
The Carnival Triumph docked in the Mobile darkness at about 10:21 pm EST.
More than 4,000 weary travelers and crew – with virtually no power or plumbing since a Sunday fire – couldn’t wait to get off their floating biohazard.
Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill apologized for the brutal trip.
“We pride ourselves in providing our guests with a great vacation experience – and clearly we failed in this particular case,” Cahill said moments after Triumph docked.
Despite this horrific experience, many travelers gave high marks to Triumph staffers who were stuck in the same awful boat.
Cahill thanked those passengers.
“I know it’s been very trying for our guest but I can tell you our crew worked tirelessly,” Cahill said. “I appreciate the patience of our guests and their ability to cope with the situation.”
The cruise ship Carnival Triumph is towed up the Mobile River in Mobile, Ala. (AP)
The “tent city” on the deck of the Carnival Triumph. (@janetshamlian via Instagram)
A phone charging station aboard the Carnival Triumph.
(@LJSelsky via Twitter)
The cruise ship Carnival Triumph while stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. (Getty Images)
The journey’s end wasn’t a minute too soon.
“I’m feeling awesome just to see land and buildings,” said 24-year-old Texas passenger Brittany Ferguson, wearing a white robe she got on board. “The scariest part was just not knowing when we’d get back”
Triumph’s arrival in Mobile was delayed yesterday afternoon when a broken towline brought the rescue effort to a grinding halt.
Frantic crew members on the lead tug boat replaced the line in about about an hour, before currents could push the ship back to sea.
Once the Triumph docked, that touched off another hours-long ordeal.
With just one elevator on board working, it was expected to take at least four hours for all passengers to disembark, said Carnival senior VP Terry Thornton.
Carnival assembled a small army of 200 employees help passengers limp off the ship.
The cruise – which began a week ago yesterday in Galveston – went horribly wrong on Sunday when flames erupted in the engine room.
That blaze killed power and knocked out almost all the ship’s plumbing.
“Pipes are busting, I know the sewer is backing up, and water is in the cabins, and it’s just a nightmare,” passenger Jamie Baker told NBC’s “Today” show, from aboard the crippled cruise ship. “It’s just a nightmare.”
She and other passengers described hours-long lines for food — meals that were often no more than slices of tomato or onion on bread — and putrid sanitary conditions.
With so few toilets on board flushing, passengers were forced to relieve themselves into red plastic bags meant for biohazards.
Some didn’t even bother using bags.
“There’s poop and urine all along the floor,” said passenger and Houston resident Renee Shanar.
“The floor is flooded with sewer water … and we had to poop in bags.”
Passenger Julie Morgan described the smell on board: “It’s a mixture of sewage and rotting food.”
“Let’s just say I have a pair of slippers I will not be bringing home with me,” Morgan told CNN.
Baker compared her trip to a post-hurricane experience.
“Like Katrina in the Dome, except it’s afloat,” Baker said.
As the ship approached land yesterday afternoon, animated passengers – either happy that the end was near or loopy from all the misery – showed their excitement to passing helicopters.
Several smiling travelers gathered on the top deck, went to the floor and spelled “HELP” with their bodies-turned-letters.
For many passengers, their stay in Alabama was short this morning.
Travelers had the option of boarding buses directly to Galveston or Houston, or to New Orleans where they rested in a hotel before taking a charter flight to Houston.
Carnival is picking up all these travel costs.
Mobile Mayor Sam Jones couldn’t understand why Carnival would subject passengers to long bus rides after this awful journey.
Mobile had more than enough hotel rooms to accommodate passengers and its two airports are near the cruise terminal, according to Jones.
“We raised the issue that it would be a lot easier to take a five-minute bus ride than a two-hour bus ride” to New Orleans, Jones said.
Passengers are set to get a full refund, discounts on future cruises and $500 each in compensation, the company has said.
The NTSB is investigating the cause of Sunday’s engine fire.
With Post Wire Services