Passengers cheer exit from smelly ship

The cruise ship Carnival Triumph is towed at a snail’s pace Thursday into Mobile Bay, Ala., where its more than 4,200 passengers eagerly waited to disembark.
The cruise ship Carnival Triumph is towed at a snail’s pace Thursday into Mobile Bay, Ala., where its more than 4,200 passengers eagerly waited to disembark.

— A cruise ship disabled for five days in the Gulf of Mexico finally docked with more than 4,000 people aboard late Thursday, passengers raucously cheering the end to an ocean odyssey they say was marked by overflowing toilets, food shortages and foul odors.

“Sweet Home Alabama!” read one of the homemade signs passengers affixed alongside the 14-story ship as many celebrated at deck rails lining several levels of the stricken ship Triumph. The ship’s horn loudly blasted several times on its final docking approach as some gave a thumbs-up sign and flashes from cameras and cell phones lit the night.

About an hour after the ship pulled up at 9:15 p.m. Central, a steady stream of passengers began making their way down the glass enclosed gangplank, some in wheelchairs and others pulling carry-on luggage.

An ambulance pulled up to a gate at the bottom of the gangplank, and then its lights went on and it pulled away.

As the ship pulled up, some aboard shouted, “Hello, Mobile!” Some danced in celebration on one of the balconies. “Happy V-Day” read one of the homemade signs made for the Valentine’s Day arrival and another, more starkly: “The ship’s afloat, so is the sewage.”

Hundreds gawked from dockside at the arrival at the Alabama cruise terminal in Mobile, the state’s only seaport, as the Triumph docked.

Taxis were lined up waiting for people, and motorists on Interstate 10 stopped to watch the exodus of passengers from the cruise ship.

Some still aboard chanted,“Let me off, let me off!”

It took six grueling hours navigating the 30-odd-mile ship channel to dock, guided by at least four towboats. Nearly 900 feet in length, it was the largest cruise ship ever to dock at Mobile.

It will take four to five hours for all the 3,000 passengers to be off, said Carnival senior vice president of marketing Terry Thornton.

In texts and flitting cellphone calls, the ship’s passengers described miserable conditions while at sea, many anxious to walk on solid ground. But for the moment, they waved towels at the throng at dockside and even motorists who stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 10 near the port to watch the ship arrive.

Carnival said they have the option of a seven-hour bus ride to the Texas cities of Galveston or Houston or a two-hour trip to New Orleans. Some also can stay in Mobile.

“I can’t imagine being on that ship this morning and then getting on a bus,” said Kirk Hill, whose 30-year-old daughter, Kalin Christine Hill, is on the cruise. “If I hit land in Mobile, you’d have a hard time getting me on a bus.”

Up to 100 buses are standing by to take the passengers to their next stop. Galveston is the home port of the ill-fated ship, which lost power in an engine-room fire Sunday some 150 miles off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

Thornton said the ship had been fully cleared by customs and Border Patrol, and that should speed up the process.

Carnival Chief Executive Officer Gerry Cahill apologized at a news conference.

“I appreciate the patience of our guests and their ability to cope with the situation. And I’d like to reiterate the apology I made earlier. I know the conditions on board were very poor,” he said. “We pride ourselves on providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case.”

While the passengers are headed home, Triumph will head to a Mobile shipyard for assessment, Thornton said.

Earlier Thursday - four days after the 893-foot ship was crippled by the engine room fire - the 4,200 passengers and crew members suffered another setback with towline problems that brought the vessel to a dead stop for about an hour just when it was getting close to port.

As the vessel drew within cell-phone range Thursday, passengers vented their anger.

Renee Shanar of Houston was on board with her husband, who she said has heart trouble. They were told they will be among the first to disembark, she said.

“I don’t believe them. They’ve been lying to us from the beginning,” Shanar said.

Disgusted by the foul air and heat on the lower decks, many passengers hauled mattresses and bedsheets onto the top deck and slept there, even staying put in a soaking rain. As the ship approached the coast, a slew of Carnival workers removed the bedding and took it downstairs.

“Today they cleaned the ship, they’re serving better food, covering up basically, but at least they’re making it more bearable,” said Kalin Hill, of Houston, who boarded the Triumph as part of a bachelorette party.

In a text message, though, she described deplorable conditions over the past few days.

“The lower floors had it the worst, the floors ‘squish’ when you walk and lots of the lower rooms have flooding from above floors,” Hill wrote. “Half the bachelorette party was on two; the smell down there literally chokes you and hurts your eyes.”

The company disputed the accounts of passengers who described the ship as filthy, saying employees were doing everything to ensure people were comfortable.

Thelbert Lanier was waiting at the Mobile port for his wife, who texted him early Thursday.

“Room smells like an outhouse. Cold water only, toilets haven’t work in 3 1/2 days. Happy Valentines Day!!! I love u & wish I was there,” she said in the text message. “It’s 4:00 am. Can’t sleep ... it’s cold & I’m starting to get sick.” Information for this article was contributed by Bob Johnson and Melissa Nelson-Gabriel of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 02/15/2013

Upcoming Events