Stinky cruise ship reaches port
Source: Agencies |
February 17, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THOUSANDS of passengers who spent nearly five days stuck on a disabled cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico headed home on Friday by bus, plane or car, relishing the chance for a warm shower and working toilets after arriving back on land.
"I got some sleep. I got a shower. A working toilet was really nice," said Nancy Petrone, 58, who was flying to southern California after spending the night in Mobile, Alabama, where tugboats had pulled the stricken Carnival Triumph into port.
It took several hours for more than 3,000 vacationers to make their way off the ship after it arrived late on Thursday. Some travelers kissed the ground when they arrived, while others disembarked wearing the ship's white bath robes - part souvenir and part protection against the chilly night air.
About 100 buses carried passengers on the journey to Galveston, Texas, while other buses departed for shorter rides to New Orleans or to hotels in Mobile.
One bus broke down on its way to New Orleans, said passenger Jacob Combs, an Austin, Texas-based sales executive with a health care and hospice company.
Carnival officials said the Triumph, which entered service in 1999, would be towed on Friday to a Mobile shipyard for a damage assessment.
The 272-meter vessel was returning to Galveston from Cozumel, Mexico, on the third day of a four-day cruise when an engine-room fire knocked out power and plumbing across most of the ship on February 10.
Passengers described an overpowering stench on parts of the ship and complained to relatives and media via cellphones that toilets and drainpipes had overflowed, soaking many cabins and interior passages in raw sewage.
The saga was another public relations disaster for Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruise company. Last year, its Costa Concordia luxury liner ran aground off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.
The nature of the troubles aboard the Triumph inspired bathroom-humor banter among late-night comedy shows and the amateur comedians who took to Twitter with poop puns.
But not everyone was in a joking mood. One passenger, Cassie Terry, of Brazoria County, Texas, filed a lawsuit against the company in federal court in Miami, describing the ship as "a floating toilet, a floating Petri dish, a floating hell."
Carnival Cruise Lines Chief Executive Gerry Cahill boarded the ship after it arrived in Mobile to apologize to passengers.
Carnival said passengers will be reimbursed in full, plus transportation expenses, a future cruise credit equal to the amount paid for this voyage, plus a payment of US$500 per person.
"I got some sleep. I got a shower. A working toilet was really nice," said Nancy Petrone, 58, who was flying to southern California after spending the night in Mobile, Alabama, where tugboats had pulled the stricken Carnival Triumph into port.
It took several hours for more than 3,000 vacationers to make their way off the ship after it arrived late on Thursday. Some travelers kissed the ground when they arrived, while others disembarked wearing the ship's white bath robes - part souvenir and part protection against the chilly night air.
About 100 buses carried passengers on the journey to Galveston, Texas, while other buses departed for shorter rides to New Orleans or to hotels in Mobile.
One bus broke down on its way to New Orleans, said passenger Jacob Combs, an Austin, Texas-based sales executive with a health care and hospice company.
Carnival officials said the Triumph, which entered service in 1999, would be towed on Friday to a Mobile shipyard for a damage assessment.
The 272-meter vessel was returning to Galveston from Cozumel, Mexico, on the third day of a four-day cruise when an engine-room fire knocked out power and plumbing across most of the ship on February 10.
Passengers described an overpowering stench on parts of the ship and complained to relatives and media via cellphones that toilets and drainpipes had overflowed, soaking many cabins and interior passages in raw sewage.
The saga was another public relations disaster for Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruise company. Last year, its Costa Concordia luxury liner ran aground off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.
The nature of the troubles aboard the Triumph inspired bathroom-humor banter among late-night comedy shows and the amateur comedians who took to Twitter with poop puns.
But not everyone was in a joking mood. One passenger, Cassie Terry, of Brazoria County, Texas, filed a lawsuit against the company in federal court in Miami, describing the ship as "a floating toilet, a floating Petri dish, a floating hell."
Carnival Cruise Lines Chief Executive Gerry Cahill boarded the ship after it arrived in Mobile to apologize to passengers.
Carnival said passengers will be reimbursed in full, plus transportation expenses, a future cruise credit equal to the amount paid for this voyage, plus a payment of US$500 per person.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
