The passengers of cruise ship Triumph have finally disembarked after five numbing days stuck at sea. Source: AAP
PASSENGERS aboard the Carnival Triumph could have been selfish and looked out only for themselves and their loved ones after their cruise ship lost power. Instead, they became comrades in a long, exhausting smelly struggle to get home.
As ship conditions deteriorated after an engine fire, travellers formed Bible study groups, shared or traded precious supplies and welcomed strangers into their private cabins.
Even after they have returned to the everyday luxuries of hot showers and cold drinks, passengers will remember the crew and the personal bonds formed during a cruel week at sea.
The tired tourists finally reached land on Friday and gave a glimpse into an intensely uncomfortable journey.
Sandy Jackson was fortunate to have an upper-level room with a balcony and a breeze that kept the air in her cabin fresh. Rooms on the lower decks were too foul or stifling, so Jackson took in five people, including four strangers.
"We knew one, the others we're very good friends with now," Jackson said.
Brandi Dorsett said people were antsy and irritable at times, and there was tension. But it never got out of hand.
"People were bartering. Can I have your cereal for this? Can I have your drink for that?" she said. "We had one lady, she was begging for cigarettes and for nappies. There were no nappies on the boat. There was no formula."
The ship left Galveston, Texas, on February 7 for what was supposed to be a four-day jaunt to Cozumel, Mexico. The fire paralysed the ship on the third day, leaving it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico until tugboats towed it to Mobile.
Many of the more than 4,200 people aboard were bussed to New Orleans to catch a flight home or to the ship's home port in Galveston. And as if they hadn't suffered enough, one of the buses broke down during the two-hour ride to New Orleans. Passengers on a different bus reported losing their luggage.
But that was nothing compared to life on the crippled cruise liner. To pass the time, Joseph Alvarez said about 45 people gathered in a public room on the lower deck for Bible study.
"It was awesome," he said. "It lifted up our souls and gave us hope that we would get back."
Because many passengers were sleeping on the outside deck, Dwayne Chapman used his pocket knife to make tents out of bed sheets. At first, other passengers told him they thought he was going to get into trouble, but later, everyone wanted to borrow his knife to do the same thing.
"I really think we've made some lifelong friends going through this ordeal," Chapman's wife, Kim, said.
When it was over, many passengers were just grateful for simple pleasures. After days of warm drinks, Cheryl McIntosh and her husband were glad to see coolers full of ice.
"The first thing we did was open up those Diet Cokes and we drank some," McIntosh said.
Tugs pulled the ship away from the dock on Friday, moving it down a waterway to a shipyard where it will be repaired and cleaned.
The work ahead is. Passengers described water-logged carpets, sewage seeping through the walls, overflowing toilets and a stench so bad people choked.
But, by most accounts, the crew did as much as they could, using disinfectant and picking up plastic bags of faeces after toilets stopped working.
David Glocker praised the crew's efforts to help passengers and recognised the conditions for them were worse than for most passengers because their quarters were on the lowest part of the ship.
"They all had to wear masks," he said. "They worked their butts off trying to get us food."
Dorsett praised a calming voice over the ship's public address system that she knew as "Jen".
Connie Ede was on the cruise with her husband. During the fire, the two got their life jackets ready and put mobile phones, passports, money and credit cards in their pockets.
"All in all, I wish it hadn't happened, but it did, and we survived," she said.
Carnival promised to give refunds, offer passengers another trip and cover their transportation costs home. Travellers were also to receive $US500 ($A485) in compensation.
But those gestures may not be enough. Less than 24 hours after the boat docked, the first lawsuit was filed.