What began as a four-day Caribbean getaway was quickly dubbed “a floating hell” by some passengers when the Carnival Triumph was left adrift at sea for five days following a fire in the engine room.
The fire began in front of one of six generators in the ship’s bowels on Feb. 10 around dawn, leaving the ship without power and effectively stranding 3,100 passengers and approximately 1,100 crew members.
Built in 1999, the Triumph is among Carnival’s older ships with an expected refurbishment—Funship 2.0—scheduled for 2014. Last month, the ship experienced technical difficulties with its propulsion system. While experts have already been able to identify the source of the fire that disabled the 893-foot ship, they must still wait a week for their investigation to determine whether or not this fire was related to the issues from earlier this year.
During the five days that passengers were trapped onboard the vessel listing, they dealt with “long lines for food, shortages of fresh water and widespread boredom,” according to an article on CNN.
Pictures flooded social media outlets such as Instagram to chronicle their hardships on board. CNN posted a photograph submitted to Instagram by passenger Jacob Combs of his life vest storage unit holding a biohazard bag with the caption, “Excited for working toilets!”
To escape odors of raw sewage and the unbearable heat below deck, passengers resorted to dragging their mattresses out onto deck and created a tent city to sleep in the open, fresh air.
Tug boats towed the ship to safety in the port of Mobile, Ala. on Thursday; the last of the passengers were finally able to disembark on Friday. Carnival Cruise Lines has cancelled all of Triumph’s future itineraries until at least mid-April for the investigation that will follow.
To compensate for the disastrous vacation for thousands of people onboard, Carnival has gifted $500 to each passenger, provided complimentary airfare home and full refunds for the trip. The cruise line has also covered most of the expenses its passengers accumulated during the duration of their time on board—and has provided each passenger with a future cruise credit so they can sail the seven seas once again with Carnival.
