MOBILE, Ala. --
Exhausted, grubby and almost five days late, the 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew aboard the disabled Carnival Triumph returned to the U.S. late Thursday — to a city almost 500 miles from its home port.
Thousands of passengers aboard the Carnival Triumph cheered, screamed and waved from outside balconies as the ship was pulled in shortly after 10 p.m.
Families were excited and relieved as passengers began disembarking about an hour after the ship docked. All passengers were off the ship in Alabama by about 2 a.m. Friday and arrived at a New Orleans hotel at about 3 a.m.
“This is the best Valentine’s Day ever,” said Jon Hair, of Lake Charles, La., grabbing the hand of his son, 8-year-old Jace, whose mom, sister, aunt and cousins were aboard. “It’s great,” Jace said as he left for the terminal, where dozens of other families waited.
Jon Hair held a banner: "Thank God it's over!"
And as Julie Hair and her 12-year-old daughter Juliana came off the ship, Jon kissed his wife. “I feel blessed,” she said.
Buses arrived at the Hilton in New Orleans early Friday and were greeted by paramedics with wheelchairs to roll in passengers who were elderly or too fatigued to walk.
Many were tired and didn't want to talk. There were long lines as they waited to get checked into rooms.
For 28-year-old Maria Hernandez of Angleton, Texas, the hotel stay is only part of her journey home. Hernandez, like hundreds others, will have a brief reprieve at the hotel before flying home later in the day.
Earlier, Gerry Cahill, Carnival president and CEO, said at a brief news conference Thursday night, while the Triumph was docking, that he appreciated the patience of the 3,000 passengers on board.
He said Carnival prides itself on providing people with a great vacation “and clearly we failed in this particular case.” He also said he planned to go aboard the ship and personally apologize to passengers.
As the ship inched closer to the dock in Mobile — bringing and end to the saga — relatives of passengers aboard became more excited.
Larry Butterfras of Houston, whose wife Pat had taken the Triumph cruise from its home port in Galveston, Texas, with seven friends on a birthday celebration, said he and a few other husbands drove down so they could be there to greet their wives as soon as they stepped off the ship. “When I was able to talk to her today and tell her we were here, she cried. She told her friends and they cried. It was very emotional.”
“I just want her home,” said Matthew Minyard, of Fate, Texas, anxiously waiting to greet his wife Bethany. “It’s been hard.”
Three tugs were needed to pull the 100,000-ton cruise ship back to the U.S. from waters off Mexico, where fire broke out Sunday morning in the engine room. The cause of the blaze, extinguished by automatic systems, is still not known.
The ship lost propulsion and had to rely on emergency generator power, leaving passengers with a limited number of working bathrooms and no air conditioning. No one was hurt in the fire. Sister ships delivered additional food and supplies. The cruise line has canceled sailings through April 13 and promised to compensate passengers with a full refund, $500 in cash and a discount on a future cruise.
That may be meager comfort for frustrated passengers, who have complained to family members via email and text about foul odors, dark hallways and food shortages. Television images from CNN showed passengers with signs of “Help” and “I love you” hanging from their cabin rooms.
