Horrific Cruise Finally reaches End as Carnival Triumph reaches Mobile

What’s been happening aboard the crippled Carnival cruise ship as it’s been stranded in the Gulf of Mexico and then made its way painfully slowly towards port under tow? That’s in dispute and the U.S. NTSB and Coast Guard are apparently already aboard beginning their investigation.

Horrific Conditions and Possible Cover-up Attempts Reported by Passengers

Our Gulf Coast Injury Lawyers note that passengers aboard the stricken Carnival Triumph detailed a flurry of intense clean-up activity aboard Thursday as the cruise ship approached port in Mobile, Alabama. At least one passenger was quoted as saying that some cleanup teams had worked long shifts and skipped sleep periods to further the efforts. (Source: Sandra Endo, Rich Phillips, Tom Watkins, Chandler Friedman, Victor Blackwell, Tristan Smith, Joe Sutton, Mike Ahlers, Dave Alsup, Chuck Johnston, Esprit Smith, Greg Botelho, Katia Hetter and Marnie Hunter, CNN, 2/14/13)

Reportedly, soiled mattresses and bedding were hauled below. Presumably some intense scrubbing of decks and walls was involved in the effort, as several passengers had reported water and feces running across floors and down walls from one deck to another during the horrific cruise.

With power out, pipes apparently began to block soon after the engine room fire on Sunday. Our Gulf Coast injury lawyers point out that the ship has reportedly been listing to one side periodically. And a passenger reported that when the ship would list, full toilets that could not flush properly tipped their sewage onto the floor to run across the decks. The lower floors in the lower decks were reportedly the worst, with floors “squishing,” some flooding, and mattresses that had been pulled into hallways for sleeping passengers becoming soiled with the spilled waste.

Power Interruptions, Confusion, Delays, and a Crawling Journey into Port for the Crippled Ship

Back-up generators were providing intermittent power after the fire. But intermittent interruptions in the power supply reportedly caused section containment doors to slam down, frightening and confusing some passengers, who thought they were trapped. Some passengers mentioning these events expressed frustration that apparently crew communication with the passengers was inadequate to clarify what was going on.

Various delays and deviations from prior updates also troubled passengers hoping for port and relief. For instance, early on Thursday, the cruise ship’s already slow (our Gulf Coast injury lawyers understand that it was only about 5 mph) progress towards shore was halted for an additional hour or more when the towline on the lead tugboat snapped. The broken towline was reportedly whipping around in the water, and passengers were told to stay inside for safety reasons until the situation could be corrected.

Even as it finally approached port, the Carnival Triumph had to make a slow and careful approach. The bay off Mobile is wide and shallow, only 10 feet deep in places. The ship channel, down which the Triumph passed, escorted carefully by four tugboats with experienced crews, is almost 50 feet deep. The channel inside Mobile Bay is only 400 feet wide, and the 14 -story, 893 foot long Triumph is itself 115 wide. (Source: Jay Reeves and Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Associated Press, 2/14/13)

The Gulf Coast injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC mention that the Triumph is the largest cruise ship ever to dock in Mobile and no Carnival cruise ships have docked there since 2011, so extra care was a necessity to avoid accidents. Customs cleared the passengers before docking to expedite disembarkation. But that process was still expected to take several hours for the 3,000+ passengers.

News accounts described hundreds of friends, family, and onlookers dockside waiting for the ship, as well as numerous buses chartered from several states by Carnival, and Coast Guard authorities waiting to board as well. Our Gulf Coast injury lawyers hope that the passengers all have safe journeys home and their ordeal is finally over and they can find relief.

Continue to Part 2 to read about conflicting statement on the conditions aboard the Triumph and the power the cruise industry wields to keep itself profitable and passengers without good recourse for troubled vacation voyages.