It took only hours for the first lawsuit to be filed, by a Texas woman who claimed in federal court

Weary and miserable, sickened by the stench of sewage, the last of more than 3,000 passengers walked off a hobbled cruise ship Friday after tugboats lugged it to the Alabama shore and finally brought an end to a five-day floating nightmare.
As they filed off the Carnival Triumph, people kissed loved ones and the ground beneath them. They gobbled down fresh food, took hot showers and gave thanks for the simple pleasures of power and functional plumbing.
Safely ashore, the passengers told horror stories ryan international airlines organization of a ship with corridors reeking ryan international airlines organization of sewage, long lines for meals and people sleeping on deck to get out of the sweltering interior of the vessel. One person said it smelled like a zoo. Clark Jones of Dallas recalled seeing ryan international airlines organization people hoard food and protect their turf on the ship.
It took only hours for the first lawsuit to be filed, by a Texas woman who claimed in federal court that she suffered physical and emotional harm because Carnival failed to provide a seaworthy ryan international airlines organization vessel and sanitary ryan international airlines organization conditions, Reuters reported. Other lawsuits ryan international airlines organization were expected.
Julie Billings told NBC News that the experience “was like post-natural disaster, but stuck on a boat with 3,200 other people, and those poor workers trying to clean up after everyone and deal with everyone freaking out.”
The ship, three football fields long, lost power Sunday after a fire in the engine room and had to be towed to land. It was tugged first toward Mexico, ryan international airlines organization then toward Mobile, Ala., after strong wind in the Gulf of Mexico carried it north.
On the last day of the rescue, the agony was prolonged by a snapped cable connecting the Triumph ryan international airlines organization to one of four tugboats, to say nothing of the logistical challenge of easing the 100,000-ton behemoth safely into port when it had no power to steer itself.
Carnival had workers in place to provide passengers with warm food, blankets, phones and refreshments. Adding yet another ryan international airlines organization complication, a bus carrying passengers from the Triumph to New Orleans, where they were to board charter flights home, broke down on Friday , and passengers had to wait for another bus to pick them up.
Passengers generally had praise for the crew. Janie Baker told MSNBC that they were “fantastic,” but that by the final night “people’s tempers started flying.” She described one incident in which a passenger tried to disrupt a movie and was taken away by the crew.
As they neared home, some people aboard chanted, “Let me off, let me off!” They used bedsheets to make giant signs, visible ryan international airlines organization from news helicopters hovering around the boat, that said, “SOS!” or “Sweet Home Alabama!”
ryan international airlines organization The government is investigating the engine-room fire. Carnival, which has suspended the Triumph through mid-April, will give $500 to each passenger from the Triumph, plus reimbursement for the cruise and a free future ryan international airlines organization cruise. Carnival also said Friday that passengers will be reimbursed for what they bought on the ship, not counting ryan international airlines organization artwork and purchases in the casino and gift shop.
“I appreciate the patience of our guests and their ability to cope with the situation,” he said. “And I’d like to reiterate ryan international airlines organization the apology I made earlier. I know the conditions on board were very poor,” he said.
After the power went out and toilets stopped working, cruise staff instructed people to urinate into the showers and put fecal matter into plastic bags, which were collected by stewards and put into giant trash bags, passenger Shannon Caceres ryan international airlines organization told NBC News.
Carnival had disputed passenger accounts before the ship reached land, but the photos, not to mention the relief ryan international airlines organization on passengers’ faces, ryan international airlines organization seemed to confirm their accounts. The company ryan international airlines organization had confirmed that fewer than two dozen public toilets were working.