Diabled cruise ship towed back into port

[JohnnyCastaway]

All of the passengers have disembarked from a disabled cruise ship after it was pulled to shore in California following three days marooned at sea.

Six tugboats towed the Carnival Splendor into San Diego harbour around 8:30 a.m. PT Thursday as passengers on the decks and about 100 people on shore cheered its arrival.

The ship was carrying 4,500 passengers, including nearly 200 Canadians.

The ship had been without electricity after a fire broke out in the engine room Monday while it was off the coast of Mexico.

Some of the passengers are returning to the Splendor's home port in Long Beach, Calif., by bus, while others are making their own travel arrangements. The 1,100-plus crew members will be put up in a San Diego hotel and given spending money.

"I love being back on land," said passenger Ken King of Los Angeles, who turned 42 on Thursday.

King said he and his travelling companion were celebrating their birthdays on the cruise, so Carnival chose them to be in the first group off the ship.

"The staff was excellent," King said. "Only a few people on board were rude. The food was horrible. Starting at 5 a.m. on Monday, we didn't have toilets for 13 hours."

Chris Harlen, a dental technician from Buena Park, Calif., offered a quick description of his experience after disembarking with his wife and two children, ages 10 and 8.

"It was gross when the toilets weren't working. What can you do?" Harlan said. "There were a lot of people getting smashed off warm beer."

The electrical outage put an end to luxury buffets, casino games and air-conditioned suites. Some passengers took to sleeping on the deck and eating Spam, Pop-Tarts and canned fish.

The ship left Long Beach on Sunday on a seven-day trip to the Mexican Riviera. The fire killed its power and engines early the next morning about 320 kilometres south of San Diego, Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines said.

Cruise director John Heald said that the people aboard "have risen to the obvious challenges and difficult conditions onboard."

Just about anything requiring electrical power was knocked out. The swimming pool was off-limits because chlorine couldn't be pumped into the water. Toilets were working in most cabins, said Gerry Cahill, chief executive of Carnival Cruise Lines. The bar was open and offering free drinks.

Intermittent cellphone service returned Wednesday, and Carnival made eight satellite phones available for passengers to make quick calls home.

To pass the time, passengers held impromptu talent shows.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/11/11/cruise-ship-towed.html#ixzz157G0xYF6

[Gambitt]

LOL... ring this up as another reason, I will never take a Cruise... 

At least when you vacation on an island, you can be flown-home, if something "really" bad happens.  We surived the water-shortage in Holguin (after a few tense days, wondering where Logan would be sent,after we go moved) , but this is just too much for us.   

The only "boat" I want to see on holiday, is the one I jump off of, on purpose; knowing it's SUPPOSED to be there when I resurface....

[bmnichol]

Friends of ours were on a Mediterrean Cruise a few weeks ago. They had sailed one night and the next day were informed that there was a problem with the rudder. The cruise was cancelled in the first port, somewhere in France. They were given $500, told to put in for a refund of their cruise and basically told to disembark the ship. The ship had set up a few phone lines for the passengers to make other arrangements but there were so many people waiting that my friends didn't get a chance to use it. They ended up buying some kind of phone card to use with their cell phone when they went to shore and contacted their travel agent.

I'm not in any rush to take a cruise either!