After being stranded for five-days on a ship with no plumping and running water some passengers who finally got off the Carnival Triumph cruise ship on Thursday had a bus break down on them on the way to a New Orleans hotel, the Associated Press reports.
The ship docked in Mobile, Ala., at 9:15 p.m. with the help of tug boats that have towed the ship for hundreds of miles after a fire damaged the engine. The fire occurred on Sunday 150-miles from the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. The 4,000 passengers and crew aboard had to make due without any plumbing as the ship operated on back up power.
Passengers describe conditions on the ship as disgusting as toilets wouldn't flush. The nightmare vacation came to a close yesterday as crowds of cheering family members met their loved ones as they made their way to land. But for some passengers the road home would lead to more mishaps.
A chartered bus that was taking passengers from Mobile to a hotel in New Orleans broke down on the road. Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen told the Associated Press that passengers were transferred to another bus that was available and arrived in New Orleans Friday morning.
"You wouldn't think after the ship nightmare, that on the bus ride to New Orleans, the bus would break down," Carnival passenger Jacob Combs told CNN.
Forty-five minutes into the ride on Interstate 10, Combs said he heard a loud pop that forced the bus to pull over. Passengers waited 45-minutes for the other bus to come and pick them up, he said.
For Combs the trip home isn't over. Passengers staying in New Orleans will board a flight to Houston sometime Friday. Once they touch down in Houston they will have to jump on another plane or take a bus bound for Galveston, TX., to get their cars that are parked at the ships departure point.