Cruise ship Carnival Triumph adrift near Mexico with 4200 aboard on way to Alabama

CARPETS soaked in urine, sewerage leaking down the walls, no air conditioning. This wasn't the cruise 98-year-old Sian Tjia was expecting.

IN a holiday nightmare 4200 people are stranded aboard a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean with no air-conditioning or working toilets.

The cruise ship has been floating aimlessly about 240 kilometres off the Yucatan Peninsula since a fire erupted in the aft engine room early Sunday, knocking out the ship's propulsion system. Nobody was injured and the fire was extinguished. The ship has been operating on backup generator power since the incident and is being pulled back to port in Alabama.

It has been revealed the ship had suffered electrical problems as recently as a few weeks ago.

"Carnival Triumph previously experienced an electrical issue with one of the ship's alternators," spokesman Vance Gulliksen told AFP.

"Repairs were conducted by the alternator supplier and were fully completed on February 2. There is no evidence at this time of any relationship between this previous issue and the fire that occurred on February 10.''

Communication with relatives is difficult. While Carnival has provided a phone number for family of those on the ship to call for updates, direct contact with those on board has been extremely difficult. With the power cut, many passengers' mobile phone batteries are running out. Phone reception is only possible when another ship draws alongside the Carnival Triumph to deliver supplies. 

The Carnival Triumph is adrift off the coast of Mexico after an engine fire. Picture: Carnival.

Barbara Huang has contacted news.com.au concerned about her 98-year-old father, who's on board the ship.

Barbara and her brother booked father Sian Tjia, a former journalist from Houston, a four-day cruise to celebrate Chinese New Year. It's his first cruise, and likely to be his last, she said.

Meanwhile Dorene Malloy told news.com.au her 76-year-old mother Kay Adams, nephew Jason Adams and his girlfriend Teresa Travino were on board the stricken cruise liner. 

"We have not been able to get a hold of them on mobile phones," Ms Malloy said.

"We called carnival family number and the say the conditions are okay and that they are all doing well. When i question them if my mother's room had a running toilet they informed me they had no way of knowing what room she was in.

"I informed them that she had a pacemaker/defibrillator for heart heart condition, she is diabetic and has sleep apnea and needed power for her machine at night. Basically, they just have a standard speech and you really don't know how they are.

"We just pray that they are handling it and they will be able to get home soon. This was my nephew's first cruise and I can say it will probably be his last, I told him to go and that he would have a great time, boy was I ever wrong."

Kirk Hill also contacted news.com.au to say his daughter is on board the ship, but said there's not much service so he hasn't heard much from her.

It's not the first time something like this has happened on board a Carnival ship.

Do you know someone on board? Let us know your story at [e-mail]

The good news for the cruise today is that some of the toilets are now working. Some.

There are fears the ship could face an outbreak of disease after passengers reported they were forced to defecate into bags while the toilets were out of order.

"Elderly and handicap are struggling, the smell is gross," passenger Ann Barlow text-messaged ABC News. "Our room is leaking sewage."

Disabled Cruise Ship

Passenger Donna Gutzman texted click2houston: "There's no water and you can't flush, so everyone is going in little plastic baggies and putting it outside their room."

Another passenger, Debra Rightmire, texted ABC: "Conditions are getting worse by the hour. Cabin carpets are wet with urine and water.

"Toilets are overflowing in the cabins, we are having to sleep in the hallways. Onion and cucumber sandwiches last night."

Another Donna Gutzman wrote: "There's no lights, no water, we can't flush. Some people were able to shower."

Disabled Cruise Ship

Fears of disease on board

A former senior officer for Carnival Cruise Lines Jay Herring worked for Carnival from 2002 to 2004. He told the New York Daily News the biggest concern for crew members right now is the potential for disease outbreak, particularly norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

"Housekeeping, others are probably working double shifts to keep the mess clean and wipe down and sanitise all the common areas," Jay Herring said.

The air quality is of particular concern, with health risks "abound" for passengers forced to stay in the ship's hot corridors.

Tony Abate from AtmosAir Solutions, who oversaw the installation of clean air systems on two cruise ships, told the New York News: "The biggest concern for these passengers is that they've been trapped inside for so long. The inside of a cruise ship is a space that's designed to have an air ventilation system to dilute contaminants. That's been knocked out."

"You now have a great number of people inside where they will be exposed to viruses and possible bacterial infections."

Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill said described the conditions on board the Triumph as "challenging" but he said the cruise line was making passengers aboard as comfortable as possible as it's being towed slowly into Mobile, Alabama.

Mr Cahill said late Tuesday that the ship had running water once more. Most of the 23 public bathrooms are now working. Some of the guest cabin bathrooms are working, but not all.

Mr Cahill today downplayed the possibility of an outbreak of disease from unsanitary conditions, saying the ship hasn't seen an abnormal number of people reporting to the infirmary as being ill.

"No one here from Carnival is happy about the conditions on board the ship," Mr Cahill said. "We obviously are very, very sorry about what is taking place."

Crew handing out free booze

The task of keeping the ship clean may also be made harder by reports staff members are trying to make the most of the horrific conditions by handing out free alcohol.

Jimmy Mowlam told the New York Daily News his son Rob Mowlam, got married during the cruise. It's a honeymoon he would rather forget. Mr Mowlan said Rob was concerned about the implications of free booze.

 "He was concerned about what that was going to lead to when people start drinking too much," Mr Mowlam said.

"He said up on deck it looks like a shanty town, with sheets, almost like tents, mattresses, anything else they can pull to sleep on."

Disabled Cruise Ship

Out of action until April

Carnival Cruise Lines said it has cancelled another 12 sailings aboard the Triumph. The ship will now be out of action until the middle of April.

Parent company Carnival Corp. estimated that the financial hit from the cancelled trips and repair costs would be eight to 10 cents per share, or $64-$80 million, for the first half of 2013.

A spokesman for Carnival Cruise Lines says it has booked more than 1500 hotel rooms in Mobile and New Orleans for passengers who have been stuck on board the Triumph. At least 20 charter flights to Houston Texas have been booked for Friday to get passengers back home swiftly.

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