Ship inching toward port late Thursday
BY Associated Press
Friday, February 15, 2013
MOBILE, Ala. —
Pulled by a tugboat at a
maddeningly slow pace, the
cruise ship Carnival Triumph
finally drew within sight of
land Thursday.
Around midday, four days
after the 893-foot ship was
crippled by an engine-room
fire in the middle of the Gulf
of Mexico, the more than
4,200 passengers and crew
members suffered another
misfortune with towline issues
that brought the vessel
to a dead stop just when it
was getting close to port. The
towline was replaced, and the
crawl toward Mobile resumed.
The ship was expected
to arrive around midnight
Thursday. Officials said it
would take passengers up to
five hours to get off the ship,
and then most faced hourslong
bus rides or other travel
hassles to get back home.
The 14-story ship was facing
a tricky, shallow shipping
channel, and was expected
to be the largest cruise liner
to ever dock in Mobile. The
channel narrows to 400 feet
inside Mobile Bay, and the
ship was only 115 feet wide. It
was traveling about 5 mph.
Passengers’ stay in
Alabama was expected to be
short. Carnival Cruise Lines
officials said they were being
given the option of boarding
buses directly to Galveston,
Texas, or Houston — a
roughly seven-hour drive —
or taking a two-hour bus ride
to New Orleans, where the
company said it booked 1,500
hotel rooms. Those staying
in New Orleans will be flown
Friday to Houston.
Carnival said it will cover all
the transportation costs.
