Spending the holidays on a cruise is a goal for many people. There are many types of cruises, but in recent years it’s staying onboard that’s almost as important as the cruise’s destination. We see holiday boats that are actual amusement parks, and big companies (like Disney’s) also have themed boats or amusement parks where you can just sleep. The point of a cruise is to go to a certain date and… not worry until you leave. You won’t have to remember anything during your stay.

The problem is something went wrong. Because if things go wrong, you’ll be stuck in the middle of nowhere. This is exactly what happened to 3,413 passengers and 1,086 crew members on the Carnival Triumph, which went down in history as the ‘Poo trip’.

Victory. The name Carnival Triumph may not mean anything to you these days. But Carnival Sunrise may sound more familiar to you. This is the common name of the Destiny-class cruiser, which has been operating under this ‘title’ since 2019. He was a Triumph from 1999 to 2019, and the truth is that his life was complicated.

This cruise ship, worth more than 400 million dollars, was the largest cruise ship in the world at that time, with a length of more than 272 meters and a gross tonnage of 101,509. Although some Carnival models were controversial, Triumph’s life was going smoothly until February 10, 2013.

Engines are on fire. About 240 kilometers from Yucatán, around five-thirty in the morning, something happened while the passengers were sleeping: a fire in the engine room. There were no injuries, the structure of the ship was not damaged and the fire was extinguished in a short time, but the result was fatal. The fire was caused by a leak in one of the fuel return lines, which spread to a hot surface and caught fire.

The ship lost propulsion capacity and although the auxiliary systems allowed some mechanisms and protocols to work to dock at the Mexican port of Progreso, the Triumph was dragged northward by the current. There was nothing they could do but wait for the tugboats to come to their aid.

And it wasn’t the first time. Remember how I mentioned Carnival cruise ships had accidents? Tripicale in 1999, Splendor in 2010 and Costa Allegra in 2012 also experienced power losses due to fires in the engine room. Triumph had problems two weeks before the incident.

On January 28, the ship experienced a power loss and docking at the Port of Galveston was delayed five hours. The United States Marine Safety Corps conducted an inspection in the port and concluded that a short circuit in the junction box of one of the generators damaged other wiring responsible for the power unit. Following the report, a time period was set for the error to be repaired, but after the fire on January 10, it was understood that the error was not corrected.

Crisis. The first hours must have been tense. We’ve seen enough movies of plane and ship disasters to make some people uneasy when things don’t go as they should. In its statement to the public, Carnival said, “The ship’s technical team continues to assess the damage and efforts to restore power. In the meantime, tugboats are being sent to the area if necessary. All relevant authorities, including the United States State Coast Guard, have been notified.”

On the ship, passengers were asked to stay in public areas and on open decks. There they were provided with food and drink, but that was only the beginning of the nightmare. Triumph was unable to serve hot meals due to the systems not working. Air conditioning didn’t work either but the worst part was the bathrooms.

poop week. The journey was planned to take four days, but ended up taking seven days. He wasn’t prepared to stay at sea for that long, which, along with electrical problems, caused the waste system to collapse. Toilets began to overflow, and human waste from the upper decks began to seep through the walls of the cabins on the lower decks.

It smelled so bad inside that passengers took shelter in the rest areas with blankets and umbrellas and fled outside. And along with the mattresses, red bags marked ‘Biohazard’ with the ‘Biological Hazard’ symbol have started piling up outdoors. It contains everything you can think of. If it couldn’t be done in the toilet, it had to be done somewhere.

Scary. The photos taken by passengers, media and tugboats of that fateful week are the exact opposite of a good holiday plan. Crowds sleeping on deck to catch their breath, food consisting of sandwiches with a few pieces of ham and mustard, dirty clothes and a general smell that caused some to wear masks. That week, some people came ashore carrying towels and walking covered in feces, with the slogan “I survived the journey of the red bags of Carnival Victory.”

Coast Guard helicopter delivered 3,000 kilograms of supplies as well as an emergency generator

something serious. Finally, Triumph, which will be towed to the Mexican port of Progreso on February 14, docked in the Port of Mobile, Alabama and ended its journey that started on February 7. But this did not remain an anecdote for some. Lisa Williams was one of Triumph’s passengers and immediately sued the company. He sought $75,000 for the physical and mental damage he claimed he suffered on the ship. “When your instincts tell you you won’t survive this… it shouldn’t be happening.”

Lisa said she was deprived of basic life needs, a situation she did not expect to happen on a luxury cruise ship, and was exposed to “extremely toxic conditions that caused serious and permanent injuries.”

He wasn’t the only one. Cassie Terry was among the first to state that she was “injured by the unsanitary, unsafe and despicable conditions on the ship.” The company claimed each passenger would receive a full refund, free ride, return home costs and an additional $500 compensation for inconvenience, but this did not convince passengers.

A hero named Nicholas Burge created a home movie of the trip with his GoPro 3 that allows us to see it all in glorious narrative: everything is going well… until things aren’t. And with impeccable sense of humor as he uses the song ‘Radioactive’ by Imagine Dragons:

Pictures | U.S. Customs and Border, Nicholas Burge

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