San Diego: A disabled cruise liner arrived in San Diego on Thursday after three nightmarish days adrift on the Pacific, sparking cheers from passengers who disembarked and described limited food, backed-up toilets and dark cabins.
The 4,500 passengers and crew members trickled off slowly throughout the day, the process slowed by disabled elevators, out of order since the engine room fire on Monday that left the ship adrift off Mexico.
Tugboats
Pulled by six tugboats and escorted by Coast Guard cutters, the nearly 1,000-foot Carnival Splendour reached the dock about 8.30am, unable to steer or propel itself.
The first of the nearly 3,300 passengers walked down a ramp about an hour later, dragging suitcases into a tent on the dock. The rest had all left the ship by early afternoon.
"I love being back on land," said passenger Ken King, 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. Only a few people on board were rude. The food was horrible. Starting at 5am on Monday, we didn't have toilets for 13 hours," King said.
People on the decks and about 100 onshore cheered loudly as the ship reached the dock.
Cheers and applause
"We're so happy to be getting off. Everybody's been cheering and clapping," passenger Fahizah Alim, 26, said by cell phone.
"It's been like a nightmare," she said. "There's been no food, no power, no electricity, no flushing toilets. I spent the night tossing and turning in my cabin in the dark."
The ship left for a seven-day trip to the Mexican Riviera, only to return days early without ever reaching the beaches vacationers had hoped for.
