"Our room is flooded, there is sewage, raw sewage": Carnival Triumph scheduled for Thursday docking
Programming Note: CNN’s Erin Burnett will anchor Erin Burnett OutFront at 7p ET from Mobile, Alabama, where the ship will dock.
More than 3,000 people are still trapped on the crippled Carnival cruise ship called - ironically - the Triumph.
Three tug boats are slowly towing the ship from the Gulf of Mexico to shore in Mobile, Alabama.
Carnival is now offering $500 to each passenger for their trouble.
An engine room fire paralyzed the ship's propulsion system, leaving it stranded off the gulf of Mexico and turning what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation turned into a nightmare.
Martin Savidge is waiting for the ship in Port of Mobile with the story.
Befouled cruise ship scheduled for Thursday docking
Kim McKerreghan stood in the dark at dockside in the Port of Mobile early Wednesday, worried sick about her 10-year-old daughter and her ex-husband, both passengers on the distressed cruise ship being towed there.
Her daughter, Allie Taylor, called her in a panic Sunday after a fire broke out in the Carnival Triumph's engine room.
Automatic sprinklers extinguished the blaze but the flames paralyzed the ship's propulsion system, leaving it temporarily marooned in the Gulf of Mexico, subject to the whims of wind and sea currents.
"Mommy, it's so scary," McKerreghan said her daughter told her. "I want to come home." McKerreghan fought back tears as she recalled the conversation. "Just come get me," her daughter begged her.
How can they mess up so often when they have such a great business model? They get the $$ 6-12 months *before* services have to be rendered. It's one of the only business models where cash basis accounting would be relevant. How do they have so many mishaps this often?