Shipping

MOBILE, Ala. - The first real glimpse of what life has been like for those stranded aboard a Carnival cruise ship adrift in the Gulf of Mexico came late Thursday as passengers began to disembark at the port in Mobile, a process that stretched into the early morning hours Friday. The lengthy parade of passengers was, at times, irate, tearful, amused and full of new-found gratitude. They described an atmosphere aboard the Carnival Triumph reminiscent of "Survivor" and "Lord of the Flies," starting with the engine fire that stranded the ship without power off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday.

MOBILE, Ala. - As conditions deteriorated on the crippled Carnival cruise ship Triumph, some passengers panicked. They hoarded food, drank too much and argued. But other passengers on the ship lumbering through the Gulf of Mexico banded together. They shared water, prayed together, comforted the children of strangers, and greeted each other in the halls like old friends. "What you had was a tale of two ships," said the Rev. Wendell Gill of First Baptist Church in La Porte, Texas.

WASHINGTON - The disabled Carnival cruise ship is now docked but the tale of its wretched odyssey back to land has made its way to Capitol Hill. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, fired off a letter Friday asking the Coast Guard commandment to brief his panel on its investigation into the cruise ship Triumph. "Horrified" was how Rockefeller described his response to the accounts of "unbearable living conditions aboard the ship.

MOBILE, Ala. - The Triumph docked about 9:20 p.m. CST, and the first few passengers walked down the gangway and into the parking lot about an hour later. It was the first real look at what life has been like for those stranded aboard the Carnival Triumph adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. With only one working elevator, Carnival officials warned that it could take four or five hours for everyone to disembark at the port in Mobile. The process stretched into the early morning hours Friday as passengers were greeted with cheers from the crowd and were mobbed by television camera crews.

MOBILE, Ala. - The disabled Carnival cruise ship Triumph is expected to reach port between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. Central time Thursday night, a Carnival spokesman told an evening news briefing, but it could take up to five hours for everyone to disembark. More than 4,000 people are aboard the ship, which has been without power for days after an engine fire. Only one elevator is working. Toilets are overflowing and food is scarce, passengers have told relatives and reporters by cellphone.

MOBILE, Ala. - Carnival's crippled cruise ship Triumph limped into port Thursday night with giddy passengers lining the decks, smiling, waving and singing "Sweet Home Alabama. " Someone shouted, "It's good to be home!" But their ordeal wasn't quite over: With only one working elevator, Carnival officials warned that it could take four or five hours for everyone to disembark, although Customs and Border Protection had cleared the ship. Carnival Cruise Lines struggled to cope with a public relations disaster.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Relatives descended on the port's cruise ship terminal here Thursday morning at daybreak, prepared to greet the 4,200 passengers and crew members trapped aboard a Carnival cruise ship being slowly towed to harbor by several tug boats. As of 8:20 a.m. Central time, the Triumph still was about 25 miles from port, moving at a speed of 4 knots, according to U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Tippets. A Carnival spokeswoman said Thursday morning that the ship was not expected to arrive until evening.

MOBILE, Ala. -- The crippled Carnival cruise ship Triumph finally limped into port Thursday night, but the passengers' ordeal wasn't over yet: It could take up to five hours for everyone to disembark,  and only one elevator was working. Less than an hour after a news briefing in which a  Carnival spokesman said the ship was five miles away and would arrive between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. Central, the Triumph was visible from shore a bit early. Passengers cheered, crowding the rails on at least three decks as the ship pulled into port.

MOBILE, Ala. -- A tow line being used to bring a stranded Carnival cruise ship to shore broke Thursday afternoon, potentially delaying passengers' return, officials said. "The tow line broke and we're seeing if that would impact the previously announced ETA of 8 to 11 p.m.," Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen told the Los Angeles Times. Officials were expected to discuss the development during a briefing at the port at 2:30 p.m. Central Time. PHOTOS: Stranded cruise ship Triumph Mike Padilla of Richardson, Texas, was at the port Thursday awaiting his wife, Kerry, when she called to report something had happened to the line connecting the Carnival Triumph to one of four tug boats pulling it toward shore . "She said, 'I think the tow line broke.

MOBILE, Ala. -- A Carnival cruise ship being towed to port in Mobile on Thursday has been delayed several hours -- first when some towing equipment broke and again when a tow line snapped -- but was still expected to arrive late Thursday night, a Carnival spokesman said. Still, the arrival could drag into early Friday morning, authorities concede. And no matter when the ship makes land, it will still take four to five hours for thousands of passengers and crew members to disembark.