SAN DIEGO – A disabled cruise liner inched into San Diego Bay on Thursday after three nightmarish days adrift on the Pacific, bringing cheers from passengers who described trying to pass the time with 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 Monday that left the ship adrift off Mexico.
Pulled by six tugboats and escorted by Coast Guard cutters, the nearly 1,000-foot Carnival Splendor reached the dock about 8:30 a.m. PST, 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 of Los Angeles, who turned 42 on Thursday and was among the first let off the ship because it was his birthday.
Peg Fisher of Las Vegas, on her first cruise with husband Tom, described impromptu meals that included cheese-and-beet sandwiches and others filled with something that looked like corned-beef hash.
"If you could see the things they put on sandwiches, seriously, this could be the only cruise ever where people lost weight instead of gaining weight," Peg Fisher said.
Chris Harlen, a dental technician from Buena Park, offered a quick description of his experience after disembarking with his wife and two children, ages 10 and 8.
Click image to see photos of the Carnival Splendor
AP/Denis Poroy
"It was gross when the toilets weren't working. What can you do?" Harlan said. "There were a lot of people getting smashed off warm beer."
People on the decks and about 100 onshore cheered loudly as the ship reached the dock, while all along the harbor, tourists, joggers and fishermen stopped to snap photos.
Lissa Letts of Overland, Kan., said she drove to San Diego to meet the returning ship to sell passengers T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase: "I survived the 2010 Carnival cruise Spamcation." Passengers snapped up the shirts at $20 apiece.
High up on a ship railing, someone had stuck a sign thanking the Coast Guard and a hand-drawn U.S. flag.
"We're so happy to be getting off. Everybody's been cheering and clapping," passenger Fahizah Alim, 26, of Sacramento, 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 Long Beach on Sunday for a seven-day trip to the Mexican Riviera. The engine room fire early Monday left passengers with no air conditioning, no hot food, no hot water and no casino. The swimming pool was off-limits because there was no way to pump chlorine.
Amy Watts, 25, of Seattle, Wash., said she smelled smoke but the captain immediately announced that there would be no need to abandon ship.
"You think about the Titanic ... but we were all right," she said.
Seventy-five buses arrived in San Diego to drive passengers north to Long Beach, where the Splendor is based. Passengers also were given the option of staying overnight at San Diego hotels.
Gary Grabel of Los Angeles said he was packing his bags.
"We're looking forward to spending a couple of days in San Diego to kind of catch up on my vacation," he said by cell phone.
He was among 250 magicians on board for a conference who performed for the guests after the power failed.
Aboard the ship, lines for cold food stretched for hours during the days after the power went out. Navy helicopters flew in Spam, Pop Tarts and canned crab meat and other goods for the passengers and crew, passengers said.
Some carried food to others who used walkers and canes and couldn't climb up nine decks of stairs to reach the food lines, Alim said.
Passengers spent their last night drinking free wine and beer at the bar and singing old songs.
Paul Patrick Sr., 50, of Riverside, said his daughter, Sabrina Klinge of Laguna Hills, was married on Saturday and was on her honeymoon cruise. The 27-year-old texted her father on Wednesday saying it was dark and she was living on Pop Tarts.
"It was supposed to be this beautiful cruise and it turned into a nightmare," he said. "Nothing like it was advertised in the brochure."
After the Splendor docked, Gerry Cahill, chief executive of Carnival Corp.'s Carnival Cruise Lines, told passengers via ship's intercom: "I'm very sorry" and added: "I would like to thank you for all your patience and understanding that you showed throughout the situation."
The National Transportation Safety Board announced Thursday that it had begun an investigation.
Cahill earlier said the crankcase on one of six diesel generators split, causing the fire. He said he doubted other ships in the Miami-based company's fleet were at risk.
Carnival canceled Splendor's next cruise, which was scheduled to depart Sunday. The cruise line said it will give refunds to everyone who holds reservations for that trip and offer them a 25 percent discount on a future cruise.
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Associated Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego and Raquel Maria Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
