Claremore Family Aboard Nightmare Cruise Finally Coming Home

A nightmare cruise ended Thursday night, as the disabled Carnival Triumph was towed the final mile into port.

For a Claremore family, the ship can't dock soon enough.

"It sounds as though it probably should have never set sail," said Darren Gooch.

Eight days into a four-day cruise, Gooch, from Claremore, said his fellow passengers on the Carnival Triumph were dirty, hungry and angry.

He said he'd even broken up a fight between a husband and wife.

"The woman was yelling and hitting and she was screaming that she was gonna jump off the boat," Good said.

He shared some pictures from onboard the ship. One shows smoke outside his stateroom, after the ship's engine room caught on fire.

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"The next thing we knew, we had people running, we had crew members running, banging on the doors telling us to get our life jackets and get to our muster stations, which is where the lifeboats are," Gooch said.After the fire, the power went out. Plumbing problems soon had toilet water and sewage sloshing through staterooms. People were sleeping wherever they could find a dry, safe space, even in lobbies and stairwells, and up on deck in makeshift "tent cities"

"Everybody took sheets and tied them to the rails and slept on the furniture out on the pool deck to protect themselves from the sun and the wind," Gooch said.

Helicopters have been dropping in essential supplies, like fresh water, as the voyage stretched on.

Originally slated to arrive at Mobile, Alabama, Thursday afternoon, a tow line snapped and added seven to 10 hours to the trip, as the Triumph was tugged back to shore.

Gooch was on the cruise with his wife and four teenaged children. They also brought his wife's grandmother and her sister, both of whom are in their 80s. Gooch says Carnival has promised each of them a full refund and a $500 check.