here, it's not just the killing or what the motive was, but it's why he did this. >> sean: all right. >> why. >> sean: we've got to run. if you tap three times and say no place like home you never know where you'll end up. >> i'll disappear. >> sean: stay with us on fox, greta is next. see you tomorrow night. >> greta: this is a fox news alert. at any point now, that disabled cruise ship carnival triumph with more than 4,200 very, very, very unhappy passengers is expected to finally arrive at an alabama port. the ship is not getting there on its own power. it has none. it's getting towed. it's an understatement to say it it has been horrible for each of the passengers. this is just a half mile away from docking at this moment and about 4,200 people spent five days adrift at seas in what they call extremely terrible conditions, broken toilets, leaking sewage and even food shortages. and jonathan serrie is live in

alabama with the latest. >> reporter: hi, greta, it looks like we're approaching the moment that everybody was waiting for. originally the ship was due in in the early afternoon and now it looks like it's going to arrive sometime between 9:30 and 10:30 central time. he so, quite possibly within this hour, we're going to see the ship dock here at the alabama cruise terminal where i am right now. once it docks, once it's finally tied up, 15 minutes to 30 minutes will go by before the first passenger gets off. and officials tell us it could take four to five hours for all 3,000 plus passengers to disembark from the ship because of those power issues. there's only one elevator that's operational. here at the passenger cruise terminal there are blankets, food, drinks, cell phones inside the passenger terminal. to keep people comfortable as

they await their buses. some 100 buses have been chartered to take the passengers, some of them back to their original ports in galveston and houston in texas and others takesen to new orleans to overnight and then board charter flights for the return home tomorrow. so, a very long and cumbersome process, but greta, it appears this is the beginning of the end. back to you. >> greta: when you talk about bringing the ship into the shipping channel, i understand it's only about 400 feet wide is shipping channel. the ship 113, 114 feet wide and the tow, the tug boats, rather, towing them in and this is not its normal berth. is this port ready to take this size ship? >> yeah, this is a port used to handle cruise ships up until about a year ago, but they were much smaller ships. we're told that this is going to be the largest cruise ship to come into mobile, alabama. officials believe that this

facility can handle the ship, but it's going to-- it's going to be dealing with much larger numbers of people than it's used to. as far as navigating that channel, yes, it's been a very cumbersome process. we're told that the tow line broke on one tugboat. they repaired it, there was a replacement tugboat and then the line on that boat broke and they repaired that and the ship resumed its slow crawl towards mobile bay, but it delayed it by about an hour. so, really, a difficult and cumbersome process with many bumps along the way, greta. >> all right, no power on this ship and these people want to-- i mean, they're exhausted and they've been living in hell for five days. their families waiting four or five hours to get off that ship for many of them. tell me, obviously, any idea how many floors there are of cabins? a lots of people have to do a lot of walking in one

direction. >> yeah, and in fact. my producer just handed me a note the ship is about one mile out and in fact, if you're at the top of the terminal you can actually get a glimpse of the ship, an indication that this is the beginning of the end. but greta to give you an idea of the conditions on board this ship, we've seen photographs from the deck where people were-- had actually set up tents because when the power went out without the air conditioning, it was very uncomfortable in the lower decks, so, people were on-- setting up tents on top of the deck. now, as far as the process of disembarking from the ship, because there's very little power there's only one functional elevator. most of the passengers are going to have to carry their own luggage. they'll get some assistance from carnival staff, but those who are able will be carrying their own luggage down the stairwells. carnival is going to give priority to people who are the

elderly, people with underlying medical conditions, and also families travelling with children. they will be the first ones off of this vessel, but as far as healthy able-bodied cruisers, they may be on the ship for a good four to five hours this evening, greta. >> do you have any idea how many passengers have families and people awaiting their arrival. do you see any gathering. >> actually very few. the people with families who are meeting them in mobile, and you'll get to hear from some of them a little later, are really in the minority. most of them are going to be waiting for them at their homes either in texas or around the country for that matter, just waiting for them to return through the normal routes. a lot of them have left vehicles at their original cruise terminals, a lot of them will be taking flights from there, from the various ports in texas, so, what you

see here in mobile is really a handful of the total families of these 3,000 plus passengers on board the carnival triumph, greta. >> greta: thanks, we're going to check back in with you a little bit later. >> certainly. >> greta: for the family members waiting anxiously to see their relatives get off the ship. the ship is now in sight, that's good news and this has been the cruise from hell. john's wife is on the cruise, he and his eight-year-old son is waiting for them at the port and john's wife is joining us on board the ship. julie, can you see the port from where you are, julie. >> we can, we can. >> and how good is that feeling to be able to see it. >> i tell you. >> sour-- >> mobile's the most beautiful city i've ever seen in my li life. >> greta: john, how about for you, what's it been like the last five days, have you

talked to your wife and heard what the conditions are like. >> i've not spoken with her until monday this afternoon, i can't explain how happy i was to hear her voice again. and know that she was okay. and i will say happy valentine's to my family wife and my sweet julie anna. >> greta: and chase, obviously, your mother is safe and that's great news and see you in a moment and i'm curious, chase, what do you think happened? what's your understanding what happened to the ship? >> well, i heard that it caught on fire and i was worried, but now i know it's safe and-- >> it's safe. julie, what's it like to hear your son and husband? >> yeah, oh, that's so

unbelievable. i haven't cried because i didn't want to, upset my little girl and here and now brought tears to my eyes for sure. >> greta: they're excited to see you and all the family members gathered and watching around the country and julie now that it's almost over, how bad has it been? >> bad. it's been very bad. the conditions in the rooms are just horrible. there's no bathrooms, you can imagine the smell, but the crew has been unbelievable. they've been very helpful. i mean, coming down the hallways and picking up people's restroom belongings, in the hallway, and you walk down the hall and red bags laying down the hallways, it's miserable and then the food, they have he' done their very best, but it's, it's just not -- it's not what we're used to eating. people are wanting mcdonald's,

that's what we want. mcdonald's. that's our first stop and a big, a big diet coke with lots of ice is what i want. >> greta: well, i hope your husband, can you hear that, john, what she wants? a big diet coke from mcdonald's, can you take care of that. >> i've got it right on the way, yes, ma'am. >> and just ice, ice, we want three glasses of ice, all of us want three glasses of ice, there's been no ice since sunday. >> coming right up. >> greta: and we're going to let you go. what are you going to say to your mother when you see her? >> i love you and happy valentine's and i'll hug her and other thing and make her feel welcome. >> i love you! and i love you, honey. i'm he happy valentine's day, i can't wait to see you. >> greta: all right. >> thank you, and thanks to all of our church families. >> yes, i'm ready to see them.

>> greta: all right. well. >> greta, we've been showered with love. >> greta: that ship will be there soon. i know you guys, but may take a couple of hours for people to get off. thank you to all of you. as you know, there are no lights, no air conditioning and how about that appalling bad sewage situation they've been having on the cruise ship. two friends who decided to take a last minute vacation never expected this nightmare. debra and john join us by phone from the cruise ship. debra, what's it been like? >> exciting. it's been an adventure for sure, definitely an adventure. >> greta: have you ever felt that you were at risk? were you scared? >> no, never, never, it's-- the crew put up, did a great job keeping us informed and, no, i did not feel scared. >> greta: bob, i understand that you brought a flashlight. one of the few who had a flashlight? >> i actually had three.

>> greta: so, i guess you're pretty popular on that ship, bob? >> we were. we were. (laughter) >> debra, was your cabin flooded at some point, debra? >> it drained out and we just went and-- (inaudibl (inaudible). >> greta: well, you're going in and out. obviously cell problems a lot of people had. bob, i don't know if you can hear me, but curious to describe to me what it's been like for you. um (inaudible). >> greta: i think we've lost debra and bob, but they'll be at shore shortly, hopefully, we're now of course getting a closer look at some of the unbelievable scenes aboard this ship. sun decks turned into

makeshift sleeping quarters and kim ware is on the cruise with her fiance ed buck. what's it like for you, tell me the conditions? >> the conditions are pretty much what everybody has been saying, the sanitation has been quite a big problem. our rooms at night are dark, dark again tonight, unless you have a flashlight. and the food as they said earlier has been plentiful and tasty. long lines to get it at times, but everybody has had a lot of comaraderie around the passengers so we've done fairly well. >> greta: and i understand that you would take another cruise? >> absolutely, i'd take another cruise and even on carnival. >> greta: even on carnival, why? >> they did a great job. the crew came through in a tough situation and made it as good as possible.

>> i -- i have a few more concerns about carnival. i was a little-- i'm a little upset at that they did not get us off the boat sooner and thought maybe this could have been expedited a bit better. >> greta: well, it will me, what's it like as you're on the ship now and you can see that the port is within reach. what's it like for you? >> oh, it's wonderful to see the lights going by on the decks of the port. we can't wait to disembark, we've got our suitcases packed and my son is coming to pick us up and we could not be more thrilled to get off the boat. >> ed, how did you hear that there's a fire on board in that engine room? >> we heard the announcements over alpha team 6 engine room and stepped out on our balcony and looked out and there was a huge clouds of white smoke coming out. what do you think was going

on? did you think a serious problem and concerned at the time. >> yes, we were quite concerned. it definitely was a serious problem and then, about 20 minutes later the lights went out. >> and did they come back on? i assume their generators on board to power the lights or not? >> yes, no, they never came back on, although all the emergency lights came on immediately, so, we could see in the hallways, and all, but we had he a flashlight in our room so we were okay, pretty much. but we were very concerned. >> greta: go ahead. >> and we looked, we looked for the life vests for sure. >> greta: kim, i suspect there's some people who sort of grin and bear it. some people who are really angry and some people are really scared. is that a fair assessment that denver people responded differently? >> absolutely people responded differently. there were many people that, you know, were able to make the best of it. i had he' say most people were able to make the best of the

situation. we really didn't have a choice. but it was very frightening with the fire occurred. many people went to the muster stations and stayed there, even after we were told to go back to the rooms, people stayed at the muster station, but it was very frightening and you know, i hope there's been rumors that there may have been problems with the engine before on this ship. i certainly hope that is not the case. that carnival would not have put this many people in that kind of danger, but the crew has been absolutely spectacular, really wonderful. the house keepers, the stewards, the cooks, the busboys have all, all had a smile on their face. >> greta: when you first boarded the ship, did they do drills and show you where your life boats are and where the life preservers are, so you

were ready if there was more catastrophic that happened? >> yes, we did have a muster drill and went to the muster station as soon as the boat left port. what was really concerning they did say that the greatest danger on the ship is fire. >> and at the muster drill they he showed everybody how to put on the life vests and another good thing when it happened, it was 4:30 in the morning and at 6:15, it was light and we could all see. >> greta: and how long, do you have any sense how long that fire was burning? >> oh, not really, but they kept telling us that they had shut the doors and that they would let us know when it cools down in the room so they could assess the damage. but then later, so we thought the fire was out at that point, but then several hours later they came on and told us that they had opened the doors and that they had discovered

the fire was out and were able to assess that the ship was not going to be able to function any longer. >> greta: ed-- >> and because-- >> go ahead, ed. >> and that was because the electrical system got burnt up. >> greta: could you smell that burning electrical system? >> yes, big time, yes. and with the smoke that we saw was white smoke, was insulation burning. >> greta: you know, one of the problems in these horrible situations is sometimes you don't get information so you're always curious what's going on, what's going on. were they routinely regularly giving you updates so people were feeling secure? >> yes, they were routinely giving us updates as to what was happening. i think the one frustrating thing at the beginning and for the first few days was that we were all wanting to know what the plan was. if the boat was not going to

be drivable. what was the plan. when were the tugs coming? they would tell us something, but it doesn't seem that they had a proper plan in place to execute immediately. it seemed like they were constantly calling the miami office, trying to come up with an idea, or a plan of what to do next. they did not send the tugs out as quickly as i think they should have. and they did not send enough tugs out. but i would have thought that they would have a plan that they would follow and would tell us that, but they did not. they just kept saying that this would be-- >> i know, why the food situation was so bad, why they couldn't drop better food at least? i heard horrible nightmares about the food? >> no, no, no, there was plenty of food. they just couldn't cook it and in fact, we had three other carnival ships come and were

circling us over different time periods using the life boats to transfer large amounts of food from these other ships over to us. and then in the last two days, we've had helicopters bringing big bundles of food and drinks and dropping them on the back de deck. >> greta: well, the good news is that very shortly you're going to dock and i hate to it will you it could be four or five hours before you get off the ship. >> that may be the long part. what are your immediate plans, stay in mobile or going to new orleans or houston, what's your plans. >> my son is picking us up, he's rented a-- flying in and rented a mini-van and so we, he will drive us straight home and then i'm sure we'll stop and get a nice meal if we want to stop at a hotel we'll be able to. >> we're very lucky he's coming to get us. >> one woman i talked to wanted, she wanted a soft

drink with ice and mcdonald's. what do you want? >> i want spaghetti and mexican food. >> greta: ed, what do you want? >> those are the two things we have, otherwise-- >> and a drink. the bar's been closed for a couple of days. >> greta: well, that's another problem. all right. >> yeah. >> greta: kim, ed, thank you very much. and good luck and i hope that you're one of the first getting off that ship and you get home soon. thank you for joining us. >> thanks, greta. bye-bye. >> greta: and we've got our phone connection back with debra jordan with bob barton, two friends who decided to take a last minute vacation and never expected that this would happen. so, tell me, why, any thoughts on taking last minute vacations again? >> no, not, not at all. i think i'm-- >> i'm sorry? >> so you're fine on that? >> i am fine on that. and what i was about to say

earlier was that our particular situation was probably different than most of the ship because we were on a higher floor with a balcony and we did have ventilation and light and i had flashlights and the food was plentiful. it was a little aggravating waiting in line sometimes, but we did have lobster for lunch and dinner today. so, all in all, our experience, i believe, was different than most folks. there were some, some real discomfort on the ship, but we didn't have any smell per se on our floor and all in all we feel very blessed. >> greta: boy, i say you are lucky, debra, if you were up higher, you could open your door and at least get a breeze, but the people lower in that ship, when you listen to the stories about the sanitation and the sewage, profoundly worse experience. >> yeah, it was bad on the lower ends and those are the people that moved out on to the deck and they pitched

tents and brought their mattresses out there so they kind of got removed from their quarters pretty quickly. so, and the weather, we were blessed with the weather, too, because the weather was -- stayed pretty good for them. >> were you ever scared you wouldn't make it that there was something, really, really more catastrophic problem with worst consequences? >> absolutely not. i never feared for even a minute. i never thought-- and they continually assured us that we were never in danger. so-- >> after the fire. >> after it was put out. i'm sorry? >> did you always believe them? i tell you when i get an announcement at the airport about airplanes, i'm always suspicious. >> no. there had been rumors on the ship that carnival was not necessarily telling us everything at all times, i felt they were doing the best they could under an extremely difficult situation and i never felt that we were in jeopardy. >> they kept us as comfortable as possible.

they worked very diligent to keep everybody informed and the best they could. i mean, they had a lot of people in the middle of the gulf of mexico. and they had to work a plan out, so, i think they did a very good job. i'm very happy with the way they handled it. >> greta: and did the five days seem like five days? five minutes, or seem like five years. >> yes, yes. >> five months, maybe. >> greta: five months. >> or five minutes. depending what time of the day you ask as to what was going on. >> greta: so, what do you do when you finally get to port and you get to disembark from na ship? >> oh, we're going to take a bus straight back to houston. >> or galveston. >> greta: and i mean, you may be in for a little bit of an inconvenience. toll it's going to take four or five hours to get everybody off the ship, but i assume once they fill a bus the bus will take off, but you might have a little bit of a project ahead of you. >> and i understand they have

a hundred buses out there waiting for us, i don't think they'll fill them all up. >> greta: the good news is that everyone is safe. it's been an interesting experience i'm sure for a lot of you. i think some may be reluctant to take a cruise in the near future, but some are happy to go back, debra and bob, thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: and as you can see, that ship is now just about arriving at mobile, alabama at the port. carnival cruise lines is getting ready for all of those passengers to disembark. >> once the ship arrives, the debarcation process will start shortly after that, 9:30 to 10:30 window and we would expect that because of the lack of power aboard the ship that the debarcation process could take four to five hours. so we're still in that time frame for completion of the debarcation. in the terminal we have two teams fully deployed. we have our guest care team and our guest logistics team ready to receive our guests. and make all the arrangements and help them through the

process. inside the terminal there's also warm food available. there are blankets, there are cell phones, and refreshments available for the guests that need that or want that assistance. our biggest focus, very honestly though, is to prove the people as quickly as possible on to the roughly 100 motor coaches awaiting their arrival and move them quickly as we talked about for the options earlier, on their way, motor coach-wise to galveston or on their way to the hotels. >> greta: and the passengers reach land, as you noted it's not over for them. their harrowing journey continues although they'll be on dry land. and from wfbn is there and she's in mobile with that part of the story. tell me sort of the plan. i know there are a hundred buses, but what is the plan? >> well, greta, this is the way we understand it. carnival is basically giving these passengers an option.

they can either get on buses and be taken either to galveston, which is where they all started or they can be taken to new orleans where they have charter flights and can be flown to galveston and also earlier had the operations of a hotel room here in mobile although now we're understanding that those may be just reserved for the crew members, there's a little bit of a-- a little bit of confusion about that because we understand they're also then helping to pay for the hotel rooms of family members who come to pick up loved ones, but i can tell you most of the loved ones we have talked to relatives who have been out here for 24 hours plus, say this they just want to take their relatives off that ship, take them to a hotel or put them right in the car and take them home. so, how many of them will actually be taking the option of the bus or the plane, we're really not sure, most likely it will be those who don't have anyone here to greet them, but i can tell you there are many families members here who never planned to come out here to greet them, but said

there's no way they were going to miss it. greta. >> greta: i don't know your vantage point, but can you see the ship from where you are, and see how far out it is and whether it's even come up to the pier and starting to dock it? can you see that at all? >> greta, i'm right in front of the ship. i'm right in front of the ship and it's docking right in front of us. the-- i'm not sure if you have our shots, but you can see where the emergency generator lights and neon lights in the hallway and corridors are on, but in the state rooms it's completely dark. we've been hearing the folks on board cheering, even before we could see the ship. we could hear them cheering and they were waving towels or bed sheets, and many of them have been writing down messages on the sheets because it's dark, we're unable to see what they say, but they're clearly, extremely eager to get off the ship and as soon as this started to come in, family members started to go they are here in greater numbers, and running across the street to make sure that

they could get here. and it's right in front of us. >> greta: i don't know if people realize how magnificent it is to even dock one of these huge ships, that's only a 400 foot wide channel and the ship itself is 116 feet wide. they've got tug boats, and this is not its home port so this has actually been quite a docking. have they secured the lights and gotten that far and passengers starting to disembark or not? >> reporter: not yet. i don't believe so. i don't see that as of yet. and we're told that this is actually the largest ship to ever dock here. and normally we were told earlier by the port authority they rarely or never, actually, in the dark have any ships going through this channel, they say, you know, when it doesn't have full power, they say it's just too unsafe. i don't know if you can hear all of this cheering behind me (cheers) about the loudest it's been. >> greta: i can. >> reporter: there are people

up on the deck and yeah, you can see them, cheering and waving, and i guess, pieces of fabric, i don't know, towels, i'm not sure what they have left after this ordeal because they were taking their sheets and mattresses out of their state rooms, trying to sleep on decks. from what we understand, nothing was clean by the end of this week, so, yeah, obviously, they're very eager to get out of here. but, yeah, the port authority said they had to be very careful, largest ship they've had here and they had to work on this and make sure that safety was their first priority. >> greta: even the fittings of that port to try to get that-- to get the people off that ship. i imagine they don't have as many exits from that ship off of that port or into the dock. it's going to be quite a project getting those people off. >> reporter: yeah, they had -- it is, and also, from what we are told there's only one working elevator. we're talking about 3,000 people. one working elevator. i have no idea how they're going to work that.

they say that also they've been able to get about 200 people, carnival has, to help the folks with their luggage to try to get all of this luggage off this ship and to do it as quickly as possible. and also, we've interviewed several people who have elderly family members. one woman we spoke to her dad is in a motorized wheelchair and her mother, she feared, was going to run out of heart medication. so, folks like that, you wonder how difficult it will be for them to disembark. even under the best of circumstances, which obviously, this is not. so, we've been told that the entire process of getting everyone off the ship could take four to five hours. >> greta: well, it certainly looks exciting, it's a huge ship and to remind our viewers, 900 feet long, 14 stories tall and come into a port it's never docked in before. and got a bunch, 4,200 people on there, passenger and crew. obviously very excited about finally getting to shore, but not under their own power.

nicole, thank you and a news conference is expected within two minutes, we are going to take you there live, but first, family members anxious to see their relatives get off that ship. vivian tilley's sister is on the cruise ship and joins is by phone. vivian, have you had a chance to speak to your sister? >> i just did a few minutes ago before they docked. she had to turn off her phone though to keep her reception for when she gets off. but, yeah, they just, they cannot wait to get off that ship. >> greta: what did she say about her little journey? >> oh, it wasn't a little journey for sure, so, she's just exhausted and she just wants to get home to be with her family and her daughters. >> greta: did she describe to you what the conditions have been like for the last five days? >> well, when i first got her call on sunday afternoon she was frantic and nervous and scared for her safety and she

didn't know what was going to happen and there was a lot of of confusion. and then off and on we were communicating and then the last time i spoke with her was on monday, and the conditions were getting worse at the time. but i do want to say that since we've been in touch today, she's been a little bit more calmer and she's just excited to be on land. >> greta: and we all react to, you know, serious conditions differently and having more information sometimes helpful when you understand it. was she afraid that her life was in jeopardy during part of this? >> she kept thinking that the ship was tilting. she kept feeling, she was thinking that they were losing balance and felt like the-- it was tipping and that's what she kept telling me and i kept trying to reassure her and calm her down, that everything will be okay and no, the ship is not tilting. so, we feel it, we feel it. that was back on sunday

evening. >> greta: and you spoke to her on monday and a second ago. did you talk to her between monday and tonight? >> between monday and-- no, he no, monday was the last time we spoke and then today was the next time that we spoke. >> greta: why were you able to speak? had she lost her cell phone coverage or. >> yeah, they were only able to get service when there was a ship close by and they he were able to turn their phones on and get reception that way, but otherwise, they had no service from monday till now. >> greta: is your sister someone who has gone on cruises before or the first time and is she ever going to do it again. >> fortunately, it's the first and last. >> greta: are you sure it's the last? not going to give it a try again. >> she's the not going to get

on a plane now, and tried to get mer on the plane home, but-- >> where is she going, buses going to-- >> she will not get on that bus either. she's actually, a lot of people getting rental cars and she's one of them and as a matter of fact, she's not taking the coach. she's staying somewhere in the area and taking a vehicle and heading home tomorrow. >> greta: is that because she's terrified or just because she's had it? >> no, a little bit of both, i would say. and she just doesn't want to deal with any more delays and she just wants to be free with her husband and be able to get back on their own time. >> greta: well, you know, it's interesting, you know, the different reactions of the different people of this, you know, this experience. some sort of, you know, handled it better and some were terrified and i know that some people thought at some point besides your sister, they thought that the ship was tipping. >> yes, yes, yes, and tactful

as a matter of fact, the sad part about it when i tried to get her to get into a hotel today, the only route was for her to get on the coach bus and go into new orleans. and she did not want to do that. and that was the only thing that was available through the family hot line. >> greta: well, vivian, maybe when she gets her feet on the ground and gets off that ship she'll have a-- rethink all of that and may find a different way home that might be easier on her. >> hopefully, hopefully, we're just praying until we hear from her again. >> greta: thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: and the triumph is in port. crews are working tie it up at the moment and passengers will disembark. a news conference is about to start and the ceo is expected to speak. let's listen. obviously, they're trying to set up the audio.

it's not exactly particularly a planned event. this ship has been -- had many -- here we go. >> okay. good evening, first, let me say just how thankful and relieved i am to see the carnival triumph tying up alongside here and knowing that all of our guests and our crew members have made it here safely. i know this is what our guests have been waiting for and i can tell you that we all at carnival has been working towards. now, there's been a tremendous amount of efforts that's gone in to getting this ship back here and there are so many people i want to thank for helping us in in regard. but i would like to specifically mention the united states coast guard who has done a fantastic job having that cutter alongside was tremendously helpful and reassuring our guests. united states customs and border protection, who's expediting the clear in and

united states public health and city of mobile and port of mobile all gracious and helpful to us and thank everyone and also like to recognize the tremendous efforts made by our shore side teams in miami and around the country, and mostly our team on board. i know it has been very trying for our guests, but i can tell you our view worked tirelessly to try to make it as good an experience as they possibly could for our guests and i want to thank them very much. now, one of the nice things for me is to see that many of our guests in online media and other types of media have recognized just how hard our crew has worked and i appreciate the patience of our guests and their ability to cope with the situation and i'd like to reiterate the apology i made earlier. i know the conditions on board

were very poor. i know it was a very difficult, and i want to apologize again for subjecting our guests to that. we pride ourselves in providing our guest with a great vacation experience and clearly we failed in this particular case. now, there's one other thing, i know we have been making media updates as we've gone throughout the course of the day providing status of what's going on with the ship and all. it's our plan to continue those, we will continue those past the last guest getting on the ship and starting on their way home. we know that we have gotten our guests back to land and now we need to get them home and we have the full resources of carnival are working from here to get them home as quickly as we possibly can. now, the most important thing for me at this point in time is to go on board and to apologize to our guests. and once i finish that i'm going to walk around and i'm going to try to help to

expedite the process of getting them off and on their way as quickly as they can. right now that's what i'm going to do, go on board and apologize to the guests. thank you very much. >> and do we need to get jerry on board. thank you, again. >> greta: and that obviously is the representative of carnival cruise. and sort of interesting, everyone so far if a we've spoken to gives the crew very high marks what's happened on board, the crew working very hard for the passengers, making it safe despite the fact that a fire in the engine room certainly derailed their plans, but also, this representative probably doing the right thing. he's apologized profusely, apologized for what happened. apologized for the conditions and now he's going to meet with the passengers and go on board and do the same thing. you better hope that he not slow their departure, they're all anxious to get home, but the passengers in good spirits and love hearing the cheering as they saw the port and

docking. the good news the ship is in port, but a long night for passengers to embark. amy webber's boyfriend is on the ship. nice to talk to you and when did you first hear there was a problem aboard that ship? >> you know, the first think i heard was about noon on sunday and i got a robo call, if you will, from carnival saying that there had been a fire on board, there was going to be a delay in their return. i was thinking, you know, maybe 12, 18 hours we're talking about. i had no idea the situation was going to become this bad. >> greta: what -- i assume that your boyfriend gave your number in case of emergency and that's why you got the robo call? >> yes, that's right. >> greta: did you talk to him on sunday? >> i did. the first phone call i received from him was very brief. it was probably about a minute and very kind of, you know,

garbled where you know, i could hear every fourth or fifth word, but you don't want to necessarily interrupt to say i can't understand you, you kind of just want to listen. so you know, that was the first i heard. he pretty much just said, you know, we're okay. we're-- it's going to be a while until we're home. >> greta: did you talk to him over the course of the week? >> yes. i spoke to him again sunday night and i've actually been able to speak to him-- i've actually talked to him a lot today. probably talked to him, you know, over an hour today. they've somehow been able to get cellular coverage and we've been able to talk and just trying to talk him through it. and just trying to stay positive. >> greta: when you say talk him through it. was he annoyed, was he angry,

was he sort of just going along with it? i mean, how do you describe his experience? >> you know, it sounds like, you know, i mean, he's on a bachelor, i don't know if you know this, but he's with about a dozen other guys on a bachelor party cruise. these are really, really good guys. i know that they are helping out, you know, elderly people, people who, you know, people who need help. i know for a fact that they're doing everything they can to help others before themselves. and, but you know, i know he's very frustrated, very tired, exhausted, but you know, he-- you know, he knows, you know, he's a 30-year-old healthy man and he's got to be strong for, you know, the other people on

board who aren't so able to, you know, take care of themselves. there's handicapped people, there's, you know, all kinds of different situations, so he's-- he and all of his friends are just really trying to do the best they can. >> greta: now that it's ending well, i wouldn't have said this a couple of days ago, but this is a bachelor party i don't think he's going to forget or any of the other bachelors or even the bride and groom. >> no, absolutely. they absolutely will not forget this trip. you know, as far as the conditions, you know, i mean, it is pretty bad. it's just sewage everywhere and no running water. and you know, toilets overflowing, everything that you've already heard. it's just a bad situation and the sooner we can, you know-- the sooner they can get off that boat the better. i just hope that, you know,

the last i heard from him he said that they had actually put some guys on who were with customs so they could, you know, take care of all that before they got off the ship. and something they do anyway, are you familiar with na. >> greta: yeah, yeah. >> and so, you know, hopefully they'll be able to cut off at least a couple of hours, you know, anything, any thing that can cut off some time is, you know, all they can hope for right now. >> greta: you know, the conditions were deplorable as you say. the sewage, the toilets overflowing, no water, no electricity, no heat elevators. but you know, so many of them tell us that the crew was hustling to try to make the best it could out of pa bad situation. and so far nothing, but high grades for the crew. >> absolutely. that was one thing that i made sure to ask, what, what would you-- what do you want me to say?

what message do you want me to pass along? and that was a very strong point that the crew was being amazing, that they were all, you know, kind of like sticking to their posts and doing everything that they could. so, i mean, that says a lot. that says a lot. >> greta: i suppose that after the boat docks and they would sort through everything, we'll find some people suffering he enormously and probably people sick and probably people who went on the ship with disabilities. did he mention anything at all? give us a heads up, were there any people who were truly troubled? >> yes, you know, i don't know if i should even say this, but at one point he did say, now, amy, people are dying. it sounded like people going through strokes, people going through heart attack issues, you know, i mean, it just

sounds like dire straits. i don't know how much is, you know, i mean, that's just what he said to me. so i think there's definitely, you know, the sooner we can get these people off of this boat the better because, you know, there's people who are in serious distress. >> greta: well, usually they have a doctor or hospital on board these things and i think we'll see as the sun comes up and sort through it we'll see whether or not, you know, how people endured in terms of their health, but they do generally, generally have medical facilities, i'm sure they do here as well. amy, thank you. what are you going to stay to your boyfriend when you see him. >> excuse me? >> what are you going to say to him when you see him finally? >> i love you baby! so glad you're home! i don't know. i'm just going to jump up and he's he a big, tall, 6-4 guy i'm just going to run and jump into his arms and i just can't

wait to see him. i love him. i love all of those guys stuck on that ship. so, you know. >> greta: it's good news, enjoy that wedding. >> thank you. >> greta: thank you, amy. minutes ago, carnival's ceo apologized to the passengers and let's bring back passengers debra jordan and bob barton, what do you think of the company's apology, debra? >> i think an apology is-- if he wants to make one, but i think he made it very clear they all are very sorry for it and they're trying to take care of us and they're-- i think they're doing a good job and i appreciate his personal concern for the passengers. we didn't really see-- we heard, you know, three, four, maybe five safety calls for medics and we know that some of them were not serious, so we didn't really see a lot of any medical issues like they were saying. >> greta: bob, your thought about the apology and do you

know of any serious medical issues? did you hear or see any? >> personally, we heard about a couple of people who fell and possibly broke legs. in terms of the ceo's apology, i'm happy to accept it, and it it shows that carnival really does care about our experience here and i appreciate it, personally. >> greta: bob, we have a shot of the ship or just had a second ago where people are dancing and singing. i imagine there's some revelry there, a lot of joy there? >> yes, yes, there is. >> i think it's getting close that we're off of this odyssey, so being, i think that's what you're seeing. >> truly getting cabin fever. >> greta: i imagine that there is cabin fever. have they given you specific instructions now you're docked, have you been told to wait your turn or go get your bags? what's the drill for getting off the ship? >> they're going to start with the lowest deck and proceed

up, and you're supposed to wait and plenty of people helping with bags and keeping everyone under control so the people from the upper decks don't start down and they're going to have two doors open to where we've been told it's going to go fairly quickly once they start. so, that's all he we know so far. no decks have been called specifically. >> greta: i don't understand why it's so dark, don't they have generator for the light inside the ship? i understand separate from the engines? why isn't it lit up? >> we understand that the helicopter that brought supplies and provisions yesterday dropped a big aga generator as it it passed by and maybe they're using that, but there's been, since the initial incident there's been plenty of light through the emergency lighting. not on the lower deck perhaps and the big problem down there is more ventilation than

lighting. and, but i don't know why there's more light, but plenty of light on the ship right now. >> i would think there would be some sort of redundancy. i don't understand why there wasn't a backup lighting, why it was so dark for so many people. >> well, in the hallways, there was always lights. it's in the-- >> oh, okay. >> it's in the specific cabin. in our cabin, there was no lighting, it was black, black and i was telling you earlier, fortunately i brought a flashlight so lighting was not a problem for us, but i imagine it was for the other folks because you can't see the hand in front of your face in the cabin. >> greta: and-- >> what. if you opened your door and then the person across the way opened their door from the balcony you would get some light in and a breeze, a cross breeze, but for the people on below decks where they didn't have any balconies, nobody opening the doors across from you, no doors or ventilation

whatsoever and the plumbing didn't work. >> unlivable, unlivable. >> greta: good luck packing in the dark because that's a challenge as well and actually got flashlights. >> we're completely packed and ready to go, thank you. >> greta: i bet you are, i bet you have been for days, anyway, thank you both and good luck. >> thank you. >> greta: minutes ago we heard from carnival cruise lines ceo and just this minute, an ambulance is entering the port. fox's correspondent jonathan searie joins us again. what's with the ambulance? obviously there's a sick passenger? >> yeah, greta. we're not sure if there's passenger who needs immediate medical attention or if this ambulance was just brought here as a precaution, knowing that there are 3000 passengers on board that they've been going without power. we just don't know. we have seen crew members wheeling wheelchairs up the

gangway. and carnival had announced the elderly and people with medical conditions would be the first to offload the ship, the families with children and others with special needs would be the first to get off the ship during this disembarking process that's expected to last anywhere from four to five hours. again, greta, there's only one elevator functioning on the ship. for most passengers they're going to have to carry their own luggage down several flights of stairs, and seeing the ship up close and personal for the first time, i don't understand if you can get the impression seeing it on tv, but it looks like a skyscraper, it's like a huge building that just floated up here at the port. and so you can see what a mammoth undertaking it is to get all of these 3000 plus passengers off of the ship, greta. >> greta: i can't imagine, jn than. this is not this ship's home and i can't imagine this

gangway sort of fitting the ship so you can get people off. i guess if they're pretty mobile, but still, i mean, this is not-- this is not an easy fit. >> reporter: yeah, you know, the gangway's obviously adjustable and makes quite nicely, quite nicely reaches the height of the door that the passengers are exiting, but this by far greta is the largest cruise ship ever to dock here at the alabama cruise terminal or anywhere in the city of mobile. this is a first. >> greta: jonathan, you know, i know we're going to hear horrible stories in the next few days about you know, people really suffered and people are hurt and broke legs, things that we haven't heard so far, but it must have been exciting for you to be there to see this giant ship come in with the few lights it had and people singing and cheering and people waiting

for it? >> oh, absolutely. and the cheers were on both sides. there were folks up hanging from the balconies waving towels and some of them had glow sticks waving around cheering from the ship and then you had their friends and family on the ground cheering back. and very exciting to see, obviously, they're going to be a -- there are already a lot of happy families here in mobile and quite shortly there will be many other happy families around the country. >> greta: but not one passenger off the ship in the 15 minutes it's been docked? >> yeah, we haven't seen any passengers get off yet. just crew members going back and forth. some crew members taking wheelchairs up to the ship so we can only assume that the sick or elderly passengers will be the first to disembark

from this ship. >> greta: i understand that the ship-- they've already made announcements this ship will be out of service for several weeks and obviously need to fix whatever is going on in the engine room. >> yeah, they need to fix what's going on in the engine room and also, an investigation both by the n.t.s.b. here in the the u.s. and also by bahamian authorities because this ship flies the flag of the bahamas so technically is under the jurisdiction of that-- of the government of that island nation. >> where did these passengers board? they boarded on sunday? >> i'm sorry, greta, could you repeat the question. >> greta: these passengers boarded on sunday from where, from galveston? >> galveston to cozumel? >> yes, they boarded, they boarded in galveston on sunday, and going to cozumel.

it was supposed to be a four-day cruise, obviously, it ended up being a lot longer than that. and we had that the ship is going to be repaired at bae systems right across the bay, right across mobile bay from where we are right now and greta from my vantage point right now we're watching the porters wheeling the baggage carts so presumably the offloading of passengers and their luggage is imminent. >> greta: jonathan, you've mentioned the fact that they're flying a foreign country flag, they don't usually fly an american country flag. so i assume there's less sort of monitoring or regulation or control of the ships than perhaps the airline industry n.t.s.b. monitoring it. is anyone going to investigate this outside of carnival? >> and that's a very good question.

we in fact spoke with maritime lawyer, jim walker, who said that he is hoping that this will lead to a lengthy congressional investigation, that will look into this type of regulation, increased regulation by the u.s. government, but as you pointed out, greta, these cruise ships fly foreign flags, generally from small countries and the companies themselves are incorporated in foreign countries. now, part of this is because it's a tax shelter. they end up paying lower taxes, but also, as a byproduct they face less regulation by the u.s. government. and this lawyer, mr. walker, was telling us that these types of incidents happen more often than a lot of us realize. but, unlike an airline

disaster where there's he highly publicized n.t.s.b. investigation, investigations in congress, calls for legislation, changes in policy, quite often if the passengers are taken care of and they leave happy, these types of incidents are very quickly forgotten. there's a short attention span, but this lawyer was saying this particular incident has gotten so much media scrutiny that perhaps this one will end up leading to more congressional oversight. >> greta: now, we can't even ignore the fact how lucky we all were that the weather played along with it. some people thought there was a sensation of tipping or something, but if it'd be a huge violent seas and violent storms, we'd be telling a different story and a lot of injuries and a very different story, wouldn't it? >> reporter: absolutely. we couldn't call for better weather, it's a little bit on the chilly side, after all, it's winter, but not

unreasonably cold and the rains that came through the southeast earlier this week ceased so we could not have asked for better weather for this ship to come into port in mobile, alabama. >> greta: and is it the passengers who had the sensation of tipping. that was never a danger, that was just a sensation they felt? >> yeah, well, don't know for sure, but it appears that this may have been a sensation that they were feeling, but obviously, this will be something that comes out in the investigation in the weeks ahead. >> greta: well, it's a lucky night tonight for 4,200 passenger and crew. the ship is safely in port. stay with fox news channel though for continuing coverage of this breaking news story and passengers will soon be getting off the cruise ship in mobile, alabama so stay right here for live coverage and such good news, 4,200 passengers all their family and friends, a four-day cruise