sink. we use the road ties and hang them out to dry. very inventive creative on how you got things done. so that was good experiences. would i want to do it again? no, probably not. nice to see people coming together. it makes you feel great about the human race. the crew was good. they worked there. they work their butts off. >> you were impressed with the crew. yes, i'm impressed with them. yes. >> when the food would come in they created a human trail and it came on the zero floor up to the 9th so they would help each one of them there were three or four and there were pictures of that. it was amazing to see.

they were totally overworked and it was, they did a great job. tell us the first tight what it was like for you. we have heard actual testimony from people tonight about what that night was like where you were being tossed around in the high seas when you lost power. tell us about that. they announced -- they came over the speaker and said something or whatever so we woke up and sunday morning it was like what is going on? did somebody maybe fall down the stairs? we thought something happened to somebody. so my friend got up and looked out of our balcony. and there was white smoke. we saw it billowing off the top of the boat.

we went to the stations on day one and the worst thing that could happen was the then they started announcing that there was a small fire the engine room. i think my friend recorded a lot of the messages. i didn't think about that, but that was really scary. but we never were instructed to go down to the mustard room. but there were people walking around with their life vests on. they were scared and i understand that. i think it seems like -- i talked to somebody who's been on a lot of carnival cruises. she said they were always able to get access. we had a friend that would get text messages but there was no service. if people could have talked to their families, that could have helped so much. people that first night were crying and stuff. because you talk to your families, you're scared, you don't really know what's going on. so you're scared.

and then you can't talk to your family for the next two days or something. i think -- i don't know. so some of the -- >> pretty emotion. all right. carolyn oden thank you for joining us tonight here on "ed show." the carnival triumph has docked. the ceo saying clearly we failed. it's the top of the hour. this is "the ed show." i'm ed shultz. we're covering the docking of the carnival triumph which reached the port in mobile. kathy holt is on the line with us who was also on the ship. kathy, i welcome you to msnbc. thank you for joining us tonight. it's been quite an ordeal. how are you feeling right now, kathy? >> i am just very excited that i can see land. >> the simple things in life, right? >> yes.

>> what has this ordeal been like for you? what will you remember about it? >> my gosh. well, you got to meet a whole lot of people because you were standing in line waiting for things and worried about things in the hallway. it was really nice to reach out like the olden days and talk to people that you wouldn't normally speak to. i know that sounds strange. >> and how do you think people handled all of this? i mean, as the days were dragging on and the information coming out and the rumor mill and such stuff as that. earlier tonight jayme lamm said it was like the high school with the rumor mill. how was it to manage all that? >> you would hear so many things. but you had to put it into perspective and try to figure out truth from fiction. you know. i didn't -- a lot of people were like oh my gosh this happened, that happened. if i didn't see it, i didn't

take much truth in it. if i heard a crew member say anything. >> kathy, how much did you really know about what happened to the ship? why you were drifting and why you were being towed. >> the information that we were given was very small. they would tell us information because we were eagerly waiting for the little bells to go off and the cruise director to talk to us. everybody. the minute the bells would start ringing, the whole ship would turn silent. we wanted to know what she had to say. >> how often do d they communicate with you? >> at first it was pretty regularly. but it was always the same message. folks, we're trying to take care of you. it's too hot to go in there right now to assess the damage. but as soon as it's cooled off, we'll go in and assess the damage. and i kept thinking why is it taking so long to cool down? and then someone said that it was still on fire. but that, again, is just a rumor. i don't know if that's true or not. >> so kathy, have you signed up

for your next cruise? >> no. i have not signed up for a cruise, but this has not turned me off of cruising. i love cruising. this is just an unfortunate incident. >> you would go again? >> i would. but i will tell you that i will definitely be doing a little more research into the boat that i'm getting on. >> what did you hear about the boat? >> just it had problems with the motor prior to us getting on it. and for the last couple of cruises had issues. >> yeah. >> and if i would have googled it, i would have known and wouldn't have gotten on the ship. >> okay. what about the food situation? we keep hearing that people ran out of food. did you have access to food regularly? >> well, there was access, but i didn't want to stand in line for four hours to get something. more than anything, the people that were in line they were taking so much food and then by the end of the line, i was

finally in line and would get something and there would be hardly anything left. but i felt i needed to eat foods that were safe. i knew they didn't have any refrigeration. so i stayed to breads and fruit that was whole so i wouldn't get sick. >> sure. kathy holt, thank you for your time on msnbc. >> thanks. >> happy trails. >> happy valentine's day. >> you won't forget this one, will you? >> oh, no. >> okay. this is msnbc's continuing coverage of the carnival ship triumph which has just docked in mobile, alabama. we are told that passengers will be able to start disembarking once it's tied off. which should be any moment now. rejoining us now is nbc's mark potter at the scene. mark, we've heard quite the testimonials from some of the ladies who have been on that ship tonight. what are you hearing where you are?

>> well, here hearing that what we're seeing. and you can't see it now. we seem to be in a transportation hub. we have cars, we have a train, and behind that the cruise ship. so you can't see what i was going to talk about in a moment here until the train passes. but we've seen on the entryway of the plank that the wheelchairs have been going up. and that's in preparation for the people who need those to come off. they will come off first. we were told that the docking process would probably take about an hour. and since the ship arrived here about 50 minutes or so ago, they do seem to be on schedule in terms of that. they're completing that process. those people will come out first. the wheelchairs have gone up. the family members are in a building next to the ship. they are in there where hot food will be available for the passengers who come off.

drinks, coffee. people who can help them, cell phones, anything they need. counselors are even here. and of course the buses are standing by to take those out of here whose loved ones have not arrived. you can also see on top of the ship on the upper rail, that's where a lot of people are. and they're flashing lights. they're flashing maybe cell phones, you know, signaling people every so often. cheers come up when something happens. they have not brought any of them off yet that we can see. and we're waiting for that to happen. again, that's the process that's going to take four to five hours. >> mark, i want to go back to and recap exactly what you were telling us earlier about an investigation coming up. the coast guard and the national transportation safety bureau are going to launch an investigation into the cause of the engine fire and system failure. but you were telling us that this is not under united states jurisdiction. tell us what you know. >> the overall authority is

bohemian. but it's clear that the national transportation safety board and the coast guard because they have the expertise in the matter will be very much involved in trying to figure out what happened, why this happened, how it was handled. all of that from a to z will be dealt with in this investigation. the ship itself will stay here for the disembarcation of the passengers. then it will be moved to a shipyard nearby in mobile where they will assess the damage. it's a loong assessment process they'll have to go through. and that investigation will begin likely at the same time with the u.s. authorities here taking part. i'm looking back to see if there's any sign of anyone coming off yet. and we're still not seeing it. so that's still to come, ed. >> okay. i'm familiar with the faa but i'm not familiar with any

international maritime regulations that might oversee operations of these big commercial ships that take passengers. i'd be interested to know exactly how all of that is going to unfold. i mean, who is the overriding authority on writing international regulations on what companies have to adhere to. because you've got a lot of things that will have to be after this one. mark potter stand by. we'll get back to you shortly. joining me is michael krye who has spent decades working on maritime safety issues. he was a spokesman for the cruise industry and is a former coast guard officer. mark, good to have you with us here on msnbc. thank you for your time. >> thank you. it's michael, by the way. >> i'm sorry. i didn't have that correctly. i apologize for that. michael, tell us who is the

overriding authority on this on making regulations? >> well, the primary body that makes the international treaties that apply to these types of things is the international maritime organization. it's a body of the united nations and it's located in london, england. all the major countries -- well, practical all the countries in the world adhere to what is called the safety of life at sea treaty. which is the overriding treaty that applies to this particular situation. and the safety of life at sea treaty is the same treaty that's applicable to u.s. flag vessels and vessels from all different countries. this particular vessel happens to be flagged in the bahamas. so the bahamian maritime authority is the primary jurisdiction for investigating

the accident. but since this vessel operates to and from the united states, the united states coast guard and the national transportation safety board have as substantially interested parties have jurisdiction as well. so the investigation will be conducted jointly by the bahamians and the united states officials in the body of the coast guard and the national transportation safety board. >> michael, would you assess that carnival got lucky here? that this could have been a lot worse? >> i think that the fire safety systems or the systems worked properly. the way they're designed to operate. the problem was that the fire in the engine room knocked out the power to the rest of the ship.

but the safety systems designed to put out the fire did exactly that. and did it fairly quickly as i understand it. but it obviously caused a casualty to all the electrical systems on the ship. >> what powers this ship? is it a big diesel engine? what is it? >> my understanding is this is a diesel/electric ship. that means you have a couple of engine rooms and you have large diesel generators or gen-sets. >> michael, stay with us. can you stay with us? i have other things happening. i want you to stay with us. janie baker you're about a to get off the ship.

tell us what you know. >> i haven't seen the ceo. they say he's on the ground, but i don't know. no pushing yet, but it's a little scary. because people are ready to go. like i said upset about the last announcement that was made. >> what was the announcement -- janie what was the announcement that was said? >> basically she was complimenting the captain and how everyone smiled all through it. which the crew did, but when she said that about the captain, they actually booed her. >> we're seeing pictures now of people coming off the ship on the ramps. how close are you to getting off? >> about to enter -- about to exit the doorway of the ship and i guess there's a little bit of a tunnel. >> and how orderly are the people being right now? >> pretty orderly, really. yeah. >> okay.

the one thing i'm curious about is how are they deciding who gets off the ship first? i wouldn't want to be in the last hour if i was a customer, that's for sure. >> amen. we bought sort of like a fast pass like you get at disney world. for an extra $45. if you cruised multiple times i guess you build up status. that's another way to exit early. but let me tell you, this is the best $45 we ever spent. >> so they're charging -- if you pay $45 you get off earlier? >> yes. and to get on earlier and, you know, like a free drink or something during the cruise. but other people who have cruised before like four times or more would get that status for free. >> in the time of crisis they're shake k people down on the way out? give me a break. >> actually we paid before the cruise. >> okay. that's good to know.

always good to get that disembark on and off stuff out of the way early on. that'll probably go up fast here now, don't you think? >> i'm sorry, repeat? >> i think people will be more inclined to buy that stuff faster now that they have gone through this. >> exactly. >> all right. you've got to have a tremendous amount of relief and emotion just knowing that we're looking at pictures of people coming off the ship right now. all right. >> okay. well, it's been great talking to you and i'm excited to get back home to houston, texas. >> all right, janie. thank you for joining us. you've been great tonight. i appreciate you spending time with us here on msnbc. and you're watching msnbc. we are covering the carnival cruise ship which has just docked at mobile, alabama, within the last hour. you're seeing people come off the ship.

we're rejoining now with michael krye who has spent decades working on maritime safety issues. he was a spokesman for the cruise industry and is a former coast guard officer. let's talk about the rescue, michael, if i can. was this the safest thing just to have the tugs bring the ship to dock even though it took four and a half days? >> yeah. i really do believe so. obviously they could have taken passengers from one ship to another but then the other ships would have been at over capacity. and also the process of actually physically moving people from one ship to another in the middle of the ocean is a difficult process. so the carnival corporation, carnival cruiselines, took the judgment and probably a good judgment that the best course of action was to bring them home.

while they were on board the ship. now, nobody -- nobody is discounting the fact that it was a horrific voyage. and i think carnival has repeatedly apologized for that. but they were brought home with no loss of life and no significant injuries. >> okay. i want to go back to what we were talking about before i interrupted you and went to janie because she was getting ready to get off the ship. the diesel engine. i mean, i've been around engines a bit in my life. fires around a diesel engine are rare. is that a fair statement? >> yeah, i guess so. >> it is. fires around a diesel engine are pretty rare. in fact, it's -- you almost have to run that baby out of oil before. and there's normally automatic shutoff systems on engines this big. what i'm saying is i'd be

surprised that a ship this big does not have safety measures on the engine that if something is overheating it wouldn't automatically shut down so it wouldn't damage the engine. and i'm curious as to what this investigation is going to do when it comes to how the fire started. and in this crazy world, i have to ask the question i think carnival is going to have to make a statement saying this was not any kind of act of sabotage. because in my world it's rare that an engine would catch fire unless something strange happened. i mean, stuff does break, no question about that. but it just -- it doesn't -- it sounds unusual to me. i want your thoughts on all of that, mr. crye. >> well, it would be premature to speculate on the exact cause, but there are a number of things that could have happened that could have had a fuel leak that sprayed on a hot engine and caused fire.

and the fuel could have ignited. there are all kinds of possibilities. these are very complex ships. you have the diesel generators and then you have the actual electrical motors that drive the propellers. and there are sometimes five or six engines that are used to actually create the electricity that drive the -- that generate the electricity to the motors that drive the propellers. so you have a number of different engines. you have a lot of electrical cabling. you have a lot of various equipment of various types that -- pumps that pump all of the fluids around the vessel. it's a very complex piece of equipment.

>> well, are there regulations in maritime operations about hours on the engine? in aviation you've got to have a hundred-hour check if you're flying passengers. you've got to have an annual inspection. you've got to have the oil changed every 40 hours on most engines. there are checks and balances in aviation. i'm curious if there's checks and balances in maritime operations for engines that are carrying 4,000 people across the seas. >> yes, there are. there are what are called class society rules. there are the engine -- the largest engine manufacturer in the world is vartsilla in finland. they have requirements for the particular maintenance periods as well as the -- >> so there would be an engine log here? there would be an engine log -- >> absolutely. >> okay.

and there's a life expectancy for an engine like this. it could be 50,000 hours, could be 100,000 hours depending how it was manufactured and designed and whatnot. and has to go through periodical checks. which tells me this was a heck of a fire. >> i'm -- i don't know a lot about the facts in this particular case as of right now. and i think it would be premature to speculate on how bad the fire was, how extensive it was. the investigative authorities will get into that and get into it very deeply. >> okay. michael crye, stay with us. i appreciate you being on air with us. we'll get back to you in a moment. carnival ceo gerry cahill is apologizing to the passengers. he addressed the media moments ago. this is mr. cahill.

>> good evening. first let me say just how thankful i am for the carnival triumph tying up here and knowsing all of our guests and crew members have made it here safely. i know this is what our guests have been waiting for, and i can tell you this is what we all at carnival has been working towards. now, there's been a tremendous amount of effort that's gone in to getting this ship back here. and there's so many people i want to thank for helping in this regard. i would like to specifically mention the united states coast guard who's done a fantastic job. having that cutter alongside was helpful with our guests. united states of public health and the city of mobile and the port of mobile have all been very gracious and helpful to us. i thank everyone. i'd also like to recognize the

tremendous effort made around the country. and mostly our team on board. i know it has been very trying for our guests, but i can tell you that our crew worked tirelessly to try and make it as good an experience as they possibly could for our guests. 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 mediums and other types of media have recognized just how hard our crew has worked. i appreciate the patience of our guests and their ability to cope. i'd like to reiterate the apology i made earlier. i know the conditions on board were very poor. i know they were very difficult. and i want to apologize again for subjecting our guests to that. we pride ourselves in providing our guests 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 the 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 off the ship and starting on their way home. we know that we have gotten our guests back to land. now we need to get them home and we have the full resources of carnival 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. once i finish that, i'm going to walk around and i'm going to try to help expedite the process of getting them off and getting them on their way as quickly as i can. that's what i'm going to do now. i'm going to go on board and apologize do the guests.

thank you very much. >> that was the ceo of carnival gerry cahill just moments ago dockside, mobile, alabama. where the carnival cruise ship triumph all tied up. it's been a long ordeal for them. joining me now is commander eric king. how difficult a task for this ship to get back to port? thank you for joining us tonight. >> good evening, ed. certainly the coast guard has been engaged for a couple of days here with our efforts. mentioned earlier the coast guard cutter vigorous provided medical evacuation. they were on scene since sunday. earlier this morning they were relieved by the coast guard cutter stingray along with some small boats from our station here in dauphin island. and they escorted up to the terminal here tonight. >> how soon did the coast guard

get a rig on site once this ship was disabled? >> well, the coast guard cutter vigorous was dispatched early on. once the coast guard received notification. and then from there just trying to establish where the vessel was going to go to and plan accordingly. when we found it was coming to the port of mobile, we coordinated with our port partners. we embarked them early this morning along with teams from coast guard sector mobile and some of our other agencies to basically expedite the customs process, get them through, and ensure the passengers were able to leave as quickly as possible. >> sure. commander, i'm curious. who decided on mobile, alabama? i understand they've never handled a ship this big before. >> the port of mobile has handled ships this large. this may have been the largest cruise ship that's come in.

i think as recently as 2011 the fall of 2011, mobile was a cruise ship destination port. so they've handled that. it's probably -- it's definitely a carnival decision as far as what the easiest is as far as logistics to move people back through. what's the nearest safe haven. in this case mobile probably met those needs. >> commander, what kind of communication took place between the coast guard cutters and the disabled ship? i mean what kind of conversations were going back about the passengers? are we doing the right thing? should we get them off the ship? take us down that road. >> one individual was taken off on monday for a dialysis issue. one individual was medically

evacuated from the cruise ship. as the cruise ship was inbound today, we were notified from them of an individual. she apparently was suffering from a possible stroke. we medically evacuated her as well. in any situation like that, we coordinate with the ship and try to get all the medical information so we can make a safe determination. it's been mentioned a couple of times the transfer of personnel at sea is dangerous in and of itself. >> did any coast guard personnel go on the ship? >> absolutely. as mentioned with the customs and border protection folks today, there was a team of our enforcement branch as well as investigators that went on board to begin interviewing passengers to get statements from them. and then as well we mentioned to expedite the clearing of customs and to support the department of homeland security to clear customs. >> i assume those interviews are going to be used in the

investigation? >> absolutely. part of that is it's been mentioned a couple times how that process works. but, you know, we are -- the coast guard's involvement really is we look for causal factors in trying to determine safety recommendations that come out of that. we'll continue our investigative efforts. our folks are on board and they'll continue that effort tomorrow. >> okay. we're visiting with commander eric king of the united states coast guard. as you're looking at pictures, folks, here on msnbc of the carnival cruise ship which has docked in mobile, alabama. will the coast guard make a determination on what started the fire? >> as far as specifically -- again, that's part of the investigation. we'll look -- you know, it's mentioned the bahamas have the lead for the investigation.

ntsb embarked this morning with us to begin talking with passengers. from there the next part is beginning interviewing the crew and other people in trying to put together a picture of what happened. >> commander, this is where it gets kind of dicey. they go from international waters into the protected waters of the united states. and they have to operate under certain rules and regulations, correct? >> yes. >> so the coast guard is going to make sure that the carnival cruise ship did not break any regulations because number one, they were carrying american passengers. number two, they were operating within your boundary waters, correct? >> yeah, i mean, our role is really -- again, the bahamas has the lead. we as the coast guard represent the u.s. interest in that investigation. >> okay. >> so it becomes almost a

collaborative effort, but specifically we try and look at safety recommendations. what are causal factors. how can we make improve to life-saving equipment, firefighting equipment. >> and there is actually, you know, a manual, a procedure that the coast guard follows in dealing with the escort of a ship like this. >> yeah. the escort of the ship is really determined in this case once they came to the sea buoy this morning and obviously that took a little longer than expected, we -- the coast guard cutter stingray is the patrol commander. then our two other boats and border protection boats are out there as well basically providing sweep and security. >> okay. commander eric king, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you for joining us here on msnbc. >> thanks, ed. >> you bet. joining me now by phone is former ntsb chairman jim hall.

thank you for your time tonight. >> good evening, ed. >> how rare is this, what we're seeing tonight? what we're seeing unfold? >> well, unfortunately it's not very rare. while i was chairman of the ntsb during the clinton administration, we had three carnival cruise line fires on the universe explorer, the vista ford, and the ecstasy. one of those resulting in the loss of six individuals. unfortunately the truth of the matter is the united states government over these regulatory authority over these foreign flag cruise ships is not very effective. and when you board a cruise ship, you're really dependent on that line and how it operates. and you are a smart passenger if

you check out in advance the safety record of these various cruise lines. >> how has the safety record of carnival been in your estimation? >> as i said there were three lines in my time as chairman. in this particular situation, we see 4,000 souls. that's as you know the faa has grounded the 787 over two incidents and we have a situation here in which 10 or 11 787s of peoples' health and safety has been endangered over the past few days. this is not because the cruise industry is not aware with there are fires. unfortunately there is no redundancy on these ships to provide power for them to operate in situations like this. >> that's what i was talking

about a bit earlier. not so much redundancy but systems that there would be put in place that the engine would shut down so it wouldn't, you know, destroy anything on the ship. >> well, i assure you if any of the gambling machines shut down, i'm sure there's backup. >> yeah. would carnival be facing any disciplinary actions here such as fines or sanctions? >> well, this is all under a united nations organization, the international maritime organization. really just been a paper tagger in regard to safety. they react, they're not proactive in the area. so what i tell my friends is, you know, cruises can be a lot of fun, but realize when you're out there outside the u.s. waters, you really don't have much protection in terms of the united states coast guard or in

the case -- in this case the investigation that's going to be conducted by the ntsb because it will be under the -- this is all under i think a bahamian flag. >> all right. national transportation safety board former chairman jim hall was tonight on msnbc. thank you for joining us tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> you bet. appreciate your time, sir. let's go back to nbc's mark potter on the dock. mark, set the scene for us. some folks are coming off the boat. >> reporter: yeah. things are starting to move pretty quickly here after a long wait. a days' long wait and then hours' long and then waiting that one hour as the boat docked. people finally started to come off. we're now seeing a lot of action. people are streaming down the steps there. they're going into a room where family members are waiting. there's warm food, there's coffee, there are cell phones, all the things they need.

people to talk to. buses are waiting. some of the people have actually been coming out here who are going to meet their relatives here and go home in their cars. and they are being stopped. after all they've been through, they have to go through the media gauntlet. you can imagine that. and they're stopping to answer questions and then move on to their cars. that scene has been repeated several times. things really are starting to pick up. it is a steady stream of people coming off. we still see people on the top decks which, again, underscores the point that there are a lot of people on this ship still. 3,000 passengers were aboard. and everyone is saying it's going to take four to five hours to get them off there. again, because of what we talked about before. only one elevator for those who need the elevator. it's dark, it's difficult. we're starting to see some people come out here now. again, you kind of watch are where the cameras are as people come out. you see people rolling their

luggage. family members coming at us right now. and this is a scene that's being repeated now here at the alabama cruise terminal as people finally end this ill-fated cruise. glad to be there with one final thing to deal with. that's the walk with the media. and the lights in their eyes. but they're probably pretty glad to be doing that given what they've been through. >> yeah, i would imagine so. there's a few people in front of cameras right now. they're just almost look a little bewildered. okay, where are we going now? they've got that look about them. >> reporter: to help them, police officers are walking them off to their cars. security officers are here helping them. so it does seem that there is a big effort on the ground to get these people either to their cars, into the hands of their relatives, on to the buses that will take them either to galveston or to new orleans or just to sit down and have a moment with a cup of coffee and to take a little breather on

land that's not moving. and they're probably pretty glad to be on dry land right now. >> all right. mark potter on the scene in mobile, alabama. the carnival cruise ship triumph has docked. people are coming off the ship. you can see them on the ramps there. and of course the media wants to know what's it been like. this is msnbc's continuing coverage of the docking of carnival's triumph in mobile, alabama. there's a lot more to discuss as this unfolds. we'll be right back here on msnbc. stay with us.

we're back here on msnbc covering the docking of a carnival ship and a whole bunch of happy folks getting off. all ends well. investigation will embark. some of these folks are pretty upset the way this has unfolded. but that's life. it's been an emotional experience for some folks we've talked to tonight. we're rejoined now by michael

crye. he was a spokesman for the cruise industry and a coast guard officer. how does the cruise industry move forward after this? i mean, a lot of judgments being made and opinions being rendered by americans watching this. how does the cruise industry move forward from this? >> i think first of all it's important to realize that on any given day there are about 200 ships on the ocean carrying passengers. and when you compare the number of incidents to the number of ships that are operating, it does have a very good safety record. i think chairman hall misstated a couple of things that are important to point out. first of all of the three fires that he mentioned, only one of those was related to a carnival ship. the other two were from other companies.

and secondly, he really did overlook the role of the classification societies. the international classification societies, the american bureau of shipping, they are truly the international experts on the maintenance of vessels, the compliance of vessels to the international standards. and they inspect regularly and routinely these ships for compliance with the requirements of the safety of life at sea treaty. the safety of life at sea treaty was most recently amended in 2006. and some of these amendments relate to the safety of passenger ships. and it's under a continuous process of updating. >> okay. that brings me to the point that several passengers tonight were saying this ship has had a recent history of malfunctions.

how do they make it right? they get mechanics on there and go take care of what they have to then it's in a logbook so there's an actual, you know, logging of exactly and a record kept of what this ship has been through. that they'll be able to pinpoint the last maintenance, the last inspection and all of that. >> absolutely. there are continuous records maintained on board the ship. class society, the flag state, the port states all have authority to ensure that the vessel's being properly maintained. >> mr. hall made the comment that the international umbrella that oversees this -- the term he used was -- well, i can't exactly -- i don't want to mischaracterize what he said. >> i think he called it a paper tiger. >> he did. your response to that?

>> no, i think that the system is robust. there is a number of -- requires a continuous system improvement. the class societies in order for vessels to maintain itself in class must be operated in accordance with the international protocols. and the united states as well delegates authority for inspection of some of these vessels or some of its vessels to these very same classification societies. i think it's a mischaracterization to call it a paper tiger. >> well, i know the coast guard doesn't mess around. and they will be on top of this. and part of the investigation -- well, it's already started according to a resource earlier commander eric king. michael crye, stay with us, please. we're joined now on the telephone with the mayor of

mobile, alabama. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> you got a few extra visitors in your town, i see. >> we do. we do. we had probably a day and a half notice to get ready for the ship. we were pretty sure we could do that. we were able to do that. and we wanted to help these people on the ship as much as we could. we set up as much hospitality as we could and try to make a smooth transition. >> what did you do with hospitality? >> what happened was we had a lot of families that decided to drive down and actually pick up their relatives. so what we did, we set up hospitality here for them. we set up food, drinks, shuttles for buses into town, the shops to buy whatever they wanted. and we did that all day today. they were very appreciative of that. i think they had a good experience. that's what we wanted people have coming into mobile, have a good experience. >> sam jones, the mayor of mobile, alabama, with us here tonight on msnbc. who i understand is a former

naval personnel. and you were on an aircraft carrier, is that correct, sam? >> that is correct. >> which carrier were you on? >> the forestal. in fact, the one that caught fire. >> really? >> yeah. it caught fire before i got on the ship. there were a lot number of deaths. >> my dad was a nautical engineer and he was sent out by the navy to assess the damage on the aircraft on that forestal. small world. john mccain was your commanding officer, is that correct? >> he was just before i got out. >> it's a small world. all right. sam, this is very unusual for a city to have to go through this. you must have had a lot of help setting this all up tonight. folks at mobile, alabama, putting out the hospitality. >> we had 165 volunteers in the community who came out to try to make this a real pleasant

experience for people after going through this ordeal. they were successful doing that. hopefully we can get them all home as soon as we possibly can and get them back to their families. >> if it were me, i'd be getting a hotel room and staying in mobile. >> we have a number of them doing that, and we welcome more. >> all right. sam jones with us tonight, he's the mayor of mobile, alabama. i've been down to that part of the country. they're very hospitable. those folks are just -- of course these folks would take it anywhere. they're just glad to be on land. but let's go to mark potter. he's got some interviews. >> good to be home. >> reporter: yeah, we do. let me get a microphone. they just walked up. >> go right ahead, mark. >> reporter: you're wearing the robes from the ship? >> we are. trying to stay warm. >> reporter: and a souvenir you'll never get rid of. >> we're burning these babies. we're getting rid of these. >> reporter: tell me your name.

>> brittany ferguson. >> i'm kendall jenkins. >> reporter: how's it feel to be on land after what you went through? >> incredible. i've never felt better. grass, i never thought i was going to see it again. looking out and seeing miles of ocean, it gets kind of frustrating. >> reporter: was it a frightening experience for you? i know it was a trying experience. was it frightening for you? >> it was. the first day just they were saying alpha team assemble at 5:30. she's like something's not right. so we'd get on our clothes and just we see smoke coming down the halls. and someone's banging with their life vest on. grab your life vest. head to the lifeboats. sop we thought we were going to die. like this is it. >> we had our life vests. we were ready. >> reporter: how bad did it get in terms of the hygiene and stuff on the ship? >> pretty disgusting. we were washing our face and brushing our teeth in the same place they asked us to use the restroom. so i don't know how --

>> which was in the sink. >> it was pretty disgusting. >> reporter: and in terms of food and all of that, was there snuff? were you wanting for that? >> i was never hungry. by the way people were stocking up on hamburgers, i think they might have been starving. i'm not sure. but some people had ten hamburgers piled high. which made waiting in line kind of a daily task. if you get in line at three you could get something at 6:30. >> reporter: how would you assess this on the crew members? did they do a good job or was there more they could have done? >> they need bonuses. the crew was awesome. they were always smiling. very awesome who they were serving us. >> all with a smile. >> i would have been crying somewhere if i was them. >> reporter: what do you think about the cruise line itself and its handling of it, the information you got and how they dealt with you?

>> it was a little frustrating. i know within a circumstance like that, it's hard. it's completely at of their control. >> yeah. >> but i do feel like -- but i'm not at the top. i don't know. but just from being on the ship, i just felt like there was a faster way to get home than two -- >> yeah. they were jet skis they sent us. they sent us tug boats almost 48 hours later. we were like seriously? now we know how long it takes to walk back. >> reporter: where are you from? >> we're from houston. >> reporter: how are you getting home? and how will you get home? >> her dad actually has a friend who's a pilot so they chartered a plane to come pick us up. >> feeling very blessed right now. i'm feeling for some of the families. we teamed up with some moms here on a girls getaway weekend, they have a long journey ahead. >> reporter: you sound like you handled it well. were there some passengers that had a rough time on board?

>> absolutely. >> reporter: tell me about that. >> it was frustrating. there were rumors going around. we were disconnected. we were like do people even know about this? >> they'd be running and say absolutely not. >> not extended vacation. >> reporter: would you do this again? would you take another cruise? >> no. we're going to sell ours. if anyone wants a discounted cruise, we got one. >> reporter: you're not about to go back? >> no. one thing i do want to say that made a huge time in my time is we knew where hope was. we knew the lord was in complete control of the situation. our verse for the trip is joshua 1:9 which is -- >> reporter: okay. thank you very much. enjoy your trip to houston and the first shower and warm meal. thanks for talking to us. >> joshua 1:9, look that up. >> reporter: that's our first group of passengers. many more coming out. this thing is moving along very quickly as passengers are still leaving the ship and leaving the

terminal. we see another bus coming out. and people are walking all around. this is finally moving very rapidly. back to you. >> all right. mark potter in mobile, alabama. we'll continue our carnival cruise ship coverage here on msnbc when we come back. stay with us. kids make stains i use tide boost to super charge our detergent. boom. clothes look amazing, and daddy's a hero. daddy, can we play ponies? right after we do foldies. tide boost is my tide. what's yours? [ whispering ] that's crazy, the cookie's the best part. crème. cookie. crème. stop yelling. you stop yelling. [ whispering ] both of you stop yelling. [ whispering ] i'm trying to read. [ male announcer ] choose your side at oreo.com.

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i got more time with my daughter, we got places to go. [ freeman ] go open a new world, with visa prepaid. more people go with visa. [ male announcer ] available at greendot.com. back live here on msnbc. i'm ed shultz reporting from new york. mark potter is at dock side in mobile, alabama, talking to some people coming off the ship. go ahead. >> reporter: tell me your name. >> tina davis. >> reporter: how do you feel being back on land? >> it's great. really great. >> reporter: how bad was it for you? >> it was very uncomfortable. the last couple nights it was really cold. no working bathrooms part of the time. and food was not as great as what you'd expect on a cruise ship. but you know, we survived it. >> reporter: how would you

assess how well the crew worked to make you comfortable? >> they really pulled together and worked really hard. they got even less food and sleep than we did, i think. they did a good job. >> reporter: where are you going? >> i'm going to a hotel, take a bath, and eat. >> reporter: how are you getting home tomorrow? >> my husband came to get me. >> reporter: and if you were to assess how carnival itself the cruise line handled this, what would you say? >> i think they handled it as best they could under the circumstances that they had. that's all i can say about that. >> reporter: and did you hear the ceo when he came aboard to speak? what did you think about his message? >> i think it was sincere. i don't know him personally, so i can't really tell, but i think it was sincere. >> reporter: in terms of the health situation on board, how bad did that get? >> there were a few people who ran out of their medications for epilepsy or diabetes or things like that. as far as anyone getting sick

because of something going around, that didn't happen. there were people who got exhausted or maybe sprained an ankle. >> reporter: thank you very much. we wish you well on your trip home. back to you. >> thanks, mark. mark potter on dock side in mobile, alabama. we are rejoined now by michael crye who is a former coast guard officer. michael, obviously with this investigation that's going to take place, what are the chances of some kind of regulation that could go into place on the heels of an investigation? maybe some changing or safeguards put in place? >> absolutely. lessons learned are important. and if there are needs -- there's any need to enhance the safety of the vessel, those changes will be made. i think it's important, though, to point out that this is a vacation option. nobody has to go on a cruise.

so carnival is equally devastated by what happened on board this ship. and carnival, if they will take corrective actions to fix whatever went wrong on board that ship prior to any regulations being necessary to change things. >> what's the life span of a ship like this? this triumph is 14 years old. it's 100,000 tons. it's, i'm told, constantly on the move. and in service. what's the life span of a ship like this in the industry? >> it depends on the particular location where the ship is being operated. here in the united states, a ship operates something in the neighborhood of 20 years or so. in some other trades throughout the world, there are older