What was meant to be a tropical vacation on the Gulf of Mexico turned into a nightmare in February 2013 when the Carnival Triumph lost power and the toilets stopped working for four days.
In February 2013, eager vacationers boarded the Carnival Triumph in Galveston, Texas, for a four-day cruise to Cozumel. With 13 decks, multiple pools, a water slide, and countless other amenities, the ship was built for comfort and entertainment. But by the end of the trip, it would be remembered for something far less luxurious: the “Poop Cruise.”
On the morning of Feb. 10, a fire broke out in an engine room, knocking out the vessel’s power and propulsion. More than 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew members were stranded on the Gulf of Mexico — and the toilets weren’t working.
Carnival Cruise LinesAfter an engine room fire, the Carnival Triumph drifted on the Gulf of Mexico for four days, leaving over 4,000 passengers without power, toilets, or air conditioning.
Raw sewage began leaking into the hallways, and bags full of human waste piled up outside of the cabin doors. The smell was unbearable, and it was made worse by the lack of air conditioning. People dragged their mattresses to the upper decks to sleep in an attempt to escape the fetid atmosphere down below.
When the Poop Cruise finally came to an end, one passenger declared, “I never want to hear the word ‘cruise’ again.”
How The Carnival Triumph Lost Power
Around 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2013, a fire broke out in the aft engine room of the Carnival Triumph 150 miles off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. It was extinguished automatically, and there were no injuries, so everything initially seemed to be under control — but chaos soon broke out.
The fire damaged critical electrical cables, causing the ship to lose propulsion. The air conditioning system shut down, refrigeration failed, and lights dimmed. Worst of all, the toilets stopped working.
NetflixAfter the Carnival Triumph lost power, raw sewage began to back up and flood onto the floors in multiple areas of the ship.
In the Netflix documentary Trainwreck: Poop Cruise, cruise director Jen Baxter recalled, “I went up to the bridge and as soon as I walked in I knew. This is something serious. People were on phones and radios and alarms were going off.”
Passengers quickly realized that something was wrong, too. One passenger, Jayme, told filmmakers, “People were running and banging on doors. You could hear the panic. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is it. This is the Titanic. We’re going down.'”
The Carnival Triumph was dead in the water. More than 4,000 passengers and crew members drifted helplessly on the Gulf of Mexico.
The Horrific Conditions On The ‘Poop Cruise’
While nobody’s life was in immediate danger, conditions became uncomfortable almost immediately. Sewage backed up and flooded the floors, and Baxter had to make a horrifying announcement.
“So folks, if you need to do a number one,” she said, “you can do it in the shower… [W]e’re going to deliver some red bags to all of the bathrooms on board, and if you need to do a number two, we ask that you please do it in the red bag and drop it off in the bins in the corridor.”
But as these bins filled up, the bags of excrement were piled in the halls. The odor wafted throughout the ship, and people abandoned their rooms to sleep in the open air. But even leaving the cabins proved to be an ordeal. A passenger named Devin explained, “You would be walking down the hallway and all of a sudden you would hear, ‘squish, squish, squish, squish.’ And you know what you’re standing in.”
One crew member spotted a “poop lasagna” inside a defunct toilet, with multiple layers of feces and toilet paper mashed into the bowl.
Triumph Cruise 2013/FlickrPassengers dragged mattresses into the hallways and upper decks to escape the heat and smell.
The food situation also grew precarious. Without proper refrigeration, passengers resorted to eating candy and ketchup sandwiches. Cafeteria lines stretched out the doors. While other nearby cruise ships dropped off supplies, the Carnival Triumph desperately needed to return to port as quickly as possible. But nature had other plans.
Tugboats planned to tow the Carnival Triumph to Progreso, Mexico, but currents started pulling the ship north. Instead, Carnival officials decided that the Triumph would dock in Mobile, Alabama — a much longer trip.
To ease tensions, crew members decided to open a free bar. Naturally, this ended in disaster. Intoxicated passengers urinated off the side of the ship and threw bags full of waste over the railing, hitting unsuspecting people below. Fights broke out. Vomit mixed with the sewage. The smell got worse — and it would still be several days before the Poop Cruise was over.
The Aftermath Of The Infamous ‘Poop Cruise’
As the media learned of the incident aboard the Carnival Triumph, news of the “Poop Cruise” started to spread. Meanwhile, the slow trip back to land began.
Finally, four days after the fire, the Triumph docked in Mobile. The passengers couldn’t disembark fast enough.
“It’s like being locked in a Porta Potty for days,” Peter Cass told The New York Times at the time. “We’ve lived through two hurricanes, and this is worse.”
Once the Triumph was safely in port, investigators set out to determine what had gone wrong. They traced the fire to a leak in a fuel oil return line that ignited after dripping onto a hot engine surface. What’s worse, maintenance records revealed that it could have been prevented. Multiple other leaks had been detected in recent years, and the generator attached to the fuel line was overdue for servicing.
United States Coast Guard/Public DomainThe U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous assisted the stranded Carnival Triumph on the Gulf of Mexico in February 2013, helping coordinate emergency response efforts.
The warning signs had been there, and the lack of action had resulted in the disaster that became known as the Poop Cruise.
The Triumph didn’t sail again until mid-June as repairs were made. But this came too late for the thousands of people who had been subjected to hallways full of urine and feces.
While Carnival gave each passenger a full refund, $500, transportation reimbursements, and a voucher for a free cruise, several people still filed lawsuits against the company for negligence. However, the real damage came from the media coverage of the incident.
The “Poop Cruise” name stuck, and it’s impossible to know how many customers the cruise line lost due to the mayhem.
In 2019, the Triumph underwent a $200 million refurbishment — and a name change. Today, the ship sails as the Carnival Sunrise, but it still can’t shake its revolting legacy.
After learning about Carnival “Poop Cruise,” go inside the tragic story of the Hindenburg disaster. Then, look through 33 photos taken before and after the Titanic sank.
