[Erin Burnett, Cnn Anchor:] OUTFRONT next, we're in Mobile, Alabama, tonight, where the disabled cruise ship, the "Triumph," is set to dock. More than 4,000 people have been stranded at sea for five days on the ship, and tonight, we're going to hear from the passengers, we're going to bring you updates on the horrible conditions that some of them have faced on board. We have finally come to the last act of this drama. Let's go OUTFRONT. And good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. And OUTFRONT tonight, in Mobile, Alabama, we are waiting for more than 4,000 people to arrive, after being stranded on a Carnival cruise ship that lost power after an engine fire on Sunday, 3,142 passengers and 1,086 crew members have been stuck on the "Carnival Triumph" for five day. They've had no hot water, they've had limited food, they've had few working toilets. Here is the latest. At this moment, we understand that the ship is about 25 miles away from the dock where I'm standing. It's traveling at about six miles an hour and according to Carnival, it's scheduled to arrive between 10:00 tonight and midnight. Now, it's currently about 55 degrees here in Mobile and that temperature is dropping. Most of the passengers don't have clothes for this climate. They were going on a Caribbean cruise. A lot of them are very cold. And even after they arrive, Carnival says it's going to take from four to five hours to disembark every passenger from the ship. That's going to happen behind me. There's a gangplank. They're going to be coming off of that gangplank. They're then going to go and finish clearing customs, which apparently they have started to do already on the ship, to try to speed up this process. Then they're going to head right over here, straight from that gangplank, into this garage. And that is where all the buses are waiting. In fact, the cruise line has about 100 buses right now, ready to go. They have rented 1,500 hotel rooms in New Orleans and have multiple charter flights reserved to fly people back to Houston on Friday. Now, every passenger is also going to be compensated for the inconvenience. Here's what we understand Carnival has offered. They're giving every passenger $500, a free flight home, a full refund for the cruise, which was scheduled to be a five-day cruise, as well as a credit for a future cruise. Throughout the day, we have been getting a look at life aboard the ship and what passengers have been experiencing. Some of it isn't pretty. We see passengers sleeping in hallways, out on the deck. There have been buckets of sewage, power strips full of cell phone charges, and people desperate to have some sort of contact with their families. And there are people out on the deck at night, who have been trying to escape from the horrible smells and the heat. And this is just a small glimpse of what life is like aboard the ship. We're going to bring you more throughout the hour, as we await the "Triumph's" arrival. Now that the ship is closer to shore, many of the passengers are out on the deck and our Sandra Endo has been in a helicopter above the cruise ship with exclusive images all day. And Sandra, I know you've seen a lot of people on the ship. They've been making signs and waving as it's been making its way closer and closer here to the dock here in Mobile. What have the passengers been doing?
[Sandra Endo, Cnn Correspondent:] Right, Erin. We've been hovering and circling the "Triumph" all day long here from the sky, providing live aerial pictures as the "Triumph" has been approaching the port of Mobile. And when we first approached the ship earlier this morning, you could sense that there was just a spiritless motion on the ship. A lot of passengers just looked disheartened. And as they saw land, as they saw more vessels coming to support the ship as well as more helicopters in the air, you saw life come back to this ship. And a lot of passengers now are excited. They're seeing the lights on the land, and they are dancing, they're actually making signs, celebrating Valentine's Day, of all things. They made a heart ring of life vests and they put strobe lights on to that their spirits are up that they are approaching the port. But these are the first live pictures of the ship at night and you can see that there are lights on the upper deck. There are spotlights on the lifeboats as well. And people may wonder, look, they have power. This boat is run solely on electricity and because of the engine fire, the emergency generator did kick in, but that is only powering the necessary systems to keep this ship afloat and that is why these passengers, the thousands of them on board, are in these horrid conditions. So the electricity you're seeing now are only available to those systems that are really needed to keep this afloat and to keep the ship safe. And also, you may think, why not off-load the passengers on the lifeboats? Well, maritime experts, Erin, say that that is dangerous on open sea. That's why they didn't off-load these passengers on to another ship. The only safe option for them was to stay where they are, even in these bad conditions, and tow them to shore. Obviously, we know that along the way of this towing process, one of the tug boats, the line snapped earlier in this process. That was fixed and now it looks like a very secure line, from what we can see at this vantage point, in the air, and it looks like it's making some progress. But again, it's very slow moving. This ship is more than 100,000 tons. It's nearly the size of three football fields long. And clearly, though, passengers are getting excited. We can see them dancing on the upper deck, waiting to dock. But, again, it's still several hours away until they reach land Erin.
[Burnett:] All right, Sandra, thank you very much. And I want to bring in cruise ship passenger Dee Tucker now. She's joining us on the phone. She's on the ship with her sister, Audra, and a group of friends. And Dee, I want to bring in your fiance, Joe Eckert, as well, he's on the phone right now from Florida and so eagerly awaiting your arrival. Dee, you heard our reporter say that people are now out on the decks, there was some dancing, some celebrating getting ready for land. How are you feeling right now?
[Dee Tucker, Passenger On Carnival Triump:] We are just exhausted. We're tired. This has been a very long journey and we're trying to keep our hopes up, keep our spirits up. We had some people who put banners up that said, you know, say strong, God is with us, you know? And we've had some get-togethers to try and boost some morale. So we're doing what we can to survive.
[Burnett:] And I know you're going to be arriving I mean, we're not sure exactly when, within the next couple of hours. What are you hearing from the crew about when you're going to arrive and the process to get off?
[Tucker:] Well, the communication to us seems to be a little slower that it is to the families. They told us between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m., but I just heard you say it's between 10:00 and midnight. So I don't know. We're always finding out a day late, you know? It's slow communication.
[Burnett:] Have you been frustrated with the crew on board or is this just more a communications frustration that you have with Carnival?
[Tucker:] You know, our steward has been absolutely amazing. The crew here worked time and a half, endlessly. They were awesome. They're not going to get paid enough, whatever it is. They just they did the dirtiest work that they could. Shoveling, working into the night, you know, doing things I wouldn't do. So it's not with the crew. They've been awesome. Yes.
[Burnett:] That's wonderful to hear. And Joe, I know you and Dee haven't had a lot of chance to talk, but obviously you can talk to her now. And it's Valentine's Day. I know you've got to be incredibly eager to see her soon.
[Joe Eckert, Fiance Of Carnival Triumph Passenger:] Yes, I am. I just can't wait to see her. Happy Valentine's Day, honey. I know it's
[Tucker:] Hi, honey bunny! I miss you!
[Eckert:] I miss you, hon. I love you so much!
[Tucker:] I'm making my way back to you!
[Eckert:] Well, here I am. I can't wait to see you. It's going to be so wonderful. I can't wait to hold you and kiss you and tell you how much I love you and how much I was worried about you.
[Tucker:] I have a sign here that says "I love you." I don't know if they caught that, but I'll save it. Keep the shower warm. I need a warm shower.
[Eckert:] You can take as many showers as you like.
[Tucker:] All right, honey.
[Burnett:] Dee, can you tell us a little bit about how tough conditions have been? I know we've heard some horrific stories, some people have said it isn't as bad as that. Others have talked about raw sewage, and some really horrible images. What have you experienced?
[Tucker:] They were lying. I stood in line 3-12 hours to get a burger. Every line for every meal is at least an hour, hour and a half, every line. In fact, we're missing dinner right now because we didn't get in line. But we had to use the bathroom in hazard bags and put them in a hallway. We had to hand scoop, you know, some of the bathroom items just to take a shower, it had accumulated in the shower. We're doing all of this in the dark. There's no hot water. You know, there was water building everywhere. The boat has listed at least 6 percent to 18 percent for days. So water has drifted from one side to the other. So we have to walk on cardboard boxes. The smell has accumulated. It's making us sick. I mean, it's just it's horrid. And you know, the last day I know for image, they need to look good, so we got a better breakfast today. But we've had, you know, just the same food for days. And so I'm just I just can't wait to get off of here. It's just horrible.
[Burnett:] Well, Dee, we are all everyone, I think, watching, feels the same way and looking forward to you all getting back here safe and sound and happy Valentine's Day to both of you. It will be one to remember. I want to bring in Victor Blackwell now and tell you exactly where he is. As you can see right there, the "Triumph," it's a live picture you're looking at next to me. Victor Blackwell is in a boat traveling right alongside the "Triumph." So he can see the ship from where he is right now. And Victor, what are you seeing?
[Victor Blackwell, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, the most important thing over the last hour is that nightfall has come here over Mobile Bay. And I've been able to do some reporting in the last 90 minutes. I spoke with the director of the Alabama State Port Authority, and he told me that if this had been an empty cruise ship coming in for repairs at the shipyard or a cargo ship, he would not have allowed it inside the bay and into the port. But because he so sympathizes with the 4,000 people on this ship and he knows how badly they want to make it home, he allowed this. Now, he also said, there are no safety concerns, because the winds have died down. The waters have calmed. It's a clear night. So he says, he's pretty confident that it will make it safely to the port. Now, why is it late? Well, there have been some challenges and mishaps throughout the day, the big challenge, the wind and the current. We saw, in the Gulf of Mexico, "Triumph" kind of spin around, do a 180 out there before it was able to be towed into the channel. Also, Sandra Endo mentioned a few moments ago, that line that snapped on the tug at the front of this ship, but we also learned tonight about the tug at the stern. There was a problem, even before that line snapped. A tow from Mexico came to support this mission and a bit broke. So neither of the tugs right now towing this ship were the original tugs in these places. Both have been traded out. Also, there was one passenger who had to be rushed from the ship to shore because of a medical mishap. We've gotten no official confirmation of what that mishap or that problem was, but those kind of added up over the day and that director told me that that pushed this trip back four hours. Now, if you think about four-hour delay, we're told that it's somewhere around 11:00 p.m. Eastern that it's expected, give or take an hour. Well, take four hours off that, it would be about 7:00 p.m. Eastern and they would be pulling into port right now. Instead, this journey continues Erin.
[Burnett:] All right, Victor, thank you very much. And Victor talking about all the delays and the difficulties, but as you just heard from Dee Tucker, the passenger, we were talking to, passengers on the ship have been getting all kinds of conflicting reports. And you can only imagine the frustration of thinking you're going to be coming to land after this ordeal and then finding out it's another six hours, it's another eight hours and how awful that must feel. Still to come, our breaking news coverage of the crippled cruise ship continues. When we return, we're going to talk to a man celebrating his 40th birthday on the "Triumph." It was anything but happy.