There were last year, however, after the grounding of the Costa Concordia, a ship operated by a subsidiary of Carnival. Thirty-two people died in the episode off the coast of Italy, and Carnival, the world’s leading operator of cruises, halted advertising for a time. Bookings dropped, and Carnival and other operators had to cut their rates and offer promotions for cruises last summer. 
 
 Other cruise industry watchdogs say the cruise line will try to minimize bad publicity by playing down conditions on board and minimizing safety risks to travelers. 
 
 “They’re going to go out of their way to be sure people are given what they perceive is a fair deal,” said Mr. Klein, who recently spoke at a conference in Charleston, where preservationists are trying to stop construction of a new cruise ship terminal near the heart of the 300-year-old city. 
 
 However the plight of the Triumph plays out in public opinion, the damage to the bottom line is already substantial: on Wednesday, Carnival estimated that costs including the ship’s repair and the cancellation of 14 cruises on it over the next three months would reduce the company’s earnings during the first half of 2013 by 8 to 10 cents a share. 
 
 And then there is the matter of potential litigation by passengers, although the ability of passengers to sue cruise ship operators is sharply limited, lawyers said. 
 
 Tickets issued by Carnival and other companies contain language limiting how much a passenger can recover and also set the location of the court where any lawsuit filed can be filed. The location typically suits the company involved, said Vincent J. Foley, a lawyer in New York who specializes in maritime cases. 
 
 In Carnival’s case, it is Miami, where the company has its headquarters. 
 
 “They select a favorable forum for the cruise line,” Mr. Foley said. 
 
 Maritime law also bars passengers from recovering damages for emotional distress, unless they can show it was caused by a cruise operator’s negligence. 
 
 Gerald McGill, a plaintiff’s lawyer in Pensacola, Fla., who specializes in maritime cases, said it seemed unlikely that passengers on the Triumph would be able to recover damages for distress because they would also have to show physical injury. 
 
 “From what I have been seeing, people are not reporting injuries,” he said. 
 
 Undoubtedly, some litigation will rest on the outcome of an investigation into the fire, which started in the engine room last Sunday. The Maritime Authority of the Bahamas will lead the investigation because the ship bears that country’s flag. The National Transportation Safety Board, along with the Coast Guard, will also inspect the ship, though a full report may not be issued for months. 
 
 Even when it is, it will probably come as little comfort to people like Cindel Peña, 28, who ended up sleeping on the deck except on Wednesday, when it rained and she curled up on the casino floor. Since Monday, there had been no gambling or drinking, and there also had been no showers. 
 
 “We are all just beyond disgusting,” she said by cellphone, planning her flight back to California. 
 
 To appease passengers on the Triumph, Carnival initially announced refunds for the trip’s cost, traveling expenses and the money spent on board, with exceptions like gift shop purchase and casino charges. 
 
 The company also offered passengers credit equal to their ticket price that could be used on future cruises — a deal some people scoffed at. 
 
 “Who is going to want to get back on a cruise?” said Travis Jackson, who drove from Paris, Tex., on Thursday to pick up his daughter, Karley. She and a group of her colleagues at a Jazzercise studio were on the cruise ship. 
 
 Late Thursday night, still awaiting her arrival, Mr. Jackson said he planned to tell her not to take any reimbursement even though a spokesman for Carnival said there would be no waivers or strings attached to the money. 
 
 Mr. Jackson and several passengers were not so sure. 
 
 “We think it’s hush money,” he said. 
 
 Robbie Brown reported from Mobile, Kim Severson from Atlanta, and Barry Meier from New York. Marc Santora contributed reporting from New York. ||||| (CNN) -- Finally, after days of listing on a disabled Carnival cruise ship without electricity and working toilets, thousands of passengers finished disembarking early Friday morning at the Port of Mobile. 
 
 The frustration that many felt was typified by Janie Esparza, one of the first passengers to get back on land. 
 
 "It was horrible. Horrible," Esparza told a scrum of reporters. "The bathroom facilities were horrible and we could not flush toilets. No electricity and our rooms were in total darkness. Honestly, think that this ship should have ever sailed out." 
 
 The Carnival Triumph, became a major media story, when it caught fire off the coast of Mexico. The blaze left the vessel listing to the side, drifting in Gulf of Mexico currents and the more than 4,200 passengers and crew on board in limbo. It took five days for the ship to dock at the Alabama Cruise Terminal, three days after it was due. 
 
 Family members cheered as the ship pulled in and in the crowd also was Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill. The CEO had his own message for the weary passengers: Sorry. 
 
 "We pride ourselves in providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case," he said. 
 
 The beleaguered CEO went on the ship as passengers departed and delivered another apology. 
 
 But for some, like passenger Norma Reyes, it was too little too late. 
 
 "The hallways were toxic," said Reyes, who said she would never go on a Carnival cruise again. "Full of urine. It was horrible. If that ship caught on fire and they had not contained it where would we be? Floating in the ocean or dead." 
 
 Others were more forgiving. 
 
 "They did a good job of managing expectations," said Brett Klausman. "The information that trickled out was probably well thought out to kind of keep people safe and calm." 
 
 Despite the ordeal, many passengers had nothing but praise for the crew, saying they had worked long shifts to make sure their guests were as comfortable as possible. 
 
 "No power, no toilets, nothing. Nothing. I mean, it was was disgusting, but the staff, they did such an amazing job," said Joseph Alvarez. "And I give them so much props because they were amazing through it all. I mean, they worked their tails off to accommodate everybody's needs." 
 
 Five things we've learned about cruising 
 
 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, Coast Guard members and a Carnival team boarded the ship before it arrived in port to help speed efforts to get passengers off as quickly as possible, he said. 
 
 Some families gathered at the Alabama Cruise Terminal, far from where the ship was originally supposed to dock in Galveston, Texas. Marissa Jenks said her family reported they had a hot meal Thursday morning and crew members were trying to clean up the ship as it neared port. 
 
 Boredom and stress 
 
 At some point during the ordeal urine and feces streamed in the halls and down walls after toilet facilities failed, soaking the mattress of a friend of his who was sleeping in a hallway, said Larry Poret. 
 
 Emergency power failures caused section doors to slam shut, panicking some passengers who had no idea what was happening. 
 
 "We definitely (were) not adequately informed," Poret said. 
 
 Opinion: The dirty secrets below decks 
 
 Poret said toilets on the ship worked on and off, but were too inconsistent to trust. 
 
 He said waste tipped out of some commodes and sloshed across floors as the ship listed to the side. 
 
 "It runs down the walls from one floor to the next. It's running out of somebody's bathroom out into the hallway all the way across," he said. 
 
 Long lines for food and frequent delays were constantly aggravating, he said. 
 
 "Here we are looking for hope that, hey it's 6 o'clock, it's going to get better," he said. "And 6 o'clock comes and goes and all of a sudden an announcement at 8, 'Hey, we're running behind schedule.' Well, no joke." 
 
 The incident aboard the ship scared Poret's daughter and a friend taking the cruise with her, Poret said. 
 
 "As soon as you get them calmed down, the electric goes out and doors start slamming shut," he said. 
 
 During less stressful times, passengers passed the hours playing cards, walking the deck and going to see what was happening on other areas of the ship, Poret said. 
 
 Passengers set up charging stations to help their fellow passengers juice up cell phones and other devices, he said. 
 
 Aboard the cruise ship? Share your story with CNN iReport 
 
 The final trip home 
 
 Carnival promised an army of about 200 employees would take care of its passengers once they cleared customs. 
 
 Passengers boarded buses to Galveston, where the cruise originated, or Houston, or went to spend the night in a hotel in New Orleans. 
 
 Carnival said it had reserved about 100 motor coaches, more than 1,500 New Orleans hotel rooms, multiple charter flights from New Orleans to Houston on Friday and transportation from Houston to the Port of Galveston so that guests may retrieve their cars if they drove to the port. 
 
 Carnival officials had initially planned to tow the ship to a Mexican port, but after Gulf currents pushed it farther north before tugboats could take control, and considering that 900 of the passengers do not have passports, the company decided to take the Carnival Triumph to Mobile instead, where it can be repaired. 
 
 Compensation for travelers 
 
 The cruise line said it would give each passenger $500, a free flight home, a full refund for their trip and for most expenses on board, as well as a credit for another cruise. 
 
 The Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the cause of the engine room fire. Because the Carnival Triumph is a Bahamian-flagged vessel, the Bahamas Maritime Authority is the primary investigative agency. 
 
 Read related: Cruise safety drill results in 5 deaths 
 
 Travelers have few options for compensation in these cases, other than what the cruise line is already offering, according to travel expert Jason Clampet of Skift.com, a travel website. 
 
 "The passengers on the ship aren't going to have a great deal of recourse when they get home," he said. Travel "insurance really doesn't cover this sort of thing. Their trip wasn't interrupted and they aren't incurring extra expenses ... so they can't be compensated that way." 
 
 Still, there's no denying that the fire and resulting bad PR will hurt Carnival. 
 
 "It's a terrible sight, thinking of people trapped on a ship with limited food and filthy conditions, so I think people will think twice about taking a cruise," Clampet said. 
 
 Read related: What caused the Costa Cruises ship disaster? 
 
 Bad luck before 
 
 The fire is at least the second problem for the ship since late January, when it had an issue with its propulsion system, according to a notice posted on the website of Carnival senior cruise director John Heald. 
 
 It's also not the first fire to disable one of the cruise line's ships. 
 
 In 2010, the Carnival cruise ship Splendor lost power after an engine room fire, leaving it drifting off the Pacific coast of Mexico. The USS Ronald Reagan ferried 60,000 pounds of supplies for the ship's passengers and crew as the ship was towed to San Diego. 
 
 After this ill-fated cruise, the Carnival Triumph won't host vacationing passengers until at least mid-April. Carnival has canceled a dozen voyages scheduled between February 21 and April 13. That makes a total of 14 scratched trips. The cruise line already had eliminated voyages slated for February 11 and February 16. 
 
 Read also: Eight icy getaways 
 
 CNN's Sandra Endo, Rich Phillips, Tom Watkins, Chandler Friedman, Victor Blackwell, Tristan Smith, Joe Sutton, Mike Ahlers, Dave Alsup, Sandra Endo, Chuck Johnston, Esprit Smith, Greg Botelho, Katia Hetter and Marnie Hunter contributed to this report.
– After five days smelly days spent disabled at sea, the Carnival Triumph cruise ship has finally docked in Mobile, Alabama, to the delight of passengers who cheered, danced, and sang "Sweet Home Alabama." Hundreds of people awaited the arrival of the biggest cruise ship ever to dock in Mobile. Passengers began exiting the boat an hour after its arrival, the AP reports; all passengers are now off the ship, according to Carnival's Twitter feed, via CNN. CEO Gerry Cahill boarded the Triumph and apologized to departing customers over the PA system. "I don’t want to hear the word 'cruise' ever again," said one passenger. Added another: "It’s like being locked in a Porta Potty for days. We've lived through two hurricanes, and this is worse." Now, Carnival must brace for a flood of potential lawsuits, though passengers' legal actions are restricted by cruise terms. What does all this mean for the soaring cruise industry? Experts are divided, the New York Times reports. "There are more ships out there, so we are seeing a higher number of incidents like this, and that is not good for the industry," says one. But another says people have simply grown accustomed to cruise-related horror stories in the news.