( CNN ) -- Rather than getting the relaxing vacation they paid for , more than 3,000 passengers on Carnival Triumph have endured five days stranded in the Gulf of Mexico , smelling backed-up toilets and watching sewage slosh on deck . `` A floating petri dish '' is how one passenger , a doctor , put it . As tugboats bring the ship to Mobile , Alabama , on Thursday , many on board might be considering what to do next . Could Carnival passengers sue the cruise line ? They could , CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said , but whether the claim has merit will depend on the paperwork they signed when they purchased their ticket . Negligent infliction of emotional distress would be the main justification for a suit , said Jason R. Margulies , an experienced maritime lawyer based in Miami . Tensions are high on board . There was the stress inflicted by the fire in the engine room , which began the mess , a scary experience for sure . Apart from the uncomfortable situation with bad smells , there is a risk of health problems because of poor sanitation . And passengers have reported minor fights . All of this is justification for going to court , Margulies said . But it is n't that simple . Five things we 've learned about cruising . What can make suing a cruise line complicated ? Carnival has a prohibition on class-action suits in its tickets , information that would n't be obvious to passengers who did n't read the fine print when they bought tickets . U.S. courts have said that ship owners and operators can not put that language on tickets . But Carnival , though headquartered in Miami , is incorporated outside the United States , partly in Panama and Great Britain , experts say . Carnival Triumph is a Bahamian-flagged vessel , so the Bahamas Maritime Authority is the primary investigative agency . Why did the rescue take five days ? What else is detailed on the ticket ? Carnival 's ticket contract says the cruise line is not `` liable to the passenger for damages for emotional distress , mental suffering/anguish or psychological injury of any kind under any circumstances , except when such damages were caused by the negligence of Carnival and resulted from the same passenger sustaining actual physical injury , or having been at risk of actual physical injury . '' While no physical injuries have been reported , if a passenger contracted a significant disease such as hepatitis from unsanitary conditions aboard on the ship , maritime trial attorney John H. Hickey believes , physical injury could be argued . `` I think that a case can be made that everyone on that ship is at risk of actual physical injury , '' he said . Opinion : What cruise lines do n't want you to know . What else should a passenger consider ? Would it take a long time to see a resolution after filing suit ? It would be incredibly expensive for a lone plaintiff to sue . And no matter how a suit is brought , it would probably take two years for it to wind through court , Margulies said . But it could still be done . Consider the case of Costa Concordia , the cruise liner that ran aground off Italy in January 2011 . Thirty-two people were killed . Many people from different countries sued the owners of the Concordia with varying results . In at least one example , the cruise liner reportedly offered to pay 11,000 euros to each of 235 French nationals affected . Is there another remedy ? Could passengers be compensated by their travel insurance ? Jason Clampet of travel site Skift.com said that 's unlikely . `` Insurance really does n't cover this sort of thing . Their trip was n't interrupted , and they are n't incurring extra expenses ... so they ca n't be compensated that way , '' he said . Opinion : How Carnival can clean up the PR mess . What does a passenger have to weigh before moving forward ? `` In the real world , a big company like Carnival is going to want to try to make these passengers as happy as possible as quickly as possible , '' Toobin said . The cruise line said it would give each passenger $ 500 , a free flight home and a full refund for the trip and for most expenses on board , as well as a credit for another cruise . `` Do these people want to take what Carnival is offering and get on with their lives , '' Toobin asked , `` or do they want to get into a long legal struggle that may not yield the results they want ? '' My celebration trip on the Carnival Triumph : From joy to misery . CNN 's Marnie Hunter contributed to this report .
Passengers could sue Carnival , lawyers say . But filing a suit is n't easy . More than 3,000 passengers on Carnival Triumph have been stranded for five days .