LUMBERTON -
"The smell on floor 2 would gag you," said Lumberton resident Kelli Miller of the conditions she experienced aboard the Carnival Triumph.
"When it was time to do a number 2, you had a red bag. And you had to put the red bag in a can, and use the red bag, and tie it up and leave it in the hall for your steward to pick up," she said.
Stranded for 5 days on the disabled ship, Miller returned home early Friday morning. Waiting for her in the kitchen were flowers and a welcome home card from her daughters.
"My youngest daughter surprised me this morning and took me to lunch."
Miller was on the cruise with friends as part of a bachelorette party. She said when the ship lost power their rooms were too hot, so they went to the deck and built tents out of sheets.
"We played cards... we told stories... we just made the best of a bad situation," she said.
When the Triumph finally docked in Mobile, Alabama, our cameras were able to catch Miller and her friends waving their cell phones on the top deck.
"When we saw land... we were so happy," she said.
She said getting off the ship was an emotional experience.
"When I knew my husband had driven all that way to get me, it was just like 'wow'. I felt so special. I could have thrown my suitcase and left it there I didn't care I just ran when I saw him and yelled 'Here I am! Here I am!'"
And the first thing she did when she got home?
"I jumped in the shower and scrubbed and scrubbed," she said.
