Local Passengers Recount 'Cruise From Hell'
GENEVA, Ill. (WBBM) - A loud bang and sharp vibrations awakened Gary Staponkus and his wife Sue early Monday aboard the cruise ship Carnival Splendor.
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Within minutes, smoke began to waft up to their balcony room and the couple, from west suburban Geneva, knew something was amiss.
"They made everybody clear out of their rooms and go to the upper deck," Gary Staponkus said. Staponkus said there was no panic during the evacuation, which lasted for about three hours, as crews addressed the fire in the engine room.
But he said when they were allowed back in their rooms, they faced a new problem, an inability to flush the toilets. "That was probably the hardest part," he said.
By Monday night, when water pressure was restored, he said the odor on board had become "pretty strong."
While others have described what followed as the "cruise from hell," Staponkus said he was more inconvenienced than anything else.
He said Carnival crew members formed human chains to pass food containers up as much as nine decks to the cafeteria. He said it was probably the first cruise on which he ever lost weight, but said the ship's piano bars remained open. And with a magicians' convention on board, he said there was plenty of impromptu entertainment, as well.
He said the proximity of the USS Ronald Reagan, which took delivery of food that was then delivered by helicopter to the cruise ship, was another interesting diversion.
He said one of the more humorous moments occurred when they first saw the name of the sea-going tugboat that slowly pulled the 952-foot ocean liner back to San Diego. It was the Chihuahua.
Staponkus and his wife enjoyed their first warm meal in four days Thursday afternoon, after returning to San Diego, and quickly took advantage of the hot showers in the Carnival-supplied hotel room where they will remain through Sunday.
"I took a couple of cold showers on board," he said.
Also on board were Terry and Linda Fisher of Blue Island. Hours after the ship docked in San Diego, they looked at photos of the cold canned crab meals they ate day after day.
"It's the only cruise I ever lost weight on," Terry Fisher said.
Fisher was one of the magicians on the cruise. But was not able to make the smell of rotting food and backed up toilets, disappear.
Gary Staponkus said he was impressed by the crew and equally impressed by the cruise line itself.
He said Carnival is giving them a full refund, a free flight home and a free cruise anytime in the next two years.
"From that standpoint, I think they were phenomenal, what they're doing for the passengers," he said.
Would he hesitate to take a cruise again?
"It's one of those things that comes along one in a million times," he said. "We've been on 15 cruises and never experienced anything even close to this."
