On Friday morning there was a mix of relief, disbelief and joy. Families were thrilled to be in their loved one's arms after troubling days adrift without power and bathrooms after an engine room fire knocked out electricity and sewer lines on the Carnival Triumph.
Nicole Brown remembered painful moments when passengers struggled to reach family members on cell phones running out of signal and battery. But the 34-year-old Dallas nurse found a way to cope, collecting signatures on her bedsheet.
"This is the voice of the people," Nicole Brown, a passenger.
"I just wanted to do something, and it actually helped the people because they looked forward to it. They came and read other people's comments, they laughed, some cried," Brown said.
Brown's aunt and uncle joined throngs of people cheering family members as they walked off the ship.
"Wow, it was laughter, joy, small, but never the less hurt on the inside because we knew the thing she went through." said Calvin Brown, her uncle.
Calvin Brown and his wife drove five hours from Mississippi to meet her.
"i would drive 10, 12 for her. Yes, I would," Calvin Brown said.