‘I was told to poo in a bag on the cruise of nightmares’

When Devin Marble stepped onboard the Carnival Triumph cruise ship at the dock in Galveston, Texas, he assumed his biggest obstacle to overcome would be to impress his future-in-laws.

Not long before, the 28-year-old had proposed to his high-school sweetheart Teresa and was set to spend a few days at sea with several members of her family, including her parents.

For a few days the group – along with 4,200 other passengers and crew members – lapped up the celebrations as the ship did a loop between Galveston, and Cozumel, Mexico.

But on their last morning, those on board were woken at 5am to alarms blasting through their cabins, as a woman’s voice repeated: ‘Alpha Team, Alpha Team, Alpha Team.’

After evacuating onto the top deck, passengers were panicked to see smoke billowing out of the big red fin, with many fearful they would be ‘the next Titanic’.

Although they were quickly reassured the fire – which had happened in the engine room – was contained, power on the boat soon went out.

The ship’s electrical cables had been destroyed by the fire, leaving the ship floating in the Gulf of Mexico without any lights, air conditioning, refrigeration and, worst of all – working toilets.

The next few unsettling days on board are now being retold in the new Netflix documentary Trainwreck: Poop Cruise, which details the revolting series of events that unfolded when passengers were told to pee in their showers and defecate in red plastic biohazard bags.

Despite some describing it as ‘the worst experience of their lives’, Devin is surprisingly jovial, as he tells Metro about his 2013 holiday from hell.

‘I hope I don’t have to poo in a trash can’

‘I don’t think any of us were prepared for what was in store,’ he laughs.

‘The first thought is “oh these poor people”…but we were all in the same boat.’

It was only when the crew alerted passengers to the issues with the toilets that Devin and his soon-to-be in-laws realised they had a problem.

He remembers being determined to avoid using the red bags, which passengers were advised to leave outside their rooms, so crew could collect and dispose of them.

‘I think you have to consider how small the trash cans on board are at that time. I’m going to break that thing. I didn’t know how these were going to work practically, and I hope I don’t have to do this,’ was his first reaction.

Although many did their business in this unconventional way, each day Devin would spend hours hunting down a working toilet on board. He’d learned that when the ship started tilting, the water in some toilets enabled them to flush, so he’d rush back to his family and urge them to quickly to use it too.

Describing the smell that soon began to waft through the cabins and corridors, Devin says: ‘Imagine going to a portable toilet in the middle of summer and someone turns the heating on and forgets to spray some Febreze – that’s what it smelt like on board. Just stagnant air.’

‘This type of crisis shows people’s true colours’

Unsurprisingly, the chaotic conditions on board soon lead to dystopian behaviour, with some passengers stockpiling whatever food they could find and fighting over chairs to create ‘tent cities’ on the deck with their sheets and mattresses.

For Devin, it felt like ‘everybody was out for themselves’, so he chose to take a compassionate approach when witnessing what could potentially be unsavoury actions.

‘I think this type of crisis shows people’s true colours. There were times where we’d see people with multiple plates and just hoped it was because they had kids or elderly family members who couldn’t walk to get food. It was easier for us to try and see the best in people,’ he admits.

It also helped that Devin’s future father-in-law was also a prepared packer, with both men travelling with batteries and flashlights. ‘I discovered we are both calm in a crisis. While I understand the feeling of being stranded, I never got there. I always felt safe,’ he adds.

Word finally gets out about the ‘Poop Cruise’

With only a single satellite phone for the crew and no mobile phone coverage on board, according Carnival Cruises former publicist, Buck Banks, the team were able to control what information was being fed back to the public and media, who only knew at that point there was a ship stuck without power.

That was until passengers were able to get phone signal from a passing ship and quickly called their loved ones to alert them to the reality of the dire situation on board. The ‘poop cruise’ then became a ‘PR catastrophe’ for the cruise company.

Despite several plans to get the ship and those on board back to shore, there were several setbacks, leading to horrendous, unsanitary conditions.

When tugboats finally arrived five days later to rescue passengers, a storm also hit, leaving the ship leaning to one side – and spelling disaster for all the excrement that had up until that point been contained in the showers and toilets.

As passengers walked through the hallway, they were not only hit with a stomach-churning smell, but the realisation the carpets were soaked.

‘I learnt on the first day not to wander around the ship barefoot,’ remembers Devin. ‘The first time you walk down a hallway of carpet that is otherwise dry, and you think “well it didn’t rain inside”, you stop walking around around the ship with bare feet.’

Finally back on dry land

After five days stranded at sea, the Triumph finally made it back to port. As they disembarked, some passengers were photographed kissing the floor.

‘We were so happy because we could see lights and crowds. We were taking pictures and even put our life jackets on for fun,’ recalls Devin. ‘I will never forget the first thing I saw was Golden Arches. McDonald’s was there handing out Happy Meals – it was brilliant marketing!’

As investigations were launched into the disaster trip, it was later discovered that Carnival had been aware of issues with fires on their ships before the Triumph set sail, but they insisted this incident had been an accident and the ship was fully compliant.

In return for their trauma, passengers were given a full refund, transportation expenses and a $500 payment. They were also offered a free cruise.

Carnival went on to spend $115million cleaning, repairing and refitting the Triumph – which still sails under her new name, Carnival Sunrise.

Despite enduring the cruise of nightmares with his future in-laws, Devin went on to marry his fiancée, and they now have two children.

Although, he admits, they haven’t been on a cruise ship since.

Reflecting on their week aboard the poop cruise, he says: ‘Looking back I don’t think it’s in the job description of the crew to walk around picking up adult sized doggy bags.

‘If there was one thing would have caused mass panic, it would have been for us to see the crew panic and they didn’t, so I give them props for that.

‘They were going through it too and had to clean up after us. I think that’s pretty incredible – they were basically superheroes.’

In a statement to Metro, Carnival Cruises said: ‘The Carnival Triumph incident over 12 years ago was a teachable moment for the entire cruise industry.

‘A thorough investigation following the incident revealed a design vulnerability which was corrected and led Carnival Cruise Line to invest more than $500 million across our entire fleet in comprehensive fire prevention and suppression, improved redundancy, and enhanced management systems, all in support of our commitment to robust safety standards.

‘This is in addition to our vigorous Health, Environmental, Safety and Security (HESS) protocols that guide the entire Carnival Corporation fleet as we maintain our commitment to industry leadership in this area. We are proud of the fact that since 2013 over 53 million guests have enjoyed safe and memorable vacations with us, and we will continue to operate to these high standards.’

Trainwreck: Poop Cruise is streaming on Netflix.

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