'It's Disgusting': Stranded Carnival Passengers Take to Cell Phones

Nov. 10, 2010 — -- The engines may not work for the stranded Carnival cruise ship off the coast of Mexico, but cell phones finally do for the nearly 4,500 people on board.

"We're eating spoiled turkey sandwiches and warm milk and warm yogurt," said passenger Joey Noriega, who got married Saturday and watched his honeymoon come to an abrupt and unhappy end. "Everything smells like it's spoiled."

"The fruits are going bad and the stuff that's not going bad isn't ripe yet," Noriega said. "Nothing's cooked. It's all sandwich meat. It's disgusting. You're afraid to eat it 'cause it's been left out and touched by everybody else on the ship."

Noriega said that Tuesday night he cleaned out the cabin toilet so his new wife, Stacy, wouldn't have to sleep with the smell.

The spoiled food is piling up on the ship because health and safety regulations require the cruise liner to discard garbage at port.

"Unless you're outside in the fresh air, anything that's in closed doors smells just like rotten food," he said.

Gorden Gilbreath and his partner, Chris Desauniers, were treating the cruise like a floating camping trip.

"A lot of them [passengers] have been sleeping on the decks with their blankets," Gilbreath said.

Rescuers are towing the damaged vessel to San Diego -- a trip that's expected to take at least until Thursday afternoon.

"In coordinating with the cruise line and just discussing logistics," U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Rick Foster told "Good Morning America" today, "I know that Carnival had initially expressed an interest in [Ensenada, Mexico], just because that was the closest, largest port they could reach. Now the plans have changed. They would like to go to San Diego. ... However, just weather and operations can always influence these outcomes."

Foster said there was still a chance the two tugboats pulling the ship at about four miles an hour could redirect to Ensenada, about 50 miles away from where the ship was originally stranded Monday, if necessary.

Early Monday morning, the ship endured a fire in the aft engine room that disabled its six diesel electric engines. Auxiliary power has been running emergency systems, and the crew managed to get the toilets and showers working again, but there is still no heat, air conditioning, telephone or hot food service. No one was injured in the fire.

But one thing the passengers do have, thanks to the U.S. Navy, is Spam, and lots of it.

Late Tuesday, the Navy executed a military-style airdrop by helicopter from the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan to the Splendor of nearly 10,000 pounds of food and supplies, including what appeared to be hundreds of cans of Spam, along with Pop Tarts, croissants, crab meat, bread, cups and other utensils.

Two Coast Guard officers are on board the ship to help ensure the passengers' health and safety.

Carnival announced late Tuesday it was canceling the Splendor's next voyage, set to begin Nov. 14 from Long Beach, Calif. The company said it would offer those guests a full refund of their cruise fare and air transportation costs, as well as a 25 percent discount on a future cruise.