Nightmare at Sea: Carnival Cruise Liner Nears Port

in the rooms below. Long lines for food, passengers huddled in bath robes. There are also some concerns about stress and passenger health. Abc's matt gutman starts us off with what's happening right... See More

in the rooms below. Long lines for food, passengers huddled in bath robes. There are also some concerns about stress and passenger health. Abc's matt gutman starts us off with what's happening right now, matt? Reporter: From a boat in the mobile bay, moments ago, we learned one of the passengers aboard the ship suffered a stroke and had to be medevacked. Check out the tug boats, trying to nudge that 900-foot ship ideas a quarter mile channel. Veering either way and it could ground. Tonight they're doing that in the dark. Reporter: Tonight, with the lame colossus finally within sight of land, we get our first look inside -- the grim ship's log. Been shipwrecked for three days. Reporter: The hours long lines for food, after eight fu days at sea -- five of them without power and sanitation. Sewage seeping down walls, and this sandaled foot testing urine soaked carpets. The images showing shanty towns that sprang up on decks -- tent cities that carnival has denied existed. Outside, the foot checkered with towels and bedding. Some unfurling white banners. Right ther the lettering -- I carnival triumph -- those dressed for the tropics, huddling in bathrobes and blankets against the cold. The ship has been tugging 350 miles from the gulf of mexico at a pace about as fast as you can walk. Until? I think the tug line might have broken. Carnival's terry thornton said today the company's doing all it can. There is no way we can actually speed up the process to get the ship alongside sooner. Reporter: Misery tempered by joy today. Choppered in generators, charging cellphones. The voices of loved ones, finally in range. And remember mary? She said, mommy, I'm afraid i won't ever get to see you again. Reporter: So worried about her daughter. Today they spoke. It was amazing. The things that she saw and the things we talked about, those things were really happening. Why? Why were they not prepared? Reporter: We tried to take that question to carnival's chief marketing officer -- instead of answering questions, he retreated. As did the senior vice president thornton. Thank you for taking the time today. Reporter: Can you take some morey questions about -- Reporter: This odyssey could slip into its ninth day. This ship won't reach port until about midnight. Carnival says it could take five more hours to unload some very weary passengers. Thanks so much, matt. And I had a chance to talk to some of those passengers as they phoned up with harrowing stories. Tell me how are you right now. I'm going along, on the edge here. One of my friends is really, really sick. Is it serious? What's happened? She's got respiratory, sinus issues, we had to sleep outside. What's the condition of your room? We had to abandon it on the first day. We had sewage coming in the bathroom. The smell was horrific. There's no ac. So you have two twin boys? 11-year-old boys?