Cruise Ship Newlyweds Won't Be Spending Honeymoon on a Boat

Rob Mowlam and Stephanie Stevenson of Nederland, Texas, married on the ship.

ByABC News
February 14, 2013, 2:25 PM

Feb. 14, 2013 — -- A Texas couple who got married on the fire-damaged Carnival Triumph cruise ship is spending their first Valentine's Day as newlyweds stranded at sea, but "upbeat" at the prospect of returning to solid ground.

"I just want to get home and sleep in my own bed and have climate control and lights," newlywed Rob Mowlam told ABCNews.com from the ship where a mass of people were crowded around a generator to charge their phones. "I will probably flush the toilet 10 times just because I can."

Mowlam, 37, and Stephanie Stevenson, 27, of Nederland, Texas, got married on the ship on Friday.

Click here for photos of the stranded ship at sea.

"It was just what we wanted--short, sweet and quiet," Mowlam said of their fantasy cruise ship wedding.

And the honeymoon? "Not so much," he said.

The newlyweds said their foremost concern right now is getting back to Stevenson's two young sons who are being cared for by her mother. He said getting back to the boys has been their "largest source of stress."

They haven't yet thought about re-doing their honeymoon, but Mowlam assured, "It won't be a cruise."

Despite "pretty rough conditions," Mowlam said people aboard the ship are surprisingly in high spirits.

"Believe it or not, most of the people have been really upbeat and positive," he said. "The crew onboard has been absolutely, unbelievably helpful and good at what they do."

The 4,000 passengers and crew aboard the stricken cruise ship was expected to disembark after dark tonight from the fetid cruiser dubbed "the poop deck" on social media, but a snapped towing cable has put that in jeopardy.

The couple's family are eager for them to get back to shore.

"It would be my guess that this would probably not be on anyone's great list of memorable wedding experiences," the groom's brother James Mowlam III said with a laugh. "Although, my mom told him that she was hoping they had a memorable wedding and I think this would classify as a memorable wedding experience."