After four long days stranded aboard the crippled Carnival Cruise ship Triumph, secretary Diane Grappe returned to work Feb. 19.

She sits at her computer, which is covered with pictures of her four daughters and other family. She cannot go five minutes without someone popping their head through the office door and giving her a sincere, “welcome back,” and others who ask about her experience, but Grappe said she is just thankful to be back.

“I just prayed and realized I needed to get back to work to get my mind off of going and just get back into a steady routine,” Grappe said. “I knew I’d have a lot of people ask me questions, but that’s okay. I had a lot of prayers and people that care about me that want to ask questions, and that’s fine.”

Triumph had set out for a four-day cruise and was due back in Galveston, Texas on Feb. 11, but because of a fire in the ship’s engine room, passengers and crew were stranded for an extra four days until tug boats were able to bring them into Mobile, Ala. Feb 14. See full news story for more information.

Grappe said her positive attitude and Bunko friends kept her going, despite unpleasant conditions.

“We are all close. We have been playing Bunko together for 20 years, but we would all have our breakdowns here and there and talk about things,” Grappe said. “It really wasn’t really bad at all.”

It was, however, bad by many people’s standards, with little food and water, no toilets and questionable sleeping conditions, and the smell.

“We didn’t have any electricity, so of course we didn’t have any air [conditioning]. It was just real still, stale air. We could smell everything,” Grappe said. “There were no toilets. Every once in a while on a floor some of the public restrooms would be working and you’d hear about it, but then you’d have to wait in a line.”

The crew rationed out the water to one 16-ounce water bottle per room.

“They would provide every room with one bottle of water,” Grappe said. “So, if there were two in a room, you still got one bottle. Our group had two in a room, then three, then two, but you’d still only get one bottle a day.“

Passengers slept anywhere they could find, balconies, hallways, public eating areas. Grappe said her group ended up sleeping on a third floor balcony.

“There were seven of us, but we took five mattresses up the stairs and put them together and slept on those. It never was cold and it never really was hot,” Grappe said. “Wednesday night, it started raining and we had to move our mattresses to the dining room. We just threw our stuff in there. Of course, everyone was doing it.”

To pass the time, Grappe said he and her group of friends acquainted themselves with the other stranded passengers. Everyone either visited, played cards or slept. Some were able to use a Kindle to read and play games.

“We played cards and just laughed and met the other people on the boat,” Grappe said. “If this had not happened, we probably wouldn’t have met some of the people we had met. Most of the passengers were pretty nice and you would find out where they were from and more about them.”

Overall, Grappe said the experience was not as bad as others think. She did not get seasick and remained in good humor most of the trip, but Grappe said there was one moment when fear struck hard.

“I never really got that scared,” Grappe said, “except Tuesday, all electricity, total, went out at 9 at night and that’s as scared as I got. That’s when I really thought, you know . . . I just didn’t think we were going to make it then. It was just so dark and kind of scary. We just got our life jackets and held onto them. A lot of praying.”

Others on the boat grew impatient and agitated while stranded, but Grappe said no serious incidences occurred.

“You would see people, especially in the food lines, people yelling because it was taking too long. And then, when the lady who kind of tells us what’s happening [over the loud speaker] each day would come on and say things, people would holler at her and act stupid,” she said.

When one fight almost broke out, Grappe said other passengers stepped in to remind the people they were all in this together and were almost home.

“Right before we were leaving, we heard this kind of shuffle where these [people] were bumping into each other, but people would say, ‘come on, we’re almost through,’” she said.

Triumph finally docked in Mobile, Ala. about 10 p.m. Thursday 14. Grappe said she and her friends were one of the first 125 off of the ship, after the elderly, sick and those with children.

“One of the ladies’ grandpa died while we were on the trip; he had died on that Saturday, and we got off early, because they promised us we would be in the first 125 to get off,” Grappe said.

Normally to get off of a ship, passengers go through a long customs process, but this wasn’t the case for the Triumph passengers. Grappe said they were only required to fill out a piece of paper listing everything and then signed off.

“We got off after everything was okay and we just went straight to our family,” Grappe said. “They had Coke and water, all kinds of greeters there to hand them out. McDonalds had furnished us all little sacks of six chicken nuggets and a little toy, so we got that and went straight to the hotel and all went our separate ways.”

Grappe’s husband was waiting to pick her up and drive her back home, and the rest of her family waited at home to greet her. She said she just could believe everything was okay.

“I was real shaky. I couldn’t believe we were finally there. Just thankful,” she said. ““All my girls were there [at home] and they had a little party for me. They had all cooked and made cookies. We just all sat around and ate and hugged and cried and just talked about it.”

Grappe said she has already received full compensation for her trip plus a free cruise and an additional $500 from Carnival Cruise.

“They have already accredited our account on Friday,” she said. “We are also going to turn in our hotel experience from Friday and gas money we spent. They have been good about doing what they said they would do.”

Some passengers are attempting to sue Carnival for injury or days lost at their jobs, but Grappe said she doesn’t agree that is necessary.

“I think it was just a freak accident; Carnival Cruise didn’t set out for that to happen. It was just out of their control. I think they learned from it and I think there are some things they could do better, but as far as suing them, I don’t see a need in it,” Grappe said. “My safety and being able to see my family is better than any money they could give me.”

Despite the accident on board the Triumph, Grappe said she would probably go on cruises again in the future.

“This is my third cruise, so I know how it is supposed to be,” she said, “In fact, we had been talking about going on one in June with my girls; I don’t know if I can do it that soon, but cruises are fun.

 in the back was suppose to act like a rudder,” Grappe said. | photo courtesy of Glenda Smith”]We had a good time up to that point.”