N.M. couple upbeat after flubbed cruise

LOVING, N.M. (KRQE) - A New Mexico couple on the notorious Carnival Cruise ship Triumph finally returned home Friday.

A Loving woman won the trip in a contest at work, and it was her and her husband's first cruise ever. Their upbeat outlook on the experience that other's called the cruise from hell may surprise some people.

The cruise departed Galveston, Texas, last Friday but was disabled by an engine-room fire Sunday leaving the ship and 4.200 people adrift in the Gulf of Mexico.  Tugboats finally towed the crippled vessel into Mobile, Ala., late Thursday night.

Sonya Carrillo and her sisters spent the afternoon anxiously waiting for their parents, Daniel and Andrea Ramirez, to return home from a not-so-luxurious cruise.

When asked if she's ever been this excited to see her parents come home from a vacation, Carrillo laughed.

"No, never," she said.  "I don't think anybody ever has been."

Carrillo said the toughest part about this week was going five days without hearing from her parents after she received an automated message from Carnival Cruise on Sunday.

"We wanted to inform you that the ship experienced an engine room fire while on its return to Galveston," the message stated. "Please be assured there has been no injuries or casualties reported by any of our guests or crew."

"I was calling this automated number over and over," Carrillo recalled.  "I'd call every day like every couple hours, just for any updates, but I wasn't able to actually hear my mom's voice until yesterday."

Finally, her parents sent a text.

"We are OK. We will see all of you soon!!!" it read

Then, Carrillo finally spoke to her mom on the phone

"When I heard my mom say hello, I couldn't even talk I was crying, I was in tears, we were both just crying on the phone."

The Ramirez couple left for the Carnival Cruise last week, after Carrillo's mom won the trip in a work contest.

After reports of the fire, conditions of the ship got national attention; no power, or working toilets. But Ramirez' kids haven't heard much about that.

"I'm not a complainer; I think more than anything we're blessed to be here," Andrea Ramirez told KRQE News 13. "I think everybody is."

Carrillo said her parents had a balcony cabin and shared it with a family across the way with a special needs daughter.

"I am so proud of my mom.  She has the biggest heart, and I knew that if anything she would be one of the ones to help somebody," said Carrillo.

After a long journey, Andrea Ramirez had this to say:

"I really need to say that the crew and the staff, they did the most amazing job with the situation that they had," she said.  "Everybody came together.  Everybody helped each other out.

"We're just looking forward to seeing our kids."

It's was a long awaited trip home, but Daniel and Andrea Ramirez made it home to Loving and hugs from their family late Friday afternoon. Daniel and Andrea said everything about the cruise before Sunday was great.

They said they'll likely use their free vouchers to go on a cruise again.