Cruise passengers make their way home

The passengers of cruise ship Triumph have finally disembarked after five numbing days stuck at sea. Source: AAP

PASSENGERS have finally escaped the disabled Carnival cruise ship Triumph after five numbing days stuck at sea due to an engine-room fire.

They were on the move on Friday - some checked into hotels while others hopped on buses or jumped on charter flights home.

The ship carrying some 4200 people docked late on Thursday in Mobile to raucous cheers from passengers weary of overflowing toilets, food shortages and foul odours.

"Sweet Home Alabama!" read one of the homemade signs passengers fixed alongside the 14-storey ship as many celebrated along deck rails lining several levels. The ship's horn blasted several times as four tugboats helped it to shore.

"It was horrible, just horrible" said Maria Hernandez, 28, of Angleton, Texas, tears welling in her eyes as she talked about waking up to smoke in her lower-level room on Sunday from the engine-room fire and the days of heat and stench that followed. She was on a "girls trip" with friends.

It took about four hours for all passengers to disembark.

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said passengers had three options: take a bus straight to Galveston, Texas, to retrieve cars parked at the ship's departure port, take a bus to New Orleans to stay at a hotel before a charter flight home or have family or friends pick them up in Mobile.

As if the passengers hadn't endured enough, one of the buses broke down during the two-hour ride to New Orleans. Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said the passengers got on another bus and made it safely to New Orleans. Passengers aboard another bus also said their luggage was somehow lost.

Gulliksen said up to 20 charter flights would leave New Orleans later on Friday to take guests who stayed in hotels there to their final destinations.

Nearly 2000 passengers arrived at a New Orleans Hilton in the wee hours, and by dawn many were headed out again to fly to Houston. They then had to get a connecting flight home or chartered bus back to their cars in Galveston.

"It just feels so good to be on land again and to feel like I have options," said Tracey Farmer. "I'm just ready to see my family. It's been harder on them than us I think because they've been so worried about us. It's been extremely stressful for them."

In Mobile, tugs pulled the ship away from the dock on Friday, moving it down a waterway in the direction of a shipyard where city officials said it will be repaired.

A line of taxis waited for people, and motorists on Interstate 10 stopped to watch the exodus of passengers. Some still aboard chanted, "Let me off, let me off!"

It took six gruelling hours navigating the 48km ship channel. At nearly 275 metres in length, it was the largest cruise ship ever to dock at Mobile.

Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill apologised at a news conference and later on the public address system as people disembarked.

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