PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – As passengers were boarding the Carnival Miracle Friday evening at Port Canaveral to head home to New York after a successful 8-day voyage, they smiled and joked that they "were lucky."
"I mean, stuff happens," said Ryan Poetzsch. "I don't think it's Carnival's fault, just something broke. Your car breaks, cruise line breaks."
Despite the compelling photographs pouring in from the catastrophic cruise of the Carnival Triumph, stranded in the Gulf of Mexico listing and powerless – passengers holding biohazard bags for human waste, makeshift cell phone charging stations, bed lining the halls and decks – passengers cruising on the Carnival Miracle were forgiving.
"I'm reassured," said Edwine Roeden. "What happened to them was unfortunate, but this is our first time cruising and we feel very, very safe."
Other passengers were not forgiving.
"It's a little nerve-wracking to me, being on the ship and knowing there's all these people trapped on another ship," said Jessica Poetzsch. "Yeah, I mean I didn't really understand how they were stuck there for so long and there was no way to help these people."
Travel agents insist major incidents on cruise ships are unlikely, despite other problems on other ships in recent years.
Most large cruise ships are not registered in the U.S., instead taking advantage of tax shelters and lax regulations in countries like Panama and the Bahamas.