(CNN) — A disabled Carnival Cruise Lines ship with thousands of passengers on board was nearing its pier in San Diego on Thursday, although it will take some time for it to dock, the Coast Guard said.

As of about 7:30 a.m. (10:30 a.m. ET), the Carnival Splendor was about four miles from its pier, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Rachel Polish. Towed by six tugboats, it was approaching at about 6 mph, meaning it should be at the pier in less than an hour, she said.

But when it arrives, the tugs must be reconfigured and bring the ship in portside, or on its left side, she said. That process could take a while, Polish said.

The passengers — all 3,300 of them — will disembark with tales from the three-day ordeal that began with a fire in the ship’s engine room. Engineers were unable to restore power to the ship after the fire was extinguished, leaving passengers without air conditioning, hot showers or decent meals. Instead, they had to settle for Spam and Pop-Tarts dropped off by the USS Ronald Reagan, which came to assist.

Aerial footage showed passengers congregating on the decks and at the railing as the ship was towed in.

While Carnival said Wednesday that most passengers knew that the Splendor’s crew was doing the best it could, there were reports of passengers pledging not to take up the company’s offer of a free replacement trip.

The vessel became stranded Monday after an engine-room fire off the coast of Mexico.

Because the ship is without most of its power, the company decided to wait until daylight for tugboats to deliver the Splendor to a dock, Carnival Cruise Lines CEO Gerry Cahill said at a news conference.

Carnival noted that as the ship gets closer to the coast, passengers are increasingly able to receive “intermittent cellular service.”

The ship’s crew had set up a call center for passengers to make urgent calls.

“Obviously, with eight phones and 3,300 people, you are going to have a pretty big backup,” Cahill said.

One passenger, David Zambrano, a KUSA-TV employee, called his Denver, Colorado, station Wednesday from his cell phone and said many passengers were in the dark in their cabins and had to wait in line for two hours to eat the cold meals, which were being delivered to the ship by helicopter from the USS Ronald Reagan.

“Many of the people I have talked to said that they will never take another cruise again, especially with Carnival,” said Zambrano, who was able to enjoy some sunlight because he has a stateroom with a balcony.

“It’s nothing like anyone expected, no,” Zambrano said. “You stand in line for two hours just to get your food because everybody goes to the same place to pick up their food. And, so you stand in line and you wait, then once you get your food, you leave and you look for something to do.

“People are playing cards. People are standing around just kind of talking. They’re getting to socialize,” Zambrano said. “It’s not what you would expect on a normal cruise, of course not, but it’s — they’re doing their best. The crew is doing their best to keep everybody satisfied and make sure that they’re watching everything.

“The only thing that made it really tough was when the facilities were all broken down and all the bathrooms weren’t working and people were starting to get uncomfortable,” Zambrano said. “But now that they started getting those things going and the water flowing, then that made all the difference.”

In addition to offering a free cruise, Carnival has promised passengers a refund and said it will cover transportation costs.

“Conditions on the ship have been challenging,” said Cahill, reiterating apologies to families.

“We’re disappointed about it. Reports from the ship show guests believe we are doing the best we can,” Cahill said. “We ruined their vacations. I am optimistic they will return.”

Cahill said the crew has done the best it can in making the passengers comfortable, including offering free drinks. The pool was closed because the ship didn’t have the power to run its chlorination system.

Passenger Lenora Chavez said Wednesday some of the plumbing was at capacity and vomit bags were hanging in corridors.

“It smells like a lot of people are throwing up,” she said. “I can smell that a lot.”

But the situation had improved Thursday morning as the ship neared land, Chavez said.

“It has not been too bad,” she said. “Everybody has been in good spirits. We have had entertainment and a lot of music. They are trying their best to keep us comfortable.”

Carnival told CNN that most of the plumbing is functioning and the ship’s doctors report few ill passengers.

A crew of about 1,200 is on board.

A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier resupplied the cruise ship Tuesday evening. Sailors stood on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan in 50-yard lines, handing off boxes of water, frozen bread, sandwich meats, granola bars, paper plates and more for the Splendor.

Navy pilot Tamara Graham and Chief Petty Officer Steve Sinclair said they made 15 round trips from the Reagan to the stranded cruise ship.

“When we first showed up on scene, [passengers] were taking pictures, and flash bulbs were going off everywhere,” Sinclair said. “Once we dropped our equipment, we were getting a lot of waves.”

The Reagan received 60,000 pounds of food, bottled water and supplies by airlift for the cruise ship, said Cmdr. Greg Hicks, spokesman of the U.S. Third Fleet.

Graham said water “was definitely the top priority” on the list of supplies to bring on board the ship.

Carnival said it is making hotel and flight arrangements for guests once they reach port. About 100 representatives will be at the port Thursday to help passengers with transportation, hotel and other needs, Cahill said.

Crews will follow environmental and sanitation protocols when they begin unloading food spoiled because of the loss of refrigeration, said Carnival spokeswoman Joyce Oliva.

The fire occurred about 6 a.m. Monday in the engine room of the Splendor, the cruise line said in a statement on its website. The blaze was extinguished, and no passengers or crew were injured.

Engineers were not able to restore power to the ship, which was operating on auxiliary generators, a Carnival statement said.

The seven-day cruise along the Mexican coast departed Sunday from Long Beach, California. Carnival has canceled a seven-day cruise that was to leave November 14 from Long Beach, the company said.

“We’ve been in business for 35 years,” Cahill said. “We’ve never had anything like this happen before.”

John Heald, Carnival’s senior cruise director, blogged Wednesday from the Carnival Splendor. “I have to say that the crew has been absolutely epic and I am so very proud of each and every one of them,” he wrote.

“One thing is for certain though,” Heald added. “I doubt anyone onboard will ever, ever want to eat a sandwich ever again.”

Source(article): CNN

Source (pictures): VIRGINHOLIDAYSCRUISES, CRUISEWEB,THECRUISESENTRE

A massive search is underway for an Air France jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris believed to have gone down off the northeast coast of Brazil a few hours after takeoff.

The jet lost contact with air traffic controllers after flying into a strong thunderstorm over the Atlantic Ocean and signaling it had an electric problem. Chief Air France spokesman Francois Brousse said “it is possible” the plane was hit by lightning.

Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330, was carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew members, company spokeswoman Brigitte Barrand said.

The flight left Rio on Sunday at 7 p.m. local time. About four hours later, the plane sent an automatic signal indicating electrical problems while going through strong turbulence, Air France said.

The plane disappeared about 190 miles northeast of the coastal Brazilian city of Natal, near the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, a Brazilian air force spokesman said. The air force began a search Monday morning near Fernando de Noronha, he added, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with air force policy.

Three Brazilian military planes began searching the area at dawn, flying over the area where the plane vanished and are trying to follow the same route, according to the Brazilian air force. Around 300 Brazilian military personel are involved in the searches. They are searching from the Fernando de Noronha archipelago on, in the direction of Paris. According to military sources, the searches are considered to be of extreme difficulty due to the size of the area.

The are also reports that several French military planes, as well as some Cabo Verde planes, are helping in the searches. A French military plane, the Atlantic 2, the only one specialized in this kind of operation, has left Dakar to help in the searches. It has 13 crew members and a flight autonomy of 15 hours.

The plane “crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence” at 0200 GMT Monday (10 p.m. EDT Sunday). An automatic message was received at 0214 GMT (10:14 p.m. EDT Sunday) “signaling electrical circuit malfunction.”

Contact with the plane was lost at 0220 GMT Monday (10:20 p.m. EDT Sunday), an official said.

Aviation experts said the risk the plane was brought down by lightning was slim.

“Lightning issues have been considered since the beginning of aviation. They were far more prevalent when aircraft operated at low altitudes. They are less common now since it’s easier to avoid thunderstorms,” said Bill Voss, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, Alexandria, Va.

He said planes have specific measures built in to help dissipate electricity along the aircraft’s skin.

“I cannot recall in recent history any examples of aircraft being brought down by lightning,” he told The Associated Press.

Barrand said the airline installed an information center at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for the families of those aboard.

“Air France regrets to announce that it is without news from Air France flight 447 flying from Rio to Paris,” she said. “Air France shares the emotion and worry of the families concerned.”

The flight was scheduled to arrive in Paris at 0915 GMT (5:15 a.m. EDT), according to the airport.

Air France said the 216 passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men. It says the plane entered service in 2005 and last underwent maintenance April 16.

Portuguese television reported that there were 60 French nationals on board, as well as 5 Italians, 3 Moroccan and 1 Portuguese. But French TV is saying that only 40 French nationals were on board and that most passengers were Brazilian. They are also reporting that 20 German passengers were on board.

A police official on Fernando de Noronha said the weather was clear last night into this morning.

“It’s going to take a long time to carry out this search,” Douglas Ferreira Machado, head of investigation and accident prevention for Brazil’s Civil Aeronautics Agency, or ANAC, told Globo news. “It could be a long, sad story. The black box will be at the bottom of the sea.”

Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, at a news conference in Paris, said the pilot had 11,000 hours of flying experience, including 1,700 hours flying this aircraft. No name was released.

Aviation experts said it was clear the plane was not in the air any longer, due to the amount of fuel it would have been carrying.

“The conclusion to be drawn is that something catastrophic happened on board that has caused this airplane to ditch in a controlled or an uncontrolled fashion,” Jane’s Aviation analyst Chris Yates told The Associated Press.

“I would suggest that potentially it went down very quickly and so quickly that the pilot on board didn’t have a chance to make that emergency call,” Yates said, adding that the possibilities ranged from mechanical failure to terrorism.

Airbus declined to comment until more details emerge.

Barrand said the airline set up an information center at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for the families of those on board. That center said 60 French citizens were on the plane. Italy said at least three passengers were Italian.

“Air France shares the emotion and worry of the families concerned,” she said.

A source at the Paris airport reportedly told AFP they have “lost hope” for the missing jet.

France’s minister in charge of transport, Jean-Louis Borloo, said there was a “real pessimism at this hour” about the fate of the aircraft.

“We can fear the worst,” he said on Europe-1 radio.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his “extreme worry” and sent ministers to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport to “do all they could to help find the aircraft. In a statement, the Elysée said that the President had been informed of the loss of contact this morning and had expressed “the greatest anxiety.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source (article): FOXNEWS

Source (picture): FOXNEWS