Passengers cheer escape from 'horrible' cruise aboard Carnival Triumph

MOBILE, Ala. -- Passengers who finally got to disembark from a disabled Carnival cruise ship in Alabama are checking into hotels or heading home by bus.

The vacation ship carrying some 4,200 people docked late Thursday in Mobile after five numbing days at sea without power.

PHOTO GALLERY: Cruise ship stranded at sea (http://bit.ly/VUyOUl)

Passengers raucously cheered the docking after days of what they described as overflowing toilets, food shortages and foul odors.

It was supposed to be a fun trip with girlfriends for 28-year-old Maria Hernandez of Angleton, Texas. But Hernandez said instead, "It was horrible, just horrible."

It took less than four hours to get all the passengers off the crippled ship.

Some boarded about 100 buses for trips to hotels in New Orleans, about two hours away, or all the way to Texas.