Amarillo, TX - We have now confirmed that at least 8 area residents were on board the disabled Carnival cruise ship "Triumph," which finished embarking early Friday morning.
We spoke with one area father who says he can't wait to finally hug his daughter again.
Kirk Hill, the owner of Hill's Sports Shop in Amarillo says his daughter Kalin was on the ship.
Hill traveled to Houston where he waited for her to arrive from Mobile, Alabama.
The ship had around 4,200 passengers and docked in Alabama last night after five days at sea without power.
Some passengers boarded buses for trips to hotels in Texas or New Orleans.
Passengers who spent days stranded in the Gulf of Mexico say they're glad to be off the boat and many complained about overflowing toilets, food shortages and foul odors.
"I talked to her early this morning and she seemed to be in good spirits. She slept in a bed and took a shower and went down to eat and called me when she was through eating and said 'I'm going to go back upstairs to take another shower,'" says Kirk Hill, daughter aboard Carnival cruise ship.
Hill tells us the biggest problem he faced was lack of communication.
He says he received alerts through the Carnival Corporation but it was always old news.
When asked if they would use the free cruise offered as compensation, Hill says his family doesn't see a cruise in their future.
