EXCLUSIVE: 'Triumph' passengers describe conditions on crippled - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

Kristi Wait and her husband woke up to smoke in their cabin early Sunday morning. 

"It happened at 5:00 in the morning. The captain had made an announcement over the loud speaker for the alpha team, so we knew something big had been going on. Just within a few minutes we smelled smoke in our cabin," Wait explained. 

She said they grabbed their friends in the cabin next door and ran to the deck where they captured video of the smoke using their cell phones. 

"The big smoke stack on the back of the boat was definitely on fire. They say in deck two they were evacuating pretty quickly, banging on doors telling people to grab their life jackets," Wait explained.  

East Texas passenger Gale Suggs said she and her husband knew something had gone wrong, but didn't know the extent of the damage.

"It was quite a ways into the day when we found out they were not going to be able to restore power," Suggs said. 

"Everyone has opted to pretty much move out of their rooms. If you have an inside cabin, there's no daylight so you can't see anyway. We moved out of our cabin the first day because it was starting to smell. I'm not going to lie, it was gross of urine and feces and things backing up in the drain," Wait said.

Despite a series of horrific events, these passengers said everyone is relatively calm and the staff is doing the best they can.

"I think they are doing a wonderful job with what they have to work with. And you know, just in the last couple of days they have started up entertainment. They've got all the youth directors working with the children. You know, running power lines everywhere they can to amplify music and comedy shows," Suggs explained. 

They said helicopters and other cruise ships have delivered food, water and supplies.

"We've not gone hungry for sure. They're keeping water coming, drinks coming. Food is plenty, you just have to wait for it. You know, there's lines, you stand in line in two or three hours sometimes," Suggs said. 

As they count down the hours, these passengers remain positive.

"Take everything with a grain of salt. This stuff can't be helped. We are safe and that's the main thing. It could be way worse and we're fine," Wait said.