Despite horrible conditions, cruise expert not worried

Just a few more hours.

As the disabled Carnival Triumph cruise ship limps into port Thursday evening, some passengers could be seen celebrating the coming end to a five-day nightmare by dancing and waving to TV helicopters circling the ocean liner.

No wonder.

Just how horrible are the conditions on the Triumph?

Freelance sportswriter Jayme Lamm provided some insight to popular sports site Deadspin.com.

“Y’all better be enjoying your Valentine’s flowers while we’re defecating in red plastic bags,” Lamm wrote.

Yikes. Despite the images and the narratives sent out over social media, one cruise expert said this is just a “blip” and the industry won’t be affected.

Industry veteran Ross Klein, who owns cruisejunkie.com, told the Los Angeles Times that people will forget this and bookings will go back to normal.

“The initial reaction is that people are hesitant to take a cruise but the industry recovers fairly quickly,” he said. “My guess is that within six weeks [Carnival’s] bookings will be back to normal.”

Even with the advent of Twitter and Instagram, where users can send out graphic images of putrid conditions to potentially millions of people?

Klein says yes. The corporations are using social media too, he said. He’s not certain they understand it fully but “they will be in time.”

Carnival’s Twitter stream shows 17 separate tweets so far today.

“We’ve taken more than 7,000 calls from family members & friends, & have been in regular contact with our guests’ designated onshore contacts,” said one Tweet.

The cruise ship is expected to dock after 10:30 p.m. EST.

Passengers using Instagram took photos below.