Are you kidding me?

My first thought when they said they were towing the ship to Mexico was, "Does everyone on the ship have a passport?"  Clearly, clearly, no one at Carnival thought of this and now that you find out that 900 passengers DON'T have passports, you expect everyone to believe that the primary reason for going to Mobile is because of the strong currents?  Such crap.

And this statement from http://www.carnival.com/Core/FAQ.aspx?faq=update - "Currently, public and cabin toilets are operational in certain sections of the ship" - Which parts?  None that my mom was aware of when I talked to her 5 hours ago.  Thanks for communicating this out to the passengers.  And now she gets to continue to experience this for another day, which apparently is "roughly the same time the ship would have arrived in Progreso."  24 hours is not "roughly" when there's no (or "limited" according to Carnival) power or toilets.  Don't use the word "roughly" to try to convince me that it's a good thing that you have no idea what you're doing.

 I am thankful that I got to talk with my mom today around 3:45.  She was able to pick up a signal from the 2 cruise ships that stopped by to give them food and take a passenger that needed dialysis.  She confirmed that some people were sleeping in tents in public spaces but that her and her friends were able to sleep in their beds, that it wasn't THAT hot.  Thank goodness for that.  A bed can make all the difference.  Obviously, she's ready to get home but she couldn't be with a better group of women who are no doubt supporting each other, laughing, and praying their way through this "vacation."

Don't get me wrong, it makes us all feel better that the ship will be coming to the US and not going to Progreso, where they then would've had to take a bus/ferry to Cancun, fly from Cancun to Houston, and then take a bus to Houston (the original plan), but how can an experienced cruise line who has been through this emergency situation before not be more aware of the currents and passport requirements and be better prepared to deal with this?  I guess the same one that let this ship that has known engine problems go out into sea in the first place.  Can't wait to ask my mom whether she ever intends to use her future cruise credit....