Poret also received a frightening call from her daughter after the fire and feared they may never see each other again. "I will grab her, hold her in my arms and not want to let go," she said.

After this ill-fated cruise, the Triumph won't host vacationing passengers until at least mid-April. Carnival has canceled a dozen voyages scheduled between February 21 and April 13. That makes a total of 14 scratched trips. The cruise line already had eliminated voyages slated for February 11 and February 16.

In a statement, Carnival vowed that customers who paid for those 14 trips will receive a full refund of their cruise fare, non-refundable transportation costs, pre-paid shore excursions, gratuities, and government fees and taxes. In addition, Carnival said it would offer the inconvenienced travelers a 25% discount on a future three- to five-day Carnival cruise or a 15% discount on a six- to seven-day cruise, while protecting travel agent commissions.