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Yonkers Seniors Happy To Be Home After Cruise Adventure

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- It's home sweet home for some local senior citizens one week after returning from what they described was an "adventure of a lifetime."

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1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reports

Life is getting back to normal for the group of  60 seniors from Yonkers who were among the 4,500 passengers stranded at sea on the Carnival Splendor for four days without air conditioning, hot food, working toilets and just about everything that runs on electricity.

PHOTOS: Cruise Ship Nightmare

"I'm glad to be back, we survived the Splendor!" one woman said.

"It's very good to be home, it wasn't a vacation," a man said.

The seniors, who were rehearsing Thursday for their holiday show, said they remained upbeat throughout the ordeal and were thankful for the crew, Coast Guard and Navy.

"It wasn't a nightmare and it wasn't a disaster," Marageret Assante said. "It could've been."

The passengers faced many challenges, at times waiting on two-hour lines for food like spam and pop tarts, but Assante said the worst part was the lack of working toilets.

 "You wouldn't think that bathrooms are such an important thing until there isn't one around," Margaret Assante said.

Splendor was scheduled to tour the Mexican Riviera for seven days. An engine room fire left the ship without power and made those plans go up in smoke.

All of the stranded seniors agree their days adrift in the Pacific Ocean was an experience they'll talk about for the rest of their lives.

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