Survivors of the disaster say the scene on land was equally chaotic. Fleser said the lifeboat ride to the Tuscan island of Giglio was the last she saw of Costa Cruises employees until she and her husband and daughter reached a hotel in Rome on Saturday.

The people of the island came out in force to help the stranded travelers, and a local priest opened up the church. Fleser and her family stayed at the home of a local family overnight.

"The people of the island were wonderful," Fleser said.

Nancy Lofaro and her husband wandered around on shore, finding a church, a local cafe and a small hotel all packed.

"There was no organization. There was nobody and the staff was in shock as much as we were. There were no announcements. We saw Costa people ... walking around with a bullhorn, not using it," Lofaro said.

Fleser and her family were herded onto a ferry to the mainland the morning after the wreck "but we had no idea where we were going."

Triage doctors, members of the coast guard, Red Cross and other volunteer organizations met the cruise passengers and took them to a local school where more local services were provided. Her daughter received a pair of sneakers there because she was still wearing high heels from the night before, Fleser said.

The family then boarded a bus to Rome, where they were dropped off at a hotel.

"The Marriott had no idea we were coming. All these refugee boat people land on their front door and they say, 'Who are you? But we'll take care of you,'" Fleser said.

There were two Costa cruise representatives at the hotel, "but every time we asked them if they could do something for us, they said they had no authority," she said.

The cruise line did pay for food, the hotel and their airfare home, Fleser said, although they booked them on a flight to Albany, Georgia, instead of Albany, New York -- a mistake the family discovered in the Atlanta airport.

We were very lucky we were in one of the first lifeboats but because no one gave the order to drop the lifeboat and all the staff were waiting for him to give the order people sat and we stood in the lifeboat for ages, people were screaming and after the boat was full they shut the doors, but people were trapped on board as the other boats didn't work so they broke the doors to get onto the lifeboat I think by the time we left there would have been 200 in a lifeboat made for 115, when they waiters and one engineer decided to give up and just go the ship had already listed significantly, as we tried to drop the boat kept getting stuck on the side of the boat with desperate staff and passengers trying to lever it off the boat lurched forward and back twisiting as we got to the boat every time people fell on top of each other, if I had my phone I could send you a picture of my heel print in my leg, my partner had a small hernia in his belly button this has now expanded by people falling on him.

...

Costa had five staff here all day yesterday until mid afternoon apparently there are people at 2 hotels at the airport. The staff were trying as hard as they could but they had nothing to give us, we still have no clothes, money has been provided by our embassy, our embassy is taking us shopping.