Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea

But is there water coming in?

Like hell there is. I'm on my way down now.

We had not had a vacation since having a baby.

I think I went to John and I said this would be a really good time for us

to do this amazing trip that we've talked about doing for so long,

which was a huge deal for us.

The night of Friday 13th, I'd been on board for four months as a dancer.

I had no idea something was gonna happen.

- -

One moment, you are celebrating and chilling with your family.

The next moment, you're just there,

powerless.

- -

It felt like the ground under our feet opened.

People were grabbing onto the walls and grabbing onto each other.

This is straight out of a scene of Titanic , completely.

Stories of fear and panic from the cruise ship Costa Concordia.

Let's be honest,

you have thought about it every time you get on a plane or a cruise ship.

What happens if something goes wrong?

Well, it happened.

Every time you close your eyes, you see something from the night.

Just literally back in the most terrifying moment

you've ever experienced with your family.

God, what have I done?

We'd been to Europe before, but never together.

So it'd definitely be our longest vacation together,

our furthest vacation together.

Our daughter, Lila, was 14 months old.

so we felt like it was a good opportunity for us to do a really big trip together.

I'm pretty sure we packed a suitcase of toys, diapers, diaper wipes,

you know, the whole thing. We had so much stuff.

We were going to Paris, Switzerland, Venice, Barcelona.

Ultimately, we would end on a cruise ship.

Yeah, I think that was a big part of why we chose this vacation.

We took endless photos and videos,

made a ton of incredible memories.

I always wanted to go to Italy.

That was, like, the highest on my bucket list,

but I didn't really know I was going on a cruise ship.

I hadn't told her that part yet. Just told her the Italy part,

but the cruise ship was gonna be a special surprise.

We had been dating for about three years at that time.

The idea was, at some point, I was going to ask her to marry me.

If you ask someone to marry you,

you'd want the most romantic place you could find,

and on this journey, there was quite a few places to choose from.

This would just be that moment where everything clicks.

She can't say no, right? If you ask 'em in the perfect place?

Everybody thinks that, if you're gonna do it, right?

When I arrived,

I was amazed with how big and enormous the ship looked.

At the time, I was 17.

My mother wanted to celebrate her 50th birthday.

She booked for me, my boyfriend at the time,

and her childhood best friend, Luisa.

Since I was very little, we did everything together.

I was about seven years old when she was diagnosed with cancer.

But a few months before our departure,

her cancer was in remission.

This was definitely another big reason to celebrate her birthday.

The first thing we did was explore the… the ship.

- -

I knew that it was going to be the largest ship I've ever seen.

I still remember stepping into the ship for the first time

and just being overwhelmed by how extravagant everything was.

Very opulent. Chandeliers everywhere.

It seemed like everything was either made of gold or glass or marble.

Very sort of old Italy.

You know, just everything shining and perfect.

I didn't know exactly what room I was gonna get when I booked it.

At that time, the trip was quite expensive,

and I was a… a student.

But he made sure he got the best room that we could have.

I was so happy because we got the balcony, and we have this beautiful view.

We walked on the balcony,

and Nick pointed out,

"Hey look, about a floor or two below us is the lifeboats."

The lifeboats.

And I thought, "Well, I'll take a picture of that."

I've never been on a cruise ship,

and I thought, "Well, say if something like the Titanic happens…"

And I said, "It's not gonna be like the Titanic."

"I've been on cruises before. It's gonna be fantastic. You're gonna love it."

Kids, don't you dare run away from here!

When we first got on board, it was pretty amazing.

We met with someone that asked us

what we wanted to do for the rest of the week.

We set up a spa day, and it just was so exciting, right?

This was all happening so fast.

We had just gotten to our room. Now we're walkin' around.

As we're walkin', I'm taking pictures of everything.

One of the amazing things about cruising

is that it's going to provide you with everything.

And so for me, especially as a new mom,

that made it really easy.

There were endless restaurants of every type,

you know, theaters, shows, casino.

The only difficulty, really, is how to spend your time

in terms of how many choices there are.

I remember an ice cream bar where you could make your own sundaes,

and I feel like it was 24 hours a day,

you could just eat ice cream if you wanted.

This was back when The Walking Dead was kinda big,

and so we'd always play a game.

You know, "If zombies attacked, where would you go,

and what weapon would you use to either fight or get out?"

Like, "Where would you go? Would you go out that way or that way?"

And if it's a slow zombie, where's the weapon you can use to stop it?

When he would do this to me,

the first time, I told him, "I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention."

-And he's like, "Wrong!" -Exactly.

-Exactly. -"Wrong!"

"That's where you messed up."

Slowly I started to really pay attention to my surroundings.

It was a beautiful evening.

The weather was clear, a little cold because it was January.

However, it was a quiet evening like any other.

I worked with Costa for about 43 years.

You always work on a ship.

Christmas, New Year's, Easter, Saturday and Sunday.

I felt more at home on board than at home.

About 800 people worked for me on the Costa Concordia.

So by the night of Friday 13th January,

I'd been working on board for four months as a dancer.

At that point, it was absolutely my dream job.

It was literally heaven on earth.

Getting to explore the world. I was in the best shape of my life.

I had great friends.

It was magic.

On behalf of the management of Costa and the entire crew,

I am pleased and honored to welcome you on board.

I met Captain Schettino a few times.

The first time I met him was in the crew elevator.

The only thing I kind of knew about him

was that he was a newer captain to this ship.

Enjoy your cruise.

One time, my mum came to visit on board,

and he was talking with my mum,

and he was saying

that he was gonna go fishing on the island with one of his friends

but not to tell anyone

because he wasn't actually allowed to do that.

And so there was also this, like,

"Oh, he's working the system" kind of thing.

- -

That night, around nine, the captain calls me.

A few days earlier, the head waiter had asked the captain

if the ship could do a sail-by salute close to Giglio Island

since both his sister and his mother lived on the island.

He asked me if I would like to join him on the bridge for the sail-by.

To me, it sounded a bit unusual, because,

as it was night, all dark, there wasn't much to see.

But, as this was the captain's decision,

we complied.

That night, me and my boyfriend, Andrea,

decided to go up on the deck of the pool.

As I opened the door,

I felt this fresh breeze.

Everything was dark,

but it was light up by the few lights.

Sparkles just reflect on the water.

I lean out. I was watching the sea,

and Andrea, who was behind me, he hugged me.

He said, "It feels like the Titanic."

At that moment, I…

Actually, I…

I felt a little strange.

But it's crazy, right?

So you… you just… leave that… that thought behind.

And then I received this call from my mother.

She said, "We are here in the restaurant."

"They are beginning to serve dinner, so please come on, join us."

It was kind of an important dinner

because, at midnight,

it would be her birthday.

That night, we had a really nice dinner.

Can you say hi to Daddy?

But following dinner, with Lila being one, it was time for bed.

We went back to the cabin and put her down.

We just did our traditional bedtime routine.

Getting on my pajamas.

I come out of the shower, have my boxer shorts on, getting into bed.

And I remember laying down

and actually verbalizing, "I am exhausted."

Um, that was such a long day.

As we are getting closer to the island,

I see that we're getting too close,

so I mention this to the head waiter who's standing next to me.

I said, "I think we're getting a little too close."

Suddenly, the shore became clearly visible.

On this particular night,