It was the ship that launched a thousand headlines. A dozen years ago, the country was riveted — and, let’s face it, entertained — by the plight of more than 4,200 people adrift in the Gulf of Mexico on the Carnival Triumph after an engine room fire. A new Netflix documentary, “Trainwreck: Poop Cruise,” recounts the sordid tale, from the initial party atmosphere to the postapocalyptic scenes of passengers sleeping on pool decks, hoarding food and collecting biohazard bags to relieve themselves. By the end of the ordeal, news choppers were following the ship’s slow journey back to shore days after the voyage was meant to end.

The trip started in Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 7, 2013, and was meant to last four nights with a stop in Cozumel, Mexico, on Day 3. But on the third night, a fire broke out and the situation went from bad to worse to utterly bleak. While no one was injured, the fire knocked out power for most functions on board.

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“Sometimes there are those scenarios that come along that just grab everyone’s attention,” former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin says in the 55-minute film. “We couldn’t get enough. America couldn’t get enough.”

Here are eight big uh-oh moments detailed in the movie, part of a series that Netflix describes as “some of the most gripping, bizarre — and sometimes even horrifying — events that once dominated the mainstream media.” The documentary includes videos and photos from the cruise along with interviews with several crew members and passengers.

Early morning alarm

Passengers described a day of eating, drinking and fun in Cozumel. Some were hungover when a loud alarm and message summoning “Alpha Team” blared just before 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 10.

A former chef said he saw smoke coming from the sink’s drain. Passengers recalled people banging on their doors and seeing flames from the signature red funnel atop the vessel. Some gathered on the deck in their robes.

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“I’m like ‘Oh my God, this is it, this is the Titanic, we’re going down,’” said one guest identified as Jayme, a member of a bachelorette party.

The cruise director, Jen Baxter, said she initially wondered whether crew would have to ready the lifeboats. But after learning that the fire was out, she can be heard assuring passengers that everything was under control just before 6:15 a.m.

“Go back to your cabin, go back to bed, go have some coffee, have some breakfast,” she says.

Sudden power outage

The optimism was short-lived.

“I told my fiancée, ‘Everything’s going to be fine, we should go get some coffee,’” one man, identified as Devin, recounted. “And then the lights go out.”

Other passengers heard the air conditioning cut out. They realized their cellular service was no longer working.

An even more unsettling reality would soon set in: With only emergency power available, most of the toilets weren’t operating.

Horrifying restroom instructions

By about 8 a.m., some tough conversations were playing out. In the documentary, the cruise director recounts the effort to come up with a plan for passengers’ bathroom needs.

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The filmmakers play a recording of Baxter’s instructions to former passengers as they grimace in recognition.

“As you probably know by now, the toilets are not flushing and it’s going to start causing a little bit of a problem,” she says, telling guests to “do a number one” in the shower. For further needs, the request was more complicated and included red biohazard bags to be delivered to the rooms.

“If you do need to do a number two, we ask that you please do it in the red bag and drop it off in the bins in the corridors,” she said.

Cut to passengers’ reactions: “You want me to what?” said Devin, who was on board with his future in-laws.

“I’m not doing that,” said a man named Larry who sailed with his 12-year-old daughter.

“It was just like, ‘What world are we living in?’” Ashley, a woman who was on her bachelorette party, said. She said she immediately started taking Imodium.

Moving outside

Without air conditioning, passengers said they found little respite from the sun.

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“Inside the boat it was even worse. I mean it’ll just suffocate you in minutes because there’s nothing stirring, no air at all,” Larry said.

As night approached, passengers started setting up beds outside. The film shows people dragging mattresses down stairs, sleeping in common areas or taking over lounge chairs.

Fyre Fest-level food options

In the film, a former chef identified as Abhi said the crew threw away perishable food and started making sandwiches with whatever they could find. Video footage shows long lines wrapping around the deck.

“You would have to wait in line for two hours, then when you got up to see what it was you were waiting on, it was like a soggy bread and tomato lettuce sandwich,” Ashley the bachelorette said. (Other cruise ships met up with the Triumph to bring more food for the passengers.)

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Despite the limited choices, passengers described their fellow guests as going into “survival mode” and hoarding food to bring back to their makeshift camps.

Plan A fail

With fire damage making it impossible to steer the ship back to land, the initial plan was for the Triumph to be towed to Progreso, Mexico. But after the ship drifted north, Carnival Cruise Line had to shift to a new option — getting the ship to Mobile, Alabama, which would take much longer.

“This is going to add on a couple of days at least,” said a guest services manager identified as Stephen. “My heart just dropped out.”

After passengers were able to make cellphone calls thanks to the proximity of a ship bringing more supplies, their loved ones on land learned more about the conditions on board. News outlets started paying more attention.

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“Now the cat’s out of the bag,” says Buck Banks, a public relations consultant who described working with Carnival on the response. “The snowball has started to roll, and there’s no stopping it.”

(Briefly) open bar

Passengers described how the news of the delay came as showers started backing up and bathrooms grew increasingly disgusting. Devin, the passenger on board with future in-laws, recounted his ultimately successful search for a working toilet to avoid the dreaded red-bag solution.

One crew member said that — in light of Carnival’s reputation as the “Fun Ship” cruise line — someone decided to start offering free drinks at the bar.

“I was definitely against the idea,” Baxter said.

While the booze distracted guests for a while, crew members and passengers said chaos followed, with some people urinating off the side of the ship, throwing their biohazard bags onto lifeboats and getting into fights.

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“It just was like, ‘We’ve got to put a stop to this,’” Baxter said. “Close the bar.”

A ‘tipping point’

As tugboats pulled the ship and rougher weather rolled in, guests said, the ride became more rocky.

“This was probably the tipping point,” Devin said. Videos showed people reacting to overflowing sewage and soaked carpets in one of the queasiest segments of the documentary.

“You’re walking down the hallway and all of a sudden squish, squish, squish, squish,” he said. “And you know what you’re standing in.”

The ship arrived in Mobile the night of Feb. 14, greeted by worried family members, many news cameras and the hashtag #cruiseshipfromhell. At least one passenger kissed the ground after walking onto land. Many praised the efforts of the crew.

Carnival Cruise Line, which did not participate in the documentary, said in a statement that the 2013 incident “was a teachable moment for the entire cruise industry.” The statement said an investigation revealed a “design vulnerability,” which prompted the cruise operator to spend more than $500 million fleet-wide in improvements.

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“We are proud of the fact that since 2013 over 53 million guests have enjoyed safe and memorable vacations with us, and we will continue to operate to these high standards,” the statement said.

The cruise industry adopted a “passenger bill of rights” in the aftermath of the ordeal, detailing what cruise lines will do for guests in case of emergency. They include refunds if a trip is cut short or canceled because of mechanical problems, the right to timely information and updates about itinerary changes, and the right to an emergency power source if a main generator fails.