Couple speaks out after dramatic rescue by Carnival cruise ship crew

By GMA Team

A couple is speaking out after a Carnival cruise ship rescued them, their crew and their dogs after their catamaran was damaged at sea in the South Pacific.

Dustin Leonard and Helena Franczak had set sail on a journey of a lifetime -- traveling the globe on their catamaran. They were joined by two crew members and their three dogs.

“We've had the dream to try and sail around the world. And we got off to a bit of a bumpy start,” Leonard told “Good Morning America.”

Dustin Leonard and Helena Franczak were rescued by the crew of the Carnival Splendor in the South Pacific.

The catamaran crew were heading to Fiji when a violent storm struck, stripping the masts off their vessel and leaving them stranded and battered by towering waves and lightning more than 170 nautical miles from the island of New Caledonia.

Courtesy of Dustin Leonard

Dustin Leonard and Helena Franczak’s catamaran.

“Everyone was quite scared,” Leonard recalled. “I was like, ‘Everybody, calm down, listen to me. At the moment, we are safe. Yes, this is not good. This is actually quite bad.’”

After shooting a flare in the sky, the crew noticed a large cruise ship -- the Carnival Splendor -- in the distance.

Following a five-hour diversion, Capt. Eduardo Ferrone of the Carnival Splendor and his crew pulled off the daring rescue on May 22.

Carnival Cruise Line

Captain Eduardo Ferrone of the Carnival Splendor.

Ferrone compared the dramatic event to riding an elephant through a china shop.

“Approaching with such a huge vessel on a small catamaran, it is really something that you need to do carefully because it takes a little mistake ... and you may sink them,” said Ferrone.

The crew on the cruise ship reached the catamaran and pulled Leonard, Franczak, their two crew members and their three dogs to safety.

“We were on our tiny boat. We saw this floating city just coming at us and then they throw a rope ladder and I looked at it. I'm like, OK, we're gonna have to climb that and it was tricky,” Franczak said.

Once on board the Carnival Splendor, the couple said the dogs became instant celebrities among the cruise passengers as they strolled the decks.

Carnival Cruise Line

Dustin Leonard and Helena Franczak pose with the three dogs they were traveling with on their catamaran in the South Pacific.

“That feeling as soon as you get on the cruise ship, there's all the staff members there and you just kind of felt this massive relief,” said Leonard.

Leonard and Franczak have since gotten engaged and joked they nearly got married on the Carnival Splendor.