When he and Camacho were ready to jump in, they were told there wasn’t enough room. Frantically, they went to “three, four’’ more rafts, he said, denied access each time. Finally, the normally soft-spoken, shy Hernandez said he shouted: ‘I’m getting in and you can’t stop me!’ and the two forced their way onto the raft.

Then, more panic.

The raft wouldn’t detach from the ship, and everyone bolted.

“No one knew what was going on,’’ Camacho said. “I’ve been on cruises before from the United States. They give you safety classes before you leave. They tell you, ‘This is where you have to be in case of emergency.’ Here they did nothing. They knew nothing.

“It was chaos.’’

Said Hernandez: “I was scared, but I didn’t let her know.’’

He grabbed his wife’s hand and led her back through the dining room to the other side of the ship. This time, instead of going up, they slid all the way down on the floor filled with food and beverage, toward the submerged portion of the massive vessel, using couches to cushion their arrival. “There was glass all over,’’ Camacho said. “Tables. Chairs. It was dark. It was slippery.

“My husband just kept saying, ‘Keep going!’ I cut my finger, I hurt my knee, but we got to the other side. It felt like we were skating.’’

They finally entered an orange raft from the fourth floor of the ship, but the vessel was tilted so far down that “we were maybe two feet from the water,’’ Hernandez said.

The two were taken to Giglio off the Tuscan coast, then ferried to a bus that took them to a school. Later, they were driven 2 ½ hours to Rome, where they reunited with their new friends. The 100-plus U.S. citizens onboard had an informal meeting among themselves, which included Aventura honeymooners David and Denise Saba. But Camacho said she didn’t know when they were staying Sunday night.

“We are freaking survivors!’’ said Kois, who attended Melrose Elementary and Robert E. Lee Junior High when she lived in Miami, and would have gone to Miami Jackson High had she not moved to New York. “Karen and Manny are wonderful people,’’ she said of her new Miami friends.

Added Kaelin: “We’ve bonded. Now it’s like we’re related.’’

Camacho and Hernandez would like to leave next Sunday on their originally scheduled flight back to Miami. But if they get “kicked out’’ of the hotel, presumably being paid by the cruise company, Camacho said, they’ll have to find a way to change flights and leave earlier.

She said she’s willing to take another cruise – as long as it originates in the United States.

He said he’s afraid, at least for now.

Both appreciate life more than ever.

“From now on I’m going to live every moment like it’s my last,’’ Camacho said. “You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow.’’