Tsunami waves generated by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia on Tuesday did less damage than had been feared. But some cruise passengers were distressed to learn they had been left behind when when all ships were ordered out of port by local authorities.
Tiffany Oliver and her 18-year-old daughter were part of a group from Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America that was taking part in an excursion to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the island of Hawaii when the emergency alerts began.
At 2:46 p.m., as the women rode a bus toward the park, Ms. Oliver got an alert on her phone, informing her that the National Weather Service had issued a tsunami warning and instructing her to move to higher ground. “You are in danger,” the alert read.
But the bus continued, undeterred, toward its destination. When it arrived at Volcanoes National Park, Ms. Oliver said the bus driver told them to get off and enjoy themselves. But as soon as they disembarked, park employees came running toward them, urging them to go back to the ship.
During a tsunami, it is safer for ships to be at sea than in port, where they might get washed ashore with disastrous consequences.
The bus driver turned around and began the roughly 45-minute drive back to the Port of Hilo as passengers frantically called the Norwegian customer service line and asked for the ship to be held until they got back. Polynesian Adventure Activities, the excursion’s organizer, did not respond to a request for comment.
Originally, Norwegian said it would hold the ship for them.
But at 3:38 p.m., when they were still almost 20 minutes away, the company said the ship was leaving after a request from the state’s Department of Transportation.
“In response to local emergency procedures and to prioritize the safety of our guests and crew, Pride of America was required to depart Hilo, Hawaii, immediately,” a spokeswoman for Norwegian Cruise Lines said in a statement, adding that the ship left at 4 p.m., two hours earlier than its scheduled 6 p.m. departure.
When Ms. Oliver and the other excursion members arrived at the port at 3:55 p.m., they could still see the Pride of America at the dock, she said. But as they got closer, they realized the gangplank had been pulled up and the ship was sailing away. It’s unclear how many people were left behind.
“All the passengers on the back of the ship were basically watching us just get stranded,” Ms. Oliver said. A number of the passengers posted about their predicament on social media.
Bonnie Fowler, a travel agent in Canada whose business books hundreds of cruises a year, said that Norwegian followed its protocols and that safety would be its primary concern in a situation such as Tuesday’s tsunami warnings.
“The safety of all mariners has been our top priority throughout the tsunami warning in Hawaii,” Capt. Nicholas Worst, commander of Coast Guard Sector Honolulu and captain of the Port of Honolulu, said in a statement.
After the ship departed, the excursion guests boarded their bus again and drove uphill, Ms. Oliver said. They parked outside a Macy’s and a Home Depot before eventually taking the guests to Waiakea High School, where they slept on the gym floor or in tour buses, Ms. Oliver said. The Pride of America has remained at sea, Norwegian said, waiting for permission to re-enter the port and collect its passengers.
“We have no idea at this point when we’re going to be able to get back on the cruise ship,” Ms. Oliver said.
On Wednesday morning local time, the authorities in Hawaii canceled the tsunami advisory and issued an all-clear.
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Claire Fahy reports on New York City and the surrounding area for The Times.
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