In a terrifying twist straight out of a disaster movie, dozens of American cruise passengers were left stranded on the Big Island of Hawaii on July 29 when Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America abruptly pulled anchor and fled port — just hours after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake near Russia sparked tsunami warnings across the Pacific.
“It’s crazy. It’s chaos. Nobody knows what’s going on,” said TikTok user @mandythecruiseplanner, one of several furious guests left behind as the ship unexpectedly sailed out of Hilo two hours ahead of schedule. “Our bus driver had no idea what was happening. People on the ship — we have family on the ship — they’re terrified for us. We’re terrified for us.”
@mandythecruiseplanner The ship is leaving is. They are taking us to higher ground. #cruise #cruisetok #prideofamerica #tsunami #ncl ♬ original sound – mandythecruiseplanner
@demifreeman Actually insane. We are going to be in the middle of the tsunami in the ocean 🤣🤣🤣 #fyp #foryoupage #tsunami #cruise #hawaii #weather ♬ Jet2 Advert – ✈️A7-BBH | MAN 🇬🇧
Ship needs to be at sea for the tsunami, the farther from land the better.
Those 3 foot ‘Tsunami waves’ didn’t amount to much… this time…
This takes our family back 65-years to May 23, 1960 when a 35-foot tsunami hit Hilo and our home resulting in 282 injuries and 61 deaths impacting hundreds of businesses and homes.