A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s far eastern coast yesterday, tying as the sixth-strongest quake ever recorded and triggering tsunami waves that spread across the Pacific Ocean. In the United States, Hawaii faced the most serious threat at first and there were some tense moments for locals and tourists.
Hawaii’s governor urged coastal residents to evacuate immediately and Honolulu’s mayor told people to move to higher ground. According to the AP “The situation became so urgent that Maui residents and tourists spent the night sleeping in their vehicles after evacuating to elevated areas.”
As you can imagine, in an emergency like this, the roads became gridlocked, making it difficult for cruise passengers to get back to their ship, which now had to depart earlier than planned.
Demi Freeman tweeted a video from the ship of passengers sprinting to make it back. She captioned her post (embedded below) with: “Watched people sprint to make it back to our cruise today in the Hawaiian islands. Ship left 1.5 hours early due to coast guard orders and left 600+ passengers stranded on the big island. They’re currently at a high school after being turned away from other shelters..Crazy to see.”
Watched people sprint to make it back to our cruise today in the Hawaiian islands. Ship left 1.5 hours early due to coast guard orders and left 600+ passengers stranded on the big island. They’re currently at a high school after being turned away from other shelters..Crazy to see pic.twitter.com/xuGzhwFZfZ
— demi freeman (@DemiFreeman5) July 30, 2025
This was wild to witness and it’s a scenario I had never even considered before. But what is the cruise line supposed to do? They can’t wait it out in the harbor because the safest place for the ship is out at sea. Once the Coast Guard or other maritime authorities say it’s time to go, you go.
Another video (embedded below) was posted on X (formerly Twitter) from a cruise ship docked in Hilo, where you can hear the tsunami warning horns in the background.
I have family on a cruise in #Hawaii. They were on an excursion on the Big Island when they got the #tsunamialert. They made it back on the cruise ship right before it left Hilo. They said a lot of people out on excursions were left behind. You can hear the warning sirens.#Hilo pic.twitter.com/y7Co9PfvFb
— Heather Crawford (@HeatherFCN) July 30, 2025
This is another reason to consider booking a cruise excursion through the cruise line. If something like this happens, the tour guides are notified right away that the ship is leaving early and will bring passengers back immediately. If you’re on your own, you risk being left behind with no recourse.
Some of the passengers were stuck due to the traffic, but at least the cruise line will either return to pick them up or arrange and pay for their transportation to the next port.
Fortunately, the Tsunami Warning has been cancelled. The evacuation lifted and it’s now safe to return evacuated areas.
HNL Alert: 10:51 PM 07-29-2025 – HNL Alert: 10:45PM UPDATE – Tsunami Warning has been downgraded to Advisory. Evacuation lifted. Safe to return evacuated areas. Info: https://t.co/YRpptHbSzb https://t.co/vf4rdeDx5j pic.twitter.com/w5nXuYbSM1
— Oahu Emergency Mgmt. (@Oahu_DEM) July 30, 2025
In 2015, while on vacation in Waikiki with my wife, we heard the Civil Defense sirens for the first time (video embedded below). It was so loud I jumped out of bed. We had no idea what the blaring alarm was exactly, but we knew it was either a test or a warning of something serious like a tsunami. I immediately called the front desk and they told me it was just a test. The entire state of Hawaii does one on the first Friday of every month at 11:45 am (I wish someone had told me in advance). According to Hawaii 247,com, “the siren test is a steady one minute tone on all sirens. The steady tone is used to alert the public to any emergency that may pose a threat to life and property. Besides natural hazards, the Emergency Alert System could be used for terrorist incidents or acts of war.”
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