A magnitude 8.7 earthquake originating off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula triggered a widespread tsunami warning across the Pacific, impacting Hawaii and forcing Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America to depart from Hilo harbor several hours ahead of schedule.

Originally scheduled for a 6:00 PM Hawaii Standard Time (HST) departure on July 29, the cruise ship’s plans were suddenly changed following the tsunami warning, which projected potential wave impacts along the Hawaiian coastline around 7:00 PM HST.

Many passengers and crew were still in port and not able to get back to the ship before the vessel was forced to pull away from the port and head for deeper waters.

This is a typical procedure for tsunami warnings, as a vessel in deeper water will barely even notice a tsunami traveling beneath it, and it’s much safer for the ship and all on board if the ship is away from the port if and when a tsunami strikes.

Passengers on shore excursions were caught off guard as you can imagine. One cruiser, Jeffrey Booker, spoke with ABC15 with the Pride of America visible in the distance.

He had been visiting Volcano National Park when the alarm sounded.

“We saw the tsunami warning go off on our phones and then one of the tour operators from our cruise ship, the Pride of America, said everyone back to the ship fast as you can. Um ship’s leaving at 3:30 [HST].”

But as Booker was still a ways away from the port, he knew it was going to be a challenge.

“We knew at that point we weren’t going to make it. So, it’s uh it’s pulling away now,” Booker recounted as the video shows the ship beginning to pull away from the pier.

Cut off from the ship, Booker described their situation as “uncharted territory.” They had to figure out their next steps, including managing their rental car and finding last-minute accommodations.

“When you heard about this tsunami, what were your emotion like?” he was asked by the interviewer, to which he replied, “Well, we were at 3,000 plus feet…. And it didn’t immediately dawn on us that that was going to affect the ship. Should have. Should have. Next time if I get a tsunami warning, I’m going straight to the ship.”

ENTIRE west coast is now under a Tsunami warning….the cruise ship “The Pride of America” which is a NCL ship…just left the port in Hawaiii and all the folks who were on an excursion have been told to….find higher ground! Guess they will come back and get them…later!!

— BRIAN!! (@BrianSimpsonKY) July 30, 2025

The ship’s tracking data on CruiseMapper corroborates this early departure. Tracking clearly shows the Pride of America moving away from the Hilo cruise ship dock and into the open waters of the bay.

This was done about two and a half hours before its scheduled departure and aligns with standard maritime safety protocols during tsunami warnings, where deep ocean is considered the safest environment for large vessels.

This move, while very important for the safety of the ship and the majority of its passengers, unfortunately resulted in some cruisers on shore excursions being unable to return to the Pride of America in time.

These passengers face the unexpected challenge of navigating the tsunami warning from land as they listen to local authorities.

Pride of America is currently about 4 miles from the port and traveling at 15 knots in moderate 5-foot waves.

This is a developing story, and updates will be made as new information comes in.