Tsunami panic as cruise ships abandon passengers at dock following 8.8-magnitude earthquake
Tourists in Hawaii were stranded after cruise ships left ports early amid tsunami concerns sparked by the earthquake that occurred off Russia Wednesday morning. Footage of their maritime marooning has amassed over 170,000 views on TikTok.
The titanic 8.8 magnitude temblor, which was the strongest the world has witnessed in the last 14 years, had reportedly struck off the coastal city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia's far east.
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This prompted evacuation orders in Hawaii, Russia, Alaska, the US West coast and Japan, which was hit by a five-foot wave.
3 'We made it to the port, but the ship is leaving,' said Texas tourist @mandythecruiseplanner in one of the videos. 'The ship is leaving and now we're going to higher ground, and people are upset.'
TikTok / @mandythecruiseplanner
Meanwhile, waves between 3.9 and 5.7 feet were reported off the Hawaiian Islands as evacuees scrambled to higher ground. Meanwhile, cruise ships disembarked from port so they could head to deeper water, leaving sightseers stranded at the port.
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In the above clip, posted by user @demifreeman, passengers are seen frantically running along the dock as they scramble to board their pleasure boat before it sets sail.
'POV: tsunami in Hawaii and your cruise is leaving without people. Actually insane,' read the clip's text.
'Actually insane,' the uploader wrote in the caption. 'We are going to be in the middle of the tsunami in the ocean.'
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Big Island tourist @mandythecruiseplanner posted a series of clips depicting a busload of tourists who had also missed the boat amid the tsunami scare.
'We made it to the port, but the ship is leaving,' the bedraggled Texan lamented in one of the videos. 'The ship is leaving and now we're going to higher ground, and people are upset.'
She added, 'This is not me making light of the situation, this is me just saying it's crazy, it's chaos, nobody knows what's going on, our bus driver had no idea what's happening.
3 Passengers scramble to board the cruise ship as it disembarks from its port in Hawaii amid the tsunami scare.
TikTok / @demifreeman
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3 An image from the US Geological Survey (USGS) showing the epicenter of an 8.7 earthquake that hit off of Russia's far east on July 30, 2025.
US Geological Survey/AFP via Getty Images
Meanwhile, UK tourist Rachel Burrows told BBC Breakfast that she was heading back to her cruise ship following a group tour 'volcanic area of the Big Island' when travelers and locals started receiving 'emergency warnings' on their phones.
'So he (the tour guide) brought us back to the cruise ship, but it was really scary because all the sirens started going off around the area,' she recalled. 'We got off the tour bus and everyone was just running, trying to get on the ship.
The petrified traveler added. 'They were closing the ship off because we needed to get out to sea. We were one of the last ones to get on the ship and people were left on the island and told to get on higher ground.'
Burrows added that a total of 600 people didn't make it onto the ship and had to head for the hills, the Daily Mail reported.
Hawaiian authorities have since downgraded the tsunami threat from a warning to an advisory but urged residents to remain vigilant while traveling home.
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In the event of a tsunami warning, cruise ships are advised to move to water that's at least 180 feet to avoid the impact of the waves, Cruise Hive reports. Tsunamis are most dangerous in shallow water as they approach the shore.
'If at sea, avoid entering shallow water, harbors, marinas, bays, and inlets to avoid floating and submerged debris and strong currents,' the site warns. 'In general, the further from the epicenter a location is, the impact will lessen, though the energy of these powerful waves can travel thousands of miles before fully dissipating.'
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