Cruise Ships Sailed to Safety Amid Tsunami Warnings, Leaving Some Passengers Behind
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.
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