The US Coast Guard said it will resume its search at first light on Friday morning local time, for a Brisbane man who went overboard from a cruise ship off Hawaii on Wednesday night.
The ship, the Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, halted its course after the incident, which took place about 500 nautical miles south of Hawaii's Big Island, and took part in the initial search for about two hours.
The cruise ship has since continued its course.
Aimee West, from Mount Isa, and her partner were on the cruise.
"There was a lot of commotion on the boat. It all started at about 9pm," she told ABC North West.
"There were a few medical emergencies so the loudspeaker was going off quite a lot.
"At about 11pm, midnight, we observed the vessel slowing down and turning around on our maps.
"We saw about five life rings that were floating in the ocean and there were search vessels and lots of lights on the water.
"They broadcast several times that there was a suspected man overboard situation and that the crews were following their procedures.
"They requested all guests return to their cabins and account for all their members and if someone was missing, to call 911 on our emergency systems here if we were missing a passenger.
"We were messaging our friends to make sure they had everyone in their party.
"To be real, for me personally it was very surreal and quite sad. It was quite confronting, we were all out trying to spot anything to help the staff.
"But it was very sad going to bed, that's for sure."
The mood on the ship was quite sombre, Ms West said.
"You can tell the crew is trying to do their best to keep spirits up for everyone else on board for the rest of their trip.
"Everyone kind of realises it's very traumatic and sad and you feel for the families involved.
"We were awake until about 1.30am and they were still searching."
Brad Hardy, from Mount Isa, said he was on deck 14 of the cruise ship when he heard the emergency broadcast.
"All the staff just dropped everything and ran to every possible vantage point on the ship," Mr Hardy said.
"We looked out of the window up on the deck and [saw] a lot of life preservers … the big rings were getting thrown overboard, at least eight or nine of those got thrown overboard.
"The ship slowed right down and then did a hard turn to the left and doubled back.
"The search lights were on from the ship's bridge as well, they rapidly deployed their 'runabout' rescue vessel off the ship and then spent the next couple of hours in the water searching around.
"Probably around 1am we started moving again.
Gayle Doe, from New South Wales, is also on board and described the ordeal as "scary and unsettling".
"We were sitting at the bar at 11 o'clock last night when we heard 'Oscar, Oscar, Oscar' which is the code for man overboard," Ms Doe said.
"There were a lot of announcements, telling us that the ship was being turned around, most people could feel the ship had changed course, it was a bit bumpy in the water.
"The crew went into their training mode, they threw lifebuoys out into the sea and they deployed their … lifesaving boats.
"Of course, it was night-time – it was black, so they had lots of spotlights on the ocean … but weren't successful [in finding the man].
"We've been told the coast guard and helicopters are still out searching in the ocean, in the area where the man went."
She said there was "a lot of sadness" on board the ship on Thursday.
"There are people who have been crying," Ms Doe said.
She said the cruise ship captain had been providing regular updates over the loudspeaker and had just confirmed there would be no further updates.
Cruise staff 'amazing'
Ms West said the Royal Caribbean cruise staff "were amazing" and have kept all passengers updated throughout the ordeal.
"We even witnessed staff when, we were in Tahiti [earlier], practising retrievals in the water," she said.
"The staff were all out on safety posts, there was not a space or inch on the boat where there wasn't a staff member shining a torch in the water."
The Honolulu Command Centre has confirmed that the person missing is an Australian man, but provided no further details.
A Royal Caribbean Cruise Line spokesperson confirmed the Quantum of the Seas departed Brisbane on April 12 and is scheduled to arrive in Honolulu on April 28.
"While on its trans-Pacific sailing, a guest onboard Quantum of the Seas went overboard," the spokesperson said.
"The ship's crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities."
