The US Coast Guard is continuing its search for an Australian man who went overboard from a Hawaii-bound cruise ship as hopes fade for the passenger's chances of survival.
The man went overboard from the Quantum of the Seas on Tuesday night, local time, nearly two weeks after the cruise left Brisbane for its journey to the Hawaiian islands.
The incident happened in the Pacific Ocean about 800 kilometres south of Kailua-Kona, on the west coast of Oahu.
The cruise ship deployed six life rings and stayed in the area for two hours before continuing on its way, with the coast guard taking over the search on Wednesday morning.
The search was suspended for the night but recommenced at first light on Thursday, or Friday morning Australian time.
The operation came as passengers left the cruise ship in Honolulu, where it docked after 15 days at sea.
One of those on board, Susan Whittington, said passengers were given little information about what had happened after they were woken at night by the ship shuddering to a halt.
"We were wondering what was going on and it was followed by an announcement over the intercom saying that a passenger had gone overboard," she told Nine's Today program.
"You couldn't really see much, just the lights searching the area, but then it was very late at night.
"It was almost impossible to see anything in the water, so we didn't hold hope for there being an outcome from it. It was quite distressing and there weren't a lot of details after that."
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