Cruise passengers expecting to visit Kauai, Hawaii, this week faced a scary "man overboard" alert. 

The Emerald Princess was about to enter a port at Nāwiliwili Harbor on the southeast side of the island on Feb 10. As the ship approached, a harbor pilot who was climbing a rope ladder from a pilot boat next to the ship slipped and fell into the water, according to Kauai Now and other accounts. 

"Scary situation off the coast of Kaua‘i on the [Princess Cruises] Emerald Princess," user whereswaltertravel — otherwise known as travel agent and founder Walter Biscardi Jr. of Florida — wrote in a Feb. 10 Instagram post.

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"Our pilot slipped on the ladder trying to board the ship in very rough weather conditions," he added. Biscardi was a passenger on the cruise. 

Witnesses said the pilot tried multiple times to board the ship during rough seas before he lost his footing. 

One passenger said the harbor pilot fell around 10 to 20 feet from the ship’s hull, not alongside it.

The crew on the boat worked quickly to rescue the pilot. Video shows that the man was pulled back onto the small vessel within minutes. 

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He did not seem to be injured, according to Cruise Hive.

"Fortunately, the crew on the boat were able to retrieve him safely," Biscardi wrote on Instagram. 

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"Our port call is waived … but none of that matters when a life and death situation unfolds."

After the cruise's port call on Kauai was canceled due to the emergency, it traveled on to Maui — where the ship was slated for its next port call.

"Thanks to God for a quick recovery and a well-trained crew … [the harbor pilot] is healthy and fine," a passenger told Cruise Hive. 

"I am amazed [at] how [the] well-trained and efficient Emerald staff handled everything quickly and professionally. Well done, crew."

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Fox News Digital reached out to Princess Cruise Line for comment.

The 3,090-passenger cruise ship departed Los Angeles on Feb. 4 for a 16-night Hawaii voyage, with Kauai scheduled as the first port call.

Trish Walters of Portland, Oregon, another passenger, recounted the frightening incident on social media.

Replying to a Facebook post by her husband, she mentioned how choppy the waters were that day.

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"Very windy — and kinda scary," Walters wrote. 

"We could see the breakwaters for the Kaua‘i port, but the ship needed lots of room to fit into the harbor; the wind was pushing us pretty good, so the captain and port folks decided it was too dangerous to try."

Strong winds caused massive breaking waves along the shorelines of the island, according to Cruise Hive.

The National Weather Service recently issued a high surf advisory.

"We will come back to visit another day," Biscardi said. 

"Thankful for the safety of the pilot and for the work all pilots do to help make our cruises amazing."

The federal government has entered its third partial shutdown of the last half-year after Congress failed to reach an agreement on all 12 of its annual spending bills.

Unlike past shutdowns, however, this one just affects the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It comes after Democrats walked away from a bipartisan deal to fund the department amid uproar over President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

And while some 97% of the federal government has been funded at this point, a DHS shutdown will still have effects on everyday Americans — effects that will become more apparent the longer the standoff continues.

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Disruptions to the TSA, whose agents are responsible for security checks at nearly 440 airports across the country, could perhaps be the most impactful part of the partial shutdown to Americans’ everyday lives.

Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday that around 95% of TSA employees — roughly 61,000 people — are deemed essential and will be forced to work without pay in the event of a shutdown.

"We heard reports of officers sleeping in their cars at airports to save money on gas, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet," she said of the last shutdown.

But it would take some time before TSA funding could translate to delays. TSA agents, like other essential federal workers, received back pay once the shutdown was over. Those who did not miss shifts also got a $10,000 bonus for added relief.

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TSA paychecks due to be issued on March 3 could see agents getting reduced pay depending on the length of the shutdown. Agents would not be at risk of missing a full paycheck until March 17.

If that happens, however, Americans could see delays or even cancellations at the country’s busiest airports as TSA agents are forced to call out of work and get second jobs to make ends meet.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is one of the largest and most critical recipients of federal funding under DHS.

Associate Administrator of the Office of Response and Recovery Gregg Phillips told lawmakers on Wednesday that FEMA has enough funds to continue disaster response through a shutdown in the immediate future, but that its budget would be strained in the event of an unforeseen "catastrophic disaster."

That means Americans hit by an unexpected natural disaster during the shutdown could see delayed federal reimbursement for their homes and small businesses.

Others who have already lived through a natural disaster in the last year but still have not received their checks — FEMA is currently working through a backlog worth billions of dollars — could see that relief delayed even further during the shutdown.

"In the 45 days I've been here … we have spent $3 billion in 45 days on 5,000 projects," Phillips said. "We're going as fast as we can. We're committed to reducing the backlog. I can't go any faster than we actually are. And if this lapses, that's going to stop."

American business owners who rely on certain types of worker visas could see processing times extended during a DHS shutdown.

That's because United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) programs are run under DHS and are responsible for processing most immigration applications as well as temporary visas.

The majority of those programs are funded by fees and are largely untouched. However, areas like e-Verify, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program, Conrad 30 J-1 doctors, and non-minister religious workers all rely on funding appropriated by Congress, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

USCIS could allow employers to use alternate processes if e-Verify is disrupted during a shutdown, but it's not clear how much time it would add to business owners' day-to-day responsibilities to learn a new route for that paperwork.