"It was terrible, we were all so sorry that we were enjoying ourselves while people were [dying]," she said.
"It was very sombre on board. A lot of crying. A lot of people crying for many, many days, even up to yesterday there were still tears. It was so painful, it broke my heart."
She said the ship crew handled everything well.
"Our captain was wonderful. He kept popping up and making announcements to let us know. Royal Caribbean did a brilliant job," she said.
Anderson said passengers were aware something was up when the bags of passengers began to be removed from rooms and taken away.
"All we could do was pray for all these poor people, and keep praying for them."
Speaking to Nine News, passenger Troy said many on the ship were unaware what had happened at first.
"On the day the captain was calling for people to report to guest services. We thought maybe people were [running] late and it was later on that we heard what had happened," he said.
"We didn't really find out a great deal of info until probably 6.30, 7.30 that night and they told us there had been an incident."
"They were trying to stay upbeat and happy and do what they could but you could tell they were hurting. I think the captain was breaking down crying a fair bit."
VOLCANO 'HAD BEEN PLAYING UP'
Passenger Karen Kociszewski said there were rumours something was wrong on the day.
"We were waiting to leave Tauranga and they kept calling for people, so we just assumed they were running late.
"From what we read that volcano's been playing up since October, so I do think people should not have been taken. Someone needs to be held accountable, definitely the cruise company, because it's sad people aren't going home."
Kociszewski said Royal Caribbean should have "done their homework".
"You sign a waiver to say that, you know, you go there and if you break your ankle you're not going to sue them, but you don't go there thinking this is going to happen.