Video shows towering swells cruise ships have encountered

Passengers onboard a P+O cruise captured footage of towering ocean swells battering the side of the ship as Tropical Cyclone Alfred hovers off the Queensland coast.

Pacific Encounter, which carries 2600 passengers, made its safe return to Brisbane's port on Tuesday as some cruise liners diverted away from the state's south-east.

Videos taken by passengers on the cruise showed huge ocean waves, stormy weather and gale-force winds.

LIVE UPDATES: Cyclone Alfred bears towards south-east Queensland as emergency preparations get underway

It was a bumpy ride for cruisegoers as the Encounter pulled into the port last night.

Frequent cruiser Leisa Hassall said she wasn't fussed by the ship's movements as it sailed into Brisbane, while Alfred made a U-turn overnight.

"It wasn't that bad for us, but some people had a difficult time coping with the wave," Hassall said in a video on social media.

"The captain did an excellent job to steer us away from it and to go into the waves rather than be rolled by waves."

READ MORE: Where and when Cyclone Alfred will make landfall

The Bureau of Meteorology warned yesterday that "abnormally high" ocean tides of up to 9m high and destructive winds were forecast as Alfred nears the coast.

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Alfred is currently moving south-west at about 20km/h, and its wind gusts could get incredibly strong once it hits the coast.

"Destructive wind gusts of up to 155 kilometres per hour may develop about the exposed coastal and island locations near and to the south of the track as Alfred's destructive core approaches and crosses the coast late Thursday or early Friday," the BoM's update yesterday said.

READ MORE: How to prepare for Tropical Cyclone Alfred and what to expect

While the Pacific Encounter docked in Brisbane, other cruise ships headed for the south-east coast chose to find alternative ports.

The Queen Anne, which is currently on its maiden voyage, is one of the diverted vessels.

Carnival Luminosa has chosen to avoid Brisbane's port until March 7, keeping passengers onboard while it waited out the storm near New Caledonia.

All shipping operations at the Port of Brisbane have now been suspended as Cyclone Alfred barrels towards the coast.

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