Thousands were stranded in Dockyard yesterday as the morning’s sudden suspension of ferries upset the plans of visitors.

Carrying 6,000 passengers between them, and a further 3,000 crew, the Norwegian Breakaway and Celebrity Summit were taken by surprise.

“Bermuda will take a hit for this,” one Summit passenger from Virginia said, identifying himself simply as an Exxon Mobil executive.

“If my company did something like this they’d be out of business. There are plenty of corporate people here on vacation. You don’t think they’ll go back and tell their friends that Bermuda’s great so long as the ferry’s running?”

Tourism ambassadors and public transport staff moved swiftly to organise alternative transport, but queues of hundreds piled up outside Heritage Wharf as buses immediately filled.

“This puts a bad taste in everyone’s mouth,” a Wedco employee told The Royal Gazette as he directed irate visitors to minibuses.

Guests who had purchased passes for transportation were “universally” irritated at having to pay for the minibuses, he said.

“This is a crisis situation. What we need is for Government to allow people to use their passes to ride the minibuses, or allow them to be refunded.”

Carolyn, visiting from West Virginia, said: “I hadn’t planned to spend the day in a line. This is our fifth time here, and we’ve never had an experience like this.”

Asked if she planned to return, she replied: “I’d have to think about it.”

New Jersey resident Tom, from the Breakaway, said: “The line hasn’t bad so far, but the bus yesterday was an extremely long wait. It was discouraging to spend an hour of vacation time just standing in line to get back from the beach. This is going to stop us going to St George’s today. We would never have bought three-day passes if we’d known.”

Chris, also from Virginia, said: “We bought passes and then they told us the ferry wasn’t coming. They didn’t know why. That’s what’s frustrating to a lot of us in the line.”

Queuing with her for the Hamilton and Horseshoe Beach buses was her companion Ron, who added: “We’ll think twice about coming back.”

Visitor John Williams, from New York, said he was glad he’d been able to catch the previous day’s ferry to St George’s: “If we’d made plans to go there today, that would be out,” he said. “It’s inconvenient to be stuck in line because of this. In the US, we have laws against that — in 2005, the subway workers walked out and the leadership were arrested.”

Some tourists laughed it off: “So the Democrats have come to Bermuda!” said Warner Enos, who came on the Breakaway from Virginia.

“It’s no good waiting in line when we could have been on the bus or the ferry to St George’s,” his wife Donna said, seeking shade against the nearby National Museum walls. “One good thing about it is the ship’s not leaving tonight, so we don’t have to rush back, but if they do this tomorrow there’ll be a real problem. The ship leaves at 5pm.”

A tourism ambassador, asking not to be named, said visitors had been “surprisingly accommodating”, but that a new policy was needed for the non-refundable passes as the $7 fare for a mini bus to the beach added insult to injury. A nearby woman said she had a two-day pass but would still have to pay $21 to get to Horseshoe Beach.

“We bought three-day passes,” said another. “We’re not happy.”

“It’s the impression they’ll take back that hits us in the eye,” the ambassador said. “This is the busiest period of the week, and we’ve got nearly 7,000 passengers here.”

Many visitors were older, he pointed out, and would be discomforted by standing in the sun and then standing on a packed bus.

The Traugott family, from Reading, Pennsylvania, said the stoppage had been “big news” aboard the ship, causing “dismay” when it was announced.

Both vessels arrived on Wednesday and are scheduled to depart today.

Tour boat operator Mike Gladwin said he had given lifts for free aboard his vessel Reef Explorer after finding a large group of children stranded at the Hamilton terminal.

“Apparently online I’m being made out to be the bad guy, but I don’t think the public realise I didn’t charge a penny,” he said.

“We were at the ferry terminal at 10am, and there were three summer camps and a few visitors waiting there, so we took them up to Dockyard.

“Much to my surprise, there was a line all the way down the waterfront. We offered to take our capacity and picked up 120 people. I tried to get extra boats but unfortunately they weren’t available.

“I just told people, ‘Please forgive us, be sure to come back and visit again, and don’t let this be a blemish on your time here.’”

He added: “I just don’t get it — to have this happen, on a day when there are 7,000 people in Dockyard? It’s gut wrenching.”