A cruise ship passenger left stranded after she missed the vessel’s departure from Dockyard hailed the kindness of Bermudians who helped turn a potential nightmare into a dream trip.

Lisa Beal thanked the island this week and said its people were “wonderful”.

Her adventure began when she flew from Washington DC, where she is from, to Baltimore, and then travelled to Bermuda on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship last Tuesday for an overnight stay.

Ms Beal said: “I’d never been to the island before, but a friend mentioned it — she knew people on the island and recommended it to me.

“I wanted to celebrate my birthday and thought it was the ideal location to go to, as a woman travelling alone — beautiful and safe.”

The holiday started well. After a night in the West End and meeting up with a friend-of-a-friend the following morning, Ms Beal travelled into Hamilton to take a tour of the historic capital, led by the city’s Town Crier, Ed Christopher.

However, a series of delays on the bus ride back to Dockyard took Ms Beal from a journey of tranquility and reflection to a mild sense of panic.

She began to realise she would not make it to her destination in time for the 12.30pm ship’s departure.

The understanding bus driver stopped near Horseshoe Bay and flagged down an oncoming taxi to speed up his passenger’s journey — to no avail.

Yet it was the first of many acts of kindness on an eventful day.

Ms Beal said: “By the time I got to Dockyard I could already see my ship cruising out of the harbour and heading out to open sea. I felt lost.

“At the same time I didn’t feel angry at all. I knew that the captain of the ship had to look after the many, not the one.

“What’s more, I felt safe. I knew that everything was going to be OK. I saw it as an opportunity rather than a calamity.”

What followed was perhaps Bermuda at its best as people pitched in to do whatever they could.

Troy Pitcher of Meyer Agency, the dockside representative of the Royal Caribbean cruise company, asked for a government pilot boat to be sent out to collect Ms Beal’s belongings from the liner, which was already heading out to sea.

Pilot crews caught up with the ship and returned with a bag containing the passenger’s essentials — her passport and credit cards.

From there, a series of taxis transported the stranded visitor to the Grotto Bay Beach Resort & Spa, where Ms Beal spent the night before she returned home to the US on Thursday.

As she waited to board a BermudAir flight back to the US on Thursday, Ms Beale said: “I really can’t thank the Bermudian people enough.

“I think that most people in my situation — tourists who may be lost in a foreign country — might freak out a little bit.

“Of course it’s frustrating and it’s easy to get angry under the circumstances when you feel you’ve lost everything and don’t know what’s going on. But I just met a whole group of people who took away my anxiety and wanted to help.

“That’s what everyone who I met wanted to do.

“It could have been a negative experience. It wasn’t. It was wonderful.”

She added: “I ended up thinking, ‘well if you’re going to be stuck anywhere in the world, it might as well be on a beautiful island like this’.

“If you open up yourselves to the idea of a new door, you will find that door and open it. That’s what Bermuda did for me.

“It was my first visit to the island, but it definitely won’t be my last. The people were wonderful. Thank you Bermuda.”

A spokesman for Meyer Agency said that it was not uncommon for cruise passengers to miss their embarkation slot and be left stranded on the island.

He said: “Passengers missing ships seems now to be a weekly occurrence.

“Our team at Meyer Agencies strive to provide excellent service to the cruise lines calling Bermuda. Whether it be assisting guests or crew, all are treated the same.

“When a guest misses a ship, Troy, or other agents on duty, will wait sometimes after working hours at their offices in Dockyard until the guest shows up.

“Normally when the guests show up they are in panic mode and not sure how they will get back to their home.

“Troy goes above and beyond in first calming the guest down and assuring them all will be taken care of. If the guest has left passports on board, ship staff will retrieve it prior to departure and hand documents to the agent on duty.

“Once the guest has been located, contact is made to the ship to advise them that guest has been found and they are OK.

“Troy will then look to arranging hotel accommodations and repatriation flights back home for the guests, also, allowing guests to use his phone to call family to assure them all is OK.

“Once all is arranged, transportation is called or an agent in their own car take guests to accommodations that have been arranged. It’s all in a days work.”