Cruise ship passengers left stranded at Dockyard after they were unable to buy bus or ferry passes have received an apology from the Ministry of Tourism and Transport.

The tourists on the Costa Magica landed in Bermuda a day late last Thursday due to stormy weather at sea. High demand from them for travel passes meant the Visitor Information Centre and Ferry Terminal at Dockyard both ran out of supplies.

A Government spokeswoman said last night that the visitors' shortened stay on the Island to one day rather than two meant there was a higher demand for travel passes than had been expected.

"This resulted in a temporary shortage in passes," she said. "However, Ministry officials advised that depleted supplies were restocked later in the morning."

She said the Ministry apologised for any inconvenience caused to the visitors, adding that all Visitor Information Centres would be "fully stocked with transportation passes and information materials in the future".

An employee at one of Dockyard's visitor attractions — who asked not to be named — said: "I'm concerned about how the tourists were treated. There were buses and ferries but nobody could buy tickets.

"What little they had ran out early in the morning. People came in really agitated. They were upset because of the bad weather they'd experienced and they wanted to go and explore the Island but they had no way of getting there without the tickets. It was just really disorganised and we were getting the brunt of it in the shops."

She added: "Most were elderly so there were a lot of wheelchairs and walking sticks. I don't know what happened to them in the end. We told them to just go on and demand to be taken."

The woman said: "The transportation people need to get their act together What it boils down to is that they are really letting the cruise ship passengers down badly."

The Costa Magicais an occasional visitor to Bermuda, carrying almost 3,000 guests and more than 1,000 crew. It is operated by Costa Crociere S.p.A., an Italian company based in Genoa. Costa Crociere S.p.A. could not be contacted for comment yesterday.