An investigation has begun to find out why a 34,000 ton cruise ship ran aground on a reef between Spanish Point and Dockyard temporarily stranding more than 1,600 passengers and crew.

It is thought the reef struck by the early yesterday morning has most likely been ruined.

The ship remained aground for most of the day until high tide in the evening finally lifted the Norwegian Cruise Line vessel clear of the underwater obstruction allowing it to be sailed to nearby Dockyard.

Bermuda was shrouded in dark, low cloud and pounding rain when the ship came to grief attempting to enter the Dundonald Channel outside Grassy Bay at 8.25 a.m.

A pilot boat, under the guidance of a local mariner, was bringing the ship in for its scheduled docking at Hamilton when the cruise ship shuddered to a halt after hitting a reef.

The damage caused to Bermuda?s marine environment by the incident is still to be assessed. Bad weather and stirred up sediment made it impossible to view the underwater area yesterday.

An early inspection of the cruise ship, which had sailed earlier in the day from St. George?s, appeared to show no puncture marks to her hull.

There were 1,150 passengers and 500 crew members on board when the accident occurred. No-one was reported hurt.

An attempt was made shortly after the ship ran aground to pull her clear. Three tugboats attempted to haul the ship backwards off the reef but with low tide approaching the ship did not budge and it was soon stuck fast with its bow raised in a shallow upwards angle.

Halfway through the day passengers were able to disembark the stranded ship and reach Hamilton using a ferry tender boat, many using the rainy and curtailed excursion to the city to visit shops and restaurants before being taken back out to the cruise ship in the late afternoon.

When high tide came at 6.40 p.m. the ship freed itself from the reef and was redirected to King?s Wharf at Dockyard.

Acting Premier Paula Cox last night said she was pleased the ship had been safely removed from the reef and there appeared to be no damage to her hull.

She said the day had been a long one with every Ministry involved going over possible scenarios to ensure procedures were in place if the situation grew worse, and added: ?I want to convey a debt of gratitude to the sound technical advice of the Director of Marine and Ports Francis Richardson and his team along with the Department of Maritime Administration and most importantly, the skill and acumen of the tug crews of the and .?

And she said an investigation was underway to ascertain the cause of the incident, although unable to comment on specifics.

Director of Environmental Protection, Dr. Thomas Sleeter, said the reef which the ship hit was more than likely ruined, though his team were unable to view it yesterday because there was too much sediment in the water.

In a statement Norwegian Cruise Line said: ?Present indications are that the integrity of the ship has not been affected. A full damage assessment will be conducted by a team of divers.

?NCL continues to work with local authorities to determine what caused the ship to run aground.?

Put-out cruise ship passengers filed out of Customs on Front Street at lunchtime soaked from the rain, some wrapped in towels or plastic rain ponchos, but determined to make the most of their curtailed time in Hamilton.

Elise Cranshaw, from Seattle, said: ?We hit a sand bar. We went out of the channel a little bit just opposite Dockyard.

?It wasn?t that bad but we were disappointed because we?re missing Hamilton, but it?s raining anyway.?

Pat Feiffer, from Florida, was very disappointed as this was her and her husband?s first cruise and marked their 50th wedding anniversary for which they had been saving for 13 years. Her husband added that he expected Norwegian Cruise Lines to give a refund and free cruise.

Skipp Stark, of Pennsylvania, claimed no-one on the ship ?was the least bit apologetic? and he was upset there were no extended courtesies and that all their tours were cancelled. Mr. Stark said the cruise ship should have made people comfortable and happy and given a serious apology, but as of then had not even said sorry. His wife Sally added: ?They should have at least offered a free drink.?

Joyce Holloway, from Philadelphia, was not as upset by the boat running aground as she was about the way in which they were taken to Hamilton on the ferry. She said: ?There were 650 people on that little boat, like cattle, everybody had to stand. That was the disgrace.?

She also said it had taken more than an hour for the tender boat to be fully boarded before it made its trip to Hamilton, however she said she would ?make the best of it? hanging out in a bar as an afternoon?s activity because of the rain.

Fellow passenger Valerie Stadulise planned to hit the shops for her few hours ashore.

A group from Maryland had taken pictures on a digital camera. They displayed a view of the cruise ship taken from the ferry with its bow completely out of the water and said that they all felt the boat shudder as it ground to a halt on the sand. ?The whole boat felt it,? said Joe Hudson-Martin.

Guy Gnagy laughed: ?They weren?t in the channel where they were supposed to be.?

Liz Hudson-Martin explained there had been three tug boats at one point trying to dislodge the ship but without success.

This is the couple?s first time in Bermuda and their first cruise, she added: ?They didn?t tell us anything over the loudspeaker until an hour later,? and claimed about 500 people had been looking at the tug boats off the back of the boat wondering what was happening before they were updated.

When the Hudson-Martins and Mr. Gnagy were asked what their plans were for the rest of the day they said: ?They shot all our plans.?

The visitors had planned to go helmet diving, but it had been cancelled. For Dayna Zatina, 21, from Connecticut and boyfriend Scott Egan, 22, from New Jersey, were on the cruise to celebrate graduating from college and said the first they knew something was amiss was when the ship started to vibrate and began to tilt.?There was no panic, but there was a lack of communication. We were having breakfast at the time.?

Jake Smith, 28, of New Jersey, said there had been one tugboat, then two and finally three trying to haul the ship backwards without success. He said the captain had made announcements at regular intervals to keep passengers up to date, he added: ?They said it had never happened before.?

Asked if it had spoiled his vacation, he replied: ?How can you complain when you are on a vacation to Bermuda where the worst day here would not even compare to your best day back home at work.?

A number of passengers said there appeared to be no clear plan of action by the crew to inform passengers what to do.

Taryn Heisler from Pennsylvania and her mother Michelle Heisler said it seemed to take a while for things to be organised and added: ?We kept going to crew members but we got different directions at different times.?

Ms Heisler said: ?They can?t tell us anything at this point. I would settle at this point with $100 off my next cruise.?

Not so happy was Faith Cutrona, from Arizona, who said: ?It stinks. We should have been off the ship four hours ago. We wasted our day. This is our 12th cruise with them and it?s never happened before.?

Joanne Gomez, from Pennsyvania, said: ?They said we would be free in 45 minutes, then a third tugboat came and we still did not move. No-one panicked. Everyone went to watch the tugboats then people started asking ?what about the excursions??

?They announced there was going to be a tender boat and then there was a mad rush. What has happened is not Bermuda?s fault.?

New Jersey resident Trish Short added: ?I?ve been here before and I?d come back again. It is a beautiful place and we can shop today, the rain will not stop us.? Lynn Ring, from Orlando, who is on vacation with husband Ron, said they were in the library when the accident happened and they noticed something was wrong because the view of Bermuda out the window was not moving. She added: ?The captain kept us informed. This is our first time in Bermuda, it is beautiful, but we would have liked to have had more time in Bermuda.?

The cruise ship had sailed from Philadelphia and is scheduled to return to the US city on Sunday.