The U.S. Coast Guard said a staffing problem on shore delayed the screening of disembarking passengers.

State Department of Land and Natural Resources officials "are ensuring they have enough people in place for screening passengers," said Coast Guard Lt. John Titchen. "From the Coast Guard standpoint, no one is in violation here. This is a state issue at this point."

The 962-foot Radiance of the Seas cannot fit in Lahaina so it ties up on a mooring ball and sends passengers ashore on smaller launches, which were barred from operating this morning, Titchen said.

DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said the first passengers left for Lahaina between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m.

Passenger Alan S. Lloyd of Lanikai had planned to rent a car to drive up to Haleakala this morning but instead was stuck on the Bahamanian-flagged cruise ship, which sailed into Hawaiian waters with 2,130 passengers and a crew of 896.

"People had to cancel all of their tours that have been arranged months in advance," Lloyd said. "The captain has been very good in keeping everybody informed. We have great sympathy for the captain because he's been sandbagged."

Representatives for Miami-based Royal Caribbean, which operates Radiance of the Seas, were told this morning that new security staff were added to Lahaina on Sunday and needed time this morning to train, said company spokesman Michael Sheehan.

"We were told they needed to provide them with training this morning and that would delay our call at Lahaina from starting normally at 7 a.m. and that was taking place this morning," Sheehan said.

Any delays affect passengers' plans, which in turn affect the local economy, Sheehan said.

"A very large percentage of our guests will often make very specific plans for activities at our ports of call," he said. "So if you shorten a port call or delay a port call by four or five hours, you've significantly impacted what they can do, how they can do it and ... that also has an economic impact for the port city. You come in late and you lose the opportunity to do those things."

Radiance of the Seas set sail from Los Angeles on Oct. 21 and was scheduled to stop at Honolulu; Kailua, Kona; Hilo; and Lahaina on a 14-night cruise that would visit Ensenada, Mexico, on its way back to Los Angeles on Nov. 4, Sheehan said.

But a fishing tournament off of Lahaina disrupted the Radiance of the Seas' Maui schedule and 50-knot winds off of the Big Island meant the ship could not tie up at Hilo, Sheehan said.