BEIRUT, Lebanon — A cruise ship sailed into Beirut late yesterday, delayed by an Israeli naval blockade amid fierce criticism that the American effort to evacuate 25,000 Americans fleeing Middle East fighting had lagged behind Europe’s. The commander of the Fifth Fleet said the ship would begin boarding evacuees at dawn.

“We’re trying to move quickly, trying to move large numbers of people as fast as we can,” Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh, the top American naval officer in the Middle East, said. A larger commercial vessel also would be used, he said, and a Pentagon spokesman said the American government was considering hiring as many as four more cruise ships to carry Americans.

Thousands of Europeans already have fled the country, which is under fierce Israeli air attack, in one of the largest mass evacuations of Westerners worldwide in decades.

Earlier in the day, 320 Americans, mostly children, students, and the elderly, left by military helicopter and a European ship. American Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman told the Associated Press more than 1,000 Americans would depart today.

The White House defended asking Americans to reimburse the estimated $150 cost of their passage, and the ambassador said the evacuation’s slow start was intended to safeguard Americans.

“We at the embassy don’t have the experience to move a lot of people,” Mr. Feltman said.”Luckily, the U.S. government does. Security and safe travel were what’s on our minds.”

An estimated 8,000 of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon want to leave.

European countries began moving hundreds of their citizens to Cyprus on Monday. Nearly 1,000 were on a Swedish-chartered ship that left Beirut yesterday, and a British warship and Greek frigate transported nearly 600 of those countries’ nationals away from Lebanon.

Canada also has yet to start large-scale evacuations, but has ships headed to Beirut.

A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said the primary concern was that people be taken out in a safe and organized manner. He said the Beirut port was working at a higher capacity than normal, making it challenging to get ships from various countries in and out.

The Orient Queen, the ship that docked late yesterday, had been carrying a number of Lebanese passengers, and “we needed to do some coordination” to allow them to pass through the Israeli naval blockade of Lebanon and leave the ship in Beirut, Mr. Whitman said.

Outside the gates of the American Embassy, Californian Elie Kawkabani, who lives in Beirut, said he was angry about the delay.

“The embassy is providing us with sketchy information and they are being rude to us here at the gate,” he said. “We have other options, like leaving through Syria, but they keep stringing us along day after day.”

A White House spokesman, Tony Snow, said America has determined it was not safe to travel by road. He added, “We understand the anxieties of people in Lebanon.”

To get on board a ship or helicopter, Americans must sign a note pledging to reimburse the American government. They will be charged the price of a single commercial flight to Cyprus from Beirut — usually $150–$200, although officials refused to specify.

If they have no money to fly onward, they also will be asked to guarantee reimbursement of the price of an airline ticket to America from Cyprus.

Mr. Snow said the government has to charge evacuees because of a 2003 law. “I dare say that it’s something that is causing heartburn for a number of people, but it’s the law,” he said.

The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, objected, saying it was not Congress’s intent to prevent evacuations by making people sign a commitment to pay.

“A nation that can provide more than $300 billion for a war in Iraq can provide the money to get its people out of Lebanon,” Ms. Pelosi told CNN.

Some other European countries, including the Netherlands, said they asked for repayment but did not expect it in many cases.

The Orient Queen had been on a cruise of the eastern Mediterranean with 400 people aboard, mostly Lebanese. It was supposed to have returned to Beirut three days ago but was unable to do so because of the Israeli blockade, an American official in Beirut said. While it was in Cyprus, America chartered it to evacuate Americans.