Here is the situation. After opening the hotel (but before the ship arrived), I saved the game. Then, the ship arrived and I watched the passengers disembark and travel to the hotel lobby. I also saw the orange balloons above their heads with numbers, but nothing explained what they were. I assigned them to rooms, but after doing so I figured out what they meant and how they correlate to the rooms (or so I think). I also believed that I had made a mistake in assigning them rooms, in that I assigned a 2 guest to a 1 room, although I can't be certain a mistake was made. Regardless, I exited and loaded the save that I had made. Now, the passengers no longer disembark but instead simply appear on land between the dock and the hotel building, and they no longer have the orange balloons over their heads. Additionally, having assigned them, the quest moves on to "Talk to Maklo" but his talk balloon is grey. No matter where I move him, I can't initiate his talk option. Additionally, the guests seem stuck in their locations, typically in their rooms. Time progresses, but only the father-son duo actually move about.

I saved at this point as well. Closing the game and completely restarting the game does not resolve the issue regardless of which save I open, either the "Talk to Maklo" point or the one prior to the guests arrival - they still simply appear on land and lack the orange balloons. Assigning the guests still result in a uncommunicative Maklo.

If you can tell me where to find the save game files, I would be happy to post them for you to investigate.