Gun-shaped key almost ruins couple’s cruise
<p>A couple from Florida were stopped as they were trying to board their Carnival cruise due to a house key that was shaped like a gun.</p>
<p>Henry Echevarria, a deputy sheriff, was stopped by a security guard at the entrance of the cruise.</p>
<p>"He pulls out my key and says 'Oh, here's the problem,” said Henry.</p>
<p>Henry was shocked a key would get flagged as a dangerous item and tried to explain to the security guard that the key could not be used as a weapon and would not pose a threat to cruise travellers.</p>
<p>"First of all, you can't even get your finger in the hole if it was a gun and you can barely get a finger around the grip," he said. "They say I can't have it. I can't get on the boat. I either need to get rid of it take it back or not cruise."</p>
<p>Henry chose to keep his key in the ship’s safe until returning home from his holiday. He was concerned that cruise ship staff who had access to his address would be able to make a replica of his key and break in.</p>
<p>Henry has reached out to the cruise company to get an explanation. He has travelled with them before and not had any issues with his house key.</p>
<p>"So far the one time I called to speak with customer service ‘John’ kept trying to blame the security company and would not get that the supervisor from Carnival was the one who ultimately took my house key and placed it in a safe at Port Canaveral," Henry said. </p>
<p>Although Cruise Carnival did not reply to Henry, the vice president of corporate communications emailed a statement to Fox News.</p>
<p>"While our Prohibited Items Policy does prohibit ‘all firearms including replicas, imitations and their components,’ a house key shaped like a firearm is not what is meant by the term 'replica' and the key should not have been retained," Jennifer De La Cruz said.</p>
<p>"We contacted the third-party company that provides security services at the port in question to discuss the matter and initiate corrective training so this doesn’t occur in the future."</p>
<p>What’s the strangest item you’ve had confiscated? Share in the comment below. </p>
