jill r.

We were do to Sail on the Valor on 9-9-19 8TNG16. Upon arrival we were told my boyfriend had the wrong I.D. and brought to the side where I watched the lady walk to the corner and say something to 4 ladies in the corner, come back and continue to check people in. The 4 ladies just continued to talk amongst themselves. We waited a good 20-30 minutes and still nobody came to help us and we had to ask again to be helped. The same lady walked over to the same 4 ladies, said something. We continued to wait another 10 minutes before one of the 4 ladies came over and brought us upstairs to customs. Again we were told that my boyfriend didn't have proper I.D. and were handed a piece of paper with the # of who to call from our state. He called the # and was put through our Secretary of State, and talked with Terri. Terri informed him in their records he had an enhanced I.D. and they sent him the wrong one. She talked to the customs agent and explained it was a mistake on their end, and asked what she needed to do to get us on the ship. Terri was told they needed his birth certificate faxed to them within 10 minutes. As we were being escorted out Terri called and said she just faxed the birth certificate. They wouldn't let us back upstairs nor would they help us in any way other than handing us a card with Carnivals #. We called and asked if we could get a shuttle, since the ship would be in the Mississippi for hours and the documents were literally in the fax machine upstairs. We were also told we had more time because 15 people were on a delayed flight. Carnival told us our only option was to meet the ship in Mexico, but we needed the ship's permission to board. We said yes, please let us know what we need to do, we were traveling with at least 14 other family members for 3 birthdays. This was Monday at 4p.m. We needed to be in Cozumel by 4p.m. Wednesday. We were never contacted by Carnival until Tuesday afternoon, after calling them several times. My boyfriends parents were on the ship talking to customer service. We were told we had permission to board the ship in Mexico as long as we had our passports, which at this point the Passport place in New Orleans was already closed. I talked to the lead department at Carnival today and was actually told we were never given permission to board in Mexico, but was we were, I talked to them myself and talked with an Erica. We feel Carnival and the customs department dropped the ball at several different times. We missed something that we never will get back. Not only was this a huge disappointment for my boyfriend and I, but his entire family on the ship. We feel like we should be compensated in some way, at minimum vouchers. When I talked with the lead department today we were denied and given this site to write a complaint. We feel this could of all been avoided had we were brought to customs right away instead of waiting 45 minutes, at the bare minimum a shuttle to the boat while in the river since we had the proper documents before the ship even left. They left us stranded in a place we don't know and literally shut the doors on us. It was an absolutely devastating experience. I wouldn't recommend this cruise line to anyone, ever.