Our first experience with Carvinal was terrible!!!! I & my cabin mate were scheduled to cruise on PARADISE, porting from Tampa, Fl on JUNE 5TH. We traveled with a group by van for 5 & 1/2 hours. We were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately it all went downhill at check in. All of my documentation was fine. My traveling companion was not so lucky. He presented his I.D & birth certificate. However because it was not 'state issued' he was denied. I was told it was a matter of customs. His birth certificate, the only one he has ever had, & used for other business information, was from the hospital. Keep in mind that the hospital that issued the certificate is in the state from which he was born. AND it had a seal on it. We were given a number to call to try to retrieve a copy from the state. To our surprise, it was a state holiday so no department would be avaliable to help us until the next day. Even though we guaranteed we would be able to get documentation the following morning, he still was denied. I tried speaking with the supervisor, who was no help at all.  He just reiterated it was a matter of customs & he would not allow him on the ship. I have cruised with Royal Caribbean many times & NEVER have had an issue. I have never had to show a birth certificate when coming on & off the ship. Even if it was a matter of customs, we would not have ported until Weds, which would have been plenty of time to get the birth certifcate emailed to us on the ship. Again, the supervisor had no sympathy in trying to help us or resolve the situation. I did not feel right leaving my cabin mate alone, 5.5 hours away, with no way of getting home. I decided to not sail myself. I was given a card with contact information about getting our money refunded back to us. When I called the first time, I was directed to another department & the phone hung up after 3 rings. I called again & spoke with someone just to be told to write an email. Then the email on the card that I was given, was not the email I needed to write to get this resolved. THEN when I was able to email the right address, I was given another NO. They would not refund our money because it would be considered a late cancellation. What made matters worse is that we were not even offered to sail at a later date!! But they did make a suggestion to buy their 'insurance' in case this might happen again....????....There WILL NOT be an again. I will never give my money/business to CARNIVAL ever again. I am beyond frustrated and disappointed in how the whole situation played out. Their efforts to amend the issue was piss-poor. We have lost out on alot because of this. We weren't allowed to board on the cruise we paid for. We also had to pay travel expenses to get home. We also have used & lost vacation time that we were not able fulfil because we were not able to board. So Facebookers, if you may have to cancel....running late, car accident, sickness, etc, know that CARNIVAL will CARELESS about  that. & your money will be long gone.