A couple were almost prevented from boarding their cruise recently, when they were found to be carrying a novelty gun-shaped key.

WTSP reports that Henry Echevarria and his wife, Lisa, were stopped while attempting to board a Carnival cruise ship at Port Canaveral in Florida. Carnival policy prohibits “all firearms including replicas [and] imitations”.

“He pulls out my key and says ‘Oh, here’s the problem,'” Echevarria said. “It’s my house key and he said ‘Well, you can’t take it on’.”

Echevarria argued the key was too small to be used as an actual firearm, but the port’s security staff wouldn’t budge. And because the key was to his house, Echevarria was unwilling to leave it behind. Eventually he agreed to leave it in a safe.

Ironically, both Echevarria and his wife work in law enforcement.

Following the incident, Carnival’s vice president of corporate communications, Jennifer De La Cruz, agreed that the key should not have been classified as a weapon, imitation or otherwise.