With the economy the way it is right now, my husband and I couldn't stand the thought of not going on a cruise - we have always been on Royal Caribbean but thought we would at least try Carnival as we have heard good things about them - boy, were they wrong!!! If you have only been on Carnival for crusing and haven't tried another line, you have NO CLUE what you are missing...some people have done both and prefer one over th eother but honestly, if you have never been on another cruise line except Carnival, you don't have a true vision of cruising....Instead of giving you a day by day review, I'm going to list the pros and cons of the two cruise lines as we went for two reasons being a.) The price and b.) to see if Carnival was as good as RC.......Carnival Cruise Line:Pros - 1 - They are cheaper on price2 - They allow you to bring a certain amount of drinks (non-alcoholic and alcoholic(wine)) on board with you3 - We got to see a tour of the galley on the ship for free (RC makes you pay for this tour)Cons - 1 - CCL never starts ANYTHING on time - the games, shows, dinner, arrival at ports, getting people off at ports, etc...nothing ever started on time the entire week2 - The ship was wierd with a wierd layout - the outerdeck on level three didn't go around the entire ship3 - The pools on the ship were WAY TOO SMALL - for 3500 passengers, only about 60 could get in the pool at once - they had three pools and each pool would only hold about 20 people at one time that is if you just stand there and talk - plus, they were nasty and stayed nasty the entire week4  - The hottubs were in fact cold tubs - they were never hot5 - The adult area was not designated as such so there wasn't anywhere for the adults who wanted quiet to get it6 - The kids on the ship behaved HORRIBLE - I know this isn't entirely Carnival's fault but it is to an extent because they don't enforce any kind of rules - out of the five cruises I have been on, this trip was the worst with kids and behavior - I know kids will be kids - I'm a school teacher - but come on........poop on the wall, really?????7 - The food was terrible - the Red Sail Restaurant buffet style was the same old day in and day out for breakfast - they did manage to switch the types of sausage eachday but still -the dining room food wasn't to rave over either8 - The walking track was anything but - it didn't go very far around the ship before you were back in the same spot - in order to get in any kind of distance, you had to do about 50 laps.......9 - The gym was tiny and didn't have enough equipment for everyone to use10 - The shows weren't spectacular by any means11 - They don't plan enough activites - on the sea days, my husband and I were easily bored because unless you wanted to shake and bake in the sun all day or gamble, there wasn't anything to do  - even at night unless you wanted to do the show - we spent more time in our room than we have on any cruise in the pastOverall, I will never cruise with CCL again....yes, for the price, they are a good deal but Carnival is like driving a station wagon to RC being like driving a Mercedes...the two don't even compare...........