Carnival Cruise Line Tycoon, at first glance, appears like a good premise for a tycoon game. After all, real cruises are packed with loads of things to do on board and at ports, so this scenario should be a winner. However, somehow this title misses the boat.

Players can choose from three types of gameplay on startup: a sandbox mode, a career mode and a challenge mode. The career mode allows the player to progress from a captain of a small ship to a true tycoon of the sea, while the challenge mode presents varying scenarios with certain objectives to meet. Usually, these last two modes are not separate in a game of this type, but are combined, which makes better sense.

There is a short tutorial in the career mode, which introduces the basic controls. It does so in a very cursory manner, though, which leaves players still a little confused about what to do at times. The menu buttons' pop-up descriptions aren't very helpful, either. A message/objective menu would have been a good method to keep players on track. The menu is adequate, but could have been better designed with more functions.

The object of the game is to load a ship with certain amenities, sell cabin space and set sail around the world, all the while raking in the dough. Players can build items like food courts, drink bars, retail shops and maintenance buildings. There aren't many choices or variety here, although many of the buildings can be upgraded. Decorative items are also available, although again, there aren't very many of them. Designing the ship isn't very easy, as there is limited space and after placing a few necessities, there just isn't much room for any extras.

The graphics of the game are the best feature, and the ships look very much like the real Carnival ships. The game looks the best in zoom mode, which shows a close-up of the characters and buildings. Here, the graphics don't suffer from the pixelated appearance a zoom view often generates, but instead offer rich detail. Unfortunately, the guests don't really do that much, and watching them becomes boring after awhile.