Royal Caribbean vs Carnival: the rules that actually differ

Ask which line is more relaxed about drinks and most people will guess Carnival, and on non-alcoholic drinks they are right, but not for the reason they think. Both lines cap you at twelve containers. The difference is the unit. Royal Caribbean's policy states that non-alcoholic beverages may not exceed 12 standard 17 oz cans, bottles or cartons per stateroom, brought as carry-on on boarding day, with milk and distilled water for infant, medical or dietary purposes permitted on top of that. Carnival's limit is a maximum of 12 sealed, unopened cans or cartons of 12 ounces each or less, per person. For a couple in a balcony cabin, Royal Caribbean's allowance is larger by volume, since seventeen ounces beats twelve. For a family of four in a quad, Carnival's is roughly four times the size, because it multiplies by heads rather than by doors. Carnival is fussier about the container, though. It accepts cans or cartons only, which means the twelve-pack of bottled water that would clear Royal Caribbean's scanner will not clear Carnival's. Carnival also does something Royal Caribbean does not address: it permits the same small quantity of non-alcoholic drinks, packaged in cans or cartons, to be carried aboard while in port, so a supermarket run in Cozumel is within policy rather than against it. On alcohol the two lines converge almost exactly. Royal Caribbean permits each guest of drinking age one sealed 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne on boarding day, prohibits boxed wine and other containers, and states plainly that guests are not allowed to bring beer or hard liquor onboard for consumption or any other use. Carnival permits one sealed, unopened 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne per person aged 21 or older, in carry-on, on embarkation day only, and adds an exclusion Royal Caribbean does not: port, vermouth, sherry and other fortified wines over 15 percent alcohol by volume cannot be brought aboard at all, even within the one-bottle allowance. The other Carnival-only detail is the corkage. If you want your own bottle opened in the main dining room, a specialty restaurant or a bar, Carnival charges $15.00 USD per 750 ml bottle. Drink it in your cabin and it costs nothing. Neither line pours out what it takes. Royal Caribbean states that alcoholic beverages seized on embarkation day will be returned at the end of the voyage provided they are in the original sealed package, and that bottles bought in a port of call or beyond the one-bottle allowance are safely stored by the ship and returned on the last day onboard. The one exception is unforgiving and worth telling teenagers about: guests under the permitted drinking age will not have alcohol returned to them.

• Royal Caribbean: 12 standard 17 oz cans, bottles or cartons per stateroom, plus milk and distilled water for infant, medical or dietary use.
• Carnival: 12 sealed cans or cartons of 12 ounces or less per person, no bottles, and the same allowance again while in port.
• Both allow one 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne per adult on boarding day, and neither allows beer or spirits.
• Carnival alone bars fortified wines over 15 percent ABV and charges $15.00 USD corkage in its restaurants and bars.
• Royal Caribbean stores seized and excess alcohol and returns it on the last day, except to guests under drinking age.

Allowances, container rules, corkage and storage wording are each quoted from the line named, taken from Royal Caribbean's food and drink and alcohol policy FAQs and Carnival's Bringing Liquor and Beverages On Board section, read on the dates in the sources.

Both lines run the same basic arrangement, most nights relaxed and a couple of nights dressier, and both give the dressy nights a brand name. Royal Caribbean sorts the week into three levels. Casual is jeans, polos, sundresses and blouses, with swimwear kept to the Pool Deck. Smart Casual is collared shirts, dresses, skirts and blouses, or pantsuits, with jackets, sports coats and blazers described as snazzy and welcome. Formal is Dress Your Best, which the line describes as a night out in your best black-tie look: suits and ties, tuxedos, cocktail dresses or evening gowns. There can be one to four Dress Your Best evenings during a sailing, at the ship's discretion, and the published breakdown is one on a 5-night sailing, two on 6 to 10 nights, three on 11 to 14, and three to four on 15 nights and longer. The Chef's Table enforces the formal code whenever you dine there. Carnival splits the evening in two. Cruise Casual covers most nights and is more permissive than people expect: sports slacks, trousers, khakis, jeans, tailored dress shorts and collared dress shirts, button-downs, polo shirts or nice t-shirts for men and boys, and casual dresses or skirts, pants, capris, jeans and blouses for women and girls. Cruise Elegant, subtitled Sharp and Chic, is the dressy evening, and Carnival's count is one on select cruises of 5 days or shorter and two on cruises of 6 days or longer. Here Carnival does something Royal Caribbean does not do at all: it tells you in advance which evenings. On longer cruises the first Cruise Elegant evening is scheduled for the second or third evening of the cruise, and depending on itinerary the next is the second or third evening before the end. If you like to plan what you are wearing on which night, that is a real advantage, and it is the kind of detail that never survives into a forum thread. The restriction lists are where the two diverge in character. Carnival names garments: ripped or cut-off t-shirts, sheer or see-through clothing, athletic clothing or gear, and swimwear are not permitted at either evening code, and the Steakhouse and Rudi's Seagrill follow the main dining room code. Royal Caribbean's list is shorter but broader in reach, since its two rules apply everywhere and always rather than only at dinner: bare feet are not allowed at any time in any venue, and tank tops are not permitted in the Main Dining Room or specialty dining venues for dinner. Its casino adds that a shirt and shoes are always required and that cover-ups should be worn over bathing attire. Carnival's equivalent buffet rule is the more detailed of the two. The Lido Restaurant has a more relaxed dress code than the main dining rooms, but Carnival asks guests to respect that the Lido is not the pool area: shirts, bathing suit cover-ups and footwear must always be worn, and it asks that you dry off completely because wet floors are a safety hazard. One last practical note that only Royal Caribbean publishes, and that catches travelers rather than diners: camouflage print clothing and accessories, as well as military-style clothing, is illegal in Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, where it is reserved for members of the military. That applies whichever line's ship carries you there.

• Royal Caribbean: Casual, Smart Casual and Dress Your Best, with one to four formal evenings at the ship's discretion.
• Carnival: Cruise Casual and Cruise Elegant, one on select short cruises and two on cruises of six days or longer.
• Only Carnival publishes which evenings its dressy nights fall on, near the start and near the end of the cruise.
• Carnival explicitly permits tailored dress shorts and nice t-shirts at Cruise Casual in the main dining room.
• Royal Caribbean's bare-feet ban applies at any time in any venue, not only at dinner.
• Royal Caribbean warns that camouflage and military-style clothing is illegal in six Caribbean nations it visits.

Level names, counts, scheduling and restriction lists are quoted from Royal Caribbean's dress code FAQ and Carnival's What to Wear section, each read on that line's own site on the dates in the sources.

Both lines now schedule your arrival rather than opening the doors and letting a queue form, and both publish a hard deadline, but the deadlines are anchored to different things, which is the part worth reading twice. Royal Caribbean asks guests to arrive at the terminal within the arrival time slot selected during Royal App check-in, with the selected boarding time listed on the mobile boarding pass. It is candid about what happens either side of it: guests who arrive early will not be able to begin boarding, and those who arrive late may need to wait until the line can accommodate them in a later group. Check-in itself is encouraged in the Royal App at least three days before the cruise, and if it has not been completed in advance it must be finalised at the pier at least two hours prior to the published sailing time. Guests may also check in on the website up to 48 hours before sailing, but must complete check-in using the app or at the terminal. At the pier you show your SetSail Pass in the app for the agent to scan. The hard stop is unusual and easy to misread. Royal Caribbean requires all guests to be fully checked in and onboard the ship no later than 90 minutes prior to port operations closing, not 90 minutes before the ship sails, and it tells you why that distinction matters: port closure times vary, and boarding operations at the Port of Vancouver close at 5:00 PM regardless of the ship's scheduled departure. If you are sailing from an unfamiliar port, look that up rather than working backwards from the departure time on your ticket. Carnival's version uses different words for a similar system. During online check-in you are asked to select an arrival appointment, which Carnival defines as the time that everyone in your stateroom should be at the cruise port terminal, and it asks you to arrive promptly within that appointment to reduce your wait time in line. The completion deadline is a clock rather than a countdown: all guests must complete the online check-in process no later than midnight Eastern time prior to their sailing date. At check-in you must present your boarding pass, picture ID and citizenship documents including any necessary visas, and Carnival notes that last-minute bookings made within 24 hours of sailing require guests to undergo a secondary screening. The final deadline is printed rather than calculated: all guests must be on board by the Final Boarding time printed on the boarding pass or they will not be permitted to sail. Carnival is also the more informative of the two about what the first few hours actually look like. Guests scheduled to arrive at the terminal before 1:30 PM usually check their bags with a porter so they are free to enjoy lunch on the Lido Deck before access to their stateroom is granted, and lunch is served on the Lido Deck from boarding until the commencement of the safety briefing. That is a small thing to publish and a genuinely useful one, because it tells a first-time cruiser exactly what to do with the two hours between walking aboard and the cabin opening.

• Royal Caribbean: arrive inside the arrival slot chosen in the Royal App; early arrivals cannot start boarding.
• Royal Caribbean's hard stop is 90 minutes before port operations close, which is not always 90 minutes before sailing.
• Check in on the Royal App at least three days ahead, or finalise at the pier at least two hours before published sailing.
• Carnival: select an Arrival Appointment during online check-in and arrive promptly within it.
• Carnival requires online check-in complete by midnight Eastern the day before, and boarding by the printed Final Boarding time.
• Carnival tells you the plan for the gap: bags to a porter, lunch on the Lido Deck until the safety briefing begins.

Arrival, check-in and deadline wording is quoted from Royal Caribbean's port arrival time and check-in FAQs and Carnival's Embarkation and Departure and online check-in pages, read on the dates in the sources.

This is the comparison where one line publishes numbers and the other publishes a principle, and which you prefer depends on how you pack. Carnival's allowance is countable in every dimension. It asks guests to limit luggage to a maximum of one bag per person on cruises of 3 to 5 days, and no more than two bags per person on cruises of 6 days or longer. Each checked suitcase and each carry-on suitcase should not weigh more than 50 pounds, and lying flat, bags must not exceed 16 inches high by 24 inches wide, with the length of the bag not a factor. There is a timing limit too, and it is the one that costs people an afternoon: checked baggage service is only available until two hours before the ship's published sailing time, and guests arriving after that are responsible for taking their bags on board themselves, up the gangway and through the ship. Carnival also specifies what must stay with you rather than going to the porter, namely boarding documentation such as passports, visas and ID, valuables, medications and anything requiring special handling. Luggage tags come with the electronic documents available once online check-in is complete, and Carnival notes that it is not necessary to print them in color. Royal Caribbean takes the opposite approach. Each guest is permitted to carry a reasonable amount of personal property, including luggage, aboard the vessel, and the line recommends limiting the number of pieces you take rather than setting one. There is no published bag count and no published dimension. The constraint that does exist is physical: carry-on luggage must be able to fit through the x-ray screening machines, which vary in size from port to port but are generally similar to those at airport security. Only TSA-approved locks are permitted. Royal Caribbean's practical advice mirrors Carnival's about what to keep with you, recommending a small carry-on with a change of clothes and a swimsuit so you are not waiting on a checked bag, and that medications, boarding documents, passports and visas stay with you at all times in their original containers. Both lines warn, in different words, about the same gap. Staterooms may not be available at the moment you board, and checked luggage arrives later in the afternoon. That is why the first outfit you actually need is the one on your back and the second is in the bag on your shoulder, on either ship. If you are the kind of traveler who brings one enormous suitcase for two people, note that Carnival's rule is written per person and per bag, so a single oversized case is not a way to come in under a two-bag limit.

• Carnival: one bag per person on 3 to 5 day cruises, no more than two per person on 6 days or longer.
• Carnival: 50 pounds maximum per case, and no more than 16 inches high by 24 inches wide lying flat.
• Carnival: checked baggage service closes two hours before published sailing, after which you carry your own bags aboard.
• Royal Caribbean: a reasonable amount of personal property per guest, with no published bag count or size.
• Royal Caribbean: carry-on must fit the terminal x-ray machines, and only TSA-approved locks are permitted.
• Both lines advise keeping medication, documents, valuables and a change of clothes in a bag you carry yourself.

Bag counts, weights, dimensions and cutoffs are quoted from Carnival's Embarkation Luggage Information page; the allowance, screening and lock wording is quoted from Royal Caribbean's own luggage FAQ.

The old shipwide muster, where a few thousand people stood on a promenade deck in life jackets at a fixed hour, is gone on both lines, replaced by a version you complete largely on your own schedule. Royal Caribbean publishes the clearer description of the mechanism. It defines the muster drill as a mandatory safety exercise with the objective of familiarising all guests and crew with the location, the muster station, where they are to assemble in the unlikely event of an emergency. Under eMuster there are three parts. The first two can be completed in the Royal Caribbean app or on your stateroom television: watching the life jacket instruction and hearing the emergency signal. The third is in person. You visit your assigned muster station, which is listed in the app and on your SeaPass card, where a crew member will verify you have completed both steps and complete your drill, or help you complete all the steps if you have not. The whole thing is done before the ship departs the port. Carnival describes the same arrangement more briefly, as part of what happens when you board: guests learn about onboard safety and navigate to their assigned muster station to check in with a team member upon boarding. The other thing Carnival publishes about the first afternoon is more useful than it looks. Lunch is served on the Lido Deck from boarding until the commencement of the safety briefing, and guests scheduled to arrive before 1:30 PM usually hand their bags to a porter so they are free to eat before stateroom access is granted. Put those two sentences together and you have the actual shape of a Carnival embarkation afternoon: arrive in your appointment window, give the bags away, eat on the Lido, do the muster check-in, and collect your cabin when it opens. Royal Caribbean's afternoon runs the same way in practice, but the line publishes the drill mechanics rather than the meal timing. The practical advice is identical on both. Do the app or stateroom-TV portion in the first ten minutes aboard, while everybody else is eating, then walk to your station and get scanned. Leaving it until the announcement means joining the one queue on embarkation day that genuinely cannot be skipped, and neither ship will sail until every guest aboard has been accounted for.

• Royal Caribbean's eMuster has three parts: life jacket instruction, emergency signal, then an in-person station visit.
• The first two parts run in the Royal Caribbean app or on the stateroom TV, before you visit your station.
• Your Royal Caribbean muster station is listed in the app and on your SeaPass card, and crew verify completion there.
• Carnival asks guests to navigate to their assigned muster station and check in with a team member upon boarding.
• Carnival serves lunch on the Lido Deck from boarding until the safety briefing begins.
• On either line, complete the app portion immediately so the station visit takes a minute rather than a queue.

The eMuster steps and definition are quoted from Royal Caribbean's own muster drill FAQ; the muster check-in and Lido lunch wording is quoted from Carnival's Embarkation and Departure page.

The consequence of getting a rule wrong is not the same on the two ships, and that asymmetry should shape what you are willing to risk in a bag. Royal Caribbean's prohibited items policy marks certain categories to indicate that they may be retained by Security for the duration of the cruise and returned to the guest upon departure, subject to applicable local regulations and customs requirements. It also names the decision-maker for everything ambiguous: any item deemed questionable will be reviewed and decided upon by the Chief Security Officer and the Staff Captain. Carnival's default wording runs the other way. It states that prohibited items will be removed and disposed of and that no compensation will be provided, which is about as clear as a company can be that an item taken at the scanner is not coming back. Carnival does carve out a softer case for the electrical category it otherwise permits: grooming devices, fans, power strips, adaptors and extension cords that are determined to pose a hazard are removed and returned on debarkation morning rather than destroyed. Both lines prohibit the things that carry consequences beyond the item itself. Royal Caribbean states that illegal drugs and illegal substances, including marijuana, are prohibited regardless of medical authorisation or local legality. Carnival prohibits marijuana, cannabis and cannabis derivatives such as CBD items, regardless of state legality or medical documentation. A gummy bought legally at a dispensary at home is against policy on both, and that is the one item on this page where the downside is not a lost gadget. Carnival's list runs longer in the small-item categories, which is where switchers get caught. Knives, scissors and open razors are prohibited, with recreational dive knives held in the custody of the Guest Services Manager or Chief Security Officer and checked out for dive excursions, and large scissors used by scrapbook and quilting enthusiasts sometimes permitted with prior notification. All types of speakers including Bluetooth, portable and wireless are prohibited. Any footwear with wheels, such as Heely-type shoes, is prohibited. Google-type glasses are permitted in public areas but cannot be worn at any gangway operation. Royal Caribbean's equivalent list is shorter, permitting small grooming scissors with blades under four inches while prohibiting tools exceeding seven inches in length. On insurance, both lines sell their own plan and both are worth reading in full rather than by summary. Royal Caribbean's Travel Protection Program waives the non-refundable cancellation provision for specified reasons and pays in cash the value of the unused portion of the prepaid cruise vacation, and for cancellations for any other reason offers credit toward a future cruise of up to 90 percent of the non-refundable prepaid cost, alongside medical, baggage and evacuation coverages. Carnival Vacation Protection pays up to 100 percent of the non-refundable prepaid value in cash for covered reasons and 75 percent as a Future Cruise Credit for any other reason, and publishes its benefit caps: up to $1,500 for baggage lost, stolen or damaged, up to $20,000 accident and sickness medical expense, and up to $50,000 for emergency medical evacuation. The trip cancellation program is provided by Carnival itself while the travel insurance is underwritten by United States Fire Insurance Company. The headline comparison is that Royal Caribbean's any-reason credit is the higher percentage while Carnival is the more specific about what the medical and baggage coverage is actually worth.

• Royal Caribbean: marked categories may be held by Security and returned to the guest on departure.
• Carnival: prohibited items are removed and disposed of with no compensation, though hazard-flagged electronics return on debarkation morning.
• Both prohibit cannabis and CBD regardless of medical authorisation or where it was legally bought.
• Carnival alone bans Bluetooth and portable speakers, wheeled footwear, and scissors and open razors outright.
• Royal Caribbean's Travel Protection returns up to 90 percent as future cruise credit for a non-covered cancellation.
• Carnival Vacation Protection returns 75 percent as future cruise credit but publishes caps of $1,500 baggage, $20,000 medical and $50,000 evacuation.

Confiscation, drug and small-item wording is quoted from each line's own prohibited items page, and the plan details from Royal Caribbean's Travel Protection Program FAQ and Carnival's Vacation Protection page.