Our first cruise was on Carnival, and we just recently sailed with Royal Caribbean. Carnival was definitely the party ship and Royal Caribbean was the geriatrics ship. The evenings were much more lively on Carnival with all venues packed. On Royal, every night after 9pm (except the last night's karaoke finals) it was like a ghost ship. Maybe we were on a seniors reunion cruise, because it seemed as though it was mainly seniors. We did see some children, but saw a lot more on Carnival. But both ships seem to keep the kids entertained well during the day because we hardly saw them. I think the food was a little better on Royal Caribbean, but the rooms were bigger on Carnival. And I definitely agree, they need to enforce formal night attire. The seniors on Royal went all out, but they shouldn't have let the guy wearing the tuxedo t-shirt in the dining room.