strategy

Originally this game was supposed to be named "Cruise Ship Tycoon 2". The original developer, Cat Daddy games was switched out for Artex software, which I imagine had something to do with the reason the name was changed to Cruise Line Tycoon: Island Hopping 2005. Isn't Carnival also a cruise company?
Name aside, this game looks and acts pretty much like its predecessor. Some bugs have been fixed and game play is a little ironed out, but it still suffers with some glaring omissions which should be standard tycoon fair by now (like staff and building management for example).

If you are unfamiliar with the aforementioned predecessor Cruise Ship Tycoon, here's a brief sum up. A 2 and a half to 3 star budget tycoon where you set up a ship in a zoo tycoon/sims manner, plopping down cabins for your customers and amenities etc for them to enjoy. You also had to set the course of the ship on a map, to avoid rocks and random weather occurrences. It could have been much better, but was entertaining for a while.
One of the biggest problems that plagued the first cruise ship tycoon were guests that were never pleased. You could plop down 10000 benches and they would still complain that there weren't enough. This has been toned down a bit in cruise line tycoon, although there are ALWAYS complaints. The important thing to remember is that the percentage of complaints does not represent, for example, that 25% of the people are complaining about the food. It means 25% of the complainers are. And thank god, benches only need to be placed outside on the deck now.

It's nice to not have set down 10 food places on a tiny ship and have them still complain, but control over these buildings has NOT improved. It would be awful nice if we could do something as simple as set the price, or see how much money it had made, or even how many visitors had been there. But no. You see the condition and the value when you sell it, any guests that are in there at the moment, and any staff that works there. You can't even cycle through the buildings, but have to find them one by one and click on them. The staff management isn't any better. No information can be gained on them individually from any screen unless you zoom all the way in and click on the constantly moving employee. And then you get barely any information, and can't manage salary or raises in any manner. Did I mention they also get stuck in the pre-designed buildings? You would think since they made the object, they would've made sure the little waiters etc wouldn't get caught in between the benches they placed!

Getting back on a positive track, the silly thing where you had to constantly sway around a rock every time you took a certain route and calculate how many supplies you needed then (risking running out and having to be towed in) has been removed. Now you just see your boat moving from place to place and can upgrade places where you have ports, so you have more routes available.
There are several other various improvements/changes. An upgrade button is now on cabins, so instead of deleting a cheap one to add an expensive, you now just click on a button. View rotation is also improved. People are a bit easier to please (especially the cheap classers).

Hitting a sour note however, is challenge mode. Exact same challenges as Cruise Ship Tycoon as far as I can see. Which takes a lot of the fun and meaning of "sequel" out of this game.

It's a fun game for a while, but ultimately has too many game play issues and too little management capabilities to be of long lasting value. Basically, even with the improvements, if you own Cruise Ship Tycoon, you own Carnival Lines Tycoon.

Nice game! It's quite easy to master but gives some real cruise feeling. There are many options and different ships, and they are built after real Carnival ships. You can build guest rooms, bars, shops, theaters, pools, and more. You can cruise the Caribbean, travel to Alaska or Hawaii. The game comes without a manual but with a tutorial that teaches you the basic functionality. Once you have found out how to generate some money, it's fun to advance on your way and become a mighty tycoon. If you don't expect a hardcore tycoon game for genre experts, you'll have lots of fun with Carnival Cruise Line Tycoon.

What a disappointment! I own tons of sim and adventure type games from when I started gaming 10 years ago and I must say, this is the first one I ever took back to the store. Can you say, L-A-M-E? Among other complaints with the game, there is a constant demand for more restaurants, entertainment, shops, etc, which was ridiculous because there wasn't enough room on the ship to place these items. Because you aren't 'filling the need' your reputation goes down constantly. It just plain old wasn't fun! This is just my short opinion given in hopes of saving someone else the the same misadventure that I experienced. HTH!