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I have made carbonara dozens of times and I have on occasion made the mistakes to try to substitute or be stingy with the cheese. It really does have a huge effect on the result.
I m afraid you got wrong carbonara. A good carbonara has a nutty flavor from egg yolk and cheesy/salt undertone from good parmesan cheese, and some freshly ground pepper. 
It's my favorite because it's the easiest pasta I can prepare. It used to be a working peasant's lunch, actually >

Carbone means coal in italian.
(pasta alla) carbonara, meaning roughly "pasta coal miners style" apparently was popular between, you guessed it, coal miners, since it's rich in fats and proteins. Helpful if you're doing hard physical labour for many hours a day.
It is also pretty cheap and relatively easy to make. >

That's actually a pretty fun fact to know. >

Who made this bland carbonara for you? Carbonara should be flavorful from guanciale and pecorino (for those not in the know, pecorino is sharper than parmigiano reggiano.) >

Then brother, you need to come to my house.
I'll blow your damn mind with my carbonara. >

Can I come to your house too? >

It's not just about "bacon", as the original recipe uses the fattier Guanciale (jowl).
I personally like to use diced smoked bacon stir-fried with onios, and lots of strong black pepper when served. >

"Wow, that Italian cheese sure is expensive! I bet that if I chop these individually packaged slices up, it will be just as good." >

"I'm just gonna make a comment assuming this guy doesn't know how to cook! He probably thinks trappista and mozzarella cheese is the same"
I haven't made Carbonara at home. The only times I've tried it has been in restaurants. I don't know what cheese they've used. Whatever they did, I didn't like it ¯\_( ͡❛ ͜ʖ ͡❛)_/¯