General	6 Months Ended
May 31, 2016
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
General	General The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc and their respective subsidiaries. Together with their consolidated subsidiaries, they are referred to collectively in these consolidated financial statements and elsewhere in this joint Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as “Carnival Corporation & plc,” “our,” “us” and “we.” Basis of Presentation The Consolidated Balance Sheet at May 31, 2016, the Consolidated Statements of Income and the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) for the three and six months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015 and the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the six months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015 are unaudited and, in the opinion of our management, contain all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation. Our interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in the Carnival Corporation & plc 2015 joint Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 29, 2016. Our operations are seasonal and results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results for the entire year. Other Cruise passenger ticket revenues include fees, taxes and charges collected by us from our guests. The portion of these fees, taxes and charges included in passenger ticket revenues and commissions, transportation and other costs were $123 million for the three months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015 and $259 million and $257 million for the six months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Accounting Pronouncements Amended guidance was issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) regarding the accounting for Service Concession Arrangements. The new guidance defines a service concession as an arrangement between a public-sector grantor, such as a port authority, and a company that will operate and maintain the grantor's infrastructure for a specified period of time. In exchange, the company may be given a right to charge the public, such as our cruise guests, for the use of the infrastructure. This guidance required us to record certain of the infrastructure we had constructed to be used by us pursuant to a service concession arrangement outside of property and equipment. On December 1, 2015, we adopted this guidance and, accordingly, reclassified $70 million from Property and Equipment, Net to Other Intangibles on our November 30, 2015 Consolidated Balance Sheet (see “Note 4 - Nonfinancial Instruments that are Measured at Fair Value on a Nonrecurring Basis”). The FASB issued amended guidance regarding accounting for Interest - Imputation of Interest, which simplifies the presentation of debt issuance costs. The guidance requires that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented on the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of fiscal 2017, and will be applied on a retrospective basis. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a significant impact on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. The FASB issued amended guidance regarding accounting for Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software, which clarifies the accounting for fees paid in a cloud computing arrangement. The amendments provide guidance to customers about whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license or if the arrangement should be accounted for as a service contract. The amendments will impact the accounting for software licenses but will not change a customer's accounting for service contracts. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 on either a prospective or retrospective basis. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements. The FASB issued amended guidance regarding accounting for Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which requires an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. When effective, this standard will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The standard also requires more detailed disclosures and provides additional guidance for transactions that were not comprehensively addressed in U.S. GAAP. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 by either recasting all years presented in our financial statements or by recording the impact of adoption as an adjustment to retained earnings at the beginning of the year of adoption. We are currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements. The FASB issued guidance regarding accounting for Leases, which requires an entity to recognize both assets and liabilities arising from financing and operating leases, along with additional qualitative and quantitative disclosures. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. We are currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

General

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc and their respective subsidiaries. Together with their consolidated subsidiaries, they are referred to collectively in these consolidated financial statements and elsewhere in this joint Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as “Carnival Corporation & plc,” “our,” “us” and “we.”

Basis of Presentation

The Consolidated Balance Sheet at May 31, 2016, the Consolidated Statements of Income and the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) for the three and six months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015 and the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the six months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015 are unaudited and, in the opinion of our management, contain all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation. Our interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in the Carnival Corporation & plc 2015 joint Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 29, 2016. Our operations are seasonal and results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results for the entire year.

Other

Cruise passenger ticket revenues include fees, taxes and charges collected by us from our guests. The portion of these fees, taxes and charges included in passenger ticket revenues and commissions, transportation and other costs were $123 million for the three months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015 and $259 million and $257 million for the six months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Accounting Pronouncements

Amended guidance was issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) regarding the accounting for Service Concession Arrangements. The new guidance defines a service concession as an arrangement between a public-sector grantor, such as a port authority, and a company that will operate and maintain the grantor's infrastructure for a specified period of time. In exchange, the company may be given a right to charge the public, such as our cruise guests, for the use of the infrastructure. This guidance required us to record certain of the infrastructure we had constructed to be used by us pursuant to a service concession arrangement outside of property and equipment. On December 1, 2015, we adopted this guidance and, accordingly, reclassified $70 million from Property and Equipment, Net to Other Intangibles on our November 30, 2015 Consolidated Balance Sheet (see “Note 4 - Nonfinancial Instruments that are Measured at Fair Value on a Nonrecurring Basis”).

The FASB issued amended guidance regarding accounting for Interest - Imputation of Interest, which simplifies the presentation of debt issuance costs. The guidance requires that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented on the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of fiscal 2017, and will be applied on a retrospective basis. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a significant impact on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The FASB issued amended guidance regarding accounting for Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software, which clarifies the accounting for fees paid in a cloud computing arrangement. The amendments provide guidance to customers about whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license or if the arrangement should be accounted for as a service contract. The amendments will impact the accounting for software licenses but will not change a customer's accounting for service contracts. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 on either a prospective or retrospective basis. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.

The FASB issued amended guidance regarding accounting for Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which requires an entity to recognize the amount of revenue to which it expects to be entitled for the transfer of promised goods or services to customers. When effective, this standard will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). The standard also requires more detailed disclosures and provides additional guidance for transactions that were not comprehensively addressed in U.S. GAAP. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 by either recasting all years presented in our financial statements or by recording the impact of adoption as an adjustment to retained earnings at the beginning of the year of adoption. We are currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

The FASB issued guidance regarding accounting for Leases, which requires an entity to recognize both assets and liabilities arising from financing and operating leases, along with additional qualitative and quantitative disclosures. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. We are currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.