Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Estimates of Average Useful Lives and Residual Values of Property and Equipment (Detail)	12 Months Ended
Nov. 30, 2016
Ships
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	30 years
Residual value as a percentage of original cost	15.00%
Ship improvements
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Residual value as a percentage of original cost	0.00%
Ship improvements \| Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	3 years
Ship improvements \| Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	30 years
Buildings and improvements
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Residual value as a percentage of original cost, lower limit	0.00%
Residual value as a percentage of original cost, upper limit	10.00%
Buildings and improvements \| Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	10 years
Buildings and improvements \| Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	40 years
Computer hardware and software
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Residual value as a percentage of original cost, lower limit	0.00%
Residual value as a percentage of original cost, upper limit	10.00%
Computer hardware and software \| Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	3 years
Computer hardware and software \| Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	12 years
Transportation equipment and other
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Residual value as a percentage of original cost, lower limit	0.00%
Residual value as a percentage of original cost, upper limit	10.00%
Transportation equipment and other \| Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	3 years
Transportation equipment and other \| Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	20 years
Leasehold improvements, including port facilities
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Residual value as a percentage of original cost	0.00%
Leasehold improvements, including port facilities \| Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	3 years
Leasehold improvements, including port facilities \| Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Average useful lives of property and equipment	30 years

The estimated value of an asset at the end of its useful life.

No definition available.

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- Definition

The estimated lower limit value of an asset at the end of its useful life.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ccl_
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Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The estimated upper limit value of an asset at the end of its useful life.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ccl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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