General (Policies)

6 Months Ended

May 31, 2020

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of PresentationThe Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss), the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss), the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and the Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity for the three and six months ended May 31, 2020 and 2019, and the Consolidated Balance Sheet at May 31, 2020 are unaudited and, in the opinion of our management, contain all adjustments, consisting of only normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair statement. 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 2019 joint Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) and Form 10-K/A filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 28, 2020 and March 31, 2020, respectively.

COVID-19 Use of Estimates and Risks and Uncertainty

COVID-19 Use of Estimates and Risks and Uncertainty The preparation of our interim consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported and disclosed. The full extent to which the effects of COVID-19 will directly or indirectly impact our business, operations, results of operations and financial condition, including our valuation of goodwill and trademarks, impairment of ships, collectability of trade and notes receivables as well as provisions for pending litigation, will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain. We believe that we have made reasonable estimates and judgments of the impact of COVID-19 within our financial statements and there may be changes to those estimates in future periods.

Accounting Pronouncements

Accounting PronouncementsOn December 1, 2019, we adopted the FASB issued guidance, Leases, using the modified retrospective approach, which allows entities to either apply the new lease standard to the beginning of the earliest period presented or only to the consolidated financial statements in the period of adoption without restating prior periods. We have elected to apply the new guidance at the date of adoption without restating prior periods.

We have implemented changes to our internal controls to address the collection, recording, and accounting for leases in accordance with the new guidance. Upon adoption of the new guidance, the most significant impact was the recognition of $1.4 billion of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities relating to operating leases, reported within operating lease right-of-use assets and long-term operating lease liabilities, with the current portion of the liability reported within current portion of operating lease liabilities, in our Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 1, 2019. There was no cumulative effect of applying the new standard and accordingly there was no adjustment to our retained earnings upon adoption. This guidance had an immaterial impact on our Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss), Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss), Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and the compliance with debt covenants under our current agreements.

The FASB issued amended guidance, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software, which requires a customer in a cloud computing arrangement that is a service contract to follow the internal-use software guidance to determine which implementation costs to capitalize as assets or expense as incurred. The expense related to deferred implementation costs is required to be presented in the same net income (loss) line item as the related hosting fees. Additionally, the payments for deferred implementation costs are required to be presented in the same line item in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows as payments for the related hosting fees. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of 2021 and must be applied using either a prospective or a retrospective approach. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

The FASB issued amended guidance, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses, which requires an entity to present the net amount expected to be collected for certain financial assets, including trade receivables. On initial recognition and at each reporting period, this guidance will require an entity to recognize an allowance that reflects the entity's current estimate of credit losses expected to be incurred over the life of the financial instrument. This guidance is required to be adopted by us in the first quarter of 2021 and will be applied prospectively with a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue from Contract with Customer

Guest cruise deposits are initially included in customer deposit liabilities when received. Customer deposits are subsequently recognized as cruise revenues, together with revenues from onboard and other activities, and all associated direct costs and expenses of a voyage are recognized as cruise costs and expenses, upon completion of voyages with durations of ten nights or less and on a pro rata basis for voyages in excess of ten nights. The impact of recognizing these shorter duration cruise revenues and costs and expenses on a completed voyage basis versus on a pro rata basis is not significant. Certain of our product offerings are bundled and we allocate the value of the bundled services and goods between passenger ticket revenues and onboard and other revenues based upon the estimated standalone selling prices of those goods and services. Guest cancellation fees, when applicable, are recognized in cruise passenger ticket revenues at the time of cancellation.

Our sales to guests of air and other transportation to and from airports near the home ports of our ships are included in passenger ticket revenues, and the related costs of purchasing these services are included in transportation costs. The proceeds that we collect from the sales of third-party shore excursions are included in onboard and other revenues and the related costs are included in onboard and other costs. The amounts collected on behalf of our onboard concessionaires, net of the amounts remitted to them, are included in onboard and other revenues as concession revenues. All of these amounts are recognized on a completed voyage or pro rata basis as discussed above.

Passenger ticket revenues include fees, taxes and charges collected by us from our guests. A portion of these fees, taxes and charges vary with guest head counts and are directly imposed on a revenue-producing arrangement. This portion of the fees, taxes and charges is expensed in commissions, transportation and other costs when the corresponding revenues are recognized. For the three and six months ended May 31, fees, taxes and charges included in commissions, transportation and other costs were $41 million and $215 million in 2020 and $154 million and $317 million in 2019. The remaining portion of fees, taxes and charges are expensed in other operating expenses when the corresponding revenues are recognized.

Revenues and expenses from our hotel and transportation operations, which are included in our Tour and Other segment, are recognized at the time the services are performed. Revenues from the long-term leasing of ships, which are also included in our Tour and Other segment, are recognized ratably over the term of the agreement.