We are routinely involved in legal proceedings, claims, disputes, regulatory matters and governmental inspections or investigations arising in the ordinary course of or incidental to our business, including those noted below. Additionally, as a result of the impact of COVID-19, litigation claims, enforcement actions, regulatory actions and investigations, including, but not limited to, those arising from personal injury and loss of life, have been and may, in the future, be asserted against us. We expect many of these claims and actions, or any settlement of these claims and actions, to be covered by insurance and historically the maximum amount of our liability, net of any insurance recoverables, has been limited to our self-insurance retention levels.

Legal proceedings and government investigations are subject to inherent uncertainties, and unfavorable rulings or other events could occur. Unfavorable resolutions could involve substantial monetary damages. In addition, in matters for which conduct remedies are sought, unfavorable resolutions could include an injunction or other order prohibiting us from selling one or more products at all or in particular ways, precluding particular business practices or requiring other remedies. An unfavorable outcome might result in a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial position or liquidity.

As previously disclosed, on May 2, 2019, the Havana Docks Corporation filed a lawsuit against Carnival Corporation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida under Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, also known as the Helms-Burton Act, alleging that Carnival Corporation “trafficked” in confiscated Cuban property when certain ships docked at certain ports in Cuba, and that this alleged “trafficking” entitles the plaintiffs to treble damages. The hearings on motions for summary judgment were concluded on January 18, 2022. On March 21, 2022, the court granted summary judgment in favor of Havana Docks Corporation as to liability. On August 31, 2022, the court determined that the trebling provision of the Helms-Burton statute applies to damages and interest and accordingly, we adjusted our estimated liability for this matter. On December 30, 2022, the court entered judgment against Carnival in the amount of $110 million plus $4 million in fees and costs. We have filed a notice of appeal and on June 30, 2023, we filed our opening appellate brief.

As previously disclosed, on April 8, 2020, DeCurtis LLC (“DeCurtis”), a former vendor, filed an action against Carnival Corporation in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida seeking declaratory relief that DeCurtis is not infringing on several of Carnival Corporation’s patents in relation to its OCEAN Medallion systems and technology. On April 10, 2020, Carnival Corporation filed an action against DeCurtis in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for breach of contract, trade secrets violations and patent infringement. These two cases were consolidated in the Southern District of Florida. On March 10, 2023, the jury returned a verdict finding that DeCurtis had breached its contract with Carnival Corporation and infringed on the Carnival Corporation patent. The jury awarded Carnival Corporation a total of $21 million in damages. On April 30, 2023, DeCurtis filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Carnival Corporation is defending its interests in the bankruptcy matter.

We have been named in a number of individual actions related to COVID-19. These actions include tort claims based on a variety of theories, including negligence and failure to warn. The plaintiffs in these actions allege a variety of injuries: some plaintiffs confined their claim to emotional distress, while others allege injuries arising from testing positive for COVID-19. A smaller number of actions include wrongful death claims. Substantially all of these individual actions have now been dismissed or settled for immaterial amounts.

As of August 31, 2023, 11 purported class actions have been brought by former guests in several U.S. federal courts, the Federal Court in Australia, and in Italy. These actions include tort claims based on a variety of theories, including negligence, gross negligence and failure to warn, physical injuries and severe emotional distress associated with being exposed to and/or contracting COVID-19 onboard. As of August 31, 2023, nine of these class actions have either been settled individually for immaterial amounts or had their class allegations dismissed by the courts and only the Australian and Italian matters remain. We believe the ultimate outcome of these matters will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

We have been, and may continue to be, impacted by breaches in data security and lapses in data privacy, which occur from time to time. These can vary in scope and range from inadvertent events to malicious motivated attacks.

We have incurred legal and other costs in connection with cyber incidents that have impacted us. The penalties and settlements paid in connection with cyber incidents over the last three years were not material. While these incidents did not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial position or liquidity, no assurances can be given about the future and we may be subject to future litigation, attacks or incidents that could have such a material adverse effect.

On March 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notified us of potential civil penalties and injunctive relief for alleged Clean Water Act violations by owned and operated vessels covered by the 2013 Vessel General Permit. We are working with these agencies to reach a resolution of this matter. We believe the ultimate outcome will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Some of the debt contracts we enter into include indemnification provisions obligating us to make payments to the counterparty if certain events occur. These contingencies generally relate to changes in taxes or changes in laws which increase the lender’s costs. There are no stated or notional amounts included in the indemnification clauses, and we are not able to estimate the maximum potential amount of future payments, if any, under these indemnification clauses.

We have agreements with a number of credit card processors that transact customer deposits related to our cruise vacations. Certain of these agreements allow the credit card processors to request, under certain circumstances, that we provide a reserve fund in cash. Although the agreements vary, these requirements may generally be satisfied either through a withheld percentage of customer payments or providing cash funds directly to the credit card processor. We continue to expect to provide reserve funds under these agreements. During the third quarter, $912 million of previously provided reserve funds related to our customer deposits to satisfy these requirements were returned to us.

As of August 31, 2023 and November 30, 2022, we had $1.3 billion and $1.7 billion in reserve funds. Additionally, as of August 31, 2023 and November 30, 2022, we had $242 million and $229 million in compensating deposits we are required to maintain and $30 million of cash collateral in escrow. These balances are included within other assets. In addition, during the third quarter we provided $413 million in restricted cash deposits which became unrestricted in August 2023.