Debt - Additional Information (Detail) In Millions, unless otherwise specified						1 Months Ended												1 Months Ended
	May 31, 2011 USD ($)	Nov. 30, 2010 USD ($)	May 31, 2011 Unsecured Debt	May 31, 2011 Unsecured Debt Commercial Paper USD ($)	May 31, 2011 Unsecured Debt Euro Denominated Bank Loans USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2011 Unsecured Euro Denominated Export Credit Facility USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2011 Unsecured Euro Denominated Export Credit Facility USD ($)	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility USD ($) Year	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility U.S Dollar Denominated Debt USD ($)	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility U.S Dollar Denominated Debt Termination USD ($)	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility Euro Denominated EUR (€)	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility Euro Denominated Termination EUR (€)	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility Sterling Denominated Debt GBP (£)	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility Sterling Denominated Debt Termination GBP (£)	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility Utilization of One Third of Available Line of Credit Facility	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility Utilization of Two Third of Available Line of Credit Facility	May 31, 2011 Revolving Credit Facility Termination USD ($)	May 31, 2011 Unsecured Floating Rate Export Credit Facility Repayment of Debt USD ($)	May 31, 2011 Unsecured Floating Rate Euro-Denominated Bank Loan Repayment of Debt USD ($)	Jan. 31, 2011 Fixed Rate Export Credit Facilities USD ($)
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Short term borrowings	$ 274	$ 740		$ 267	$ 7
Aggregate Weighted Average Interest Rate			0.30%
Unsecured Long-Term Debt						583	407	2,500	1,600	1,200	450	400	150	200			2,000			313
Subsequent Event, Date																		Jun. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011
Unsecured debt interest rate terms						LIBOR plus a margin of 160 bps and is due in semi-annual installments through April 2023.	EURIBOR plus a margin of 20 basis points (“bps”) and is due in semi-annual installments through March 2023.	LIBOR/EURIBOR plus a margin of 65 bps. The margin will vary based on changes to Carnival Corporation’s and Carnival plc’s long-term credit rating.
Payments of unsecured debt																		300	140
Debt Instrument, Maturity Years								5
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate						1.60%	0.20%	0.65%
Commitment fee on undrawn facility								35.00%
Debt Instrument Maturity Period						April 2023	March 2023											Through 2022	Through 2014
Other revolving credit facilities cancelled	212
Utilization fee on the total amount outstanding															0.15%	0.30%
Amount available under the facility								$ 2,400