General - Narrative (Details) $ in Billions	1 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2018 USD ($) ship continent shares	Jun. 30, 2018 brand
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Number of cruise brands \| brand		3
Maximum
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Investment in a joint venture, percentage of interest		50.00%
Minimum
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Investment in a joint venture, percentage of interest		20.00%
TUI Cruises
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Investment in a joint venture, percentage of interest		50.00%
Pullmantur and CDF Croisieres de France
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Investment in a joint venture, percentage of interest		49.00%
SkySea Cruises
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Investment in a joint venture, percentage of interest		36.00%
Subsequent Event \| Silversea Cruises
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of interests acquired	66.70%
Number of cruise ships \| ship	9
Number of continents of operations \| continent	7
Purchase price \| $	$ 1.0
Contingent consideration (in shares) \| shares	472,000

Business Combination, Contingent Consideration, Shares

No definition available.

Name:	rcl_BusinessCombinationContingentConsiderationShares
Namespace Prefix:	rcl_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Business Combination, Number Of Continents In Which Acquired Entity Operates

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	rcl_BusinessCombinationNumberOfContinentsInWhichAcquiredEntityOperates
Namespace Prefix:	rcl_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Business Combination, Number Of Cruise Ships

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	rcl_BusinessCombinationNumberOfCruiseShips
Namespace Prefix:	rcl_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Represents the number of cruise brands that operate ships.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	rcl_NumberOfCruiseBrands
Namespace Prefix:	rcl_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage of voting equity interests acquired at the acquisition date in the business combination.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=79982066&loc=d3e1392-128463

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionPercentageOfVotingInterestsAcquired
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of consideration transferred, consisting of acquisition-date fair value of assets transferred by the acquirer, liabilities incurred by the acquirer, and equity interest issued by the acquirer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 30
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109124213&loc=d3e6613-128477

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 30
-Section 30
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109124213&loc=d3e6578-128477

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessCombinationConsiderationTransferred1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=114001798&loc=d3e33918-111571

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- 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

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentEquityMethodInvesteeNameAxis=rcl_TUICruisesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentEquityMethodInvesteeNameAxis=rcl_PullmanturAndCDFCroisieresDeFranceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentEquityMethodInvesteeNameAxis=rcl_SkySeaCruisesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_SubsequentEventTypeAxis=us-gaap_SubsequentEventMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=rcl_SilverseaCruisesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: