Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis for Preparation of Consolidated Financial Statements

Basis for Preparation of Consolidated Financial Statements

The unaudited consolidated financial statements are presented pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In our opinion, these statements include all adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the results of the interim periods reported herein. Adjustments consist only of normal recurring items, except for any items discussed in the notes below. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted as permitted by such rules and regulations. Estimates are required for the preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP and actual results could differ from these estimates. Refer to Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 for a discussion of our significant accounting policies.

Basis of Consolidation

All significant intercompany accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation. We consolidate entities over which we have control, usually evidenced by a direct ownership interest of greater than 50%, and variable interest entities where we are determined to be the primary beneficiary. Refer to Note 7. Other Assets for further information regarding our variable interest entities. We consolidate the operating results of Silversea Cruises on a three-month reporting lag to allow for more timely preparation of our consolidated financial statements. No material events or other transactions involving Silversea Cruises have occurred from July 31, 2018, the Silversea Cruises acquisition date, through September 30, 2018 that would require further disclosure or adjustment to our consolidated financial statements as of and for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2018. For affiliates we do not control but over which we have significant influence with respect to their financial and operating policies, usually evidenced by a direct ownership interest ranging from 20% to 50%, the investment is accounted for using the equity method.

Adoption of Accounting Pronouncements and Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Adoption of Accounting Pronouncements

On January 1, 2018, we adopted the guidance codified in Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, and applied the guidance to all contracts using the modified retrospective method. The new standard converged wide-ranging revenue recognition concepts and requirements that lead to diversity in application for particular industries and transactions into a single revenue standard containing comprehensive principles for recognizing revenue. The cumulative effect of applying the newly issued guidance was not material and accordingly there was no adjustment made to our retained earnings upon adoption on January 1, 2018. We do not expect the newly issued guidance to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements on an ongoing basis. Due to the adoption of ASC 606, we currently present prepaid commissions as an asset within Prepaid expenses and other assets. In addition, we have reclassified prepaid commissions of $64.6 million from Customer deposits to Prepaid expenses and other assets in our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2017. Refer to Note 5. Revenues for disclosures with respect to our revenue recognition policies.

On January 1, 2018, we adopted the guidance in Accounting Standard Update ("ASU") 2016-16, Income Taxes 740: Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory, which requires the income tax consequences of an intra-entity transfer of an asset, other than inventory, to be recognized at the time that the transfer occurs, rather than when the asset is sold to an outside party. We adopted the standard using the modified retrospective method and recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment to reduce retained earnings as of January 1, 2018 by $6.6 million, which reflects the elimination of the deferred tax asset related to intercompany asset transfers.

On January 1, 2018, we adopted the guidance in ASU 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, that was issued to simplify and align the financial reporting of hedging relationships to the economic results of an entity’s risk management activities. We adopted the amended guidance using the modified retrospective approach. Adoption of the guidance allowed us to modify the designated risk in our fair value interest rate hedges to the benchmark interest rate component, resulting in changes to the cumulative and ongoing fair value measurement for the hedged debt. Upon adoption, we also elected to hedge the contractually specified components of our commodities purchase contracts. For our cash flow hedges, there will be no periodic measurement or recognition of ineffectiveness. For all hedges, the earnings effect of the hedging instrument will be reported in the same period and in the same income statement line item in which the earnings effect of the hedged item is reported. As a result of the adoption of this guidance, we recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment to reduce retained earnings as of January 1, 2018 by $16.9 million. The cumulative-effect adjustment includes an increase to the debt carrying value of $14.4 million for our fair value interest rate hedges as of January 1, 2018, which reflects the cumulative fair value measurement change to debt at adoption resulting from the modified designated risk, and an increase to other comprehensive income of $2.5 million, which represents an increase to the deferred gain on active cash flow hedges at adoption. Additionally, the new standard requires modifications to existing presentation and disclosure requirements on a prospective basis. As such, certain disclosures for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2018 conform to these disclosure requirements. Refer to Note 11. Changes in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) and Note 12. Fair Value Measurements and Derivative Instruments for additional information.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Leases

In February 2016, amended GAAP guidance was issued to increase the transparency and comparability of lease accounting among organizations. For leases with a term greater than 12 months, the amendments require the lease rights and obligations arising from the leasing arrangements, including operating leases, to be recognized as assets and liabilities on the balance sheet. The amendments also expand the required disclosures surrounding leasing arrangements. The guidance will be effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018 and interim periods within those years. Early adoption is permitted. The amended guidance requires the use of a modified retrospective approach in applying the new lease accounting standard and originally required an entity to apply the standard at the beginning of the earliest period presented in the financial statements. In July 2018, updated guidance was issued which provides an additional and optional transition method that allows entities to initially apply the standard at the adoption date and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. While we are still evaluating the transition method of adoption, we expect to elect this optional transition method and recognize the cumulative impact of adoption in the opening balance of retained earnings as of January 1, 2019.

Additionally, we are currently evaluating the impact of adopting this guidance. In our evaluation, we have identified the contracts that provide an explicit right to use an asset and qualify as a leasing arrangement under the new guidance. We are currently evaluating certain contractual arrangements to determine if they contain an implicit or embedded right to use an asset that would qualify as a leasing arrangement under the new guidance. Upon implementation of the guidance, we expect an increase to both the assets and liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet to reflect the lease rights and obligations arising from our operating lease arrangements. In addition, we expect to include additional qualitative and quantitative disclosures regarding our leasing arrangements as required by the guidance.

Change in Accounting Principle - Stock-based Compensation

Change in Accounting Principle - Stock-based Compensation

In January 2018, we elected to change our accounting policy for recognizing stock-based compensation expense from the graded attribution method to the straight-line attribution method for time-based stock awards. The adoption of the straight-line attribution method for time-based stock awards represents a change in accounting principle which we believe to be preferable because it is the predominant method used in our industry. A change in accounting principle requires retrospective application, if material. The impact of the adoption of the straight-line attribution method to our time-based awards was immaterial to prior periods and is expected to be immaterial for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. As a result, we have accounted for this change in accounting principle in our consolidated results for the nine months ended September 30, 2018. The effect of this change was an increase to net income of $9.2 million, or $0.04 per share for each of basic and diluted earnings per share, for the nine months ended September 30, 2018, which is reported within Marketing, selling and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss).