General

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

General

Note 1. General

Description of Business

We are a global cruise company. We own and operate three global cruise brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises (collectively, our "Global Brands"). We also own 50% of TUI Cruises GmbH ("TUIC"), which operates the German brands TUI Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises (collectively, our "Partner Brands"). We account for our investment in TUIC under the equity method of accounting. Together, our Global Brands and our Partner Brands operate a combined 60 ships as of September 30, 2021. Our ships offer a selection of worldwide itineraries that call on more than 1,000 destinations on all seven continents.

Management's Plan and Liquidity

We voluntarily suspended our global cruise operations effective March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We have restarted our global cruise operations in a phased manner, following the requirements and recommendations of regulatory agencies, with reduced guest occupancy, modified itineraries and enhanced health, safety and vaccination protocols.

By the end of September 2021, we operated 38 of our Global and Partner Brand ships, representing 63% of our fleet, and sailed over 500,000 passengers since we resumed operations. We expect to operate approximately 80% of our fleet by December 31, 2021.

Uncertainties remain as to the specifics, timing and costs of administering and implementing our health and safety measures, some of which may be significant. Based on our assessment of these requirements and recommendations, the status of COVID-19 infection and/or vaccination rates in the U.S. or globally or for other reasons, we may determine it necessary to cancel or modify certain of our Global Brands’ cruise sailings. We believe the impact to our global bookings resulting from COVID-19 will continue to have a material negative impact on our results of operations and liquidity, which may be prolonged beyond containment of the disease and its variants.

Significant events affecting travel, including COVID-19 and our gradual resumption of cruise operations, typically have an impact on the booking pattern for cruise vacations, with the full extent of the impact generally determined by the length of time the event influences travel decisions. The estimation of our future liquidity requirements include numerous assumptions that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. The principal assumptions used to estimate our future liquidity requirements consist of:

•Expected gradual resumption of cruise operations;

•Expected lower than comparable historical occupancy levels during the resumption of cruise operations; and

•Expected incremental spend for our resumption of cruise operations, including bringing our vessels out of layup status, returning our crew members to our ships and implementing and maintaining of health and safety protocols.

There can be no assurance that our assumptions and estimates are accurate due to possible variables, including, but not limited to, the uncertainties associated with regulatory requirements and recommendations, subsequent changes to and/or enforceability of those requirements and recommendations, our ability to meet the requirements and recommendations, and

whether efforts by countries to contain the disease and its variants will further restrict our ability to resume operations. We have implemented a number of proactive measures to mitigate the financial and operational impacts of COVID-19, including reduction of capital expenditures and operating expenses, the issuance of debt and shares of our common stock, the amendment of credit agreements to defer payments, the waiver and/or modification of covenant requirements and the suspension of dividend payments. Additionally, we expect to continue to pursue refinancing opportunities to reduce interest expense and extend maturities.

As of September 30, 2021, we had liquidity of $4.1 billion, including $0.1 billion of undrawn revolving credit facility capacity, $3.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and a $0.7 billion commitment for a 364-day term loan facility available to draw at any time prior to August 12, 2022. Our revolving credit facilities were mostly utilized through a combination of amounts drawn and letters of credit issued under the facilities as of September 30, 2021.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, we extended our $1.0 billion unsecured loan due April 2022 and our $1.6 billion unsecured revolving credit facility due October 2022 to October 2023 and April 2024, respectively. As of September 30, 2021, we were in compliance with our financial covenants. Refer to Note 7. Debt for further information regarding the amendments made to our debt facilities and credit card processing agreements, including related covenants, and for further discussion of our 2021 financing activities.

Based on our assumptions regarding the impact of COVID-19 and our resumption of operations, as well as our present financial condition, we believe that we have sufficient financial resources to fund our obligations for at least the next twelve months from the issuance of these 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 Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations. Estimates are required for the preparation of financial statements in accordance with these principles. 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, 2020 for a discussion of our significant accounting policies.

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 6. 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 June 30, 2021 through September 30, 2021, that would require further disclosure or adjustment to our consolidated financial statements as of and for the quarter ended September 30, 2021.

For affiliates we do not control but over which we have significant influence on financial and operating policies, usually evidenced by a direct ownership interest from 20% to 50%, the investment is accounted for using the equity method.

Effective March 19, 2021, we sold our wholly-owned brand, Azamara Cruises ("Azamara"), including its three-ship fleet and associated intellectual property, to Sycamore Partners for $201 million, before closing adjustments. The sale of Azamara does not represent a strategic shift that will have a major effect on our operations and financial results, as we continue to provide similar itineraries to and source passengers from the markets served by the Azamara business. Therefore, the sale of Azamara did not meet the criteria for discontinued operations reporting. Effective March 19, 2021, we no longer consolidate Azamara's balance sheet nor recognize its results of operations in our consolidated financial statements. We recognized an immaterial gain on the sale during the quarter ended March 31, 2021 and have agreed to provide certain transition services to Azamara for a period of time for a fee.

On July 9, 2020, we acquired the 33.3% interest in Silversea Cruises that we did not already own from Heritage Cruise Holding Ltd. See Note 11. Redeemable Noncontrolling Interest in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 for further information regarding our acquisition of Silversea Cruises' noncontrolling interest.