A cruise company is incentivised to say things like depreciation are less than they are, so the company's numbers look better than they actually are.

Additionally, it's very rare for a company to own a ship for its entire lifetime.

The way they calculate depreciation now is based on resale value.

I wonder what happens to that in a world where interest rates AREN'T negative in real terms anymore...

How long does this supposed fraud take to show up? Carnival and Caribbean have been doing business for decades, and Norwegian has been public since 2011.

Surely, it would have impacted the bottom line by now at at least one of those 3 businesses.

> How long does this supposed fraud take to show up?

Estimating things is non-trivial.

It's not fraud for your depreciation estimate to be off by a few percentage points.

Banks regularly set their loss provisions artificially low or high to smooth earnings.

I don't understand the point you are trying to make. If the estimates are incorrect, then they will show up after decades of operating as a business, being realized via the sale price of the ships or repair costs or whatever. The profit margins reported in the 10-Ks seem like an an accurate estimate of what a big cruise company can expect to earn, based on the current best management practices and technology.

Taking a boat to go on vacation seems like a stronger industry than you're making it out to be. These are huge companies with highly scrutinized finances and obvious capital expenses.