Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2010 Annual Report Download - page 65

2010 ANNUAL REPORT 62
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS
OF ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES, LTD.
In our opinion, the accompanying consolidated balance
sheets and the related consolidated statements of
operations, shareholders’ equity and cash flows present
fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of
Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. and its subsidiaries at
December 31, 2010 and 2009, and the results of their
operations and their cash flows for each of the three
years in the period ended December 31, 2010 in con-
formity with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States of America. Also in our opinion,
the Company maintained, in all material respects,
effective internal control over financial reporting as
of December 31, 2010, based on criteria established
in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by
the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the
Treadway Commission (COSO). The Company’s man-
agement is responsible for these financial statements,
for maintaining effective internal control over financial
reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness
of internal control over financial reporting, included
in Management’s Report on Internal Control Over
Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our
responsibility is to express opinions on these financial
statements and on the Company’s internal control
over financial reporting based on our integrated audits.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the stan-
dards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board (United States). Those standards require that
we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements are
free of material misstatement and whether effective
internal control over financial reporting was maintained
in all material respects. Our audits of the financial
statements included examining, on a test basis, evi-
dence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the
financial statements, assessing the accounting princi-
ples used and significant estimates made by manage-
ment, and evaluating the overall financial statement
presentation. Our audit of internal control over finan-
cial reporting included obtaining an understanding of
internal control over financial reporting, assessing the
risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and
evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of
internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits
also included performing such other procedures as
we considered necessary in the circumstances. We
believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for
our opinions.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting
is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance
regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
preparation of financial statements for external pur-
poses in accordance with generally accepted account-
ing principles. A company’s internal control over
financial reporting includes those policies and proce-
dures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records
that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect
the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the
company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that
transactions are recorded as necessary to permit
preparation of financial statements in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles, and
that receipts and expenditures of the company are
being made only in accordance with authorizations of
management and directors of the company; and (iii)
provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or
timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or
disposition of the company’s assets that could have a
material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control
over financial reporting may not prevent or detect
misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of
effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk
that controls may become inadequate because of
changes in conditions, or that the degree of compli-
ance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Miami, Florida
February 24, 2011