US-based Carnival Corp and its twin UK entity have secured lower interest rates on $2.81bn in debt.

The New York-listed and London-listed cruise giant and lender JP Morgan changed the terms of two tranches of the loan.

Carnival may either pay a rate of 3% instead of 7.5% on a $1.86bn portion of the loan due 2025, or it may honour an €800m ($948m) tranche at 3.75% instead of 7.5%.

PJT Partners is serving as an independent financial advisor to Carnival Corp and Carnival plc.

Carnival on 24 June posted its sixth straight quarterly loss as a result of Covid-19.

The owner of 91 cruiseships reported a $2.1bn net loss for the second quarter, versus a year-ago deficit of $4.37bn.

The company also filed detailed quarterly results with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that showed revenue of $50m, down from $470m a year earlier.

Revenue for the first half of the fiscal year that began on 1 December was also very lopsided, coming in at $75m compared with $5.53bn for the same six months in 2020.

It also reported a $4.05bn net loss for the first six months of fiscal 2021 versus a $5.16bn net loss for the same period in 2020.

Carnival has raised $23.6bn in cash through transactions that include borrowing $1.5bn in export credit, issuing $3.5bn of unsecured debt and offering $1bn in stock.

Its monthly cash-burn rate is about $550m.

Despite the losses and debt, Carnival said it plans to have 56 ships sailing revenue voyages by year’s end across eight out of nine brands.