With a TV audience estimated at 500M looking on, CCL-Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy presented Kimberly Jimenez (Miss Dominican Republic 2020) with the “Spirit of Carnival” award for embodying the cruise company’s values of friendship, diversity, inclusion, and fun during the Miss Universe broadcast, and bestowed the honor of serving as godmother to Carnival’s newest and most innovative liner - Mardi Gras, scheduled to debut from Port Canaveral Florida later this year.
Mardi Gras is the first cruise vessel in the Americas to be LNG-powered as well as popular for having the first roller coaster at sea. As godmother, Kimberly Jimenez will preside over the ship’s official naming ceremony, continuing the maritime tradition.
Jimenez (1997-born in Puerto Rico and raised in Dominicana, resident of La Romana), and Miss Universe 2021, Miss Mexico Andrea Meza, will get the opportunity to be among the first to sail on the newbuild when the boat starts 7-night Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries, including one of Dominicana's most popular ports Amber Cove Dominicana.
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Dominicana, Kimberly Jimenez is a champion for at-risk youth and an advocate for adoption, volunteering for the past 3 years at Los Ninos de Cristo orphanage that serves abused and abandoned girls. She is also serving as a founding member of the Dominican Republic Women’s Club, which is dedicated to providing services to indigent women suffering from breast cancer. Jimenez and her family were left homeless because of the devastation of Hurricane Maria, underscoring her perseverance and a positive attitude.
President Christine Duffy served on the selection committee for the competition, one of 8 members of the female panel. Duffy said that seeing so many talented and smart women in the competition representing 74 nations was like being onboard a Carnival ship, with a fleetwide team representing a total of 120 countries from across the world.