Carnival taps Miss Dominican Republic as Mardi Gras godmotherCarnival taps Miss Dominican Republic as Mardi Gras godmother

With a global television audience estimated at 500m looking on, Carnival President Christine Duffy presented Jiménez with the new 'Spirit of Carnival' award for embodying the company’s values of fun, friendship, diversity and inclusion during Sunday's 'Miss Universe' broadcast, and bestowed the honor of serving as godmother.

Mardi Gras is planned to debut this year at Port Canaveral as the Americas' first LNG-powered cruise ship.

Dominican Republic a Mardi Gras destination

Jiménez, as well as Miss Universe 2021, Miss Mexico Andrea Meza, will get to be among the first to sail on Mardi Gras when it begins weeklong cruises to the Bahamas and Caribbean, including Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic.

Advocate for women, children and families

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Dominican Republic, Jiménez is a champion for at-risk youth and an advocate for adoption, volunteering for the past three years at Los Niños de Cristo orphanage, a nonprofit foundation that serves abused and abandoned girls. She also serves as a founding member of the Dominican Republic Women's Club, dedicated to providing services to indigent women suffering from breast cancer. Jimenez and her family were left homeless after Hurricane Maria.

'Kimberly is a role model for female empowerment and has a passion for so many worthwhile causes, particularly those that assist women, children and families,' Duffy said.

Duffy served on the selection committee for the Miss Universe competition, one of eight members of the all-female panel. She said that seeing so many smart and talented women in the competition representing 74 nations was like being on board a Carnival ship, with a fleetwide team from 120 countries.