McCue spent months at sea due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Its just phenomenal. Female Captain. I also did an internship with Chiquita on cargo ships. 07070 USA Telephone: (201) 902-2000. In one older post, she's on the bridge in full regalia (an image of her and other women officers -- her "sea-sters" -- wearing sky-high Christian Louboutin heels was captioned "heart and sole"); in another she's wearing Celebrity coveralls to help reorient an osprey that got stuck on the open deck ("on a wing and an osprey'er"). Please only use it for a guidance and Kate McCue's actual income may vary a lot from the dollar amount shown above. ", "And this gentleman just laughed -- and my husband did not.". I think my husband and I would be such an awesome pair. Captain Kate McCue has been married to her husband, Nikola Petrovic, since 2006. As captain, I can't work with him on the same ship because then I'm his boss at home and at work, and the poor bugger doesn't have a chance. Yes, Tasos is on vacation, but on the Edge when he is on a ship. I promise some people care. I resemble that question answering style IRL! In 4 years weve gone from 3% to 22%. Announcing Our 2023 Cruisers' Choice Award Winners! Here I have everything taking care of and I have 1200 family membersaround me all the time so I prefer to stay on boardas long as possible. McCue's job is to take charge of this enormous floating city and steer it safely around the world. The idea that I want to have a family and therefore I cant do it because of my profession or vice versa is a huge misconception because there are ways to work around it. Captain Kate McCue: Salary, Age, Husband & Fun Facts This Celebrity captain is a master of Instagram, too - Travel Weekly Every summer the cadets [what undergrads are called at CMA] go on a training cruise to get hands-on experience for going to sea. Then her father gave her some encouragement that changed her life. Legal Statement. He said, "Captain?" How to Pack Three Months of Your Life into a Carry-On: Captain Kate Also, when I was promoted to captain in 2015, I did not anticipate the external spotlight of being a female in that role, and it did become quite a bit to handle. We have sailed with her as Captain on the Summit, Equinox and Edge. I have everything else. Kate McCue, America'sfirst female "mega" cruise ship captain, discussed her career as part of Women's History Month on Fox News Radio's "Everyone Talks to Liz Claman" podcast on Friday. or redistributed. Fox News Flash top headlines for October 8. McCue reveals what it's like to drive a floating hotel, how her 12-week stints at sea help her marriage, and why the middle of the ocean with nothing around is her happy place. In one case, both she and her husband were on a ship and wearing their uniforms -- both sporting four gold bars on their sleeves -- when a couple approached them. He could, prior to the pandemic. McCue has been working since December. My wife and I are sailing on Beyond's 9 night repositioning cruise from Bayonne to the Caribbean and Fort Lauderdale on 10/26/22. McCue laughed -- no, it doesn't. Ever had a hankering to know what the captain's quarters look like on Celebrity Cruises' newest ships? We sat down with Celebrity Summit's Captain Kate McCue as she explained how she packs three months of her life into a simple carry-on. When I first graduated, I packed up all my stuff and moved to Maui, staying with my cousins. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. He's got the languages and the technical background. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Thats why when I came to take over I had a three-week period before I actually became a captain on board. Now I keep in contact with my family twice a day and I see them on Skype. On port days, it takes about an hour and a half to two hours for the ship to dock. She lives in landlocked Cleveland with her travel writer husband, David Molyneaux. I dont think any time in history has the captain been the godmother/mermaid. The other thing that surprises people is that the ships steering wheel is smaller than the steering wheel on a car. Interview with Captain Kate McCue - Travel with Style I dont know how that comes across in the PA announcement. Sailing on a ship with Captain Kate McCue is on my cruise goals list! Thank you, @49ers !!! Click here to reload the page in order to enable certain features. I started to get that wanderlust passion going on. Kate McCue is the captain of Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Edge. McCue was home on a brief shore leave and professed to be glad to talk social media and take a break from the house renovation she's embarked on with her husband, the fleet chief engineer of Virgin Voyages, aka @chief_nikolapetrovic. I needed to get used to everything. When I started documenting my life as a cruise ship Captain, I never, in a million years, expected the interest or following that has grown around this platform. Obviously, she's busy: McCue is still in command of a 131,000 gross-ton cruise ship, a serious job by any measure. When it came time for my promotion, he went to a newly built ship over in Asia. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! In general, McCue says she's been able to put her own stamp on her job. I think they expect to see this very Amazonian persona who is controlling the Christopher Columbus steering wheel. Host Liz Claman noted thatMcCue's hard work and climb through the ranks at Royal Caribbean helped pave the way for the unexpected offer from a former colleague to become captain of her own ship. The thoughtfulness and imagination she put into this ship is only matched by her forward thinking to move the industry beyond what it is now and see what it should be.. Not only was an all-female crew staffing the bridge for the first time, but at the helm was Captain Kate McCue, the first American woman to command a megaship. McCue's husband, who also works in the cruise industry, was on board Edge on vacation at the time. I think, to be honest, it's necessary to miss people to be able to appreciate them. But I am also confident that its not going to be premature, that were going to do it right, when its time. And they'll come find her when they see something unusual, fun or inspiring that might make for interesting content. My dad was working at Area 51 [a highly classified Air Force facility in Nevada]. I don't know who will hear that, but fingers crossed. It's a shipping company that would take containers off the ships, put them on trains or trucks, and send them out across the states. Every time he comes home, it's like a new honeymoon, if you know what I mean. When you think about your future vacation options, with cruising you have a controlled environment. With that,McCue's path wasset. We sail. MIAMI, Oct. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Exciting news today, as Celebrity Cruises President and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo announced Captain Kate McCue, the first American female cruise ship. She actually has 4.5 million TikTok followers now. . Get That Life: How I Became the First American Female Captain of a Megaton Cruise Ship, We Wanna Feature You and Your Business in the Mag, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Meet Kate McCue, First American Woman to Captain Mega Cruise Ship - Insider I enjoy being on the ship and honestly if you told me that I would need to spend the next five years onboard the ship and could never get off I would be fine with that. If she stays on the ship, she'll do inspections and meet with crew. It's like driving a hotel. McCue said she later applied to Miami-based Royal Caribbean International in hopes of more advancement opportunities with a larger company. . Captain Kate McCue Named Captain of the Upcoming That wouldn't be great, but at least we'd have stories to post on CruiseCritic). It's just one post in the social media life of McCue, also known as Captain Kate, also known as @captainkatemccue to more than 200,000 Instagram followers. That will be my equivalent of having a child. Once the ship's arrived, sometimes McCue will go out on the cruise excursions and explore the destination with the guests. Find FAQ's, ask questions, join the list for upcoming info & releases! None of those were planned with her in mind. She also uses it to explain her role as the ship's master to passengers and, of course, to school the occasional hater. I applied to every cruise company I could find. Celebrity Edge is one of Celebrity Cruise Line's largest and swankiest vessels. "I don't believe any time in history has the captain of the ship also been the godmother. Spouses are. I said to my dad, I am going to work as a cruise director when I grow up. And he said, You can do that, or you can drive the thing.. She is more like dog, she sleeps under your covers between your feet, she has a bath every other day so she likes water and she is very social. Offering these words of wisdom and acting as a role model for other young female seafarers is important to McCue, but she hopes one day it'll be redundant. Sometimes you head for a corner of the world where luxury resides in a surprisingly approachable way. Fame | Kate McCue net worth and salary income estimation Apr, 2023 | People Ai Kate McCue net worth 4.06 Million Millions of dollars 87% Net worth score Disclamer: Kate McCue net worth displayed here are calculated based on a combination social factors. Like 'your ignorance. "I look forward to the day where, honestly, being the first female anything isn't a thing anymore. And they got to do their job 100%. If the past is an indication, she will captain the 3,258-passenger ship with her signature style, wearing Louboutin shoes and accompanied by a hairless cat named Bug Naked who is dressed in a uniform and pushed around the ship in a stroller. "They want you to be a captain," McCue recalls Nikola telling her. Charles covers media, politics and breaking news, and has covered the annual CPAC conference for Fox News Digital. Hoping Captailn Kate will be at the helm sailing the Beyond on its repositioning cruise from Bayonne, NJ to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. "There weren't stripes, there weren't positions, it was -- in the end -- 80 people that just knew each other as family. She is one of the first people who helped me realise thatyou dont have to be something else in order to fit into that world. (she's actually a lot more loquacious in real life, as I found when I was with her on the Summit back in 2017. As always, thank you for your continued support and for letting me share this Beyond amazing career! If you've ever sailed on a cruise ship, you could almost count on the fact that the captain. Captain McCue played a major role. I know many of you want to comment "WHO CARES?" "'Your' is something possessive, it belongs to you. America's First Female Cruise Captain Travels the World With - Yahoo Kate Chastain Is Pregnant with Her First Baby! See Her Bump Pic - People Fran Golden is an award-winning travel writer who has sailed on more than 150 cruises. Meet Captain Kate McCue, the first American Woman to 'Drive - AAA "My dad said, 'You can do anything you want in the world, including drive the thing.' I moved to Royal Caribbean International, coming in as a second officer, and worked my way up. ---------- Every day on the ship is different. I joke with guests when we're doing bridge tours that it's easier to drive the ship than it is my car back home, because it's a stick shift. Upon graduation in 2000, I earned my third mate license, which meant that I could sail anything from a tugboat to the world's largest super tanker. The local tourism board is a good resource for updated information. McCue was referring to Palmyra Atoll, which is in the Northern Pacific. The captain has also been known to don a mermaid tail to swim in the warm waters of the Caribbean. Once completed, the third Edge-class cruise ship will be 140,600 gross tons with a guest capacity of 3,260 along with 1,400 crew members from 60 countries. So, we put that out in the world. Celebrity Cruises She's been at anchor at . ThenI was promoted to first officer, so I was standing my own watch on the bridge. Its not just the idea of closing the gender gap, we actually have the numbers and people on the positions to back that up. The reality star and Florida native is pregnant with her first child, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal, due May 2023. You could save hundreds on auto insurance with AAA, 5-night Hawaii vacations with air from $958, Find AAA Approved Repair facilities across the U.S. and Canada, AAA members can enroll in free identity theft protection, Manage your AAA membership, insurance, and services online, Captain Kate McCue has commanded the 2,918-passenger mega-ship Celebrity Edge since 2019. 27, 2022. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. "From regulations and closures of countries around the world and situations that were popping up -- you couldn't have written a Hollywood script that could include all of the things that were coming at us," says McCue. For the first time in the cruise industry - and in Celebrity Cruises' history - an American female will take the helm of a mega-ton cruise ship. She's currently got 204,000 followers and counting. Instead of killing spiders, you can eat at the best restaurants, see shows that are just as good as we have in Vegas [where McCue now lives when on land], and go on amazing shore excursions, like looking for bears in Alaska, riding a hot air balloon over Tuscany, or driving a Ferrari down the Amalfi Coast. Correction: A previous version of this article said that Palmyra is in Syria. If I don't do it, how will people see it?". I had visited Maui on one of the training ships [during college], and I just fell in love. But I find that you tend to smile too much.'". Kate McCue went on her first cruise at age 12. , Holy Smokes!!! Duck = 1, Book = 0, The 411 on FAQ's: The 43-year-old Celebrity Cruises captain has amassed nearly 3 million followers on TikTok, regaling them with videos about life at sea, her career and videos of her cat Bug Naked. Celebrity Beyonds maiden voyage will depart on April 27, 2022, from Southampton, England, for a 10-night Western European cruise including calls at Bordeaux, France; Lisbon, Portugal; and Seville, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, and Barcelona, Spain. I said, Heck, yes., McCues career was inspired by her first cruise when she was a child. Its cutting edge, everything is so technologically advanced. He looked at me, then at the letter, then back at me. Kate McCue earlier this year threw open the doors to her suite on the Edge, and nearly 100,000 people peeked in. But on many occasions people thought Id be taller when theyve met me in person. I hear about how his day is going rather than taking it for granted. So I think the fact that I dont live on the bridge 24/7 really surprises a lot of people. So when they see me around the ship they are always surprised and the number one question I get asked is, if you are here who is driving (and this is driving me crazy) the boat. Turns Out, We're All Really Pissed About Money, 4 Black Women Fighting for an Inclusive Economy, Gen Z's Mindset on Work Gives Us Hope for 2023, Meet the Drift Racer Dominating the Auto Scene, Now Introducing: The 2022 C-Suite Honorees. As Celebrity Edge spent months in limbo, McCue also documented life on board via her. You better believe it. And its easy to swim with because its a mono-tail that floats. She later moved to Celebrity Equinox and has helmed Celebrity Edge since September 2019. I'm on the bridge for all arrivals and departures. I felt like I had to do my job 100% but then I also had to do this representing of being a female. FollowAAA ExplorerandWestwaysfor the latest on what to see and do. In 2015, I was sailing with my husband as a guest on the Quantum of the Seas, where he was chief engineer, and I got a call from Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises, asking if I would come over to that sister company as captain. A little off topic, but he does a fabulous Captains Corner, You will be able to leave a comment after signing in, Copyright 19952023 The Independent Traveler, Inc. On board the ship, I don't watch the news very often. Then I moved up to chief officer safety. Since then, shes also been the captain of Celebrity Equinox and the new Celebrity Edge in 2019. I want to be able to show a behind-the-scenes view of how things really are on a cruise ship. What that causes you to do is really focus, concentrate and go to a place that you dont get to experiencevery often, and at the end of that I called my parents and said that today Im a better captain than I was yesterday. Not only was an all-female crew staffing the bridge for the first time, but at the helm was Captain Kate McCue, the first American woman to command a megaship. 301 Route 17 N, Suite 1150, Rutherford, NJ She constantly thinks about how she can go above and beyond, mirroring the exceptional design and imagination of the ship she will captain. Captain Kate McCue is Master of the Celebrity Summit, a 91,000-ton cruise ship. Will we still have a great time if she's not the Captain? Her husband was a guest on the cruise. The realworld is a scary place, you have to go out, sit on traffic, to go to the grocery store, pay bills and do all that. This is a day that Ive been waiting for since we made the first cut of steel on our beautiful Celebrity Beyond. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, I did receive some very important feedback: McCue had to take the mandatory psychological evaluation, which ensures staff are up for the job. When McCue started at Celebrity, she found herself returning to this feedback, and trying her best to remain poker-faced. Hell walk around and ask people, Do you know who I am? And when they say no, he says, Im the captains wife. He thinks its really cute to say that, which it is. . When she became the commanding officer of Celebrity Summit in 2015, it was the first time that an American woman had been named captain of a "Mega" cruise ship. A: "Yep" Q: Will I be sticking around Italy? Captain Kate McCue will take the helm of Celebrity Cruises' third Edge-class cruise ship, Celebrity Beyond. They were always pushing me to my goal. When I started documenting my life as a cruise ship Captain, I never, in a million years, expected the interest or following that has grown around this platform. He started reading it out loud, word by word, and about halfway through,he got real quiet. Captain Kate McCue To Take The Helm Of Celebrity Cruises' Newest And The captain's quarters tour was a good example of what McCue really aims to do with her social presence, which is to make the seafaring life accessible and relatable, particularly to women. Once we're at port, there are meetings with the executive committeeor inspections around the ship. Seeing our guests walk back up the gangway. As a chief engineer, that's the highest position you can have in that field. We do 12 weeks on, 12 weeks off. They do not have any children although Kate considers herself to be mum to their cat. It's actually a myth about how to make money on Facebook Kate McCue (born January 6, 1978) is an American cruise ship captain, currently employed by Celebrity Cruises. Making coffee in the espresso bar. We were on her first sailing as Captain, Summit, 2015 to Canada and were invited to the Captains Table. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. I take her up to the bridge when I do the inside access tours, which is a good opportunity for a diehard Bug Naked fan to meet her. She is currently the captain of the Celebrity Beyond. I worked hard for the captain title. She is currently employed by Celebrity Cruises and is the captain of the Celebrity Beyond. Captain Kate McCue has helmed Celebrity Edge since 2019. its transformational, so you can use it in so many different ways. A few more questions about what she plans to do in Italy.(Eat, Drink, be Merry), Q: "Am I going to come back to this shipa lot soonerthan everyone expects?". We make sure cruisers are fully prepared for their cruise vacation with tips on ships and ports. I'm oncall 24/7. And the third way is a computer system we call the voyage management system. I also got a BA in business administration, which comes in really handy for a captain, who is theoretically the CEO of the ship. I understood the question as to which ship he is on. " When I started in 2015 we only had a 3% female bridge team fleetwide. But in the down times, she is everywhere on the ship, suitably masked. Captain Kate McCue to Take the Helm of New Celebrity Cruise Ship "If you need any more clarification, you can find me here in my captain's chair," she concluded with a sparkle filter to emphasize her job title. In this interview, she talks about her career and reveals the story behind the mermaid's tail. We were the deck hands, lifeguards, surf instructors, bartenders, and just general boat people. Free expert cruise tips and news from Cruise Hive! Then I'll get up and be on the bridge and maneuver into port.