Kate McCue (born January 6, 1978) is an American cruise ship captain. In 2015 she became the first American woman to command a modern "mega" cruise ship when Celebrity Cruises appointed her master of Celebrity Summit.[1][2]
Kate McCue | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 January 1978 |
| Alma mater | California State University Maritime Academy |
| Occupation | Cruise ship captain |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Employer | Four Seasons Yachts |
| Known for | First American woman to captain a "mega" cruise ship |
| Spouse | Nikola Petrovic |
McCue began her seagoing career at Disney Cruise Line in 2001 and joined Royal Caribbean in 2003, rising to staff captain by 2011 before being recruited to Celebrity.[3] She subsequently captained Celebrity Equinox (2018), Celebrity Edge (2019) and Celebrity Beyond (from its 2022 debut), and left Celebrity in 2025 to take command of the inaugural Four Seasons Yachts vessel.[4][5]
Early life and education
editMcCue was born in San Francisco and moved several times during her childhood because of her father's work as an engineer.[6] She lived for a period in Michigan and in Evans, Georgia, where she attended Lakeside High School from 1992 to 1996.[7][3] A family cruise to the Bahamas at age 12 prompted her interest in working at sea; her father told her she could "drive the thing", and she set captaincy as a goal.[8] The family later returned to San Francisco.[8]
McCue enrolled at the California State University Maritime Academy (then California Maritime Academy) in 1996 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1999.[7][8] Summer training cruises included celestial navigation and visits to Easter Island,[3] and an internship with Chiquita Brands International involved standing watch on cargo ships carrying bananas from Ecuador to Long Beach, California.[8]
Maritime career
editEarly positions
editAfter graduating, McCue moved to Maui, where she lived with cousins for six months and worked as a deckhand on a catamaran running tourist trips to the Molokini crater. She then took a logistics manager job with Maersk Sealand in Los Angeles before returning to sea.[8]
Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean
editMcCue joined Disney Cruise Line as a third mate in 2001, working out of Port Canaveral, Florida.[3] In 2003 she moved to Royal Caribbean as a second officer and was promoted to first officer after a year.[3] In 2009 she attended the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies in Baltimore, where she earned her chief mate and master's licences.[3] She returned to Royal Caribbean as chief officer and was promoted to staff captain in 2011.[3]
Celebrity Cruises
editIn 2015 Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, then president of Celebrity Cruises, invited McCue to apply for a captaincy.[3][9] McCue assumed command of Celebrity Summit on September 13, 2015,[10] becoming the first American woman to command a modern "mega" cruise ship.[1] Lutoff-Perlo later said McCue's hiring was "the first opportunity to make significant change at Celebrity related to gender equality".[9]
McCue moved to Celebrity Equinox in 2018[11] and to Celebrity Edge in 2019.[2] On October 14, 2021, Celebrity Cruises announced she would take Celebrity Beyond from its 2022 debut, the first ship she would captain from launch.[12][13]
On February 24, 2025, McCue announced that she was leaving Celebrity Cruises after 22 years and 11 ships in the Royal Caribbean Group.[4]
Four Seasons Yachts
editPersonal life
editMcCue is married to Nikola Petrovic, a chief engineer she met aboard a Royal Caribbean ship; he later worked as a fleet chief engineer at Virgin Voyages.[8][15] Royal Caribbean's policy of keeping couples on the same ship allowed them to sail together early in their careers.[8]
McCue's sphynx cat, Bug Naked, lived aboard her ships and developed a social-media following alongside her.[15] Bug Naked died on December 26, 2024, after a dental procedure, at age eight.[16]
References
edit- 1 2 Satchell, Arlene (July 13, 2015). "First American woman to captain cruise ship". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 30, 2018. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- 1 2 Mzezewa, Tariro (February 25, 2019). "Please Call Her Captain". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "How I got my job... travelling the world". Glamour. August 29, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- 1 2 "Captain Kate Leaving Celebrity Cruises". Cruise Industry News. February 24, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
- 1 2 "Captain Kate Named Four Seasons Captain". Cruise Industry News. March 18, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
- ↑ "'Drive', He Said, and Now She Does". Royal Caribbean. February 28, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 1 2 "Evans native becomes first woman cruise ship captain in the US". WRDW-TV. September 21, 2015. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wood Rudulph, Heather (September 28, 2015). "Get That Life: How I Became the First American Female Captain of a Megaton Cruise Ship". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- 1 2 Farber, Madeline (November 30, 2016). "How the Top Women at Celebrity Cruises Are Sailing Through Gender Barriers". Fortune. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- ↑ Mitchell, Heidi (September 1, 2015). "What Captain Kate Carries Onboard". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- ↑ Crow, Melinda (February 5, 2018). "Captain Kate is Swapping Ships". FirstRead.me. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
- ↑ Hines, Morgan (October 14, 2021). "Exclusive: Kate McCue to captain new Celebrity Beyond cruise ship marking career 'culmination'". USA Today. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
- ↑ "Captain Kate McCue to Take Helm of Celebrity Beyond". Cruise Industry News. October 14, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
- ↑ Brady, Paul. "The Four Seasons Yacht Has Officially Arrived—Here's a Look Inside One of the Year's Most-anticipated Ships". Retrieved May 19, 2026.
- 1 2 Quindara, Henry (July 16, 2021). "Cruise kitty makes the cutest first mate". USA Today. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
- ↑ Santillan, Andrea (December 30, 2024). "Captain Kate's Seafaring Cat, Bug Naked, Passes Away After Dental Procedure". Cruise Radio. Retrieved December 31, 2024.