McCue spent the spring, summer and first days of fall navigating the choppy waters of Covid-19’s cruise restrictions and trying to do her best by her staff. “I said: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be home in two weeks, no problem.’ Fast forward to seven months later, when I finally signed off earlier this month.” McCue’s husband, who also works in the cruise industry, was on board Edge on vacation at the time.Īs Covid worries heightened and uncertainty grew, he traveled back to Vegas, and McCue planned to follow.Ĭaptain Kate McCue has helmed Celebrity Edge since 2019. “We all found out the flights from Europe were canceled,” she recalls. McCue’s reliever, supposed to arrive from Greece, never came. “But that is the cruise when everything kind of came to a head with Covid.” “That was a pinnacle moment in my career, to be able to be on a ship that was manned by what we called the ‘Oceans 27’,” says McCue. The last voyage of McCue’s December-March stretch was to coincide with International Women’s Day, a special Celebrity sailing in which the ship was entirely staffed by female officers. The plan was she’d work three months on board, and then three months off. McCue’s second stint on board Edge commenced in December 2019. The weight of responsibility of captaining a cruise ship had never been more apparent. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a No Sail Order for ships traveling from US ports. Ports were closed and cruise lines spent months trying to get passengers, and later crew members, home. Today, McCue chats to CNN Travel over video call from her home in Las Vegas, where she recently returned after spending months unexpectedly stuck at sea in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.Ĭovid-19 brought the cruise industry to a standstill – virus-hit ships were quarantined and passengers were denied disembarkation. She later moved to Celebrity Equinox and has helmed Celebrity Edge since September 2019. McCue’s job is to take charge of this enormous floating city and steer it safely around the world.įollowing her early days learning the ropes with Disney Cruise Line, McCue rose through the ranks at Royal Caribbean and moved to Celebrity Cruise Line to captain Celebrity Summit in 2015 – a promotion that made her the first female US cruise ship captain. It cost $1 billion to build and can house almost 3,000 passengers and over 1,000 crew members. It’s important, says McCue, “to understand the gravity of the responsibility.”Ĭelebrity Edge is one of Celebrity Cruise Line’s largest and swankiest vessels. She always includes a note of how many people are on board the ship. Every evening, whether the Celebrity Edge cruise ship is crisscrossing the Caribbean or meandering around the Mediterranean, Captain Kate McCue writes night orders for her team.
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