In the ongoing Shondaland series Head Turners, we meet interesting women from every facet of life who are crushing it in their careers. From artists and tech mavens to titans of the boardroom, these women are breaking barriers, and they’ll share how you can too.
After taking her first family cruise at age 12, Kate McCue told her parents she’d found her life’s ambition: to become a cruise director. Her dad, however, had another suggestion.
“He said, ‘Well, you can do anything you want in the world, including drive the thing,’ and that is where the seed was planted,” says Captain Kate McCue, the first American woman to helm a mega-ton cruise ship. Today, she commands the bridge of the 140,600-ton, 3,260-passenger Celebrity Beyond in her own way, standing tall in Louboutin heels and accompanied by a hairless cat named Bug Naked.
McCue was one of eight women in her graduating class of more than 100 students at the California State University Maritime Academy. As a practical strategy, she earned both a third-mate license and a business administration degree as a backup in case she ever decided to get a job on land. “But what I found is, as a captain, having a business administration degree comes in very handy,” McCue says, “because you are running basically your own business with a $1.3 billion ship.”
After working her way up the ranks, McCue was promoted to captain at age 37, joining Celebrity Cruises at the invitation of Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, the line’s first female president and CEO. “Captain Kate,” as she’s now known to her 3.7 million social media followers, has matured into an industry leader who’s not afraid to be her authentic self.
During a call aboard the Celebrity Beyond in the Dominican Republic, McCue spoke with Shondaland about defying tradition, bringing more women onto the bridge, and why she never travels without a mermaid tail.
LAURA BEAUSIRE: It took you 19 years to become a captain. Did people try to discourage you along the way?
CAPTAIN KATE McCUE: I always felt at California Maritime Academy that I was protected [because] people treated me like their little sister, or the underclassmen would treat me like the mom. I never had any issues at school. When [I started] working, I only sailed international cruise ships.
The thing about international ships is you have so much diversity represented — whether it’s race, religion, cultural background, sexual orientation, gender, it doesn’t matter. We have 77 different nationalities on board this ship alone in our crew. I find on cruise ships, specifically international cruise ships, we celebrate our differences; we don’t pick on them. And the secret to my success is that I grew up in companies that supported that idea of diversity.
LB: Do you feel the need to do things the usual way?
KM: If it’s “the way we’ve always done things,” that’s when I start to buck the tradition, and that was anything from uniforms to leadership styles. I’m at a company that is so progressive and really supports doing things in a modern way and bringing new perspectives. That’s great because it trickles down and gives people the independence and also the confidence to do new things.
If you look at the traditional role of a captain, there’s this idea of a tyrannical figure. And those times are long gone. Now, most importantly, you need to be accessible, a good listener and leader. Period.
LB: What response do you get from passengers when they learn that the captain is a woman?
KM: When our guests join the ship on embarkation day — before they even see me, they’ll hear me — and the very first thing I say is “My name is Captain Kate. You can call me captain because it took me 19 years to earn the title.” And the reason that I do that is because there’s almost this strange familiarity — and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a woman in this position or because of social media — but people like to call me just Kate, and they would never call a male captain by his first name only.
We set the standard, and then they know that there’s a woman in charge. Our guests are very supportive. But at the same time, I really look forward to the day that I’m not a female captain, that I’m just a captain. That is a day that I will celebrate more than the day that I was promoted.
LB: What changes do you see in the cruise industry?
KM: We’ve seen the growth from 4 percent women on the bridges when I joined in 2015 to over 32 percent on every ship in our fleet today. No other company can even come close to that, and it does put quite a bit of pressure on other companies to step up and do the right thing.
Our numbers speak to the opportunities that are there. And it’s not just women in these roles; we’ve been very conscious about hiring from countries that weren’t given opportunities. Quite a few in Africa that weren’t on cruise ships before, including our first officer, who is joining the day after tomorrow. She is the first woman from Kenya to ever get her master license.
LB: Do you have any advice for younger women pursuing a career like yours?
KM: I always say give anything a try. You don’t know if you’re going to love it or hate it, but there’s no harm in trying. And when you do try, bring your authentic self because you’re going to bring something special that nobody else has brought to that position. Be patient, be humble, and be kind because when you are, people will want to help you succeed. And they will support you in ways that maybe you hadn’t had before, and they’ll help you grow.
LB: You’ve said you always travel with three things. What are they?
KM: That’s the naked cat, the Louboutins, and the mermaid tail. When I became a captain, I figured out pretty quickly that it can be lonely because you are theoretically the CEO on board the ship, and you live, work, eat, sleep under the same roof as the people that you work with.
Because my husband works on ships as well, he can’t sail with me all the time. And I had been scrolling through Instagram, and I came across hairless cats, sphinx cats specifically. I became obsessed, and I thought I would just love to have a snuggle bug on board. I got her when she was 3 months old, and she’s been sailing now over six and a half years. She has her own Instagram and TikTok following. She’s very social media savvy for not having opposable thumbs. She has 94 outfits, and I’ve only bought two of them. The guests love to bring outfits for Bug.
The mermaid tail just gives me a reason to go out in port and experience the places that we go. My favorite place to be is under the water, so if I can go free diving, or throw the tail on and go swimming, that’s my jam.
When I was promoted to captain — most captains will buy something to celebrate — for me, it was a pair of Louboutins. The pair that I wear today is the same pair that I rocked seven years ago. It was my way — I guess, unintentionally — of saying, “I am a woman in this position, and I’ve got a little something going on.” But it has set a [new] standard. [When] women on my bridge [are] promoted, [they] celebrate by buying a pair of Louboutins. It’s become our way of saying, “This is us stepping up, and we’re doing it in style.”
Laura Beausire is a Colorado-based writer and photographer who has contributed to Condé Nast Traveler, Wine Enthusiast, Hemispheres, Sierra, Robb Report, The Denver Post, and TravelAge West.
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