In the recent past, the coveted position of the Captain’s seat has been opened up more frequently to women. Regent Seven Seas, Windstar, and Celebrity are the latest major cruise lines to join ranks by putting female captains at the helm of mega-ships.
Kate McCue charted new territory in September, when she earned the title of the industry’s very first American female captain. She now navigates the 2,158-passenger Celebrity Summit between Bayonne, NJ, and Bermuda and the Caribbean. The 38-year-old San Francisco native has a degree from the California Maritime Academy and 16 years of maritime experience under her belt, and says she has been dreaming of this role for even longer. McCue feels that her gender did not work against her and in fact she has a fairly smooth ride as she worked her way up. However, she does concede that expectations for men and women might be different.
Belinda Bennett, a 39 year old from the United Kingdom, was promoted as Windstar’s first female captain in March. Bennett admits that there can be tough times at sea for women. “We still have to go the extra mile in what is still a male-dominated world,” said Bennett. However, she feels that it is changing on an almost daily basis as more women are coming through the ranks. Women who work alongside men and get their hands dirty will earn respect from the rest of the generally male dominated crew. She ensures that any job she gives the sailors is something that she has already done at some point.
Selina Melani, 42, who commands the 700-passenger Seven Seas Mariner, adds that it is not just about earning respect and working hard. The lifestyle is very different and the job itself is a demanding one. Therefore, she says, when you take this job, you do not choose a career at sea but you choose a life at sea.
The trio joins just a handful of other women to ascend through the tradition-steeped male ranks to captain major ships. These include Cunard’s Captain Inger Klein Thorhauge who has commanded the Queen Victoria since 2010, the new cruise line Fathom’s Captain Sarah Breton from the UK, who began piloting the 704-passenger MV Adonia in May and was previously hired as UK-based P&O Cruises’ first female captain in 2010 and Captain Margrith Ettlin, of Switzerland, who joined Silversea Cruises in 2013 to helm its 132-guest expedition ship Silver Explorer. Royal Caribbean’s Captain Karin Stahre-Janson, who is currently on sabbatical, is widely credited as being the very first female cruise ship captain at sea, when she took command of one of Royal Caribbean’s mega-ships back in 2007. Since then, the line added on a second female captain in 2011, Lis Lauritzen of Denmark, who currently commands the 2,501-passenger Jewel of the Sea. McCue and her contemporaries have started the long line of female captains, one that will hopefully see greater additions in the near future.
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Source: Condé Nast Traveler
