by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:44 PM ET, Mon March 9, 2020
As part of Celebrity Cruises' celebration of International Women's Day, the company set sail Sunday for the first time in maritime history with all-female bridge and onboard leadership teams.
Not only was the seven-day Caribbean voyage aboard the Celebrity Edge led by the first American female cruise ship captain, Captain Kate McCue, but she was also supported by 26 other women representing 16 different countries.
Celebrity is looking to change the fact that only two percent of the world's mariners are women, with the cruise line's own number of female bridge team members increasing from three percent to nearly 25 percent over the last several years.
In addition, the Celebrity Edge was lit up with purple lights to celebrate International Women's Day and women everywhere.
"I fell in love with cruise ships at age 12 when my family took its first cruise vacation," Captain McCue said in a statement. "At the end of the trip, I asked my Dad if he thought I could be a cruise director someday and he replied that I could drive the ship, if I wanted to."
"Five years later, I enrolled at the California Maritime Academy and nineteen years later I became a Captain," McCue continued. "I firmly believe that you have to see it, to be it. My hope is that today we inspire a new generation of young girls and women to chart their own course of pushing boundaries and breaking barriers to be whatever it is they want to be."
As part of the historical sailing, there are also several trailblazing women in other fields, including the first Supermodel with down syndrome, Madeline Stuart; the first black woman to host a national adventure travel show, Kellee Edwards; international jewelry designer Reout Kallati and more.
The voyage will also include panel discussions, gallery exhibitions featuring female artists, excursions to women-led businesses in the ports the ship visits and more.
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