Port St. Maarten representatives with the all-female bridge crew last week Thursday.
PHILIPSBURG--Port St. Maarten was part of Celebrity Edge’s historical cruise of an all-female bridge and on-board leadership team when the vessel docked in St. Maarten on Thursday, March 12.
Master of the Ship Captain Kate McCue, the first American female cruise ship captain, was accompanied by 26 other women representing 16 different countries.
Port St. Maarten’s management and the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau, as part of this historic moment, provided the all-female bridge and on-board leadership with “welcome to the destination” packages on behalf of the country.
It was the first time in maritime history that an all-female bridge and on-board leadership team set sail on Sunday, March 8, commemorating International Women’s Day. Celebrity Edge sailed out of Port Everglades, Florida, on a seven-day Caribbean sailing last week.
Back in 1988, few maritime training institutes opened their doors to female students. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was in the vanguard of United Nations specialised agencies that forged a global programme known as the Integration of Women in the Maritime Sector.
The programme put in place an institutional framework to incorporate a gender dimension into IMO’s policies and procedures, with resolutions adopted to ensure access to maritime training and employment opportunities for women in the maritime sector. Today, IMO’s Women in Maritime programme is still going strong after 30 years of activities.
The revolutionary Celebrity Edge has a passenger capacity of 2,900 plus (double occupancy) or total guests of 3,373; and carries a crew complement of 1,377 from 72 different countries.
Celebrity Edge is the first of the Edge-class cruise ships from Celebrity Cruises. The vessel was delivered in October 2018 and made her maiden voyage on December 9, 2018, during a 15-day transatlantic crossing to Port Everglades Terminal in Florida. Celebrity Edge has a gross tonnage of 130,818, is 1,004 feet long, has a beam of 128 feet, a draft of 28 feet and 15 decks.
Additional Edge-class vessels will join the sister ship: in 2020 it will be the Celebrity Apex, and two additional ships in the Edge Series will follow in 2021 and 2022. Celebrity is one of five cruise brands operated by global cruise vacation company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
