Celebrity Cruises

She’s the first American woman to captain a mega cruise ship – and with her cat, stylish heels, and hilarious posts on TikTok and Instagram. Captain Kate McCue has become a cruise icon.

From her salary and personal life to fun behind-the-scenes facts, here’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the world’s most famous cruise captain. 

1. She’s A Pioneer

Until recently, Captain Kate McCue was the captain of Celebrity Beyond.

This luxury Celebrity Cruises ship is the third ship in the Celebrity’s ‘Edge’ class. Captain Kate had the honour of sailing the ship for its maiden voyage in April 2022 from Southampton, England. However she announced in February 2025 that she was leaving Celebrity Cruises.

And we now know that she will be helming the inaugural vessel for Four Seasons Yachts from January 2026 – showing that she still is in demand for taking the lead on innovative new ships.

Kate McCue began her career with Celebrity Cruises when she was made captain of Celebrity Summit on September 13, 2015. This made her the first American woman to captain a “mega ship” (she was not the first woman, but she was the first from the USA). 

Kate McCue was actually invited to apply for the position by the CEO of Celebrity Cruises and the fact that she got the most important job on the ship was seen as a sign that longstanding gender divisions in the industry were starting to break down.  

Captain Kate helped take this to the next level when she led the first-ever sailing with an entirely female bridge and officer leadership team aboard the Celebrity Edge (a team of 26, plus Kate). 

This was a historic moment in maritime history and involved a crew of women from around the world representing more than a dozen different nations. It took place, appropriately, on International Women’s Day on the 8th of March 2020. 

Prior to taking on the command of Celebrity Beyond, Kate McCue had worked as the captain of a couple of other Celebrity Cruises ships. In 2018 she moved from Celebrity Summit to Celebrity Equinox and then in 2019 she became Celebrity Edge captain.

She has been quoted on how excited she is to continue offering the best experiences at sea when she takes the helm of Four Seasons I in 2026.

2. Captain Kate Has A Wealth Of Experience For Her Age

Captain Kate McCue was 47 years old in January 2025. She was born on 6 January 1978 in San Francisco, USA. In her childhood, Kate McCue spent time living in Evans, Georgia and Michigan before returning to San Francisco.

Kate first became a cruise ship captain at the age of 37 after 19 years of training. This not only made her the first female captain of a cruise ship, but also one of the youngest cruise ship captains ever appointed.

3. Captain Kate Is Married

Captain Kate McCue has been married to her husband, Nikola Petrovic, since 2006. Kate and Nikola met while working onboard a Royal Caribbean ship. They do not have any children although Kate had previously said she considered herself mum to her cat.

Spouses are usually permitted to accompany captains whilst they are on voyages. However, Nikola is not always able to join Kate on her cruises due to his own work commitments. She has a schedule that sees her work for 3 months on the ship and then have 3 months off the ship. Kate describes the time they spend together as being ‘like a honeymoon’.

Captain Kate did have a cat that travelled with her on her voyages. Known as Bug, she was an elf sphynx cat that had her own Instagram account, Bug Naked, with over 80,000 followers of her own. 

Sadly, Bug passed away in late 2024.

4. Captain Kate’s Husband Also Works In Cruising

Captain Kate McCue’s husband Nikola Petrovic has also carved out a very successful career in the cruising industry and currently works as Fleet Chief Engineer for the Royal Caribbean Group, having previously worked for Virgin Voyages. He is originally from Croatia. He also has a popular Instagram account, although he has far fewer followers than his wife.

Captain Kate McCue and Nikola Petrovic perform very different roles within the cruise ship industry but they are both at the very top of their field. It was a love of cruise ships that helped them to discover their love for one another as they met when they were both employed by Royal Caribbean and served on the same cruise ship.

5. Captain Kate’s Net Worth Is In The Seven-Figure Range

Captain Kate McCue’s net worth is estimated to be between $1 million and $5 million. Captain Kate’s salary is likely to be in the region of $200,000 per year, which is the upper end of what a cruise ship captain can earn. She earns additional income from her social media channels.  

Kate McCue is an experienced captain of a mega cruise ship, so it’s reasonable to assume that she will be one of the highest-earning cruise ship captains.

Cruise ship captains earn an average of $96,000 per year. This is from a low of $50,000 for newly promoted captains on small ships to $200,000 for the highest earners (source).  

Overall, her net worth is estimated to be in the range of one to five million dollars (source).

Captain Kate McCue has over 3 million followers on TikTok and hundreds of thousands of followers on other social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. If monetised, this popularity could bring in a significant additional income of several thousand dollars each month. 

6. Captain Kate Has Never Been Fired From A Cruise Role

Captain Kate McCue has never been fired. She is incredibly well-respected within the industry and has broken new ground for women in cruising. She says that the only major criticism she has received in her career is that she smiles too much. 

She smiles a lot since she is happy working her dream job and has fulfilled an ambition she has held since childhood. She has described this in her own words:

“When you’ve wanted something so bad, since you were 12 years old, and your dreams have finally come true, you can’t help but smile.”

I think we all want a job like that!

7. She Lives In Las Vegas When She Isn’t Sailing

Captain Kate McCue lives in Las Vegas. You might expect that she would choose to live by the sea, but instead, she has chosen to live in a desert. Kate McCue spends three months at a time at sea, so she will only spend half of her time in Las Vegas each year.

When she worked at sea on Celebrity Beyond, she had a room next to the bridge. You can take a tour of her former accommodation and office here.

Kate McCue has moved around a lot during her lifetime. She was born in San Francisco but spent time living in Michigan and Georgia while she was a child. She studied at the California State University Maritime Academy.

The Bottom Line

Captain Kate McCue is a true trailblazer in the Cruising industry. Not only is she the first American female captain of a mega cruise ship, but she has sought to modernise the somewhat stuffy role traditionally played by a ship’s captain.

She has dispensed with the Captain’s table at meal times; instead, she wanders about between tables so that she can meet more of the passengers, rather than just a select few. 

Kate McCue has also sought to give people a greater insight into the life of a cruise ship captain through her popular social media channels. So, she is helping to break down gender barriers at the same time as adapting and modernising the role of the ship’s captain from within. 

Captain Kate has proven that women can successfully take on leadership roles in the industry, even at the relatively young age of 37 (when she first became captain of the Celebrity Edge in 2015). She has helped others to break down barriers, too, when she led the first-ever all-female bridge and senior officer crew in 2020.

She remains the only American female to captain a mega cruise ship, but surely it is only a matter of time before other women follow in her footsteps. 

Captain Kate has fulfilled an ambition that she has had since the age of 12.  She found a cruise ship brochure at home and convinced her parents to take her on a cruise. She spent most of the cruise with the cruise director and decided that was what she wanted to do when she grew up. That was until her father suggested that she might like to drive the ship. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Related posts:

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

That bold ‘X’ you’ve seen on the funnel of a Celebrity Cruises ship isn’t just a design choice. It actually means something.

Of course it’s not just stamped on the funnels, but it’s embedded in the logo, and practically shouts from the architecture of ships like Celebrity Edge.

But most people have no idea what it actually stands for.

Cruise fans love this little fact, and I’ll give you a spoiler now: it has nothing to do with the letter X.

It’s Greek…

Technically, the Celebrity Cruises logo is not actually an X, but it is the Greek letter chi, which looks like an X. This is a call-back to the history of the cruise line when it was first formed by the Chandris Group, a company based in Greece.

The X formed a part of the original logo for the cruise line and it has been retained even when Celebrity Cruises was bought by the Royal Caribbean Group in 1997. It was originally included to tie the cruise line back to the main group.

Read more: Who Owns Celebrity Cruises?

Celebrity Cruises was a distinct brand originally set up to offer premium cruising so that the Chandris Group could secure lucrative contracts to sail around Bermuda. The Bermuda government had indicated that Chandris Fantasy Cruises could not be awarded the contracts as they were not premium enough.

As such, Celebrity Cruises was created, with the X added to the logo so that the brand could remain distinctive and yet still call back to the Chandris owners.

Because of the styling of the logo, some people believe that the cruise line’s name is Celebrity X Cruises. However, it has always been known as simply Celebrity Cruises – the placement of the X in the centre of the wording is simply a design choice.

The X was recently still in use by the cruise line, with the expedition cruises arm of the cruise line adopting it as the first letter for two of its ships, the Celebrity Xpedition and Celebrity Xploration (as well as the former ship Celebrity Xperience). The cruise line is moving away from this though – the latest Expedition ship is called Celebrity Flora.

With Celebrity Xpedition and Celebrity Xploration now being sold, it would almost appear that the cruise line was moving away from it completely, but then the main fleet will gain Celebrity Xcel in late 2025.

All of the ships across the fleet still tend to include the X in some manner, usually painted onto at least one of the funnels. It was originally downplayed when Celebrity Solstice launched in 2008, being missing from the traditional position on the funnel.

But the X has since been restored, and for now remains a fixture across the cruise line.

The cruise line now states that the X is a mark of luxury. Rather than acknowledging the history of Greek ownership, the Celebrity Cruises website states that it is “the mark of contemporary spaces that are at once coolly sophisticated and warmly inviting”, as well as standing for other defining characteristics of the cruise line.

You could consider the X as a symbol of what makes Celebrity Cruises different, although that’s just how a logo works really.

And it does work – if you see a cruise ship with X on it, you know it’s a Celebrity ship.

Final Word

The history behind the X in the Celebrity Cruises logo is pretty straightforward. Many experienced cruisers are happy to see the X retained in the logo to this day, with many having fond memories of the cruise line when it was owned by the Chandris family.

For that reason, expect the iconic X to still be included on Celebrity ships that launch for the foreseeable future.

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Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

Celebrity Cruises might have its own sleek style and identity, but it’s not sailing solo. Like most major cruise lines, it’s part of a much bigger family – and that’s something savvy cruisers should know about.

There are perks you can be taking advantage of if you like to sail with Celebrity Cruises, but also some other cruise lines. And there are also shareholder perks you might be able to take advantage of, too!

So who actually owns Celebrity Cruises – and what do you need to look at if you want in on the benefits?

Celebrity Is Part Of One Of The Biggest Cruise Groups

Celebrity Cruises is currently part of the Royal Caribbean Group, and has been since 1997. It was originally formed by Chandris Cruises, a group based in Greece, but the brand was sold to Royal Caribbean in 1997.

This is why it’s important to be careful with naming conventions. The group is called the Royal Caribbean Group, while the cruise line that sounds similar is known as Royal Caribbean International. Celebrity Cruises is a distinct brand that offers a very different cruise experience to Royal Caribbean International.

The other major cruise line that forms part of the Royal Caribbean Group is Silversea Cruises, the luxury cruise line, which was fully acquired in 2020.

The Celebrity Cruises CEO

The President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises is Laura Hodges Bethge. She has been in this position since May 2023, and prior to that, she was the executive vice president of shared services operations for the Royal Caribbean Group.

Her history with the cruise company began in 2000 when she worked on the accessibility program for both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises. She’s progressed through various senior roles, including a period in Shanghai as the region’s vice president of market development..

Celebrity Cruises History

Celebrity’s history isn’t as confusing as some cruise lines like Princess Cruises – it has only been under two different groups since it was first founded in 1988.

Chandris Group – 1988 to 1997

Celebrity Cruises was a sub-brand created by the Chandris Group specifically for cruises to Bermuda. The cruise line was created because the main cruise brand of the group, Chandris Fantasy Cruises, was seen as being at the lower end of the cruise market.

When some contracts came up for priority berthing in Bermuda during the summer season, the cruise company was originally knocked back as the Government of Bermuda wanted to award the contracts to a more premium cruise line.

As such, Celebrity Cruises was founded, with an existing ship, Galileo rebuilt and renamed Meridian, while a second ship Horizon was then ordered. A third ship, named Zenith, was then delivered in 1992.

Joining Royal Caribbean

The Royal Caribbean Group bought Celebrity Cruises in 1997. At the time, the company was called Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and so it was renamed Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and then later renamed Royal Caribbean Group in order to keep the cruise brands separate.

New ships followed quickly, while the older ships were sold off, helping to ensure that Celebrity remained a more premium alternative to the family-friendly cruising offered by Royal Caribbean International.

Read more: Celebrity Cruises ships by Age, Size & Class

Celebrity Expeditions

In 2001, following the success of the premium cruise line for Royal Caribbean Group, a new sub-brand was launched named Celebrity Expeditions, and a new ship, the Celebrity Xpedition, was acquired.

The intention was to offer the same premium on-board experience as Celebrity Cruises, but on smaller ships that could sail to unique, less-travelled destinations. Because the ships were smaller they couldn’t offer all of the same standards of service as the main Celebrity fleet, which is why the distinctive sub-brand was created.

Ultimately there were three ships that formed the sub-brand for expedition cruises, but two were sold at the start of 2025. Only Celebrity Flora remains.

Ship Rebrand

Between 2007 and 2008 the ships were renamed as, up to this point, most did not have the ‘Celebrity’ prefix – so Century became Celebrity Century, and so on.

Through the 2010s, older ships were sold while the new Edge class was launched towards the end of the decade with Celebrity Edge. At the same time, the cruise line became the first to offer legally recognised gay marriages at sea.

Suggested read: The 15 Best LGBTQ+ Cruises

Celebrity Cruises Net Worth

Celebrity Cruises as a brand does not have its own net worth, but the net worth of the Royal Caribbean Group is $21.85 billion as of November 2023. The revenue of Celebrity Cruises is estimated to be at around $3 billion per year.

Celebrity Cruises Stock Explained

You can’t buy stock in Celebrity Cruises alone, but you are able to buy shares in the Royal Caribbean Group. They are listed on the New York Stock Exchange as RCL and are one of the highest-priced cruise line stocks you can invest in.

If you become a shareholder in the Royal Caribbean Group, you can enjoy shareholder benefits whenever you sail on a cruise with either Royal Caribbean International or Celebrity Cruises. You must own 100 shares or more in order to be eligible.

You have to request the benefit in advance of sailing which you can do through the cruise line’s website and you can use it on every cruise you take, except for any Galapagos Islands sailings with Celebrity Expeditions.

Read more: Celebrity Cruise Stock Benefits Explained

How To Buy Celebrity Cruises Shares

To buy shares in Celebrity Cruises, you’ll need to buy stocks for Royal Caribbean Group (RCL). You can do this through a stockbroker, either on an online platform from your computer or smartphone or in person.

If you are certain that you want to buy RCL stock then you should use a reliable platform, as dealing with a person normally results in higher charges as they bill you for their expertise.

I can’t advise you which is the best, but I personally chose to buy my RCL shares through an online investing platform called etoro. I chose this one because it is one of the most popular platforms with 20 million registered users and has great reviews and low fees.

I’ve been very happy with my share-buying experience and found it really easy to do. But you must bear in mind that investing in any stock is a risk and you have no guarantee of making your money, and you could lose it. So only invest what you could accept losing.

(eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.)

Read more: Royal Caribbean Shareholder Benefits Explained

To Conclude

If you’re someone who regularly sails on either Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruises, you might be surprised to see that two cruise lines that are so different in approach are owned by the same company.

Or maybe you can see the similarities. Royal may be family-focused and Celebrity a bit more premium, but both make use of innovative tech to create their unique offerings.

Plus, investing in shares could mean you enjoy free money to spend on-board on every holiday with both of these cruise lines in future – though be prepared to invest heavily as 100 shares won’t come cheap.

Read more: Should you invest in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd?

Related Posts:

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

Celebrity Cruises is part of the Royal Caribbean Group – not just one of the largest cruise companies in the world, but one of the biggest travel companies in general. And if you wanted to, you could become a part owner – the company is public so anyone can buy shares in the Royal Caribbean Group and own a part of Celebrity Cruises.

Not only that, but this also entitles you to certain Celebrity stockholder benefits.

Unless you’re someone who cruises with Celebrity on a very regular basis, the benefit isn’t really justification for investing. However, it’s a nice little perk to have that will make you feel a bit more special for being an owner of Royal Caribbean stock.

Let’s look at what the Celebrity shareholder benefit is, and how you can claim it.

Do Celebrity Stockholders Get Discounts?

Celebrity Cruises shareholder benefits do not include discounts on cruise fares. Instead, anyone who owns 100 or more stocks in the Royal Caribbean Group can claim up to $250 on-board credit every time they cruise with Celebrity, depending on the length of the sailing.

You do have to own 100 shares outright in your own name – they can’t be part of a mutual trust, and joint ownership won’t count either. But as long as you do own 100 Royal Caribbean shares or more then you can claim your Celebrity Cruise shareholder benefit.

To be clear, you can’t buy Celebrity Cruises stock – it doesn’t exist. Royal Caribbean Group stock is what you need.

The benefit is on-board spend that you can use during your cruise.

You won’t be surprised to learn that, since you’re buying shares in the Royal Caribbean Group, the benefit also extends to any cruises you take on a Royal Caribbean ship as well. The benefit is identical for both cruise lines.

What might be surprising is that the offer doesn’t cover Silversea Cruises, the luxury cruise line that is also owned by the group.

Other cruise corporations, such as NCLH, offer their shareholder benefit on their ultra-luxury lines, so why not Royal Caribbean and Silversea?

It’s a decision on the part of Silversea, and it’s something the cruise line has confirmed it is looking into. Silversea was only fully taken over by Royal Caribbean in 2020 so it may just be taking time to get to shareholder benefits.

How To Buy Celebrity Cruises Shares

To buy shares in Celebrity Cruises, you’ll actually need to buy shares in Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited, as this is the holding company that owns Celebrity Cruises. This is listed as ‘RCL’ on the stock exchange.

To buy shares in any company you’ll typically need to use a stockbroker. This can be either a human being or an online platform. There are various fees involved with this, but an online platform is usually the cheapest and easiest way.

I can’t advise you which is the best, but I personally chose to buy my Royal Caribbean shares through an investing platform called etoro. I chose this one because it is one of the most popular platforms with 20 million registered users and has great reviews and low fees.

I’ve been very happy with my share-buying experience and found it really easy to do.

(eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.)

Read more: Should you invest in Royal Caribbean shares?

How To Claim Royal Caribbean Shareholder Benefits On Celebrity Cruises

If you want to claim your shareholder benefit for your next Celebrity Cruises sailing, you need to request it. Unfortunately, it’s handled separately from regular bookings, so can’t be applied automatically.

And you need to ask for it with plenty of notice – you can’t expect the Guest Services team to add it to your account if you’ve forgotten before you sail.

To claim your credit, you need to provide your details to the company:

• Your name
• Your address
• Your booking confirmation number
• Your ship and sailing date for your cruise
• Proof of your share ownership in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd

You don’t need to send this to Celebrity Cruises, but instead to the dedicated RCL team that looks after the shareholder benefit for both cruise lines.

You can do this four ways:

Just be aware that they need to have your details at least three weeks before you sail, so if you do prefer to use mail, make sure to send it off with plenty of time to spare.

Things To Know About Royal Caribbean Stock Benefits

There are some terms and conditions regarding the benefits for your Celebrity Cruise that you should know about. As you’d expect with offers such as this, it’s not available to anyone who works for the cruise line, or anyone who has booked a sailing under a Friends and Family discount fare.

It doesn’t apply to chartered sailings too, or to any cruises to the Galapagos Islands.

The benefit is a perk offered on a ‘per stateroom’ basis. Two shareholders sharing a stateroom can’t claim the benefit twice. But by the same token, any solo cruiser can claim the benefit without needing to own twice as many shares.

You can’t transfer your onboard credit to another cruise or to another person either – you have to use it, and on the sailing that you claim it for. 

There is a dedicated support email address for any other questions you have about the shareholder benefit: [email protected].

To Conclude

If you were already considering investing, either in Royal Caribbean Group or into any travel company, then it’s nice to know you can enjoy some free onboard credit with every future sailing.

Having said that, buying stock just for the onboard credit is a serious investment to undertake and you can’t forget about the risk of losing money if the value of the cruise line drops. Which, as the global shutdown in 2020 showed us, is possible.

But owning part of one of the world’s biggest cruise lines is a nice statement to be able to make, and with the shareholder benefits, you could treat yourself a little bit more every time you sailed.

Related Posts:

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

Many top cruise lines have a loyalty programme. After all, there are so many great cruise line options you could be choosing from, they want to make sure you keep coming back to sail with them!

Celebrity Cruises has one called the Captain’s Club. And while it mainly works the same as other cruise lines’ programmes, it has one unique feature that’s really interesting too.

In this guide, I’ll explain everything you need to know about the Captain’s Club – what it is, how you enrol, and what you get for each tier.

What is Captain’s Club on Celebrity?

Captain’s Club with Celebrity Cruises is a loyalty programme which offers repeat guests various perks for their cruise. It has six tiers, with the benefits improving as you move up the ranks. Loyalty points (named Captain’s Club Points) are earned for cruising, with more points for higher stateroom classes. 

If you’re someone who likes to browse for cruises based purely on destination and price, and you aren’t loyal to any one cruise line, then loyalty programmes usually don’t offer much appeal. But if you’re someone likely to stick with Celebrity Cruises for most of your sailings, you can enjoy some great benefits.

Note: Celebrity Cruises has a second loyalty program, called Blue Chip Club, that is just for casino players.

How To Find Your Captain’s Club Number

To find your Captain’s Club number, you need to create a Guest Account on the Celebrity Cruises website, and then click the ‘Enroll’ button to sign up to the Captain’s Club. 

If you’ve already enrolled but just forgotten your Captain’s Club Number, it will tell you. You can then reset your password and log-in. Once enrolled, your number will appear on your main account page.

You don’t need to have booked a cruise to enroll in the Captain’s Club – just sign up for an account and hit that enroll button, and you’ll be added to the Club. It’s that easy.

How To Earn Captain’s Club Points

Here’s how to earn Captain’s Club Points from your Celebrity cruises:

1. Sign up to a Celebrity Cruises Guest Account on the Celebrity Cruises website
2. Click ‘Enroll’ to sign up to the Captain’s Club
3. Click the ‘Add a cruise’ button to add your existing cruises to your account, making sure any live bookings are added
4. 14 days after your cruise ends, your Captain’s Club points will be automatically added to your account

How many points do you get per night?

The number of points that you earn for the Captain’s Club depends on the level of stateroom you book. You get points for every night of your cruise, but the higher the stateroom or suite you’ve chosen, the more points you get.

Here’s a breakdown of the different stateroom/suite categories, and how many points they earn you:

You can really ramp up the points you earn if you book a higher class of stateroom – but this is Celebrity Cruises, and those top-end suites don’t come cheap, so it won’t be an option for everyone!

But as a guide, a 7-night cruise in a Signature Suite will earn you the same amount of points as six 7-night cruises in an Inside or Ocean View Stateroom. Those higher suite classes can really catapult you into the upper tiers of the Captain’s Club pretty quickly.

Suggested read: Is Celebrity’s Concierge Class Worth It?

Captain’s Club Power Up Points

A feature that’s unique to Celebrity’s Captain’s Club is the option to earn Power Up Points. With most cruise lines, the only way to earn loyalty programme points is to cruise, but Power Up Points offer an alternative, additional method.

When you’re enrolled in the Captain’s Club, you’ll occasionally be sent different activities by the Captain’s Club. These could range from filling in a survey to engaging with Celebrity’s social media content.

These activities will have Power Up Points assigned to them, and every month your Power Up Points are converted into Captain’s Club Points for you automatically.

10 Power Up Points are equivalent to 1 Captain’s Club Point. So you won’t fly up the tiers just by doing these activities – however, it’s a fun way to boost your point total from the comfort of your home, in between the cruises you take.

It’s great that Celebrity Cruises offers this option, because not everyone will be able to book lots of cruises, and you might just be able to (slightly) accelerate your push into the next tier, especially when you’re at Classic and you’re looking to move to Select.

Celebrity Captain’s Club Levels & Benefits

There are six tiers in total for Celebrity’s Captain’s Club. Here’s a summary:

Linked Accounts

It’s possible to link your Celebrity Cruises Guest Account with another person, if it’s your spouse or partner. If you do this, then you also link Captain’s Club accounts too. And the great thing is that, if one of you is a higher rank, you both get lifted to that higher tier for your cruises.

However, you still only earn your points individually, and if you ever unlink your accounts, you’ll revert back to your original tier if you were on a lower one. Useful to know!

Each tier comes with additional perks. Here’s a look at everything you get:

Preview

The Preview tier is exactly that – a preview of the real Captain’s Club. As soon as you’ve cruised one night with Celebrity, you’ll advance beyond this tier. But you do get some perks by signing up before your first cruise:

• Access to the Captain’s Club Newsletter (including Power Up Point invitations)
• Eligibility for Captain’s Club offers when booking a future cruise on your first cruise
• Use of the Loyalty Desk service centre before your first cruise to book speciality restaurants
• Earn double Club Points if you’re a solo traveller

Classic

The Classic tier is the first tier of the Captain’s Club that comes with real benefits for your actual cruise. The full list is:

• Everything in the Preview tier
• Upgrade offers through AquaClass
• Access to exclusive events on select speciality sailings
• Invitation to the Captain’s Club Welcome Party on your cruise with drinks and appetizers
• Sneak Peek of Wonder at Eden (on Celebrity Apex and Celebrity Beyond) – sample the cocktail of the evening and see the art and music up close
• One complimentary speciality coffee when dining in a speciality restaurant
• One complimentary scoop of gelato
• 10% off any bottle of wine
• 10% off Classic & Premium Drinks Packages when booked pre-cruise
• 10% off WiFi packages
• 25% off digital or photo print packages
• 10% off The Studio photo package
• 10% off laundry services (one-time per cruise)
• 10% off multiple uses of the spa
• One Match Play for roulette or blackjack
• One Bonus Deal or No Deal card with a 4-pack purchase
• 5% off Small Group Discovery Tours
• 5% off hot glass blowing activity onboard

Select

Once you reach the Select level, you get a couple of extra event invites on your cruise, as well as some improved discounts. Here’s the full list:

• Everything in the Classic tier
• Invitation to the Captain’s Club Wine Tasting event on your cruise
• Invitation to the Captain’s Club Backstage Tour on your cruise
• 15% off any bottle of wine
• 25% off WiFi packages
• 30% off digital or photo print packages
• Two complimentary pressed laundry items
• One discounted bag of laundry (wash, dry and fold) on cruises 12 nights or more
• Two Match Plays for roulette or blackjack

Elite

By the time you reach Elite status, you’re starting to unlock some fantastic benefits for your cruise, including:

• Everything in the Select tier
• Priority access to tender boats at tender ports
• Private departure lounge on the ship for tender ports
• Captain’s Club Elite Cocktail Hour
• Invitation to the Captain’s Club Senior Officer Party on your cruise
• Captain’s Club daily Coffee Lounge
• Invitation to the Captain’s Club Create and Pour (on Celebrity Apex and Celebrity Beyond) art & wine event
• Invitation to the Captain’s Club Music & Mixology event on your cruise
• 20% off any bottle of wine
• 15% off Classic and Premium Drinks Packages
• 30% off WiFi packages with 90 minutes free WiFi access
• 40% off digital or photo print packages
• 20% off The Studio photo package
• One complimentary dry-clean item
• One complimentary bag of laundry (wash, dry and fold) – this replaces the one-time discount in lower tiers
• 15% off multiple uses of the spa
• Three Match Plays for roulette or blackjack
• One Bonus Deal or No Deal card with a 3-pack purchase

Elite Plus

Here’s everything you get when you reach Elite Plus status:

• Everything in the Elite tier, except the one free dry-clean item
• Complimentary cappuccino, latte, tea and espresso
• 15% off speciality dining reservations
• 20% off Classic Drinks Packages (it stays at 15% for Premium Drinks Packages)
• 35% off WiFi packages with 240 minutes free WiFi access
• Two complimentary bags of laundry
• One complimentary fitness class

Zenith

Zenith is the absolute top tier, and you need to get some serious cruise mileage behind you to reach this, even when booking higher suite classes. But as a reward, you’ll get:

• Everything in the Elite Plus tier
• Priority boarding when returning to the ship in port, where available
• Priority seating in the theatre
• Access to the Concierge Lunch
• 25% off speciality dining reservations
• Complimentary Premium Drinks Package
• Complimentary Premium WiFi Package
• 50% off digital or photo print packages
• 25% off The Studio photo packages
• Complimentary laundry
• 20% off multiple spa bookings
• 3 Bonus Deal or No Deal cards with a 3-pack purchase
• A free 7-night Caribbean or Bermuda cruise in a Veranda stateroom (one-time, taxes and fees are charged extra)
• At 6,000 points, and for every additional 3,000 points, another free Caribbean or Bermuda cruise in an AquaClass stateroom

Captain’s Club Elite Cocktail Hour

One of the perks that’s worth explaining in more detail is the Captain’s Club Elite Cocktail Hour. Despite the name, this is actually a two-hour window where any guest who is Elite status or above can enjoy free drinks at most of the bars and lounges across the ship (the excluded venues are World Class Bar, Magic Carpet, theatre bars and restaurant bars).

It’s essentially a two-hour free bar on every day of your cruise except for embarkation day. Between 5 pm and 7 pm, guests can enjoy a selection of spirits, beers, wines and cocktails, along with all sodas, juices and select bottled water.

It’s nothing to get excited about if you already have a drinks package, but if you don’t, then it’s a great perk you can enjoy on every cruise.

Captain’s Club Status Match

Celebrity Cruises is owned by the Royal Caribbean Group, and so guests who are part of the Captain’s Club can enjoy similar perks on any Royal Caribbean or Silversea cruise through the Crown & Anchor Society and Venetian Society, respectively.

It used to be more limited – Silversea wasn’t included, and you could only match to the Diamond tier on Royal Caribbean cruises, no higher. But it was updated in June 2024 and now it’s a significantly better program for those who want to try all three cruise lines.

Here are the equivalent levels of the programmes:

Read more: Royal Caribbean Diamond Benefits

How To Contact Celebrity Captains’s Club

The phone number to contact Celebrity’s Captain’s Club for the UK is 0344 493 2065. For the Republic of Ireland it’s 1800 932 662 and for guests in the US it’s 1-844-418-6824.

You shouldn’t need to contact the Captain’s Club for any reason, but if your Captain’s Club points aren’t added to your account 14 days after your cruise ends, you can call to chase it up as there may have been an error in tracking them.

FAQs About Celebrity Cruises Captain’s Club

Final Word

To reach the upper tiers of the Captain’s Club with Celebrity Cruises, you’ll have to spend a lot of time cruising with the line, and in some of the higher suite grades too.

But the fact you can earn points even when you aren’t cruising is good, and there are a lot of benefits even on the lower tiers.

You aren’t automatically enrolled though, so make sure you sign up to start claiming those perks on your next Celebrity cruise.

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Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me

Most cruise lines have some form of loyalty program, designed to encourage you to rebook with the same cruise line again and again.

Celebrity Cruises also has a second loyalty scheme, specifically for the casino – the Blue Chip Club.

The Blue Chip Club works differently from Celebrity’s Captain’s Club, with different ways of earning points and a lot of (potentially confusing) terms you need to be aware of.

So in this guide, I’ll explain everything you need to know about the Blue Chip Club and what you get in each tier.

Celebrity Blue Chip Club explained

The Celebrity Cruises Blue Chip Club is a rewards program for guests who play in the casino. It is designed to encourage guests to play, offering them several rewards as they progress through the tiers, including benefits for the casino and for the cruise in general.

The only way to earn points for the Blue Chip Club is to spend at the casino onboard your ship, and the more you spend, the higher up the rankings you can climb.

How to join Celebrity Cruises’ Blue Chip Club

All guests who scan their SeaPass when playing games at the casino are automatically signed up for the Blue Chip Club. You don’t need to actively sign up to be enrolled. Any time you use your SeaPass you will accumulate points to your Blue Chip Club account.

Once you’ve completed a cruise and earned at least one point in the Blue Chip Club, your SeaPass on future cruises will display your tier level, immediately after your Captain’s Club membership tier.

To be absolutely clear, the Captain’s Club and Blue Chip Club are not linked. They’re completely separate and you’ll have different membership numbers for each.

The only time you’ll see your tiers together is when printed on your SeaPass.

Blue Chip Club Levels

There are six membership tiers in the Celebrity Cruises Blue Chip Club. The most basic is Pearl, followed by Onyx, Amethyst, Sapphire, Sapphire Plus, and then Ruby.

Each tier comes with different benefits to use on the cruise and in the casino.

Important – Celebrity updated their benefits in July 2024. This means that, from August 2025, there’ll be new benefits. Also the way you earn points was changed, along with the tier point brackets. While it may look great that you now only need 150,000 points to reach Ruby instead of 1 million, it now costs more to earn 1 point).

These are the benefits for anyone who’s already earned points, that they can enjoy through to July 2025:

And here’s a summary of the main benefits from August 2025 onwards:

Pearl

Points required – 1

Pearl is the basic membership tier for the Blue Chip Club. When you are a Pearl member, you’ll get:

• The chance to use Redeemable Points for free casino play
• Invitations to casino-only events
• Complimentary drinks in the casino

Onyx

Points required 500 (was 2,500 previously)

Onyx is the second tier for the Blue Chip Club. As an Onyx member, you get the same perks as a Pearl member, along with:

• Waived credit card cash advance fees – withdraw cash using your credit card for use in the casino without the additional fees

Amethyst

Points Required – 5,000 (was 25,000 previously)

Once you reach Amethyst level in the Blue Chip Club, you start to unlock a much longer list of perks. You’ll get everything in the Onyx level, along with:

• $200 credit for Effy Boutique
• 10% off at the spa
• 30% off Premium WiFi
• 1 digital photo download
• The chance to enjoy an Annual Cruise Benefit (free cruise in an Inside cabin)

The tier’s rewards package has been downgraded – you used to get:

• Priority embarkation for your cruise
• 60 minutes of free internet access per cruise
• An unlimited digital photo package for your cruise

Sapphire

Points Required – 15,000 (was 100,000 previously)

As you get to the Sapphire level, your benefits improve significantly once again. You’ll get everything in Amethyst, as well as:

• Upgraded Effy Boutique credit of $250 (total)
• One free internet package for your cruise (instead of the 30% off – you don’t get both)
• 15% off spa treatments
• 2 digital photo downloads
• Upgrade to Veranda for your Annual Cruise Benefit
• Exclusive cruise rates for friends and family (in additional staterooms)

Sapphire Plus

Points Required – 75,000 (was 500,000 previously)

Sapphire Plus doesn’t introduce any new perks upon reaching this tier, but a couple do get upgraded:

• $350 Effy Boutique credit
• Upgrade to Concierge Class for your Annual Cruise Benefit

Ruby

Points Required – 150,000 (was 1,000,000 previously)

Ruby is the top tier of the Blue Chip Club. It includes everything in the earlier tiers, but with a large number of additional perks, boosted significantly since July 2024’s update to the programme.

• $550 Effy Boutique credit
• 20% off spa treatments
• 3 digital photo downloads
• Free Premium WiFi for 4 devices
• Onboard credit to spend – $50 (3-4 night cruises), $75 (5-6 night cruises), $100 (7+ night cruises)
• Unlimited complimentary room service
• Welcome lunch in the Main Dining Room
• Reserved theatre seating
• Priority embarkation
• Priority luggage delivery
• Priority tender
• Express luggage service on debarkation day
• Upgrade to Aqua Class for your Annual Cruise Benefit

How Tier Points work

To climb the rankings of the Blue Chip Club, you need to earn Tier Points.

However, you have to do so within an earnings period – once you reach the end of a period, your points are wiped out. Though, you’ll remain at the tier you were at previously, provided you have at least gambled in the casino once.

You earn Tier Points in the following ways:

• $5 wagered on slots = 1 Tier Point
• $10 wagered on video poker = 1 Tier Points

Table game rewards vary by game and format, and by how long you play.

It’s all about how much you wager, not how much you lose. If you were the luckiest person in the casino, you could wager the same $5 on slot machines, constantly winning it back, and you’d be racking up the Tier Points without losing any money.

In reality, cruise ship casino slots tend to have a fixed payout somewhere around 90%, though it can vary. So you’re pretty much guaranteed to lose out if you continue playing.

With video poker it’s similar, and with table games, it all comes down to your luck and knowledge of the game.

Here’s a guide to how much you must wager to reach each tier for slots or video poker. You can’t predict it with table games anymore, unfortunately. You have to wager this within an earning period, so you usually have a maximum of 12-18 months.

Moving between tiers

It’s a little confusing if you’re used to the way the Captain’s Club works, so I’ll work through an example.

Earnings periods typically last for 12-18 months but can be extended. The most recently announced period was for 1st August 2024 until 31st July 2025.

If you have never cruised with Celebrity before, you will become a member at the Pearl level after you earn your first point.

If you then earn 2,500 points before July 2025, you’ll move up to Onyx immediately, and earn those benefits.

However, if you earn only 2,499 points, then you will remain at Pearl, and from August 2025 you’ll have to earn another 2,500 points to reach Onyx.

Now, let’s say you’re in Onyx already before the earning period begins.

If you earn between 1 point and 24,999 points within that earning period, you’re still classed as an active player, and you’ll remain at Onyx level once the earnings period ends.

However, if you don’t gamble on a Celebrity cruise at all in that 12-month window, you’ll be demoted to Pearl.

You can only be demoted by one tier at a time. So if you were Ruby and you took an 12-month break from cruising, you wouldn’t fall all the way to Pearl – just back to Sapphire Plus.

How Redeemable Points work

Redeemable Points are separate from Tier Points in the Blue Chip Club, but they are earned in a similar way. Redeemable Points are points that you can earn and then ‘spend’ on a cruise to claim rewards.

You earn Redeemable Points slower than you would Tier Points, and you don’t earn them for playing table games. Also these aren’t transferable across cruises.

The values are:

• $5 wagered on slots = 1 Redeemable Point
• $10 wagered on video poker = 2 Redeemable Points

You can trade Redeemable Points for various goods and services mainly in the casino, including free slot plays or promotional chips for table play. You can redeem 50 points for $1 of free play, though there’s a minimum redemption of $5.

So once you’ve wagered $1,250 on slots, you’ll have earned 250 Redeemable Points, which you can then trade in for a free $5 slot machine credit.

It might not sound like much – a free $5 in exchange for having wagered $1,250 – but it’s free.

How to get a free cruise with Casino Points

While you can earn free cruises with the Blue Chip Club, it’s not something you can redeem with a set number of points.

Instead, once you reach Amtheyst level, you be eligible for an Annual Cruise Benefit, which can include either discounted fares or the offer of free cruises.

Celebrity Cruises will contact you, typically via mail or email, and offer you a selection of options. Bear in mind that you’ll still have to pay port fees and taxes even on a free cruise.

The offers you’re given will be based on how much you play in the casino, so they’re loosely tied to your points, but basically, the more you play, the more likely Celebrity Cruises will be to offer you a free cruise.

How To Contact the Blue Chip Club on Celebrity Cruises

If you need to contact the Blue Chip Club on Celebrity Cruises, you can email [email protected].

If you live in the US or you don’t mind dialling internationally, you can also call +1 866-461-7170 from Monday to Friday, 9 am to 7 pm EST.

The cruise line’s website does say that they are in the process of developing a web portal to let guests check their tier, but they expect it to be live “by the end of 2018”. So it’s a little overdue to say the least…

Can you use Blue Chip Club benefits in Royal Caribbean’s Casino Royale?

Currently, you can’t use any Blue Chip Club benefits in the casino on Royal Caribbean ships, though the cruise lines have said that they are open to exploring this in future. Currently, the benefits in Royal Caribbean’s casinos and Celebrity Cruises’ casinos remain separate.

Final word

I’ll be honest, Celebrity’s information around the Blue Chip Club is a little sparse, and the information they do have can be a little dated.

I even spoke to the cruise line to clarify a couple of points in this post and their response included phrases like “I believe” and “it seems”, so I’m not sure the customer service team were 100% confident in the answers!

Still, this guide should clear it up for you, and so if you do want to use the casino when you’re on a Celebrity cruise, you now know that extra perks and benefits you can earn, and how to do so.

Related Posts:

Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

Read more about me