Historic female-led cruise will set sail on International Women's Day

Celebrity Cruises is aiming to make history with the first sailing with an all-female bridge and officer team on International Women's History Day. The historic cruise, which sets sail on March 8, 2020, features an entirely female bridge and hotel officer team as part of the cruise line's "Bridge the Gap" initiative.

On the seven-day cruise, passengers will experience a speaker's series, networking opportunities, film and documentary screenings aimed at inspiring girls and women to pursue careers in the maritime field. Captain Kate McCue, the first American female cruise ship captain, will be at the helm. Twenty-seven women from over a dozen different countries will serve on the first all-female bridge and hotel officer crew.

Just two percent of mariners around the world are women, according to the cruise line.

The initiative is just one of several in recent years honoring women in the travel sector. In July, United sent a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner staffed by women only from Chicago (ORD) to the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh (OSH), as a symbol of the company's support of women in aviation. The all-female crew was joined by nearly 100 United female employees in areas including Airport Operations, Inflight Services, Flight Operations, Technical Operations, Network Operations and more.

In honor of International Women's Day 2018, Emirates operated a flight with an all-female crew from Dubai to San Francisco, from the cockpit crew to cabin crew, check-in staff to the ground operators. In 2017, Air India became the first airline to complete a round-the-world trip with an entirely female crew. Flight AI 174 flew from New Delhi (DEL) to San Francisco over the Pacific Ocean and back to Delhi over the Atlantic.

Related: The Best Credit Cards for Booking Cruises

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Celebrity Cruises is offering 15,000 Membership Rewards points after spending at least $500 on purchases from now until December 31, 2019. You must book directly at celebrity.com/amex or by phone to take advantage of the offer. Meeting this spending requirement shouldn't be too difficult, as I'm seeing an inside stateroom aboard the Celebrity Edge departing from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., starting at just $929 per person for two people.