Celebrity Cruise's Captain Kate McCue has become famous partially because she's the first woman to captain a modern mega-ship. She has built on that fame with her near-daily "Captain's Log" Instagram video series.
In her videos, she has also made her hairless cat, Bug Naked, a celebrity in her own right.
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"Bug Naked is an aqua-eyed, seal point, elf-eared sphynx. She’s been sailing since she was 3 months old and will continue to “sea” the world as she brings a sense of home and good luck onboard," McCue shared on her website.
Getting permission to have a pet of any kind, however, was not easy. McCue shared how she got approval to have a pet from Royal Caribbean (Celebrity Cruise's parent company), how she almost ended up with a very different animal companion, and why she can have a pet onboard, but you can not.
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Captain Kate shares Bug's origin story
"For today's Captain's Log, I'm going to tell you about this monster and why I have a cat. When I was promoted in 2015, I figured out pretty quickly that it can be lonely if you don't have your family sailing with you on board because you're the boss. You're like the CEO on board and at the end of the day it's always nice to have someone around," she said.
McCue is married and her husband works on cruise ships so they are apart for months at a time.
"So I asked the office if I could have a pet and they said no. And I said well when I worked at Royal Caribbean, Captain Johnny had a parrot, Captain Sparrow had a cat, and I know of another captain that had a dog and they said okay what would you like?" she shared
Her original response was somewhat surprising.
"I said a monkey because I actually had a monkey lined up from St. Kitts where they have I believe 52,000 monkeys, more monkeys than humans on the island. They said no to the monkey and I was scrolling through Instagram and I came across Sphinx cats like Bug and I became a little bit obsessed. So I said could I have a cat?" she said.
That request went a little better.
"They said sure you can have a cat. Bug has joined me on all four ships that I've captained," she shared. "And she's like having a piece of home."
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Passengers, however, cannot bring pets onboard. McCue explained why.
"People always ask me how come we can't bring our pets but you have to be with your pet. Bug has someone around 24-7 because she has access to the bridge and the bridge is always manned so even if I'm not in my office or my cabin she has someone around I wish everyone could bring their pets but I know that's a divisive subject," she added.
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