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If you have an emergency on any cruise ship, you can push a button on your stateroom phone for help – the equivalent of dialing 911 from your home phone. For minor ailments, you can visit the medical facility during set office hours. To be clear, the onboard facility is not a hospital – it's more akin to a health center or ambulatory care unit.
Case Studies or Examples of Medical Incidents Handled at Sea
Typically, a cruise ship will have at least one doctor and two nurses onboard. However, larger ships may have a team of doctors to ensure the well-being of everyone on board. The senior doctor is primarily responsible for the passengers, while a junior doctor or nurse tends to the staff and assists the senior doctor when needed. In fact, the world’s largest cruise ships might even have two doctors and several nurses on board. Think about it – the largest cruise ships have almost 7,000 passengers on board, as well as the crew. That’s a lot of people, so the odds of someone getting sick or suffering an injury aren’t small.
Getting Treatment for a Cruise Ship Medical Emergency
Pharmacy stocks are available onboard, which means you will be able to get basic medicines. The size of the inventory varies by ship, but staff will be able to provide you with antibiotics, seasickness pills (often complimentary), aspirin and other common medicines. The pharmacy stocks typically will include medications for gastrointestinal and cardiovascular issues; respiratory problems; infectious diseases; eyes; ears, noses and throats; and urinary tract, as well as vaccines. Under the ACEP standards, physicians must have three years of post-graduate/post-registration experience in general and emergency medicine or be board-certified in emergency medicine, family medicine or internal medicine. Staff also must be certified in advanced life support or have certification or physician specialist training in areas such as emergency medicine, anesthesiology or critical care. The medical clinic on a cruise ship is open during specific daytime hours for visits from passengers.
Can Cruise Ship Doctors Prescribe Antibiotics?
If you purchased separate travel health insurance from your cruise line or a third-party provider you will still be required to pay for the services up front and may have to wait several months to be reimbursed. Depending on the size of the ship and number of passengers and crew members, each RCG ship has two to three licensed doctors and three to five licensed nurses available to passengers and crew members 24/7. Our doctors do not have NPI numbers, as that is a US-based requirement, instead they use tax IDs. Cruise ship medical services can be reimbursed by most travel insurance providers. If you or your traveling companion is quarantined, that can be a covered reason for trip cancellation/interruption, so you can be reimbursed for your unused, nonrefundable trip costs. If you develop or are diagnosed with any infectious disease symptoms, you are required to stay in your stateroom until the medical staff evaluates your condition and provides necessary treatment.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has starkly highlighted the need for robust healthcare systems in these floating cities. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says ship infirmary capabilities vary depending on size, length of sailing and passenger demographics. Doctors and nurses report to a chief medical officer at the cruise line's headquarters, who is available 24 hours a day to deal with emergencies. We try to get people with serious conditions to land safely and on time, but sometimes it's not possible.
Cruises
It is important to keep in mind that if an injury or ailment is severe enough, the cruise ship’s medical staff will refer guests to a facility on land for care. In less severe cases, guests in need of care will be ushered to one of the cruise ships medical facilities, usually located on a lower deck. Should a guest require medical attention while aboard one of our vessels, the Medical Center staff is available to assist 24 hours a day. The on board medical centers are staffed and equipped to treat routine medical conditions as well as to initiate stabilization of more serious conditions. While at sea or in port, the availability of medical care may be limited.
Cruise ships know the significance of attending to potential medical issues at sea. Consider the difficulties in providing medical treatment in a small area without access to the extensive infrastructure of the mainland. Cruise lines have grown to include complete medical facilities that mimic the services offered in a small community clinic to meet these problems. Some ships will administer minor treatment and/or medication for free -- if you become seasick, for example. However, the cost for most onboard medical treatment isn't cheap, and the charges will show up as part of your passenger account bill. All oceangoing cruise vessels have at least one doctor and two nurses who live onboard and are on call 24/7.
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If your medical condition can be treated on board, the doctor will administer treatment and/or medication. Inside the medical center, you will be requested to fill out medical history forms, just as you would at a physician’s office in the United States. Air Force as an Arabic linguist, Sophia now explores the world as a freelance writer. She funds her four-year (and counting!) cruise adventure using points and miles. Sophia’s travel expertise comes from her time as a reporter for The Points Guy, featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and The Balance.
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Have you had a medical emergency during vacation? How was that experience?
In some cases where the cost of treatment is significant, cruise lines may provide assistance in arranging loans or facilitating communication with family members or banks. No cruise ship would allow someone to go without treatment in a serious medical situation, but they will seek payment information as soon as you are recovered or stable. It’s worth mentioning that if you don’t have travel insurance with emergency medical benefits or if you’re not covered by a suitable policy, you may be required to pay out-of-pocket for your care. This can be a considerable financial burden, especially if you require extensive or specialized treatment. You must be able to provide evidence of your experience in minor surgery, primary diagnosis, advanced trauma care (for senior doctors) and administering anaesthesia.
Sometimes they let me know about the opportunity months in advance; other times I'll get a call two days before I'm needed. I'd just started as a resident medical officer at Nuffield Health Cheltenham Hospital in England, and every day I'd see pages of cruise-ship job ads in the paper. Cruise ship doctors work independently of their employers, meaning they will charge a basic hourly charge and consultation fee. Additional charges will be added for any tests and medications that are required. All must be paid at the time of service or will be added to your shipboard spending account. The medication you can acquire includes seasickness pills, aspirin, antibiotics as well as any other over-the-counter medications.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Dr. Gergely Tóth, a cruise-ship doctor. If your trip involves multiple destinations, please enter the destination where you’ll be spending the most time. You can also buy medicine in port, but foreign pharmacies might not carry the same brands you're used to.
When she arrived, she called the on-call paramedic, who was woken up and arrived with a wheelchair. Any cruise line that is a part of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is required to have medical staff on board that meet the guidelines of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). They can diagnose and treat illnesses, including bacterial infections, to ensure passengers’ well-being during their voyage. These decisions are always made with the passenger’s well-being in mind.
However, it is important to note that you do have to pay for treatment on a cruise ship. Cruise ships are not hospitals, and medical services are not included in the cost of your ticket. The onboard medical facilities on cruise ships provide a variety of medical services. These involve managing common health conditions, including seasickness, minor accidents, respiratory infections, etc.
Doctors on cruise ships are often working alone, so need to be trusted to handle anything. And yet, cruise ships are always equipped with the medical staff they need – so it can’t be that bad. There are a lot of perks to being a cruise ship doctor, so if you’re working as a medical professional already and want to see the world, it might be worth considering.
You will be charged for medical services onboard and in the port of call where you are disembarked. No one is going to call you out for sneezing or coughing in the check-in line for your cruise. But as a matter of course, all cruise lines require that boarding passengers fill out a health questionnaire that asks if you have been vomiting, running a fever or experiencing other symptoms of illness in the past week. Carnival Corp. has agreements with multiple university medical centers to conduct consultations with specialists.
This collaboration ensures that passengers receive the necessary care and treatment, even when the ship is at sea. Cruise lines work closely with local medical facilities in different ports of call to coordinate care and facilitate medical evacuations if necessary. This partnership with onshore medical facilities adds an extra layer of security and ensures that passengers receive the best possible medical care. "Each of our ships has a state-of-the-art onboard medical center staffed with highly qualified doctors and nurses, to provide care for both guests and crew while at sea," Norwegian said in its 2021 ESG report.
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