It sounds like a dream, practicing your profession on the open waters, visiting foreign countries and spectacular islands and caring for all the people on board the ship.
Surprisingly there isn't a high demand to be a cruise ship doctor, in fact you may find that you don't have the high competition you would have if you were applying to a local hospital or practice.
Most cruise ship doctor contracts are shorter term than some of the other positions on a ship.
Your contract can be a few months, where you enjoy some time on shore before making you way onto the open waters again.
To become a doctor on board a ship you will need a minimum of three years experience working in general medicine, emergency medicine, intensive care and more.
The cruise company and size of ship will identify what is needed to secure the position.
The responsibility is what can put so much pressure on you.
You aren't only responsible for the health and well-being of thousands of passengers, but the thousands of crew members also rely on you to assist them with their medical requirements.
The good news is that you will have a well-equipped facility with a number of nurses working with you.
On the larger ships you can expect to also have a nurse practitioner on hand.
In most instances you will find you are the only doctor on board, which means you are the manager of the medical side of the ship.
The pressure comes in that you are the one that has to make some of the more difficult decisions.
If a patient requires urgent treatment you cannot provide, you are the one that has to make the call to change course to the nearest land or turn the ship around and head back home.
Your decision can cost the cruise company millions and therefore it can be one of the most pressured jobs, besides the captain.
Another thing to remember is while you will open the clinic twice a day for a few hours in the morning and evening, you will be on call twenty four hours a day and must be ready to respond to unexpected emergencies.
Not all patients will be able to only see you during clinic hours, so while it may appear that you work shorter hours, you are constantly on call to handle emergencies and treatment that may be required from time to time.
On a cruise where the majority of your guests are elderly, you can expect to be called a lot more than a younger cruise.
The most common issues you will experience when working as a cruise ship doctor is guests who are on board and have forgotten their important medications at home.
Motion sickness is probably one of the biggest complaints you will have to deal with along with a number of slips and falls, some more serious than others.
It is important that you have a great understanding of general medicine and are able to make decisions quickly and effectively, unfortunately someone injuring themselves or feeling they didn't get the treatment they deserved while on board can lead to a cruise ship medical malpractice claim, which can have you completing mountains of paperwork and being dragged into court on behalf of the company.
The good side of being a cruise ship doctor is that when you aren't in clinic and on call, you get to make full use of the ship's facilities.