Cruise Ship SOS
Ben MacFarlane
324 pages
Published June 24, 2010
Hodder
🛟🛟🛟🛟
This is the illuminating account of a young British doctor’s experiences working on a round the world cruise ship voyage. I had previously read Holiday SOS by the same author, which describes his work as a repatriation medic, so was chuffed to find this one available for free on Amazon.
“As you may well have already realised your job here is to be a counsellor, a physiotherapist, a gastroenterologist, a gynaecologist, a dietician, a pharmacist and an oncologist as well, of course, as a GP, an A&E registrar and a diplomat.”
Ben MacFarlane is still quite junior in his career when he joins the crew for a 3&1/2 month “worldie” in Southampton, England. Working under the benevolent supervision of experienced doctor Edward and assisted by three very capable nurses, he throws himself into the peculiarly artificial world of luxury cruising. The book is a whole series of anecdotes, some humorous, some scary, some terribly sad. With skills and knowledge gained during his year flying sick and injured patients home from around the world, he brings care, compassion and sometimes cure to his very varied patients – except the chancers trying to take advantage of his newness. I wondered how on earth he coped with no Primary Care background, but I suppose that’s why he’s paired with a very experienced clinician.
This was originally published in 2010, and I got the impression that it describes events from the early 2000s. As with the previous book, I believe that the events described were based on real events, but not necessarily all occurred on the same trip or to him personally, or if they did I expect they’ve been embellished for dramatic purposes.
“Good tip. First rule of medicine: never annoy your doctor because he always gets his own back in the end. I like your style.”
Years ago I flirted with the idea of working as a cruise ship doctor, attracted by the idea of limitless luxury travel and the challenges of dealing with whatever emergencies may arise far out at sea. Becoming a Cat Mother and work/life experience changed my mind – including the realisation that given the average age and health status of those who choose that kind of holiday, you would be working very hard indeed, not to mention being permanently on call for both entitled passengers and the overworked & underpaid crew. I also know how fat I’d get from all those buffets. Reading this has not changed my feelings about large ships – apart from anything, you spend an awful lot of time at sea just to spend one day in the designated port before moving on. I did however thoroughly enjoy Ben’s adventures and would recommend it to anyone interested in medical matters on the open ocean.
Leave a Reply