Cruise Line Medical Recruitment

Here follows Dr Andrea van Zyl's testimonial, who started her career through us as ship's doctor in January 2019:

"Not many 30-year-olds can say that they have seen all seven continents. In just over a year, cruise ship work took me to the five continents I had not yet lived on or visited. You will see places most people cannot begin to dream of seeing in their lifetime: from Antarctica, to remote little tropical islands. While you will be expected to work every day, you will have a good amount of free time to explore the ports. I have found the working hours to be very manageable, since the fixed clinic hours each day are short. The after-hours work can be very variable, but there are many days that we only work a handful of hours and just relax the rest. It is incredibly enriching working with medical colleagues from a wide variety of countries, and many of them have become my close friends. Ship life is a life of luxury: sit down to great food at every meal, daily cabin cleaning service, on board entertainment, etc. In general, your spouse can travel with you, and close family can also visit and cruise with you without charge. The salary beats that of any regular job, even when taking into account the new South African tax laws. If you are wondering if you should try out ship medicine, just go for it! The money and quality of life is great, and you get to see the world."

If a career at sea would interest you, please contact us at [email protected]

Dr Shannon Mulder is sharing her experiences as ship's doctor with us. To apply for a similar position, please contact us at [email protected]

'When asked to summarise the last 18 months into a short paragraph I quickly realised that this was an impossible task. How do I summarise what it is like to practice evidence based medicine in a first world setting, supported by an international team of nurses and paramedics, while at the same time travelling the world and exploring new cultures? Oh wait I just did – I guess that wasn’t that hard, then.

Practicing clinical medicine on a cruise ship is a unique challenge and encompasses elements of emergency & general practice, as well as public and occupational health. But that’s not all – the administrative and managerial experience is invaluable and the exposure to the functioning of health systems worldwide has truly enriched my understanding of global health.

Maritime medicine allows me to do the two things that I love the most – travel and medicine. I could never have imagined that my work day could begin with caring for a critically ill patient and end on a beach in Hawaii, a mountain in Norway or a street in Venice. All in a day’s work for a cruise ship doctor.'