Frequently Asked Questions
As you might expect, we get lots of questions! Here is our list of the favorites. You might want to go to the news section for late-breaking news, however.

Companions

Who can I bring with me?
Answer: All the ships allow the Physician to bring one companion (for free, except port taxes), who will stay in the physician's cabin.

Nurses are allowed a companion for one or a couple weeks every few months.

What about children?
Answer: One Physician's child is allowed as a free companion (teenager or older, must stay in the physician's cabin). An additional cabin can be booked for other family members, usually at a discounted rate, depending on availability.

Activities

Can I get off the ship to see the sights?
Answer: Nurses and Physicians rotate on-call duty. If it's not your on-call day and the ship is in port then you are free to go ashore or join an excursion. At least one member of the medical team must be onboard at all times.

What can my companions do?
Answer: Anything that any other passenger might do - go on excursions, eat, swim, eat, see the shows, eat, shop, eat, watch movies, eat, attend art auctions, lectures, demonstrations, games, etc., sunbathe, eat, work out in the fitness center, sauna in the spa, and of course, enjoy the excellent food.

Money

Do I get paid? How much?
Answer: Yes. Not much. The ship infirmaries are generally not very busy and you will see perhaps five patients a day on average. Half of these will be crew members, who get their healthcare free. This leaves 2.5 paying patients per day to cover the bills. Our standard arrangement is that each physician and nurse gets a weekly stipend, which varies depending on the ship and other factors, plus a percentage of the net collections. For nurses this may amount to a sum comparable with a shoreside nursing salary - especially considering that room, board, and entertainment are free. For physicians it will not even come close - think of it as a busman's holiday. Bottom line: about $700/week on average.

What is ``net collections"?
Answer: ``Net collections" is the amount of money that MHS finally collects from passenger charges, after deducting any credit card fees, billing expenses, etc. Deductions are usually less than 3%.

When and how do I get paid?
Answer: MHS bills and collects on a monthly basis. It takes a while to get the information through the accounting system, so you can expect your first paycheck about the fifteenth of the month after your first full month of work. We can send a check to your bank, your home address, or to you care of the port agent in your home port. If you want we can deposit your pay into your bank account for you.

Who arranges and pays for malpractice insurance?
Answer: MHS does. We have a $2M/$5M policy with AIG, one of the strongest malpractice carriers in the world, which covers all our medical staff.

Who pays for my transportation to the home port?
Answer: MHS contracts with all its staff as independent practitioners. As such you are responsible for your own transportation. You can find the best fares easily by going to Microsoft's Expedia Travel Network.

For physicians and nurses contracting for extended tours of duty (>3 months for physicians, >6 months for nurses) MHS will consider signing bonuses equivalent to airfare costs.

What does it mean that I'm an independent contractor?
Answer: MHS is a Bahamas corporation. The Bahamas have no income taxes and they have no reciprocal agreements with other countries to collect taxes. Therefore MHS does not withhold any taxes from your pay. You are responsible for reporting and paying any taxes that might be due from your work for MHS.

MHS does not have any employees. We work only with independent contractors. Therefore we do not carry any health insurance, disability insurance, or unemployment insurance and we do not have any pension or retirement plan. As an independent contractor we urge you to make your own arrangements in these areas.

Why do I need to make a $200 deposit on acceptance of my contract?
Answer: Unfortunately some people do not take cruise medicine as seriously as MHS does. Occasionally we have had people cancel a tour of duty at the last minute or arrive on board unprepared for their duties. We require a $200 deposit from each accepted physician or nurse at the time that their contract is accepted. $100 of this is refunded after the orientation quiz from the orientation manual is completed and returned to us. The other $100 is refunded after they arrive on board for their tour of duty. The deposit is forfeit if we don't receive a completed orientation quiz or if the person doesn't show up for their tour of duty. This doesn't begin to compensate us for the expense and headaches of finding replacements at the last minute or trying to make up for unprepared staff, but it does at least provide an incentive for people to be prepared and committed.

Work

What do I wear on the ship?
Answer: During your duty hours you are expected to wear the standard clinical attire for the cruise line. For Commodore this is medical office clothing - shirt/tie/dress/skirt and lab coat for the physician and nursing uniform for the nurse OR the MHS logo shirt (provided by MHS) and white, dark blue, or khaki pants or skirt. You will not be wearing officer uniforms.

During off-duty hours you can dress as the passenger dress code for the day dictates, however good taste must always be observed. Remember you may be called for an emergency at any time.

Do I need to bring my own equipment?
Answer: As an independent contractor you should provide your own equipment. This includes your stethoscope and any other hand diagnostic equipment which you routinely use in your practice. The ship will have an otoscope/ophthalmoscope and other major diagnostic and therapeutic equipment.

What do I do about seriously ill patients?
Answer: It's fairly unusual for people to get seriously ill on a cruise, but it certainly does happen. In the event that a patient needs to be evacuated MHS has set up protocols for each ship and each port which determine how the situation is to be handled. You will learn about these when you board the ship.

What are the clinic hours and how busy does it get?
Answer: Depending on the size of the ship the clinic hours are generally 4-6 hours per day, usually split into two sessions. It is usually not very busy - you will probably average about one patient per hour. Of course if you get hit by a seasickness epidemic or a bad virus starts to make the rounds then things will be considerably busier.

How do I communicate with the rest of the world?
Answer: This can be difficult from the ship, a moving target for communications. You can have your mail forwarded to the port agent in your home port and pick it up every time you go through. All the ships have telephones and fax machines on board, but they are expensive to use ~ $8-$15 per minute. You can leave the ship's phone and fax number with your friends and relatives back home so that they will be able to contact you in an emergency. Some port agents will allow you to use their office phones for e-mail access, but this is a hit-and-miss proposition from outside the USA or Canada.

What are the accommodations like?
Answer: The physician and nurse have passenger or officer grade accommodations on all the ships.

Orientation Manual

If you just can't wait to read all the minute details of shipboard life and work then you can click here to open or download the complete 64 page orientation manual that all our new recruits get. This manual is in PDF format here, so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (free from the Adobe website) in order to display and read it.

 Please contact our Webmaster with questions or comments.

Copyright 1997 Maritime Health Systems, Ltd. All rights reserved.