View from the deck: what it’s like working as a cruise ship doctor

Tony Hisgett (Creative Commons Licence)

By Daniel Pye

Dr Julian Kilburn has practised medicine on some of the world's largest cruise ships, sometimes as the sole doctor for hundreds of passengers. He talks to Doctors.net.uk about dealing with outbreaks – and taking in the best view in the world.

Dr Julian Kilburn spent more than a decade working on some of the biggest cruise ships in the world and has seen his fair share of virus outbreaks.

But despite a tabloid newspaper calling his workplace “The Ship of Hell” during the 2003 norovirus outbreak on the MV Aurora, Kilburn thinks they are safer than what is depicted in the media. He praises the teams he has worked with and the equipment on board, which he says is often better than what is available in the nearest hospital.

Doctors.net.uk asked Kilburn about his work, how a ship deals with viral outbreaks and if a clinician responsible for thousands of passengers – or “souls” as they are known in seafaring terms – is ever allowed a drink.