Using the Ships Doctor

I have seen a couple posts here and on other cruise line pages about medical care on the ship. I thought I would share my knowledge so others can know what to expect. After 20+ cruises I have unfortunately seen the ships doctor twice. Once on Disney Fantasy and once on an NCL ship. Here is what you need to know:

1. The medical staff does not work for Disney. (or any cruise line). They are independent contractors hired by the ships to provide basic medical services. Hence they set their own billing procedures and fees.

2. The cost is high. I have found using them for a basic office visit and a RX of antibiotics to be higher than my local quick care on land. I paid $50 for a Z-Pack that would have been $15 at home.

3. The doctors are typically foreign. That does not mean they are bad but they tend to do things a little differently than your USA doctors. And these are usually general or family practice type doctors. NOT specialists. Similar to what you would find at a Quick Care clinic.

4. Get insurance!!!!! Many companies offer cruise insurance that not only covers you in case of a cruise disruption but they also offer medical coverage. I never take a cruise without it. If you or a loved one gets seriously ill or hurt in a foreign country you have two choices. Get treatment there (your medical insurance may not cover you) or have air ambulance fly you back to the states. This will cost you anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000. YES thats dollars! If you have the insurance for this, you are covered. Even if you can take a commercial flight, last minute tickets are expensive.

5. In regards to #4, always take your actual passport on a cruise. Yes a passport card or birth cert. and photo ID work for normal cruise passage but if you need to fly home only a real passport will work.

Stay healthy my friends...

Your Z-pack would be cheap at home because of insurance....the ship takes no insurance! You will pay the bill, and submit it later, if you have travel insurance, or to your own company...

The key is to have travel insurance as you have noted.

At least you don't have to drive to the doctor on the ship and pay for parking.

Keith

I had to use the medical care on the ship and was very satisfied. They were kind and helpful. It was expensive but I did have the insurance through Disney. When back home they refunded 100%.

Now with the prevalence of High Deductible health insurance plans(yay ACA).

The price of on-board medical care wouldn't be surprising.

My 6,350 OOPM and 5,000 Deductible doesn't begin to cover anything until i hit the 5k.

last week trip to the dr. office was 145.00 plus 50.00 prescription. so those onboard prices don't seem that out of whack.

Your Z-pack would be cheap at home because of insurance....the ship takes no insurance! You will pay the bill, and submit it later, if you have travel insurance, or to your own company...

No, I don't have RX insurance at home. Its just cheaper.

Your information is not quite correct.

1. The docs are not independent contractors and do not set their own policies. On DCL and many other lines, they are employees Vanter Medical and follow the policies of that company. DCL can specify the qualifications for the docs and nurses, but they are not employed by DCL. This is similar to the policy for the spa, Shutters, etc.

2. We found costs to be quite comparable to the costs on land, but at sea we had insurance that covered before our high deductible. Translation, better reimbursement for charges at sea. And a Z-pac for $15 is dirt cheap! Not sure where you got that price, but that's better than I get.

3. Yes, the docs are typically trained outside the US. DCL specifies Europe or US but many other lines are not so picky. Yes, things may be done differently. The qualifications as far as specialty also vary by line. DCL considers those with US board certification or the equivalent in their home country in Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine. These ARE specialists.

4/5 agree fully

Your information is not quite correct.

1. The docs are not independent contractors and do not set their own policies. On DCL and many other lines' date=' they are employees Vanter Medical and follow the policies of that company. DCL can specify the qualifications for the docs and nurses, but they are not employed by DCL. This is similar to the policy for the spa, Shutters, etc.

 

2. We found costs to be quite comparable to the costs on land, but at sea we had insurance that covered before our high deductible. Translation, better reimbursement for charges at sea. And a Z-pac for $15 is dirt cheap! Not sure where you got that price, but that's better than I get.

 

3. Yes, the docs are typically trained outside the US. DCL specifies Europe or US but many other lines are not so picky. Yes, things may be done differently. The qualifications as far as specialty also vary by line. DCL considers those with US board certification or the equivalent in their home country in Internal Medicine or Emergency Medicine. These ARE specialists.

 

4/5 agree fully[/quote']

 

That was my fault on the language of #1. I meant to say the company that provides the doctors is an IC. Not part of Disney. They are on contract.

 

On #3 you are correct that Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine are specialties. As far as if Disney or any line requires their doctors to be more than a family/general practice doc I do not know. I would have to see the specifics of their medical contract. But my point is these are not cardiologists or neurologists so their scope of treatment is limited to stabilizing a critical patient and then getting them off the ship, hence you need the insurance. But for broken arms, hangovers, sea sickness and typical quick care stuff they seem to do the job adequately.

 

As far as cost I can only comment on my personal experience a few weeks ago with a ship doctor. Had bronchitis and saw him to get Z-Pack and cough suppressant. Cost $285 for office call, $50 for Z Pack and $20 for Robitussian cough syrup. My quick care is $200 for office visit, Z Pack is $15 for generic and I think the cough syrup is about $9 at Walgreens.

 

Again my post is just for information. Your results may vary. And yes my cruise insurance reimbursed me after I submitted bill.

The cruise lines have one or at most 2 docs on board to cover all the medical issues of 1000+ crew plus about 3 times that many guests (or more). You are right that they do not put neurologists or cardiologists on board, but I wouldn't want a neurologist treating my broken bone OR my heart attack. They can't staff with all specialties. Thus, they go for the specialties most likely to be seen on the ship. They do have a built in system where the docs can confer with specialists on shore. And yes, their plan is to stabilize and transfer, as they are not equipped or staffed to provide long term care. DCL has one paid doc on each cruise. The timing and method of transfer is decided between the captain and the doc based on the patient's condition, distance/time to nearest port, etc.

I'll also mention that very few US medical insurance plans cover you "on the high seas" (even if they do have some foreign country coverage). If you go to the ship's doctor while at sea you better have medical insurance that actually covers you. Especially if you have to be air lifted off the ship outside of the reach of the US Coast Guard (medical evacuation can cost quite a bit if it's not by the US Coast Guard).

Medicare does not cover you at all on the high seas, or in a foreign country, contrary to what some seniors believe. Australians are often surprised to find out their health care coverage doesn't cover them on cruises in areas around them.

I have never had an insurance plan that actually did cover me world-wide, and have always bought travel medical even if I didn't buy trip interruption or trip cancellation.

FWIW, Family Medicine IS a specialty and has been so for decades in the US, with FM specific residencies and their own governing board and professional organizations, the American Board of Family Medicine and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

General practitioners, as the term is used in the US at least, usually refers to someone who has completed only an intern year (and is thus licensable in many states) or, someone who has been practicing "family medicine" since before it was a defined entity and thus did not complete a family medicine residency and become board certified.

In contrast to internal medicine, family physicians are also trained in the care of children and pregnant women. Our training is overall slightly less in depth (not so many weeks of cardiology, or endocrinology, or ICU, for example, as an internist) but more broad. Personally, I see see patients in the office of all ages, provide hospital care to adults, deliver babies, take care of said babies in the hospital if they are reasonably well, and provide some limited gynecology services such as D&C, colposcopy, and LEEP. I also occasionally do work in an urgent care.

:)

Sincerely,

The_Dylaness, MD, FAAFP

I will assume Disney also has a similar telemedicine system to Princess, where they can not only communicate with shore-side specialists but also share test results, x-rays, etc quickly. Interesting note - the CMO has the ability to requisition all internet bandwith not used by ship operations if needed (normally they use part of the dedicated operations channel)

We found the ships doctor to be very reasonable on HAL. We were on a 41 night cruise (2 days in of course!) and both our kids got ear infections one day after the other. Doctors cost was less than our kids Doc in Seattle. The antibiotics were probably on the higher side as all out of pocket versus adjusted by insurance but with the next kid getting the same ear infection he was able to finish off the remainder of the bottle.

It was funny being on HAL - The doctor and nurse LOVED seeing our kids come in - They squealed "oh we NEVER get patients this young, its soooo fun!" :)

We found the ships doctor to be very reasonable on HAL. We were on a 41 night cruise (2 days in of course!) and both our kids got ear infections one day after the other. Doctors cost was less than our kids Doc in Seattle. The antibiotics were probably on the higher side as all out of pocket versus adjusted by insurance but with the next kid getting the same ear infection he was able to finish off the remainder of the bottle.

 

It was funny being on HAL - The doctor and nurse LOVED seeing our kids come in - They squealed "oh we NEVER get patients this young, its soooo fun!" :)

The impressive part of this post is the 41 day cruise! Awesome!!! I bet that was fun (and expensive).

The impressive part of this post is the 41 day cruise! Awesome!!! I bet that was fun (and expensive).

Experience of a lifetime (I was lucky and received a 10 week sabbatical from work and our kids were young enough to pull out of school - Sailed from Seattle to New Zealand where my mum and sister live via Hawaii, South Pacific and Australia)... HAL were great and their kids club actually had 4-6 kids through that cruise (including some entertainers kids) - it worked out great.

We have our first Disney cruise coming up in April on the Fantasy - can't wait!

We found the ships doctor to be very reasonable on HAL. We were on a 41 night cruise (2 days in of course!) and both our kids got ear infections one day after the other. Doctors cost was less than our kids Doc in Seattle. The antibiotics were probably on the higher side as all out of pocket versus adjusted by insurance but with the next kid getting the same ear infection he was able to finish off the remainder of the bottle.

 

 

 

It was funny being on HAL - The doctor and nurse LOVED seeing our kids come in - They squealed "oh we NEVER get patients this young, its soooo fun!" :)

Wait, do you mean one kid finished the other kid's antibiotic prescription?

Experience of a lifetime (I was lucky and received a 10 week sabbatical from work and our kids were young enough to pull out of school - Sailed from Seattle to New Zealand where my mum and sister live via Hawaii, South Pacific and Australia)... HAL were great and their kids club actually had 4-6 kids through that cruise (including some entertainers kids) - it worked out great.

 

We have our first Disney cruise coming up in April on the Fantasy - can't wait!

Thats sounds amazing. You will love the Fantasy. Its our favorite Disney ship.

Wait, do you mean one kid finished the other kid's antibiotic prescription?

I read that but told myself that it isn't a parenting forum.....

In this case it may be ok. A lot of the ships used pre-packaged meds, which may have had more in them than the prescribed dose. That said, I hope that was the case.

I read that but told myself that it isn't a parenting forum.....

i read that but told myself that it isn't a parenting forum.....

:) :) :)

Yes each kid had the full dose and course. The bottle had enough in in it to fully cover both kids. So doc didn't perscribe another bottle.

My wife had a medical emergency on the Fantasy about a year ago. The Doctors and Nurses from Vanter did all of the right things, which was confirmed by our Cardiologist when we got home. Vanter is a South African company with two clients - Disney Cruise Lines and Crystal

Cruise Lines. They are pretty good. On Crystal they do a very remote Northwest Passage cruise and I just understand the medical staff is well trained on how to evacuate a patient from remote locations. In my wife's case, the medical team was able to provide the appropriate care on the ship. The bill was reasonable (probably less than a trip to the ER I had a few months ago). The cost was treated as an out-of-network service and we were reimbursed some portion through our normal insurance. No one wants to have a medical crisis at sea, but I have confidence in the Vanter medical team, and I suspect Disney pays a bit more to have this service on board.

My wife had a medical emergency on the Fantasy about a year ago. The Doctors and Nurses from Vanter did all of the right things, which was confirmed by our Cardiologist when we got home. Vanter is a South African company with two clients - Disney Cruise Lines and Crystal

Cruise Lines. They are pretty good. On Crystal they do a very remote Northwest Passage cruise and I just understand the medical staff is well trained on how to evacuate a patient from remote locations. In my wife's case, the medical team was able to provide the appropriate care on the ship. The bill was reasonable (probably less than a trip to the ER I had a few months ago). The cost was treated as an out-of-network service and we were reimbursed some portion through our normal insurance. No one wants to have a medical crisis at sea, but I have confidence in the Vanter medical team, and I suspect Disney pays a bit more to have this service on board.

Glad that all went well for you. Just one note--whether your medical insurance reimburses anything or not depends on the policy. My policy specifically states that any care rendered outside the US is not covered, and this was the case when my daughter needed the medical center. Most travel insurance will include medical coverage, but the fine print varies. Some are primary coverage, others are secondary (will cover only after your health coverage pays or denies coverage).

Like you, we were quite satisfied with both the quality and the cost of care on the ship.

Interesting that only two companies use Vanter....I had kinda figured out that a different cruise line did not, just from comments made from someone who had needed the medical center on that line.

I had to go to medical area at about 10:30 pm the first night of my Dream cruise. I was having horrible stomach pain that they thought could be my gallbladder. I was surprised that they were as well equipped as they were. I was admitted (only for about three hours) and they did several iv's, blood work, urine sample, etc. And I left with LOTS of pain medication, antibiotic, zofran, etc. They honestly did such a great job getting me back to feeling great so fast. I was sick as a dog and crying in pain when I arrived there and by the time I left about 3 am I felt normal again. My bill was about $1400 which I had to pay before disembarking but my medical insurance reimbursed me everything except my prescriptions. Also, there were two doctors on the ship. She said they worked in shifts. I know this because they asked me to come see them again in the morning before we arrived in port in case they wanted to schedule a CT scan for me in Nassau (no thanks, lol). and saw a second doctor in the morning. They both had awesome bedside manner and were very reassuring. I really can't say enough about how impressed I was with their medical team.

Your Z-pack would be cheap at home because of insurance....the ship takes no insurance! You will pay the bill, and submit it later, if you have travel insurance, or to your own company...

Just picked up a Z pack today at Walmart in Dallas it was $13.33 with no insurance. Also I had to get the same meds 6 years ago on a RCCL cruise and paid close to $100 for a Z pack.