Has anyone worked at Dialysis at Sea Cruise Ship?

Specialties Urology

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I just applied at dialysis at sea cruise ship as a RN. Has anyone worked there before and know the good and bad points. I am afraid is someone going on the cruise with a completely clotted access, I wonder what is the Cruise Ship protocol. The job sound exciting, I wanted to try it out for a month or so.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Sounds very cool. A couple of my pts have done the cruise thing and they thought it was wonderful.

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Sounds very cool. A couple of my pts have done the cruise thing and they thought it was wonderful.

Thx for the reply. I'm very curious about the pros and cons. I don't know about the payscale yet.

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Specializes in diabetic education, dialysis.

I too am verrrry curious about this! But I have heard that there IS NO pay...only the free room and board of being on the cruise. hmmm. Can this be true?!

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Specializes in Acute Dialysis.

I worked a Dialysis at Sea cruise this past fall. I did a 7 day cruise to Alaska. It was alot of fun but also hard work. The pay for working is that the cruise is free. On ship you are treated as any other paying customer and have access to all of the facilities and activities. Any thing that others have to pay for ie drinks, shore excursions etc. you have to pay for. The room was one of the nicer cabins with a port hole looking out. We met all of the dialysis patients on the ship the first day. Treatments are done on the "at sea" days and patients are assigned a specific time for their treatment. The dialysis area was a part of the ships hospital and very crowded. We could dialyze 2 patients at a time in 2 different rooms. We had a bed and a chair in each room with 2 Fresenius K machines. The trip I took had 11 dialysis patients on board with 3 RN's. Technically we should have had one more staff person. One nurse who has cruised before is designated as the Charge nurse and manages the supplies, schedule etc. Patient's bring there meds. The rest of the supplies for several trips are packed into large totes in the dialysis rooms. A nephrologist is on board and rounds on all of the patients. The outpt units send kardex's and copies of past run sheets. The pt's are required to have some type of trip insurance in case something happens and they need to be put off ship and transported back to the main land or home. As dialysis nurses we were responsible for pt care only while the pt's were on the machine. All other time was our personal time to do as we wished. Since this was my first trip I traveled alone and was assigned a cabin with one of the other nurses. She had done several trips and was great source of advise and tips. My 7 day cruise left on Saturday, we dialyzed people on Sunday; a 17 hour day as we figured out the routine; then again at sea on Wednesday and Friday and disembarked on Saturday. The ships do have a lot of activities to enterain the guest for the at sea days that I could do as I was working. Late nights were out too as I was either getting up early for shore trips or starting patients at 0430-0500. The patient's had a blast and appreciated being able to travel; many with their families. I do hope to do another trip this next year but the staff openings do fill quickly.

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i am inspired by this message.. I really want to work in the cruise ship. I am also a dialysis nurse. How can I apply?

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I've done it twice, Alaskan and Caribbean. I'd do it again. You'll have a great time. There's a nephrologist 24/7. We had an emergency at dock in Alaska, the patient was airlifted to the nearest hospital. It didn't feel like work, very relaxed.

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Hi Kim49, Thanks for your 2/17/11 reply about your experiences as a dialysis nurse on Dialysis at Sea Cruises. I was looking for some sort of review about what I was getting myself into, as the nephrologist for a 9/3/17, last minute commitment for a 7 day NJ-Bermuda-NJ Celebrity Summit cruise. Yours was the best review I could find. Of course, I'd love to know what it's like from the nephrologist's perspective. But, as any honest nephrologist would tell you, it's the nurses, God Bless Them!, who do the real work, and we, nephrologists, would be totally lost without them. Naturally, I'm curious about the availability of labs, the ability to do extra runs for over hydration, EKG availability for unexpected arrhythmia, Kayexalate, emergency drugs, and special diets for the patients. I know that many of the patients I've cared for in a long, long career, practice denial, and I must readjust my concept of my role as simply a caretaker, just to get them through a week of vacation and return them unscathed to their regular environment. Thank you for your comment.

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Hi Kim49, Thanks for your 2/17/11 reply about your experiences as a dialysis nurse on Dialysis at Sea Cruises. I was looking for some sort of review about what I was getting myself into, as the nephrologist for a 9/3/17, last minute commitment for a 7 day NJ-Bermuda-NJ Celebrity Summit cruise. Yours was the best review I could find. Of course, I'd love to know what it's like from the nephrologist's perspective. But, as any honest nephrologist would tell you, it's the nurses, God Bless Them!, who do the real work, and we, nephrologists, would be totally lost without them. Naturally, I'm curious about the availability of labs, the ability to do extra runs for over hydration, EKG availability for unexpected arrhythmia, Kayexalate, emergency drugs, and special diets for the patients. I know that many of the patients I've cared for in a long, long career, practice denial, and I must readjust my concept of my role as simply a caretaker, just to get them through a week of vacation and return them unscathed to their regular environment. Thank you for your comment.

I am curious about some of this too...do they offer clearly marked dialysis diets on these cruises? Or assist with fluid restriction? i assume even if they offer the proper diet these patients like all outpatients can choose to ignore totally...did you find that your runs were more difficult as patients maybe overindulged being on vacation? or were they generally careful not to ruin said vacation?

is there a screening process for the patients? (like requiring a note from their provider that they are stable and generally compliant?) I realize this thread is old but am hoping there are still some with this type of experience out there...Thanks to those 6 years ago who threw this out there-these types of things are cool and its nice to let others know they are out there! I'm thinking it could be a perfect change for someone dealing with burnout.

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Actually, Dialysis at the sea is a non-payment work, since they're paying for the cruise. So therefore, you receive absolutely no pay and you also pay Taxes

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The Cabin is actually shared with 1 more staff member, and they force you to get a for about $6 million . Dialysis is an invasive treatment, how can someone takes an offer like this

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Without pay ?

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