Medical Services on The Nautica

[john808]

I have read some posts critical of the medical services onbard the Nautica. I have an upcoming cruise Dubai-Capetown and have asked Oceania for the name & credentials of the Medical Officer. For "security reasons" they are unable to tell me. Has anyone had a recent cruise on the Nautica who can give me that information.

John

[Earl Rosebery]

I have read some posts critical of the medical services onbard the Nautica. I have an upcoming cruise Dubai-Capetown and have asked Oceania for the name & credentials of the Medical Officer. For "security reasons" they are unable to tell me. Has anyone had a recent cruise on the Nautica who can give me that information.

John

 

I don't remember his name but I visited the Doc on Nautica in May. 2012

 

I was very pleased with his care. He had been a doc in the Turkish armed forces. They were obliged to serve. He then trained as a surgeon in Manchester England. (FRCS). Doesn't mean you'll get the same dr. next time.

[LHT28]

Medical personnel may change with each sailing

[cruisecountess]

I picked up a severe ear infection in Australia and had to visit the doctor on the Regatta in Feb. He was from the Phillipines. He knew exactly what to give me and I felt better within a few days. I had to return for a follow-up exam in order to get clearance for snorkeling. He was knowledgeable and thorough and easy to understand. FYI, your shipboard account will be billed as insurance is not accepted. Keep all your paper work and file for a reimbursement when you return home. I was surprised that my primary insurance covered everything and I never needed to file for our trip insurance coverage.

Harriet

[LHT28]

FYI, your shipboard account will be billed as insurance is not accepted. Keep all your paper work and file for a reimbursement when you return home.

Harriet

I do not think any cruise line accepts insurance

You must pay before you leave the ship then settle up with insurance companies

 

Lyn

[bruinbob95]

My wife had a sinus infection on an Alaskan cruise in June, 2011. The doctor was competent, thorough and pleasant to deal with. We had to pay before we left the ship, and the cost seemed very high, but our insurance company reimbursed us for almost all of the costs (after a couple of typical insurance company run-arounds).

 

Overall, a pretty good experience on board the Regatta.

[Rickey 88]

I have read some posts critical of the medical services onbard the Nautica. I have an upcoming cruise Dubai-Capetown and have asked Oceania for the name & credentials of the Medical Officer. For "security reasons" they are unable to tell me. Has anyone had a recent cruise on the Nautica who can give me that information.

John

 

I had a similar situation also on the Nautica - having picked up walking pnuemonia in China. The ship's doctor, from Columbia, started a daily regimen involving several medications and inhalant sessions. Within a week, the coughing had subsided and I felt much better.

Just a word that Oceania books its physicians through a reknown medical booking service in Europe. I very much doubt that you could obtain the name of the doctor on your cruise much in advance. But, even if you did learn his name, why would that cause you to cancel your cruise?

[Oceans&Rivers]

Cruise Critic has an article entitled "Getting Sick at Sea" which is enlightening.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=175

[joysav]

qwe

[joysav]

Oceania Cruises

 

The Basics: There are one doctor and one nurse per ship.

 

Medical Training: ACEP guidelines are utilized. Doctors are international.

 

Hours: Daily hours vary, but medical staff is available 24 hours a day.

 

Additional Equipment: Ships feature full operating rooms, which

may be used in extreme emergencies.

[Boreus]

In addition to an operating room, the Marina has two small wards with a bed or two each, modern X-ray equipment, and an extensive pharmacy. Contrary to Joysav's information, there were two nurses on the Marina in June. Both were from the Philippines and both were well-trained. The physician was from South Africa, and if you get him you will be lucky indeed. I had trauma from a fall ashore and he did a great job in patching me up. It took my insurance company three months to reimburse me under their arcane formulas, but they did not challenge any of the charges (all of which were properly coded); and I wound up collecting most of the expenses, like others on this thread.

[Mura]

Coincidentally I was looking at the May 2012 issue of International Travel News and discovered that they had an article on the general subject of "Is your Ship's Physician Licensed". It's quite interesting and can be found here:

 

http://www.intltravelnews.com/2012/05/your-ship%E2%80%99s-physician-licensed

 

Now, the drawback is that this access is for subscribers only. I have made a pdf of the article if you interested in seeing it, and will send it upon request. Just click on the link below about replying personally to me.

 

However, if you go to http://www.intltravelnews.com/ you can get a trial online subscription for 2 months. If you like the magazine, then you can really subscribe.

 

If you are already a subscriber you may know that you can activate online access to ALL articles ... but I was unaware of that fact until I was trying to locate this article!

 

Basically, this article talks about a ship (the cruise line is not named) where passengers discovered that the ship's physician had had his license terminated, and it goes on to talk about what you can to do find out if the doctor IS licensed. The problem can be as was mentioned early on in this thread that Oceania won't tell you who the doctor is ... but in any event, this article has interesting information!

 

Mura

[findacruise]

In addition to an operating room, the Marina has two small wards with a bed or two each, modern X-ray equipment, and an extensive pharmacy. Contrary to Joysav's information, there were two nurses on the Marina in June. Both were from the Philippines and both were well-trained. The physician was from South Africa, and if you get him you will be lucky indeed. I had trauma from a fall ashore and he did a great job in patching me up. It took my insurance company three months to reimburse me under their arcane formulas, but they did not challenge any of the charges (all of which were properly coded); and I wound up collecting most of the expenses, like others on this thread.

 

My DH had to visit doctor on Marina last year and he, too had an excellent experience - he came down with bronchitis - on his birthday, no less. I submitted the bill to travel insurance upon our return as primary because Medicare doesn't accept out of country claims. They processed it and we had the check in 2 weeks.

[eddmel]

It always helps me to remember that the cruise line wants to have quality personnel for their own interests as well as the passengers. Specifically, the medical staff also cares for all the crew in addition to us cruisers. Also, the other skilled staff from engineering to navigation etc. make sure we and the ship all get to our destinations safely. That said, I fell that O does a fine job in this regard.

[orchestrapal]

We have had the same doctor from South America several times on O.

He was not only a fine physician but a wonderful person who spent most of the night with my husband just to make sure he was OK. He had chest pains at midnight which turned out to be an infection and not heart related. His care could not have been better.

I discovered he had done his emergency medicine residency at Jefferson University one of the best in the country and only 8 blocks from us.

Oceania gets their whole medical set-up as well as doctors and nurses from a service for ships at sea. We have found them them to be more than professional.