NCL medical policy update
• Employees of Concession Companies traveling on Vacations
All Employees of Concession Companies traveling on board any NCLH Vessel on Vacation will be responsible for ALL Medical Services, Consultations, Medications, Prescriptions and Referrals to Shore-Side Facilities.
Dry/Wet Docks & New Builds:
• All Employees of Contractors, Vendors and/or Companies associated with a new build, dry dock or wet dock operation related to an NCLH vessel or private island destination will be responsible for ALL Medical Services, Consultations, Medications, Prescriptions and Referrals to Shore-Side Facilities at full price.
Crew Medication:
• All new hired crew members with a pre-existing condition who boarded after November 1. 2015 must arrive with enough medication(s) for the duration of their contract.
• Crew members hired prior to November 1. 2015 with chronic conditions that cannot be cured but that require maintenance medication, must arrive onboard with enough medication(s) for the duration of their contract. (Hypertension, Diabetes, etc)
• Crew members failing to arrive with their necessary medication will be switched to a comparable medication(s) from the onboard medical formulary and shall be charged at cost for the price of the medication.
Crew members hired prior to November 1. 2015 with chronic conditions that can be cured will receive the required medication(s) for their condition at no cost and switched to comparable medications from the onboard medical formulary.
General:
The Ship’s physician and the Ship’s Nurse are only authorized to practice their individual professions onboard the vessel, or in the state or country from which they hold a current license.
They shall not practice medicine in any of the ports of call, except for the Cruise Line’s private islands.
Regardless if the Guest is charged for medical services or not, ALL Accidents / Incidents must be fully investigated and documented by the Medical Staff and Security Department.
• The Medical Staff must notify Security of all accidents reporting to the medical facility.
• Medical Staff shall also notify the corporate office: Legal (NCL) and Guest Relations (Oceania & Regent).
• Guest and Crewmember hours shall be clearly posted at the Medical Center entrance, waiting rooms, and reception. Guests’ hours shall be posted in the ship’s “Freestyle Daily”.
In addition the phrase: “All Medical Services are subject to Charge” shall be written under the posted hours on the “Freestyle Daily”.
• During Guest office hours, Guests are given priority, over Crewmembers, unless the medical condition of the Crewmember warrants immediate attention.
I have a question on whether crew staff working in accounting positions get to sit while on duty, or do they need to stand all day on working hours. If they don’t get to sit, doesn’t that aggravate the knees and legs in the long term (even if you are perfectly healthy now)?
Pursers (guest services) and shore excursions staff are standing while working at the front desk, which can be for hours.
They also have duties in their back offices, where they can sit to do the work.
Crew staff working in accounting positions are fine.
About how many hours per day does the pursers expected to stand each day, in relation to the back office duties?
I would say 6 hrs staying, 6 sitting, every day, Saturday & Sunday included.
O- Thanks for the info. This is helpful for my decision. And based on your observation, would most people able to stand 6 hours per day? Do they complain of leg pains often? Or, just minority?
I didn’t hear people complaining. They get used to it. I have seen very heavy set people doing work behind purser’s desk too. Never heard them complaining.
Thanks for letting me know about this. Appreciate that.
By the way, I was informed that only certain crew levels are insured and compensated in case the ship sinks or something that causes death to crew members. I am shocked to hear that. As far as I know, in airlines, every passenger and crew members are insured by the airline, in case of crash. Isn’t there a law that required ships to be insured for their passengers and crew?
You can google some examples of crew contracts online, there are some available ..
I chose not to think about that kind of possibilities ..
I rather not think of it too, but I usually want to know…just for knowledge’s sake. It just seems not right. Anyway, I did google for the sample contracts and one indicates there should be a certain number of paid annual leave. But I don’t hear that from the cruise ship. Is there suppose to be paid annual leave?
Hell no. That’s just for the highest ranking officers, about 10 of them onboard.
Hi, How many stripes ranking usually must a person have to be considered an “officer” level?
On the bridge team – one stripe. In other departments, depends, it fluctuates.
What about finance dept?
Another question – in the crew cabins, do they come with split air-cons or heater (that the crew mates can control the temperature), or is the temperature and air-con comes from a central cooling tower or central heating duct (when cold weather)?
What about finance dept?
You can control the room temperature, but only to a certain level. 99% of the time, you want it cooler.
I meant how many stripes would you need to have to be considered an officer in the finance dept?
There is no finance dpt onboard. There are few people, staff, that do all tasks related to finances. As for stripes, probably one and a half, two.