Cruise Ship SOS: The Life-saving Adventures of a Doctor at Sea

"So you want to boot us off the ship? For spending too much time in the sun? I can't believe you're telling me this." . . . "Mrs Boyt, your husband is seriously ill. This isn't just a bit of sunbathing. He's effectively got third-degree burns over a very large part of his body. . . . If we don't get your husband to hospital tomorrow morning it will be nearly a week unil we get a second chance. That's too long and it's too dangerous." . . . She doesn't soften even when she sees her husband sedated, heavily bandaged and wired up to half a dozen different pieces of equipment. "They want us off the ship," she tells him. "You've got 12 hours to pull yourself together. If you can't do it, then our whole holiday is ruined."

Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always absolutely real, this is a unique account of one incredible year at sea for Dr. Ben MacFarlane. After spending a year saving lives at 35,000 feet as a repatriation doctor, Ben decided to take to the seas and spend a year traveling the world as a ship's doctor. During this year, with 3,000 passengers and crew to look after, Ben experienced everything from passengers falling off climbing walls on the ship or off camels during drunken excursions on dry land, to looking after lonely ladies with broken hearts, with a dose of middle-aged businessmen who do some real damage trying to impress the aerobics instructor in the gym. These tales of Ben and his colleagues will explain why ship's doctors think bar stools should carry health warnings, why the casino can be safer than the sick bay in a storm, and why no amount of sharks, pirates, or tidal waves will ever be as dangerous as the midnight buffet.