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NOTE: This appendix was written at the Royal Columbian Hospital in January 2023, several weeks before Lai Fun passed away.
Working on cruise ships can be fun, or it can be full of problems. All staff on the cruise had a rank. Captain, Assistant Captain, Doctors, Nurses and Engineers. Nurses were given the rank of Petty Officer. Training included orientation to the ship, where we were told the ports of call for each voyage.
As a nurse on cruise ships, it's the same as other roles in nursing. We get paid for our job and see places. We were paid very little but it’s good because I had a paid holiday. You need to be a registered nurse and employable. There are many tasks that nurses do on cruise ships. At Christmas time, the anxiety level is high because passengers come on to the cruise ships, they drink a lot because drinks are cheap, and they injure themselves. So we have to do suturing, give injections. If they get drunk, we need to treat them for alcohol poisoning. We would dispense sea sickness pills. We attended cardiac arrests. We work morning shift, afternoon shift, and night shifts. Usually there are two permanent nurses and two doctors. We stayed in crew quarters on the lower decks of the ship. Doctors had more luxurious crew cabins - they were big and had windows. Some nurses were good. Male nurses were flirtatious and tried to take advantage of female nurses. I would ignore them if they tried. I would share my cabin with other female nurses.
It was luck of the draw who your nursing colleagues would be. Generally we get along quite well. I was interested because I got paid and could support my younger brother TY in his studies and give pocket money to my parents. Food and lodging was free so I was able to save a lot of money. Alcoholic drinks needed to be paid for. When working, there were days off. If in a port, I would go sightseeing. If at sea, I would walk around, observe games being played, participate in activities.
The Ship Hospital was equipped with all the basic instruments and equipment you would find in a land-based Hospital Emergency Department, however, the equipment was old. This did not impact the care I provided to my patients. For example, I used an Ambur Bag to pump air into the lungs of unconscious patients. Sometimes I needed to provide treatment in passenger cabins, if they were unable to come down to the Ship Hospital. They might have pre-existing medical conditions such as pulmonary issues that prevented them from coming to the Ship Hospital. The cruise ship would charge a lot of money if we treated passengers in their cabins.
The worst passenger injuries were head injury leading to concussion, sustained when they got drunk, climbing and falling. There was also a mortuary on board. Very seldom were there deaths on board, however, if a passenger died their body would be stored in the mortuary until they would be taken off the ship at a port. From this work I learnt about treating trauma. I had experience in an Intensive Care Unit and so was able to provide all the critical care passengers might need.
Photo: While off duty at Champagne Beach, Vanuatu (19 July 1985, archive ref. S68/001)
Photo: With locals in traditional dress at Papua New Guinea (24 July 1985, archive ref. S68/016)
I worked on six voyages. The South Pacific voyage was my favourite working voyage - a 2 week trip around the South Pacific islands. I worked on the Solomon Islands and 5 other island nations on that voyage. On Solomon Island I disembarked and set up a clinic on the island for passenger and attended to them if they called. I took the first aid kit and bandages and set up a clinic under the shade of a tree. Around me the tropical scenery with trees and people running around the village. In the villages there were streets and cars. Usually there was not much injury and so I tended to scratches. I talk to passengers who pass me by and they were interesting as they shared their culture and ethnic experiences. The majority of passengers were from Australia, but their were also passengers of different races from different cultures. I shared with the passengers my culture and life experiences. I would tell them I was from Australia, but originally from Asia as I couldn’t take away my ethnic background.
I worked for Princess Cruises - my friend Vicky introduced me to the job. I worked with Vicky in the ICU at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney. She was dating an officer of cruise ships and told me about the job. She told me she would get me in. It was competitive to get a job because we got paid and a holiday. As a casual nurse, as far as I’m aware they don’t pay nurses now.
I stopped working on cruise liners because I moved from Sydney to Darwin. It was difficult to travel down to Sydney to be able to join cruises to work. On my final cruise, I flew down to Sydney to find that management had given my job to a friend of theirs. So I stopped working on cruise ships after that.
Photo: Lai Fun's name badge from P&O Cruises. Princess Cruises was a subsidiary of P&O between 1974 and 2003. (archive ref. Z25/011)
Image: Lai Fun presents a copy of A Nurse's Journey to one of the nurses at the Royal Columbian Hospital, Vancouver. This appendix was written during her stay there. (20 January 2023, about four weeks before Lai Fun passed away)
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