Nurse at Sea: How One RN Found Career and Love on Holland America Cruise Ship
It started out as a career shift, but ended up as
The Love Boat for Laura Vlaardingerbroek, MSN, RN, lead medical officer aboard the ms Zaandam. From that mouthful of a last name you may have guessed: This American RN from Wisconsin married a Dutch officer she met aboard a luxurious ocean liner under the Holland America Line (HAL) flag. She has since adopted the sea as home and workplace. (Cue violins and soft music.....)
Who'd Have ‘Thunk' It?
It really was a change of pace this former Level 1 trauma ICU nurse was seeking. "It was the right time in my life," said Laura who had been in intensive care for 17 years. Work was interrupted by a family reunion of sorts, on board the Zaandam. When Laura's father had a medical issue, Laura accompanied him to the onboard medical center. And that's where her life took a surprising turn.
"I started talking to the nurses there. I would never have known about this kind of nursing otherwise. They said, ‘You've got to try this! It's great!' They gave me a business card right then on the spot. I thought, ‘Wow! This would be perfect.'"
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Laura Vlaardingerbroek, MSN, RN, is lead medical officer aboard the ms Zaandam, docked here in Honolulu. |
From Trauma to High Seas
It started out as a part time gig. "I kept my fulltime job. The cruise line had a 14-day minimum commitment requirement. So my first try at onboard nursing was on a 10-day cruise. I loved it. Loved it. Then the cruise line showed me the holes in their schedule - where nurse staffing was needed - and I picked up one here, one there. I thought, ‘Gosh, I love this ... I can travel and work at the same time.' I told the cruise line that if something fulltime came open, I'd consider it."
It did; she did; and the rest is history. And why not? Laura was single at that time. "I was footloose and fancy free and I wanted to see the world. I started on the old Noordam [a newer Noordam has since been placed into service] and I was offered the Mediterranean for my first contract. I cruised from Lisbon to Rome, then Rome to Istanbul. We hit all the Greek isles, and all the Italian ports. It was just fantastic."
Enter The Love Boat
About a year into her newfound career, Cupid's arrow struck. It also pierced the heart of a Dutch officer, an engineer named Robert whose home office is in Rotterdam.
Could this multi-cultural couple, home based on two continents, make it work? And what about Laura's real "work"... nursing? Would she have any opportunity to handle the sort of emergent care she is so highly trained to do? That's called a cliffhanger, folks. Stay tuned for the next episode of InteRNational...
Next: Married life on the high seas and extreme nursing make a good partnership.
Personal note: It's been my pleasure to travel on Holland America Line's earlier Statendam and Rotterdam liners. Cruisers take note: The line maintains a polish that is sadly disappearing in some others of the mass market lines. HAL offers a variety of Alaska, Caribbean, Hawaiian and Northern European itineraries, as well as some unusual transatlantic crossings. And if time and money are of no consequence (OK, not likely...) the line also offers an around-the-world cruise in 114 days, sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and docking in such diverse ports as Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Mumbai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Yokahama, Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles and many others. We can dream...
Just for fun: Ship in Dutch: schip.