While I enjoyed my time aboard ship, I'm not sure I'd do it again. Very few of our crew (probably less than 50 out of 1,000) got to spend much time in port. Sure, the ship organizes crew tours, parties and the like, but 9 out of 10 days it's work, work, work, hit the crew bar for a beer, go back to your shared cabin for a few hours sleep, repeat. As an officer, I had it FAR better than most, but still never had more than 24 hours off.

I cannot speak to what working for an airline is like as they have little need for nurses, but years of informal chatting with F/As gives me the impression their pay is lousy, but the lifestyle has it's benefits.