Expedition Gear-Antarctica

[boomerone]

1st time poster--just getting familiar with the site--and 1st time cruiser with SS. 24 ocean cruise veteran--mostly on Princess--3 river cruise veteran with Viking--6 USN aircraft carrier cruises too. My wife and I have booked PAII on the 08 December 2010 Antarctica sailing and will be deciding on a PAII arctic itinerary in 2011 or 2012 this spring. Would appreciate any reviews on the expedition gear listed on the SS website and any other tips from previous Antarctica cruisers. Thanks!

[Lirio]

Take a look at the Antarctica board. There some good information about gear.

[Mike2131]

1st time poster--just getting familiar with the site--and 1st time cruiser with SS. 24 ocean cruise veteran--mostly on Princess--3 river cruise veteran with Viking--6 USN aircraft carrier cruises too. My wife and I have booked PAII on the 08 December 2010 Antarctica sailing and will be deciding on a PAII arctic itinerary in 2011 or 2012 this spring. Would appreciate any reviews on the expedition gear listed on the SS website and any other tips from previous Antarctica cruisers. Thanks!

We printed out the Arctic packing list and have already started buying essentials like moisture-wicking thermal underwear, boot length socks (plus liners) that mirror or exceed the Merino wool content, etc. when we find them at a good price. We will acquire water-proof gear, a good collapsible treking pole, etc. as we find them on sale. The middle layers, hats/caps, neck gaiters, etc. we already have. Silversea provides the parka and, based on info on this board, there are boots available for use on the ship. The exception would be if you wear an unusual size (we don't). At this point, I think we will acquire and bring all of our own gear. Given the airline weight restrictions (and the fact we need to bring summer clothes for pre and post-cruise wear), I foresee the expedition gear filling our carry ons. The convenience of buying some or all from the Silversea vendor and having it sent to the ship is, however, undeniable.

 

The suggestion to search the other boards like Antarctica and even other cruise line boards (or web sites) is a good one.

[RachelG]

I am wondering what an "unusual" size is defined as. My feet are very average, but my husband wears a 13. Should he bring his own boots? Just his regular shoes take up an inordinate amount of room in the luggage.

[Aussieflyer]

Like Mike2131 we are buying gear as we see it - summer here means that places like Kathmandu clothing etc have good specials. We will order snow gear for the trousers as they are insulated and waterproof and also take a spare pair of waterproof pullover trousers. We are on 22 Aug cruise to the Arctic so there is no option on the gear shop to have stuff delivered to the ship.

[basedow]

Aussieflyer, are you taking some of the same gear to both poles? We are booked tentatively for both trips and were wondering if some gear would be good for both.

Thank you.

[Aussieflyer]

Basedow, we are only booked for Arctic this time (but may do Antarctica in a year or so). I would imagine that you would need similar gear for both locations as it will be cold out on the water. I am hoping that onboard indoors is warm (as in one jumper rather than multi-layers). When are you planning to do both trips?

[tupper10]

The Arctic trips have a different packing list than Antarctica - you still need layers but it is warmer. We leave on Tuesday for Antarctica and bought many items over our summer on sale - we followed the suggestions on the boards and we were told by the ship that they have enough rubber boots so we just bought boot liners -so our feet will be warm. I hope they are right!! The ship clothing site was pretty expensive compared to what we spent. Here in the US we used LL Bean and Lands End to get most of the clothing. Now we are just trying to pack it all into a suitcase!!

[Mike2131]

The Arctic trips have a different packing list than Antarctica - you still need layers but it is warmer. We leave on Tuesday for Antarctica and bought many items over our summer on sale - we followed the suggestions on the boards and we were told by the ship that they have enough rubber boots so we just bought boot liners -so our feet will be warm. I hope they are right!! The ship clothing site was pretty expensive compared to what we spent. Here in the US we used LL Bean and Lands End to get most of the clothing. Now we are just trying to pack it all into a suitcase!!

My DGF love LL Bean and bought some initial gear there, but we found a good sale last weekend at EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports). We found the socks we wanted at Bass Pro Shop. REI might be an additional source, but we found them pretty pricey.

 

Have a great expedition to Antarctica.

[basedow]

Some really good gear ideas here!

 

Aussieflyer, we are going on the Regent Voyager in June to the fjords and the Arctic. We have a hold on the PA2 for Jan 2011. We don't normally book so far out but I think the demand for the Antarctica journeys will be pretty high.

 

It would be fantastic if all works out but we'll see.