Valparaiso to Puerto Williams questions

[caradara]

I know that some of you have taken this cruise pre-Covid.  We rolled over our cruises to go this November and have received no information whatsoever from Silversea about Covid restrictions or anything.  I can look most of it up myself.  However on the Silversea site I found that we get the free parkas and need boots.  I was very surprised that there will be cold, wet landings.  If you took this cruise in the past did you get parkas and need boots?  I'll take the free parka but the boots are $90 to rent which I think is high.  When we went to Antarctica and to the Arctic the boots were onboard and were free.  So my question is are there boots onboard or should I buy a pair to bring with me (or I might rent them if needed).  Thank you for sharing.

[FauxNom]

We did the opposite routing, and there were no wet landings. We did get the parka, which was handy. You should be fine with some hiking shoes, but I don't think you can count on boots being available to borrow. 

[jpalbny]

I don't know the answer to your questions, but just popping in this thread to say hi to our cruise friends from the November 2017 Explorer expedition! That sure was an amazing trip.

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, caradara said:

When we went to Antarctica and to the Arctic the boots were onboard and were free. 

That must have been a lonnnggggg time ago as SS charged us for boots pre-Covid in January 2020.

[caradara]

Hi JP and FauxNom.  That was an amazing trip and our last Silversea (2017).  We did do the Antarctic and Arctic quite a while ago.  They were among our first Silversea expeditions.

Thanks FauxNom.  I think that we'll forgo the boots and skip the wet landings if there are any.  My husband has a pair that he bought for an Alaska trip last spring so maybe he'll pack his.  Mine got ripped on the hiking so I left them behind.

[scottjeanne]

We were on the Cloud last spring and there were definitely wet landings.  In fact all landings were wet and you must have boots.  I bought mine so I could use them again.

[caradara]

Scottjeanne,

Was this between Valparaiso and Puerto Williams?  Or was this Antarctica?  Now I'm confused about what to do.  

[gojirra]

They have now decided to charge for boot rentals for the Antarctica expedition cruises, but throw in free rental for them for the Antartica bridge cruises, I guess they charge enough money for those to throw them in🙄

Edited October 1, 2022 by gojirra

[sherylc]

Kinda feel like they charge enough for the Antarctica expeditions too to throw them in free!

[scottjeanne]

Our cruise was Santiago to Antarctica, South Georgia, Falklands, Monte Video to Buenos Aires.

[labrasett]

Come on folks, for goodness sake, Ss expedition cruises are not inexpensive so you can certainly afford to rent boots if you dont want to take your own.   Personally I would much rather have new boots than  boots (rentals are all new) that have been worn by numerous other people no matter how much the cruise line may try to disinfect them between rentals.   I would never decide "not to go on any wet landings" the whole joy of being on an expedition is going ashore whereever and whenever you can and the more remote places (the best) will almost certainly require boots.   Dont miss out.

[sherylc]

Not arguing the need for good quality boots for the expedition, just saying many of SilverSea competitors still include boots (and trekking poles) for Antarctica. 

[hamasgirl]

I have been to Antarctica twice but on Seabourn. I don't think that matters because from what I have seen, all lines that go to Antarctica basically do the same.  You will do wet landings...in some cases, the water will be up to your ankles and in some cases closer to your mid-shin.  Either way, opting out of these landings basically says that you will miss most landings.  Not something that I would do.

 

Now relative to boot rentals.  There are a number of companies that handle this for the cruise lines.  Silversea will give you that information.  When you contact them, you 'rent' what you want.  I recommend the poles as well as boots.  In a couple of places where we landed it was snowing and rocky so the poles helped us navigate the landing areas.  They show up in your suite when you are on board and you will have an opportunity to swap them out if you picked the wrong size pre-cruise.  You store them in provided lockers on board.  At the end of the cruise, the boots and poles are collected and returned to the rental company for you.  And within 1 week of our cruise the 'rental amt' was returned to our credit card.  So, in effect, the 'rental' was free.  It sure was a whole lot easier to rent than to try and pack boots sufficient to keep you dry.

[caradara]

I'm sorry to have been totally misunderstood.  We are not going to Antarctica (done that previously).  I was asking about boots for Valparaiso to Puerto Williams.  FauxNom has done that trip and said that there are no wet landings.  I read through the shore excursions and none are mentioned.  I was just double checking but somehow the whole thing turned into me being too cheap to rent boots.  That wasn't the intent.  Let's move on.

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, caradara said:

…somehow the whole thing turned into me being too cheap to rent boots.

😆😆😆

 

Thanks for the chuckle. Like your sense of humor.

[cruiseej]

4 hours ago, hamasgirl said:

At the end of the cruise, the boots and poles are collected and returned to the rental company for you.  And within 1 week of our cruise the 'rental amt' was returned to our credit card.  So, in effect, the 'rental' was free.

 

There is a rental fee ($90) and a security deposit ($100) for boots; the latter is returned after the cruise, but the rental fee is not. Or should not be; if you got all your money back, consider yourself lucky for an administrative error in your favor. 😉 

[FauxNom]

22 hours ago, caradara said:

I was just double checking but somehow the whole thing turned into me being too cheap to rent boots.

LOL . For some reason people love to opine on this topic. But your actual question was perfectly clear 🙂