retiredand happy

I was on the smaller Explorer last year. You are likely on the Wind. I will be doing the Wind to the Arctic in August, 2023. Regarding the sport coat. If you have room, you certainly won't look funny wearing it at dinner. On our cruise, I didn't see anyone wearing a sport coat. On the other hand, we weren't there over the holidays. It really comes down to what you have room to pack. If something has to go, it would be the sport coat, but keep the sweaters. You are correct, it is not possible to determine what the airline will do on your specific trip, so guessing is just guessing. I know there was a lot of angst amongst the passengers on my trip about the luggage weight. In the end, it was not an issue since the bags went from a truck from the hotel directly to the plane. The size of the carryon was more important than the weight because of the configuration of the plane. I was very careful not to get carried away, and kept my weight to just a few pounds over. Getting dressed for the shore excursions is a "fun" process. It takes 7-10 minutes to get all the layers on and have them in the right order. When you are fully dressed, you walk like the first explorer to the moon. They are VERY strick about having the life jacket on properly and in the proper order. You need your hands free to board the zodiac, so the backpack is worn on your back until you get in the zodiac. We saw passengers who put their backpack on first and then their life jacket over the backpack. That's a certain trip back to the boot room to get redressed. Protecting the environment was very important. All the clothes you were wearing to shore had to be vacuumed to remove any foreign material. They did this 2-3 times during the trip. Your boots had to be thoroughly cleaned in the boot room after each shore excursion. The boots were inspected before you were allowed to get on the zodiac on every shore excursion. Usually about 10% of the passengers were sent back to the boot room to clean all the penguin poop and dirt off their boots. The same applied to your waterproof pants, if they had penguin poop on the bottoms. The weatherproof backpack that SS provides is large and heavy duty. It protects your equipment from getting wet in the zodiacs. You should plan on getting wet in the zodiacs. Some days the water is smooth as glass. Other days everyone got a mouthful of sea water. Extra gloves in your backpack are a good idea. The SS parka and the waterproof pants and the heavy boots keep you dry. When you buy your waterproof pants, get the ones that unzip or unsnap at the bottom so they fit over your boots. That makes getting dressed so much easier. The pictures below are a sample of what is to come. I am the guy in front of the elephant seal. You will talk about this trip for years to come. It is spectacular.

Just so I don't get hollered at for my post, I am directing my comments to everyone EXCEPT Cruiseej. I did this trip in November, 2021. We were the very first commercial flight from Santiago to Puerto Williams. The owner of the airline was on the flight with us to celebrate. A lot of press and champagne. A very memorable trip. I received the same warning about the weight limits. I can't promise that 2022 will be the same as my flight in 2021, but my carryon weighed about 21 lbs (it was a rolling backpack with all my electronics and meds) and my 1 checked bag was 57 lbs. Our luggage was picked up at the hotel in Santiago and we never saw it again until we were on the ship. I did rent the boots from SS, so that cut down on the weight. They fit perfect and I didn't have to deal with a pair of boots with loads of penguin poop in my suitcase on the way home. We had about 80 people on the 18 night trip and only a small handful had their own boots. I brought my own waterproof pants and the rest of the cold weather gear. The parka that SS supplies is great. I was surprised how warn the weather was. We had a low of maybe 28 and a high of about 40, and that was November. The only time you get cold is on the long zodiac rides in the open water. When you are on land, you are hiking, and you find yourself shedding clothes. I did use the laundry service on board a couple times, but I also overpacked and brought some clothes back that I never wore. I was on the Explorer and I packed nice dress slacks to wear for dinner. After the first day, most guests were wearing jean and very casual clothes for all the meals. In some cases we would get back to the ship from an excursion and there wasn't enough time, or energy, to change for dinner, so most people just shed the heavy clothes and wore what they wore on the excursion for dinner. All my nice dinner clothes remained on hangers in the closet. If I had to pack again for this trip, I would easily hit the 50 lb limit, if I was willing to use the ship's laundry once or twice. I am doing the Arctic in 2023, and I know I will be able to meet the required 50 lb weight limit for the charter flight at the beginning of the trip. I realize that everyone has their own set of travel idiosyncrasies, but travel to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands is a different kind of trip. Again. please don't holler at me. This is directed to anyone else who might be taking this spectacular trip.

I did Antarctica in November (the Arctic next year). I bought boots on sale and then realized how heavy they were to pack, so I decided to rent them. After reading other posts, I decided I didn't want the weight or the used penguin poop (cleaned or not) in my suitcase. I bought the waterproof pants and hiking poles because they are light weight and easy to pack. The boot rental was the best money I spent. Remember, you will have items to pack coming home that you didn't bring with you, such as a bulky parka and a nice waterproof backpack and water bottle (all 3 were provided "free" for Antarctica). You might look a little strange getting off the plane in Southern CA wearing your Arctic parka😎