So you’re finally making your childhood dream come true and visiting the Antarctic on an expedition cruise? But where do you start when it comes to packing your bags? Packing for the seventh and most inhospitable continent can be tricky, especially if your first time to similar polar regions. Packing lists can often be slightly confusing and that combined with a weight limit of 20kg/44lbs makes packing daunting for the first timer to Antarctica but I’ve got you!
Photo by Désirée Degering
Here is a comprehensive list of what you need to pack to ensure that you are toasty warm during your Antarctic expedition. Please note cruises only depart to the Antarctic during the summer months with the temperatures range from 1-4°C/33.8-39.2°F and this packing guide is for that season.
It is all about layering, because on the expedition ship, you will be warm, and you could walk around in a sleeveless top as the entire ship is enclosed and kept comfortably warm, but obviously, when you go out on your excursions, you will be subject to all of the elements with cold, wind, rain and sunshine especially when you go out on excursions on the zodiac boats.
Clothing for Zodiac Excursions
Your cruise should provide two pieces of clothing: your waterproof jacket that is insulated as well as snow boots. They will ask for your size ahead of time, but you will also do a fitting when you’re on board. You are expected to provide the rest.
One thing to note is that you must not wear anything cotton on excursions (that includes cotton socks). If you get anything made of cotton wet, it will take too long to dry and you will be extremely cold and this is when problems can occur. The best material to wear is Merino wool as wool wicks away moisture from your skin. Alternatively if you’re allergic to wool like I am, I wore wool socks because my feet are okay with wool, but on my body I used polyester and there are some fantastic polyester fibres that wick away the moisture. Polyester also tends to be less expensive than wool.
For your top half, start with a first layer of thermal top, and then layer it with a fleece or fitted puffer jacket. I recommend a puffer jacket for those that feel the cold like myself. You will wear your insulated waterproof jacket provided by the cruise over this. You will be very warm in this. If you don't feel the cold as much, a fleece layer on top of a thermal is good.
For your head, you can wear a beanie and then place the hood of the waterproof jacket on top to seal off the back of your neck however, gaiters are recommend. Gaiters are a ring of cloth that you wear around your neck that you can pull up over your mouth. Without the gaiter or something similar the bottom half of your face will be exposed and very cold.
Another alternative and what I recommend was this all in one woolly polyester balaclava that combines the warmth of a beanie combined with a gaiter and balaclava. This will keep you super warm and seals off any gaps and I would recommend this for those that feel the cold. I found just wearing a beanie completely insufficient and I'm not the only one. When I wore my balaclava, people would ask me where I got it from all the time.
Your bottom half is simple: one thermal layer of leggings, followed by ski or snow pants. Ski or snow pants are insulated and water resistant. You will not need anything apart from these two layers. If you don’t have ski or snow pants, they are expensive to buy in Australia. Mine were around $500, but I was buying them in a hurry and you can find them online cheaper on Amazon but make sure that they are waterproof snow pants. Also know that you can rent them in Ushuaia for a fraction of the cost (one woman rented them for around $5USD. I wish I’d known this before spending $500!
For your feet some people just wear a pair of merino wool socks, but I layered these with these fur-lined polyester socks and my feet were perfectly warm. I definitely recommend layering if you feel the cold. Also these fur lined socks wash and dry really quickly overnight because they are polyester. I actually washed a pair of cotton socks at the same time and they took two whole days to dry in my cabin bathroom as opposed to the overnight drying of the polyester socks.
For your hands, they recommend mittens, but if you are planning to take photos on your phone or camera you’ll want a bit more dexterity. Try gloves which combine warmth, water resistance, and also have a tip of metal so you can use your smart phone. Please note the tip of the finger must touch your phone so practice beforehand and make sure that they fit you snuggly. You want them to be waterproof too as they may get wet in the zodiac boat.
And can be quite sunny some days, so bring a pair of polarised sunglasses ideally with a cord so that they don’t fall off into the water.
After the excursions, make sure all of your gear is dry and unpack it all once you get back to your room. All of the gear dries quickly, as long as it gets a bit of an airing.
What To Wear On The Ship for Drake Passage Days and Dinners
For the cruise itself, you will want nicer pieces to wear to dinners and casual clothing for the daytime.
Clothes for daytime: I just wore a pair of regular sports leggings over thermal leggings (I feel the cold a lot), t-shirts and sneakers. Add a layer of thermals if you feel the cold and I also had a long puffer jacket to go out onto the deck. I also had a casual jumper and a leather jacket that I could pull on too.
Clothes for night-time: Some people get dressed up, some don't (some even stay in the cabins a lot of the time, you do you!). There’s often a couple of special dinners like a captains dinner and a white/blue party or a sparkle party. You don’t necessarily have to dress for the white or sparkle parties because they will always be a portion of people that do not. But just check what the special nights are first.
Shoes: I had one pair of dressy, low sandals that I wore on special nights (wearing super high heels can be tough because you don't want to negotiate stairs, heels and a rough Drake Passage), two pairs of sneakers, one sporty runners and one pair of nicer white sneakers. I also brought thongs/flip flops because when you get back to Buenos Aires it is summer. This was exactly the amount of shoes that I needed.
Cameras and Lenses:
I brought along 2 Olympus cameras and a zoom lens. A telephoto helps at a distance if you have one too. Bring a Go-pro if you want to do underwater filming. Make sure that your batteries are charged before you go out for each excursion as they deplete faster in cold weather This is mainly an issue if you’re taking a lot of video on your DSLR camera because you’ll be out for an hour so if you’re just taking photos you should be fine.
How To Pack Efficiently
I usually use packing cells for international trips, but in this case I would actually recommend buying some vacuum bags. You can get them cheaply from Amazon. I swear by them and they come with the pump which you can bring with you and that will reduce the size of your puffers and all your large polar items. Once you get on the cruise because you are there for 10 days just put everything in the drawers provided and then once you’re finished, seal them in the vacuum bags. This makes a world of difference with the bulkiness of your suitcase although of course it does not affect the weight of course.
Medicines:
Obviously bring all of your medicine with you, and if you have any vital medicine, they ask you to take on 24 hours supply with you when you go on zodiac excursions in case of emergency. Sea sickness is the biggest concern for most people doing Antarctic cruises and I recommend buying some Dramamine or similar. Other people used patches on the back of their ears although friends who did use these had mixed results, but please DO NOT use Dramamine and the patch at the same time as you will probably get sicker! Dramamine takes 30 minutes to come into effect and you’re supposed to take it 30 minutes before you anticipate getting seasick. Some people get drowsy from it but it depends on the person. The crew will advise on whether the Drake Passage will be rough or not, and if they anticipate it is make sure to take it. Once you’ve passed the Drake Passage, cruising will be smooth.
Extras:
I brought a lot of warming patches but I only ended up using a couple on a really cold day. Just be careful and don't use them on bare skin. Also if you are seasick, they tend to make you feel worse. I strongly recommend bringing along a wet bag to put your camera in and buying a waterproof phone cover that you can hang around your neck. This is mainly if you want to get photos from the zodiac boat and you don’t want to bring your camera out. Once you get to land you can of course take photos without the lanyard and cover.
Food:
If you have any comfort food that you like, bring it along, although obviously with weight restrictions, it’s not possible to bring everything. There is plenty of food and drink available on the cruise and everything is also available as well as complimentary room service. Interestingly, they didn't have a lot of chocolate or chips so I found myself craving both, especially chocolate!
Internet:
You are at the mercy of the ship's internet and honestly it's just good that they have it as they didn't a few years ago. There is no way to sugarcoat this, but the internet is slow and expensive in Antarctica at around US$80 for 1GB or $350USD for 5GB (just to give you an indication, I typically use around 1.5GB of data a day at home). They use Starlink on Atlas Ocean Voyages. Make sure to keep your phone on Aeroplane Mode and switch the Wi-Fi on and off just using it when you need it. The Wi-Fi will actually determine the usage not Airplane mode. Also turn off your background app refresh to conserve your Wi-Fi limit. I didn't use Instagram at all while on the cruise and I used What's app to message friends.
Skincare:
Antarctica is cold and dry. A friend warned me that she got a couple of extra wrinkles after going on an Antarctic cruise! But as long as you have the right products your skin will be fine. I recommend layering your skincare with these products which is what I use every day to keep it moisturised (I swear by this K beauty product). Make sure to bring plenty of SPF50 sunscreen and lip balm. Packing some sheet masks (these ones are really good!) is also a good idea. I also recommend preservative-free eyedrops especially if you wear contact lenses and a humidifier (I use this every night at home and take it travelling) because the air conditioning and the heating is on 24 hours a day. The World Navigator ship also had a spa. Prices are around $150USD for a 1 hour facial or massage.
Music and Books:
Make sure to download everything onto your device before you start the cruise. Make sure to download any workouts too.
So tell me Dear Reader, how good are you at packing?
NQN travelled to Antarctica as a guest of Qantas and Insider Expeditions but all opinions remain her own.
This post contains affiliate links. These help earn me a small commission at no added cost to you.
Insider Expeditions
https://insiderexpeditions.com/
Qantas
https://www.qantas.com/au/
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