Northern Lights clothing and general tips

[Sjw19]

Hi everyone. Apologies if this seems a daft question. We are off on a hope to see the Northern Lights cruise on Aurora late February into March. Any advice on clothing would be much appreciated, both on and off the ship. We’re not new to cruising and P&O but this is our first cold cruise. Any general tips also much appreciated.

[Tina.w12]

We did this cruise a couple of years ago. We dressed in layers. Thermals, mid layer and then ski pants and jackets. Snow boots, hat and gloves. On the ship I just dressed normally, trousers and jumpers etc except on formal nights. They keep the ship quite warm, but when in port the nearer you get to the gangplank the colder it is.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[P-L-B]

We did this cruise last November and I agree,we also dressed in layers and agree withTina.w12 other advice.

Also, we personally found freedom dinning useful as on this cruise you have overnight or late sailings, so you may be on a late excursion or have unexpected siting’s or events that keep you occupied.

Therefore the opportunity to dine when it’s convenient to you is useful as opposed to club dining which has fixed sitting times.

If you do a Northern Lights forum search you will find lots of information on the subject.

Have a great cruise we thoroughly enjoyed our experience.

[Angel57]

I did Northern Lights on Aurora this year in March. I found that thermal tops and leggings were useful during the day but especially so when out on deck in the evening as it was -19c. Taking warm gloves, warm socks, waterproof boots (with a good grip as it is very icy ashore), scarf and layers of clothing would be my advice. On the ship it was a comfortable temperature so a lightweight jumper or a T-shirt (and cardigan) was ideal.

You will thoroughly enjoy this trip and i hope you are as lucky as we were with seeing the lights.

[Scriv]

When you are in the ports where you are going on the evening excursions, they relax the usual dining arrangements and you are free to dine in whichever restaurant you wish to regardless of whatever you are booked into for the rest of the cruise, to fit in with your arrangements for the evening. It worked very well. The fixed times are at slightly different times and you are able to go into whichever you want to and sit anywhere or go into the Freedom Dining restaurant. And vice versa.

 

Clothes wise, as above, thermal layers... snow boots, thermal socks, ski gloves and a warm lined coat from Craghoppers with a fleecy hood worked well for me. I preferred a balaclava to a scarf wrapped round my face when it was - 17 in a blizzard as it didn't get wet or frozen from breathing.

[Sjw19]

Thank you everyone. All advice gratefully received.

[bluemug]

we found that wearing mittens kept our hands warmer than gloves. Don’t forget, when photographing the lights at night you will need ,time exposure, of at least 30secs. When your hand is exposed for this length of time it will get cold. Keep well away from the young things with auto flash on their cameras, flash at night for northern lights is not required and WILL RUIN your night vision

[Host Sharon]

This was what I wore in 2014.

M&S grade 4 thermals were fine. You definitely need silk liner gloves if you want to work a camera! At the coldest - -28C - I wore two pairs M&S thermal leggings, cotton trackie trousers, waterproof overtrousers, thermal socks and snow boots (for grip). On top I had a long-sleeve thermal vest, short sleeve thermal vest, thin knitted cotton polo neck top, polartec fleece and waterproof coat. My best buy was a thermal hood from Aldi! And you need waterproof mittens to go over the silk liner gloves. Also - get some ice grips. Mine were YakTrax which are spring type so I didn't always have to remove them indoors, whereas the spiky kind had to be removed.

 

I was warm as toast.

[Sjw19]

Thank you all. It’s helpful to hear experiences.