Muck boots on Silver Cloud

[Mocamps]

Just to let people know that, in my opinion, unless you have very unusual feet, no-one needs to bring their own boots for an Antarctic cruise on the Silver Cloud. We have just completed our trip and we DID take our own boots as we were advised that we couldn't rent them (as our cruise started in Punta Arenas and ended in Ushuaia) and, although there are some 'loan' boots on the ship, they couldn't guarantee having the right size.

 

What we found in reality.........

 

1. There were plenty of people who rented boots although most people from UK seemed to have been told the same thing as we were.

 

2. The ship has LOADS of boots (to borrow for FREE!) and I didn't come across anyone who couldn't get some in their size. Although I took my own, they were only mid-length and I was worried I'd get wet so when I saw that there were plenty available in my size I actually borrowed some of the ships as well....they were VERY comfy and warm with only one pair of thick socks. I took far too many socks!!

 

3. Mid-length boots are actually fine........the crew look after people very well and pull the zodiac as far in as they can get it so I only ever stepped into a couple of inches of water at most.

 

Hope this will help people with their packing. We hauled our boots there from the UK and we had a couple of weeks before the cruise as well. If I was doing it again, I'd just borrow some from the ship

[cflutist]

Too late already bought ours a year ago.

Will pack socks and underwear in them to save space.

 

How have passengers been dressing for dinner?

 

[Mocamps]

Yes - we packed ours out with socks and undies!!.....and great for ski goggles - though we only used those once!

 

Dinner attire was very mixed. Definitely no tuxedos!! But quite a few men wearing jackets (sports jackets I think you say in US?) though plenty in just shirts or polo shirts and/or sweaters.. There were even quite a few who wore jeans. For women I saw people in dresses, skirts, trousers, jeans or leggings - so I think practically anything goes!

 

There were 3 'elegant casual' nights and some people dressed up a bit more on those evenings - but there were still quite a few who were very casually dressed and you could always eat on deck in the grill - where you needed something warm so it didn't much matter what you had underneath your Silverseas jacket!!

 

My husband said he took too many 'smart' trousers (rather than jeans) and he wished he had taken more polo shirts rather than long-sleeved shirts.

 

I took 2 dresses and only wore one. I mainly wore slim leg trousers (not jeans) or leggings.

 

Hope that helps

[cflutist]

Thank you very much

[NJBelle]

Mocamps, this is great news!  My husband and I are on the Cloud Jan 16 cruise (Ushuaia to Ushuaia) and I have "rent boots" on my to-do list as we speak.  Frankly, the price to rent is really outrageous, but I too was scared by the "we can't guarantee your size" if we chose to wait to use the ones on the ship.  But sounds like your advice (since we have relatively normal feet) would be to sit tight and get them when we board?

 

I went to Antarctica a few years ago (with A&K and the trip included South Georgia Islands).  I loved it so much - and I have finally convinced my husband to go with me.  So, we are looking forward to it - will be here before we know it!

 

Also, thanks for the advice about the elegant casual nights. We have those flights from Santiago to Ushuaia with limited baggage to worry about, so anything to limit what we take is great.

[cflutist]

How was the WiFi Internet access on the ship?

 

When we were above the Arctic Circle for 8 days on a different cruiseline, it was rather spotty.

[Mocamps]

5 hours ago, cflutist said:

How was the WiFi Internet access on the ship?

 

When we were above the Arctic Circle for 8 days on a different cruiseline, it was rather spotty.

I'm not REALLY the right person to ask about this as I LOVE not being able to have wi-fi!! But I can't persuade my husband to go without it for the whole time so he did use his Ipad and phone and I think it was generally fine. Silversea offer free wi-fi for 1 device per person. He used both of ours....much to my disgust!!

[Mocamps]

13 hours ago, NJBelle said:

Mocamps, this is great news!  My husband and I are on the Cloud Jan 16 cruise (Ushuaia to Ushuaia) and I have "rent boots" on my to-do list as we speak.  Frankly, the price to rent is really outrageous, but I too was scared by the "we can't guarantee your size" if we chose to wait to use the ones on the ship.  But sounds like your advice (since we have relatively normal feet) would be to sit tight and get them when we board?

 

I went to Antarctica a few years ago (with A&K and the trip included South Georgia Islands).  I loved it so much - and I have finally convinced my husband to go with me.  So, we are looking forward to it - will be here before we know it!

 

Also, thanks for the advice about the elegant casual nights. We have those flights from Santiago to Ushuaia with limited baggage to worry about, so anything to limit what we take is great.

If you're interested see my packing advice on the Antarctic board. Generally we thought we did OK with what we did and didn't pack but we did take a few things that we could easily have done without - for example, trekking poles, ski goggles, gaiters, a ton of hand warmers. But these are obviously just my personal opinion!

[NJBelle]

Thanks, Mocamps, for all your advice.  While I have been to Antarctica before, it was not on the Cloud, so your help is greatly appreciated about how things work on that ship now.  I told my husband the good news about the boots that we should be able to get onboard, and then he started asking me lots of questions about the logistics.  Finally I said, I can guess the answers, but let me just go back on CC and ask!  So, basically, how did it work for getting the boots on Cloud?  Was there an announcement and a place to go and try on/ask for sizes?  And once you have the boots, are they assigned to you for the duration and you keep them in your room? Then at the end, you return them to the same place?  

[Mocamps]

Sorry - haven't been back on CC for a couple of days.

 

Basically they posted a time (on Day 2 I think) when you could go and try on their muck boots or take your own and have them tagged with your Cabin number. If you borrowed some they noted them down against your cabin number and tagged them accordingly. You then kept them down in the Mud room on Deck 3 where there were shelves with Cabin numbers and cleaning equipment. Before each trip ashore you went down to the mud room in groups and put on your boots before getting on the zodiacs.  When you got back you went straight into mud room and cleaned your boots and left them there again. At the end of the week you returned the boots at a set time and they were ticked off. There were loads of boots in loads of sizes!!

[RachelG]

So the procedure is the same as on Explorer.  I am glad to hear this as the rental fee is outrageous (might as well just buy boots), and packing boots takes up way too much space in the luggage. 

[NJBelle]

Thanks again, Mocamps!  This is exactly the info I was hoping for. And thank you again for letting me  - and I am sure - many others know about the ability to use the boots on the Cloud. Saves a lot of expense and bother!

[Bill B]

I debated for over a year as to whether or not to rent boots. Thirteen days ago, I ordered rental boots for my 'Cape to Cape' cruise (USD $80 + $100 refundable deposit). After reading this thread, I cancelled the order (Ship to Shore Traveler were very quick to reply.... and I should have my money back in 7-10 days). But, of course my bank will screw me on the exchange rate because I'm Canadian.

 

Thanks Mocamps. You just saved me $80 ('approximately' $108 in Canuck money). 

[Bill B]

On 12/7/2018 at 3:03 AM, RachelG said:

So the procedure is the same as on Explorer.  I am glad to hear this as the rental fee is outrageous (might as well just buy boots), and packing boots takes up way too much space in the luggage. 

 

... and the weight. Airlines are charging extortionate overweight fees with Nazi-like zeal for being for being even one kg 'over'!