How can we avoid having to carry gumboots from Stdney, Australia to Ushuaia, Argentina.
We are doing a cruise from Ushia, in Argentina, to Antartica in a few weeks time. (Feb 2007). We are flying from Sydney, to Los Angeles, to Buenos Aires, to Ushia, where we board our ship. Our problem is, the cruise company is saying that it is COMPULSORY to have gumboots (Wellington boots) with us on the trip. We don't really want to have to carry these all the way from Australia, due to luggage space and weight. Has anyone had any experience in obtaining these gumboots in Ushuaia? If so, are they expensive? Are they available for hire? If we do have to carry them all the way from Australia, we will probably leave them in Ushuaia at the completition of our cruise, so that we don't have to lug them back home with us.
Reply to this Which cruise company is it? We booked with GAP Adventures, sailing on the M/S Explorer, and wellies were supplied. Might be worth contacting your cruise operator.
Reply to this Replying to MC. (thanks for your advice). Our Cruise Company, 'Discovery World Cruise' is telling us that we have to bring our own. With the ship ('Discovery') carrying around 440 passengers, the number of different size boots the ship would have to carry to accomodate would be huge.
Reply to this I'm afraid I don't have any info on hiring or prices. The only other thing I can suggest is that if you get a chance and the timing is right see if you can speak to the staff on the M/S Explorer (or perhaps the passengers on any returning Antarctic cruise). At the end of our cruise, the last of the season in March, the ship was repositioning to the Amazon and they were giving away wellies. I suspect also that you would not be the only travellers who don't intend dragging their wellies on the rest of their journey. Maybe hanging around some of the bars (the Irish bar just up the hill from the port seemed to be a favourite with our fellow passengers) might prove lucky.
On a separate issue, you might want to check the reliability of the airlines you're flying with nearer the time. Our trip coincided with a strike by the argentine pilots. Fortunately we got there by bus, but the sailing was delayed whilst we waited for some last minute arrivals (one of which was bumped to a later departing cruise), and one poor woman gamely cruised the Antarctic with borrowed clothes whilst her baggage languished somehwere in Argentina.
Having said all that, enjoy! The cruise is quite simply stunning.
Reply to this The shops are quite good in Ushuai so you shouldn't have too many problems buying them. However, Argentina isn't as cheap as it used to be. I'd still probably just buy them there if I were you. One thing I know though - you can't hire boots there. We tried that one - we were doing some trekking up to the nearby glaciers and didn't want to buy boots just for two days use. There isn't anywhere there that does rental. We ended up walking through knee high snow in our trainers, which was pretty unpleasant - as soon as we stopped and sat around for a bit our feet started to freeze... Anyhoos, sounds like a great trip - have fun!
Reply to this 
