BobAA

Check these sites for Antarctica temperatures and number of sets of long johns. Or google what you need.
South Pole Station picture and weather
https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/obop/spo/livecamera.html
South Pole Weather
https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/webdata/met/spo_met_english.jpg
McMurdo Sound picture and weather
https://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm
Other Antarctica weather temperatures
https://www.accuweather.com/en/antarctica-weather

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Those are not the places where these tours go.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

The coastal temperatures are much more moderate than the interior. Much of the interior is at elevations of 8000' and more, and far, far colder than the Antarctic Peninsula, which is home for most tours - beautiful, scenic, photogenic. Around the water is also where most of the fascinating & photogenic wildlife including birds, penguins, seals, whales are to be found. The interior can be beautiful, but it is desolate and physically challenging.

ramblinmen Loc: Manassas, VA

My wife and I just got back from a Silversea cruise to the Antarctic out of Ushuaia on December 22nd 2017. We wayyy overpacked for the trip. If I can offer suggestions: Do not take your own knee high water proof rubber boots (rent them), they will get caked with penguine poo and, even though they are cleaned every time you return to the ship, they will take on a permanent smell. They are also pretty heavy in your limited suitcase space (my size 13s were 6.5 lbs out of a maximum 50 lbs). I would suggest renting boots from your tour operator and make sure you get one size larger than your regular shoes to accomodate heavy socks. I took a heavy waterproof camera back pack and it was overkill. Since Silversea provided a nice pack everyone used that. There is the danger of salt sea spray anytime you are on a zodiac and we did, in fact, encounter some. Leave your camera covered until you are safely on shore. Use a small point and shoot if you want then return it to your coat inside pocket when done taking a shot. Several guests got their equipment wet and I recommended taking a moist towel to their equipment as soon as possible then a rub down with a rubbing alcohol moist cotton ball and let air dry.
You will find the environment extremely dry and I never noticed any condensation except from my breath. Aboard ship there are boilers releasing moisture into the air in many of the public spaces but none seemed to reach inside our stateroom. By the way, our outside temps were around 32 degrees F every day with just a few mild mistings.. no rain... warmer and dryer than here at home. If your tour operator provides a parka you won't need to bring one along with you. A mid-range waterresistant coat, sweater, several complete sets of long johns including socks and glove liners will suffice. We never had to use heavy gloves and the foot liners plus heavy socks were enough for our feet. Take two pair and sink wash/dry one pair while you use the other pair. Warm cap that can cover your ears and a neck gator to keep your exposed bits dry and warm.
We took one nice outfit (no tie) to wear on several more "formal" nights and collared shirt/ nice slacks/pants for everyday evening wear. Our ship did not allow blue jeans or shorts at dinner. The other two meals you could wear anything you desired. I also agree with taking everything you need to take photographs. While our ship had a supply of toiletries they did not carry much in the way of clothing, specific batteries (other than AAA, AA) and a few smaller chips (32 gb max). I prefer a smaller memory chip and change out to a fresh one every day in all used cameras that way if one goes bad you don't lose your entire trip. Oh, take a set of hiking poles per person, they really came in handy when traversing the remaining snow fields and a good set of UV protected glasses or ski type goggles for the bright days. Complaints of snow blindness were common from those without any eye protection and don't forget a 30-50 spf sun block. I would also leave any personal hiking boots at home... we always wore our rented water proof insulated rental boots as every landing was a "wet landing". Bring a pair of sneakers to wear around ship and, if you think you may experience motion sickness, something for that like the patches or Dramamine. Smaller ships (as they all seem to be) tend to roll a lot particularly on the initial transits south and back.

genesampson

Very practical advice and thanks. Our boat provides a parka to keep and high top rubber boots. I'll check on hiking poles and thanks for that. What did you take in terms of camera gear, esp lenses? We are on the boat 17 days and I was wondering how many you felt subject to seasickness. I plan to take the ear patch, but they are expensive. How many days on your trip would they have been helpful as opposed to over the counter things? We leave Jn 23 so if you think of other things I'd appreciate hearing from you on them.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

I used a Canon 5Div and 5Diii, with 24-105 f4L on one, and 100-400 f4.5-5.6 on the other (with a 1.4 extender that I rarely used). No regrets - I'm taking the same on my next trip.

As for the rough water, it's only an issue in the Drake passage, and on the long legs from Ushaia or Punta Arenas to the Falklands, thence to South Georgia, and on to the peninsula area, then back to South America. In the peninsula area the water is generally calm in the Antarctic summer, and you spend a lot of time there.

We only had a single truly rough day on a similar seventeen day trip - much of the time the water was as calm as a backyard pond.
As for patches, I never used anything and I didn't need it. However on the rough day perhaps two thirds of the passengers and a few of the crew used them.

Antihistamines like Xyzal and similar work pretty well, but the better ones have a sedative affect on some people. Benadryl is the best according to some US Navy studies I've read, but it has a very strong sedative affect.

ramblinmen Loc: Manassas, VA

Our cruise was 11 days. If you are traveling out of Ushuaia you will be traveling up to two days through Drake's passage to get to the Antarctic Peninsula. That area is described as some of if not THE roughest seas on Earth. The crew will plan the cruise between storm systems that travel from West to East like a string of pearls. It is not unusual to hessitate going South or returning back North at the end of the cruise. We got to the Peninsula in one day but waited over 12 hours to start back North to Ushuaia. There are rails everywhere for you to hold onto for walking assistance, our dining tables were bolted to the floor (deck) and the dining chairs were attached by cables to the deck limiting movement in the high seas. In addition the waiters demanded that they carry your plates of food from the buffett to your table. They have obviously had issues with spills. The ships are limited to how many passengers they can carry because the "tourists" are limited to 100 on shore at any one time (regulation). We saw 3 other cruise ships the entire time and one was a large wooden sailing ship. Interesting but I would imagine pretty limited to certain locations because of the large sea ice and bergs. I think you will see much less ice and snow by your travel date so the trecking poles may not be as necessary. If you take them (I would) you may get by with just one per person and I would get the type that collaps down in size but lock in place once extended. We left ours in the mud room with our boots and I soaked them in Lysol THOROUGHLY when I got home. You can't imagine how much the Gentoo penguins, in particular, smell and their poo is everywhere in certain areas.
We had a GoPro Hero Black 4 mounted on a selfi stick and a remote shutter release like watch, a point and shoot Nikon A900, and my D300s. I used the 18-200mm lens the most but laborously changed out to the 80-400 for many shots. I say laborously since we were bundled up so much and I had a waterproof backpack with a thick, stiff, 2 level zipper system that necessitated a partial strip down and glove removable to open and set up. I never had any issue with moisture on the lenses either on or off the ship... except when I breathed into the eye piece before viewing through it. Hold your breath until your eye is in place! Are you traveling on the Silver Cloud (Silversea)? Sounds like you may be going up to the Faulklands on that length of a case uise.

genesampson

Again thanks for your experiences and recommendations. Here is the trip and ship for the 20 day January 24th trip. Any additional suggestions are appreciated.

https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/en/antarctic/expeditions/antarctica-east-and-west-peninsula-in-depth

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Its a matter of degree (pun intended). If your glasses fog up when you come inside you should have put your camera in a bag.

ramblinmen Loc: Manassas, VA

My glasses nor my ski goggles nor camera lenses ever fogged up getting back on the ship. The transition from exposed zodiac to steamy heated wash (mud) room to unlayering our cloths and getting dressed for lunch took about an hour. I believe someone mentioned that humidity was around 23% which seemed unrealistically low. I did have a waterproof (sealed) camera back pack but the thick rubber outter bag took too long to warm up (by feel). We had two shore excursions about 3-4 hours apart per day and I wanted to change out the memory cards and recharge the last battery I had used. All in all I guess that heavy rubber lined sealed bag stayed closed 2-2 1/2 hours before I opened it. The camera always seemed cold to the touch but with the outside air temps only down to 30-32 degrees F.
I never saw condensation.
I have a D300s and those batteries never fully discharged during an excursion (down about 1/4-1/2 capacity shooting 500-600 photos). The chips would certainly have held many more photos but I learned my lesson during a Safari when one 64gb chip went bad several days in. Since then I take enough 32s for a new chip/day/camera. My point was I left the camera bag sealed while having lunch (about an hour to hour and a half) then opened it while it still felt pretty cold and never saw signs of condensation.

ramblinmen Loc: Manassas, VA

Looks like the OP's cruise will be traveling through Drakes Passage both N and S and that may take a full two days each way. Might want to check into those patches although Dramamine worked for me and they may sell the wrist bands on ship that several people said actually worked.