I wish I had packed....

Fayeron

Hi everyone! We depart April 2nd and I am deep in packing mode - which apparently means I'm in the "pack everything just in case" stage. 😄

To the experienced travelers on this trip: please help me fill in the blank with something other than "Less" — because I know that's coming!

A few things I've already acted on from this thread:

@MikeHenderson - your blog was gold. A waterproof hearing aid case for the Zodiacs and snorkeling is now packed! ✅
@British — shoes sorted based on your recommendations, thank you! Plus a walking stick!

We also just heard from our guide Jonas with a ship-specific tip: men should wear collared shirts at dinner aboard the Silver Origin, so my husband is sorted there too.

What am I still missing? I feel like the unknowns and weather changes are driving overpacking. Any last-minute "wish I'd brought that" items from those who've done this itinerary?

Thanks again!

Fayeron

MikeHenderson

One thing to be careful of. Back when I took the trip, Silversea was using a "Vox-like" system that required you to have a smartphone and earphones (wired or wireless). It worked very well, but make sure you have some earphones.

The way it worked is that the guide carried a transmitter that sent his/her voice to an app on your smartphone and your smartphone sent the voice to your earphones. So if you have hearing aids with Bluetooth, that's all you need. You do need to download the app, which you can probably do on the ship, using their Internet access.

Thank you for your kind words about our blog.

AlanS

MikeHenderson
1:54PM edited 2:03PM
One thing to be careful of. Back when I took the trip, Silversea was using a "Vox-like" system that required you to have a smartphone >and earphones (wired or wireless). It worked very well, but make sure you have some earphones.
So if you have hearing aids with Bluetooth, that's all you need. You do need to download the app, which you can probably do on the ship, using their Internet access.

Not all hearing aids with Bluetooth work with all smart phones. My Phonak HA only work with Apple products (iPhone and iPad).

British

Off the subject, but here is the listening device we had on a recent tour. Rechargeable, they do not turn on or off, they work only when tour guide is talking into it. I thought it was nicer than the ones Tauck uses. I really think the Tauck ones are so outdated, we’ve had them on every tour since 2003.

MikeHenderson

Not all hearing aids with Bluetooth work with all smart phones. My Phonak HA only work with Apple products (iPhone and iPad).

I guess I should have phrased that differently. "If your hearing aids connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth, so that you can receive phone calls directly into your hearing aids, that's all you need."