First item is a small power bar if you have multiple need for electronic item plug-ins (shavers, mp3 players, cameras abttery chargers, laptops, just to name a few).

Although it is summer down south in January, you will still need a wind breaker and a hoodie/sweat shirt for the forever changng weather.

Here is a thread to some previous post regarding what to see on a South America cruise. You may find the discussions interesting.

http://www.fodors.com/community/cruises/first-visit-to-south-american-and-want-to-see-it-all.cfm

My recommedationa:
Punta Arenas - Museum, city tour
Ushuaia - Narrow guage railway, wildlife, Mountains
Falkland - Penguin, 1982 battlefield, Sheep farming
Montevideo - winery tour
Buenos Aires - Tigre Delta, City Tour, Evita, Tango
Rio - Redeemer, beaches, city tour, Samba

If you are doing the zodiac landings you need good boots and warm warm sweaters under a very good windbreaker jacket (we had gortex jackets) and you must have an attached hood and scarf the wind is incredibly strong and biting.

By the way if you like wine our favourite place to buy it was in Ushuaia. I loved that little town. There is a great wine shop a couple of blocks from the ship where we discussed many of the wines and decided on some delightful wines to buy after our touring. We walked a few blocks past the shop and went into the grocery store to look around. Well, they have an immense wine selection including some of the better wines we had planned on buying at the wine shop - but at a fraction of the price. Needless to say we returned to the ship laden with wine!! The narrow guage railway tour is excellent. We took the train to the "end of the earth" where you can get a little passport and have it stamped at the little post office they have there. I bought a few ($2 or so) and brought them home to kids and stamp collectors. A bus takes you back to the city.

Sorry I misread your post regarding zodiac landings but you still need the boots and clothing I recommended. If you take a trip to Otway Bay to see the penguins from Punta Arenas you will definitely need the warm clothing. The wind is unbelievable.

Is this the Jan 31 sailing? If so, we're going to be on it, too. We'll have to get together for a sailaway drink!

I've also been researching the weather and this is what I've found:

BA: will be in high 80s, low 90s. We're taking the "Best of BA" tour the last day, so we'll take lighter clothing for that day as it could get pretty warm. It will also have to be comfortable for the long trip home that night.

Port Stanley: upper 50s. We'll have winter jackets along as we're coming from cold weather, but we're also going to have a nylon shell, sweatshirt, and rain poncho for layering. We can see what the weather is like when we get there to decide how heavy we want to go. I'm still debating taking some boots to wear when we go to the penguins. I have some inexpensive vinyl overshoe type that I got long ago from Travelsmith. They're waterproof and easy to pack.

Antarctica: 30s and 40s. We've got a balcony so we can move in and out a/c to the weather, but I think we'll probably want the winter jacket, gloves and headgear.

Ushuaia: Low 60s. We're taking the Beagle Channel and Tierra del Fuego trip so we'll probably take the winter jackets as that could get cold. The catamaran is covered but we will be getting out to look at the seals and at the park.

Puerto Madryn: Low 90s. Warm weather clothes. We're doing the Punta Luma, Paleontological museum and Gaiman excursion.

Montevideo: Low 90s. We're taking the trip to Colonia del Sacramento.

As you can see, the weather varies wildly. Also, we found last winter on a cruise to Colombia and Panama that the sailing days were cold and windy (too windy to take our morning walks on the deck), but the ship was always kept very warm.

What are your flight connections down? We're flying from JFK.

Happytourist,

We'll be on the same cruise! It should be a lot of fun. Who are you traveling with? I'm going with my husband. We're flying from Newark. We're going a day early because I was nervous about the weather here.

We have a balcony also on the ship. I figured the at sea days would be very cold and windy. It does make packing difficult because you need clothes for every possible weather condition, plus the 3 formal nights! Email me at JamieMHoff@aol.com. The trip will be here before we know it!

we are taking the same cruise the next week. We're also trying to get some info on what to bring. I've gotten so many suggestions from past travelers. You are the only ones taing the same cruise. do we leave ship in Antartica at any time?

If you look at the dates, we were taking the cruise in 2010. If it's the same cruise, no, you don't actually ever touch land in Antarctica.