Day 6 – Arica, Chile

Nov 24 – Arica, Chile

Our first port in Chile is Arica, which is one of the northern most cities in Chile, located only 11 miles south of Peru. Arica is the capital of the Arica Province and the Parinacota region. We moored at 9AM in a container port, which prohibits foot traffic and requires the use of the Seabourn shuttle.

The shuttle ride to the port gate is only a few minutes and was running almost continuously.

Overlooking the harbor is a large Chilean Flag which is part of the Monumento del Soldado Desconocido (Monument of the Unknown Soldier) and near the Museo Historico y de Armas. UBER is available in Arica and the fare to this monument would be about $5.00.
We spent the morning on the ship, enjoying room service breakfast and then Lunch in the Colonnade.

About 2:30 PM we headed down to Deck 4 and departed the ship. A shuttle bus was waiting and it left a few minutes after we boarded. After a short ride we arrived at the port gate.

Today was the OSU – Michigan Football Game, and I was able to find an internet radio station and streamed the broadcast live. Brad and I each had an Air Pod ear piece in one ear as we wandered the streets – keeping up with the game.

The Plaza Cristóbal Colon was our first stop and they were setting up for a concert or something later in
the day.

Nearby the Plaza was the Cathedral San Marcos. We spent a few minutes inside before heading off toward the center of town. Arica is more of a regular city than a tourist town and the Seabourn Quest’s 400 passengers didn’t overwhelm the city as would happen with a larger ship or smaller town.

The weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed the nice day strolling down the pedestrian mall and observing the routine in this lovely city. It was also nice listening to the OSU/Michigan game as OSU was having a good day against its arch rival and would go on to win.

We headed back to the ship around 4:30 and ordered a snack from room service while we listened to the end of the football game.

Special Dinner in The Colonnade

The menus for each dining venue are provided the evening before. We have been choosing our location based on the menu choices. However, The Restaurant and The Grill will often have special items that are not advertised on the advance menu.

Normally only The Grill requires reservations, but this evening the Colonnade menu stated that reservations were required for this evening’s menu. The menu was fixed (Advertised as being inspired by Thomas Keller) with the following items offered.

• Waldorf Salad
• Grilled Ribeye from the Double R Ranch – labeled on the menu as “Grilled RR Ribeye”
• Cypress Grove Farms Humboldt Fog Goat Cheese
• Chocolate Silk Pie

When we arrived at the Colonnade for our 8PM reservation I was surprised that the place was almost empty, maybe 15 to 20 people total, and we were all seated in one corner of the restaurant. A few more groups arrived while we were there, but all the diners were seated in the same part of the restaurant. It’s not clear why they require reservation unless they have a limited food preparation capacity or staff and they want to spread out the service and restrict the total number of people served.

The dinner is served family style, with each course brought to the table in a large dish and they served from there to everyone’s plates.

Everything was delicious, but the service was slower than we would have preferred. The main course was served 1 hour after we arrived. We wanted to go the show at 9:45PM, so we asked for the final cheese course to be served simultaneously with dessert and we were able to leave the Colonnade a few minutes before the show started.

On the Six

The Seabourn cast singers and dancers were featured in the Grand Salon in a show called “On the Six”

“I’m Yours”
“How Deep is Your Love”
“This is How a Heart Breaks”
“Dance With Me Tonight”
“I Won’t Give Up”
“Here, There and Everywhere”

We enjoyed the show very much and they do a wonderful job producing outstanding entertainment on a smaller stage then you find on larger ships. This is one of the inevitable tradeoffs of being on a smaller ship.

Back in the room, we ordered hot mint tea from room service, which was promptly delivered. We would prefer be able to make hot water in the room or to be able to stop by an open serving line to get hot water, but since that is not available on the Quest – room service for hot water will continue.

This entry was posted in Arica, Chile, South America

• On the Six
• Seabourn cast singers and dancers