American Express Centurion Lounge Miami Review
According to The Points Guy, The Miami Centurion lounge opened to the public on June 4th and I was lucky enough to be passing by Miami two weeks later (late last night). Two years ago, I was just passing by DFW when their second Centurion Lounge opened in Dallas just the week before. I managed to get two different gift bags when I went there for a second time. Unfortunately, they were not giving out any gift bags this time.
Hopefully, I’ll have the same amount of luck the next time I fly to Seattle as American Express will be opening another Centurion Lounge in SEA sometime in August/September by Gate B3 (source: http://travellingtheworld.boardingarea.com/2015/04/amex-centurion-studio-seattle-updates-more-information/)
Where is it?
The Miami Centurion lounge is located near D12. If you were to take the Skytrain, it would drop you off near D16, and walk to the left and follow signs for the Centurion Lounge. If you don’t see it, well you walked too far or in the wrong direction. Take a look below to find your way there:
The entrance is much more noticeable than the other Centurion Lounges I’ve seen. Once you get to D12, its really hard to miss, unless you’re sprinting to your next flight.
This lounge was incredible crowded when I got there. I asked the attendant and she noted that it is very busy on late Sundays but usually clears out by 9pm once many of the AA flights leave. She also noted that there was another quiet section that hasn’t been finished yet so it should alleviate some of the congestion. There wasn’t many chairs to sit at, so a handful of people had to stand.
The total space once the additional area opens up should be on par with the DFW lounge but I would expect this lounge to be much more busy than the Dallas one. I’ve been to the Dallas lounge about a dozen times and never seen it as busy as this one.
The Food
The food was very good here and noticeably different from the other lounges. There was a nice beef with risotto, with potato puree and picked cabbage (the cabbage tasted much better than you would think or how it looks).
I tried to look for a drinks menu but I couldn’t even find one. Hop on over to the Points Guy post above to see the full drinks menu and what they beers they have on tap. I saw a guy at the bar wait about 15 minutes for his drink so I was glad I skipped getting one.
Decor:
Here is a view of the rest of the space (I didn’t take a picture of the spa as there were so many people in there, but there is one massage chair and one desk for nails):
Bar
Kids Area
Business Center
Shot from the other end of the Bar
Lockers by the entrance behind the Centurion
Men’s Bathroom
The Lounge looks very similar to the rest of the other Centurion lounges in terms of decor and style. However, due to the crowds, it detracted some of the elegance and luxury of the other lounges.
The food was great but I don’t think its worth the trouble to come all the way down here for the lounge. I would rather have a decent beer and sit in a quieter lounge. I may come back to see how the crowds are the next time I’m in Miami, but I wouldn’t expect to stay in the lounge.
Have you been to the Miami Centurion Lounge yet? How did you like the lounge? Was it too crowded or not crowded at all?