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Centurion Lounge Miami: Review
After not “LIV’ing it up in Miami at the Royal Palm, having a fun ride down in my broken business class seat, and sweating through basically everything I touched, it was time to go back home to LA. I was flying home on a retrofit 767 and really thought I had a chance for an upgrade when I first bought the ticket. However, as the day drew nearer the flight filled up and reality set it – I’d be sitting in economy. So I was very thankful that I had the posh Centurion Lounge Miami to check out and grab some breakfast.
Location:
- Near D12
- Upstairs
Check In:
Who can enter:
- American Express Platinum and Centurion card holders + 2 guests
- Additional cardholders are also given this perk
- American Expresss cardholders for a fee of $50 based on space availability.
Check in was very easy. It was so early in the morning that very few people were even awake…in the world. I’m sure of it. This was my first time in the lounge and it was pretty cool having most of it to ourselves. By the time we were done taking our little personal tour, people were starting to enter the lounge.
Immediately to the left there are some lockers and seating
There was a notepad to write down directions of how to get back
And then some refreshments cause I’m pretty sure we were in Boca Raton we walked so far
After walking back from all the seating we made our way to the main area of the lounge.
Past the spa…which wasn’t open
And then to the left half of the main lounge area
Then on the other other half. The exciting half with the food and bar
As you can see people have started to filter into the lounge. Apparently everyone heard Miles the Monkey was doing a review and they came by the hoards to meet him.
The Food
Hot items
- quiche
- potatoes
- pita
- tomato cheese thing ( that’s the official description…I know, right?)
THEN THEY BROUGHT PANCAKES. OMG THEY WERE DELISH
Cold dishes
- 0% greek yogurt
- nuts, berries, dried raisins, etc
- fruit
- pastries
This is how early we were. They didn’t even have the hot food out yet.
Pretty sure the only reason it hadn’t been served yet was because even the heat hadn’t woken up yet. Luckily it did, and it warmed our food up. Cahmon Heat, no wonder you lost Lebron. 😉
And finally the bar
I would have told Miles it was too early to drink, but in Miami that’s not really the case. In fact, the clubs are open past sunrise, so I convinced him he couldn’t drink because there weren’t any boots and cats.
The Verdict
Very nice lounge. Amex is killing it. The Centurion Lounge Miami is no exception and I look forward to coming back at some point when everything is up and going…like the spa and maybe the bar for a specialty drink. As the footprint of lounges grows I think the value of Amex Platinum continues to rise as well, especially if you have one of these bad boys at your closest airport. Depending on how often you travel and the time of day, just the meal replacements alone could cover a couple hundred of expense throughout the year. Add in some massages, the feeling of being a BALLER, and some adult beverages… you could save the annual fee just in the lounges themselves. If you’re in the Miami airport and in Terminal D it’s well worth your time.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
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