Livin' la vida fabulosa con La Diva!!!

The Epic Hotel Miami from the pool.

Darlings, sometimes things are worth waiting for. La Diva and her trusty sidekick, DJ Nevah L8 (4 dinnah), have been working SO HARD to make BIDNESS and FABULOSITY happen for us that our anniversary went by a few weeks ago and we didn't even have time to celebrate our love! Wha?

Finally, after changing our play date around twice to accommodate clients, we took Friday off and checked into the beautiful Epic Hotel in downtown Miami! Now, darlings, back last February, La Diva wrote a post about her stay at the Epic Hotel, as it had just graced us with their DIVINE-NESS opening only in December '08. What had changed since our last visit?

Our bedroom on the Club Level in Suite 2919.

The biggest change was the customer service was taken to another level! What level is THAT, I hear you ask? Why, the CLUB LEVEL of course!

Upon checking in, gregarious and friendly Front Desk Manager Cosmin Nicula immediately upgraded us to a one bedroom suite on the 29th floor with city views. He also informed us that it was "Club Level" and we would have access to the Club Room. La Diva was very happy to have access to the Fitness Club and we gathered our gear and headed up to our suite.

Floor to ceiling windows make for stunning views from the bedroom.

Gorgeous. Incredible. Rock star. Were the words that came to mind upon entering the room. Yep, Diva was gonna be happy here tonight!

Taken from the foot of the bed, m'kay?!

La Diva and DJ Nevah L8 explored the room's amenities and the views from the TWO balconies, one off the living room, which was large enough for a few lounge chairs and a table for four. The other balcony was situated, of course, off the bath.

I LOVE this building across the way with the round pool and round "sky-light" above it! Tres gorgeous!


Key Biscayne causeway on the left.

Looking east to Brickell Key, Port of Miami and the sea beyond! (Click on all the photos for more detail, you'll be glad you did!)

Instead of the views EAST out to sea and of Brickell Key, this time we enjoyed a South-westerly view of the city including Brickell Avenue with glimpses of the Key Biscayne causeway and the sea beyond. Also, the Epic is located directly on the Miami River so just below our room was the drawbridge giving large vessels river access.

Two pools for guests to choose: one at 79 degrees and the other a balmy 85!

You can see how windy it was from the waves on the pool's surface!

A brave DJ Nevah L8 enjoying the "warm" pool. I know I would have loved it but you gotta get out of it sometime. And that was the problem!

After a celebratory glass of wine, we donned our swimming gear and headed down to the pool. But, it wasn't meant to be: Mutha Natcha (who can be a right rude b*tch sometime!) was NOT cooperating and tropical gale winds made pool-lounging, swish cocktail-imbibing and leisurely magazine-reading highly uncomfortable.

Back up to the room with my Epic daiquiri (including the subtle addition of St. Germain Elderflower liqueur) to relax and "celebrate" our love and then dissolve into a nice, long bubble bath in the extra large spa bath tub! Dee-lite-ful! And the final luxury: a nice little snooze before we got dressed and had some pre-dinner cocktails!

From our balcony.

Upon awaking, I ordered a pot of coffee from room service. When John from room service came in with our coffee, I asked him if I needed to sign for it. "No, we don't charge for coffee on the club level."

"You don't?"

"No, Miss Diva. Will you be attending the wine reception tonight?"

"WINE reception?" La Diva's eye's light up.

"Yes, every night at 6pm, we offer club level guests to attend and enjoy free wine and appetizers."

"Yes, John, I will certainly be attending. Thank you."

Well, apparently, CLUB LEVEL meant you can enjoy the CLUB ROOM and was accessible to guests only with CLUB LEVEL status. "Club Level" did not have ONE THING to do with the fitness club. La Diva NOW completely understood the ramifications of Cosmin's upgrade to Club Level status and Diva was very happy. Silly La Diva!!!

The comfy Club Room on the 29th floor. Fabulosa.

Tables and a balcony make a pleasant setting for guests.

View from the balcony at the Club Room.

We dressed and headed over to the Club room and was greeted by Gene Ruotolo, concierge extraordinaire, who insisted on giving Diva a "run-down" of the offerings of the Club room and how the Kimpton Hotels prided themselves on their customer service attitude of "anticipating a guest's needs." Sigh. So NICE to talk with a hospitality professional who takes his job seriously.

Cool and kooky touch screen table that constantly amused DJ Nevah L8!

We picked a table with a plasma touch screen with built-in games and Ipod and began to play some lounge music as we looked out at the city skyline and sipped our wine. Bolando, our waiter, was delightful and sported an obvious love of his job and making people happy. Also part of the concierge team was the lovely Vanessa who did her best to make a Diva and a DJ feel comfortable in our home away from home.

Throughout the evening, Bolando, Vanessa and Gene continued to go out of their way for us, under-promising and over-delivering, and offering sweet plates with "Happy Anniversary" written in chocolate syrup, loaded with berries and cupcakes! La Diva SO appreciates special attention, it wins her undying loyalty every time!

The evening sun fades into dusk as the lights go on in downtown Miami's skyscrapers.

In fact, La Diva was SO enjoying the Club Level amenities, that we decided to cancel our dinner reservations at a restaurant near-by, and have dinner in our room and invite a few lucky friends to share the incredible view and drinks with us in our suite. That was the plan. That is, until Bolando informed us that we could invite our guests to join us in the Club Room at 9pm where they opened their bar to Club Level guests along with a "sweet dreams" dessert selection. Ahhh....very civilized! La Diva did not waste a second calling her "cool couple" friends, Jill and Doug.

One of three Bank of America buildings in downtown Miami. This one was designed by Chinese architect I. M. Pei. The building is very dramatic as the lights colors change with the seasons and city's events!

The I. M. Pei building lights up our bedroom at dusk.

Back to the room we went and ordered room service and more wine. Our friends were due soon and room service had not yet arrived, so we redirected it to be served in the Club Room and Bolando busied himself setting up a table for us outside on the balcony in full view of the beautiful Bank of America building. Our friends arrived and our private party with our private waiter, began. Bonaldo, ever-attentive and discrete, addressed all of us with Miss or Mr. preceding our first names, which I found endearing. A Diva could get very used to this!

Busy Brickell Avenue on a busy Friday night in downtown Miami.

Towards 11 pm, we wandered back to our suite to continue making merriment with our guests out on our balcony with the stunning views of downtown. True to it's title, Miami IS the Magic City. Our guests left after finishing a bottle of celebratory champagne and we collapsed into the most comfortable bed we've ever slept in! (I remembered that from last time!) With the sound-proofed windows and extra heavy black-out curtains, La Diva enjoyed a tranquil and unusually quiet slumber.

The next morning, La Diva ordered a room service breakfast and ate it out on the balcony and enjoyed perfectly poached eggs Benedict and the freshest, flakiest croissants. Last night's nibbles in the Club Room of tuna tartar, finger sandwiches, mixed nuts and a very fluffy and tasty hummus were DIVINE. And for dinner, La Diva had the best-tasting burger and fries I've indulged in for a LOOOONG time. Looks like the restaurant and hotel kitchen, had ironed out a few bugs from our last visit as all the food was not just consistently good, but well-cooked and delicious.

Concierge Gene had offered us a decadently late check out of 2 pm. But, the day was a bit cool and cloudy and the wind relentless, so pool lounging was not an option. At check out, Front Desk Manager Cosmin asked if we enjoyed ourselves?

Evidence of a great night!

We looked at him dreamily and said "Yes, thank you. We'll be back."

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