Miami/FL - Transatlantic NCL - Feb 2025 - Chapter 03

Chapter 03

Today, the journey to Miami finally continues. Since I still wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, I decided to check out the Executive Lounge at the Hilton Airport Hotel. Unfortunately, breakfast there only consisted of a few croissants and drinks. However, I had already been informed the night before that if I wanted a full breakfast, I could get a complimentary meal at the restaurant, as no proper breakfast was served in the lounge. But for now, the croissants and two coffees were enough — after all, I was planning to visit the airport lounge later.

The lounge itself is nicely furnished and offers a great view from the panoramic window. I can’t say much about the evening food options since the lounge was already closed by 8:00 PM yesterday.

The Executive Lounge is on the same floor as the reception — Floor 4. The hotel is built on a small hill, so the layout might be a bit confusing. My room 646 was located at the very end of the hallway. This is especially convenient for smokers, as there is a small balcony right next to the room.

I scheduled the shuttle for 09:10 to have a bit of buffer time in the morning. Upon arriving at the airport, I first headed to Terminal 1 to check in my luggage again. Unfortunately, the new security scanners haven’t been installed everywhere yet, so I had to unpack my laptop bag. But the process was quick and smooth, so less than 10 minutes after arriving, I was already on my way to the lounges.

Since I had always wanted to check out the two Priority Pass lounges, Marhaba and Aspire, I made my way to Concourse B, 3rd floor. What can I say? I could have skipped the visit altogether. The Aspire Lounge was so overcrowded that I probably wouldn’t have even found a seat. I immediately left and went next door to the Marhaba Lounge instead. This one was much emptier but also quite small, with a limited selection of food and drinks. Still, if you have to choose between the two Priority Pass lounges, Marhaba is the clear winner.

After a quick orange juice, I headed straight to the E-Gates, where I wanted to visit the SEN Lounge before boarding LX064 at 11:50.

HB-JNB was currently on its way back from São Paulo, and it looked like it would arrive slightly late. But things could still change within the next 40 minutes — let’s see.

By the time I reached the E-Gates, I checked the status of HB-JNB again. The delay had now increased to 20 minutes, but at least the plane was already on final approach to Zurich.

That left plenty of time for a chamomile tea - gotta take care of my sensitive tooth - in the always impressive SEN Lounge. Having just been in the Marhaba Lounge 45 minutes earlier, the comfort and service here felt like pure luxury in comparison.

Even though there are already hundreds of photos of this lounge, I took a few more snapshots.

As I slowly prepared for boarding, I also checked with the lounge staff to see if there were any available seat changes on LX064. It looked like I’d have to stick with 4K, but I’m happy for the passenger who got my original 4A throne seat yesterday. 😀

Hopefully, LX64 will depart on time today and won’t have a 90-minute delay like yesterday.

By the way, HB-JNB landed at 10:55, exactly 20 minutes behind schedule. As a result, boarding was also delayed by 20 minutes.

To be continued…

Written on February 6th, 2025 by Thorsten Scherf travel miami ncl