What It's Like Swimming in the Longest Infinity-Edge Pool in Florida

August 13, 2009 at 12:06 PM | by MsRebecca | 0 Comments

As we�ve noted before, the Viceroy Miami is pretty damn good looking. So we were psyched about our recent visit, and were especially looking forward to swimming in the hotel�s (and Icon Brickell�s) much-hyped pools. True, they are spectacular. But also? Deserted. As in, cue the spooky music quiet.

We arrived around 6.30 p.m. on a Friday evening, so perhaps all the hotel guests were taking disco naps before a night on the town, because they were nowhere to be seen. There were two or three Icon residents lounging in the thermal hot tub (which is actually the size of many South Beach hotel pools) but otherwise, the 15th-floor pool terrace was all ours.

Swimming the length of the Olympic-sized lap pool with the Viceroy and Icon towers hovering above us was refreshing but incredibly disconcerting. It was like a Miami-pool version of that scene in Vanilla Sky where Tom Cruise is running through an empty Times Square. Where were all the people?

We tried to enjoy the privacy and space but soon the Icon residents went home, it got darker, and we truly were alone. We half expected winged creatures like the ones in the Viceroy�s interiors to come to life and leap down on us from the 50th floor. Time to skedaddle.

Before checking out on Saturday, we hit up the Club 50 pool. (Sadly we missed out on the Sunday brunch deal: yummy food and unlimited mimosas and Bloody Marys at Eos, and then complimentary access to the Club 50 pool party, which folks on Yelp seem to like.)

Just like the main pool the night before, the more manageable 50th-floor pool was deserted. It was meant to open at 10, but there was still no staff on hand at 10:15 so we had to travel back down 50 floors to fetch towels. But once situated on that deck with killer views of the city and the bay, we were able to enjoy the solitude (much less scary in the daytime) and take a leisurely poolside nap.

How do you like your hotel pools? Quiet and serene, or a more heavily-populated scene?

For more room and hotel photos, visit our Flickr pool.

Current rates at the Viceroy start at $195 a night. The writer stayed at the hotel for a media rate of $135.

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