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It you just can't wait to be pampered aboard a cruise ship leaving from Miami, or need a bit more indulgence once you get back into port, the spa at the Mandarin Oriental hotel may be just the ticket. With its new private Beach Club and super-luxe spa, the secluded property is an elegant antidote to the saucy hot pants and salsa beat of South Beach. Here, guests sip champagne by the infinity pool and pass the time in spa suites -- with some scheduling year-end board meetings in between.

Location

The Mandarin is a quick drive across the causeway from South Beach toward the downtown financial district. The shining hotel is a focal point of the manmade island of Brickell Key, where you are surrounded by the bluest of waterfront views. Brickell Key is an 18-hectare island in Biscayne Bay, built in 1943 as one of the city's most prestigious commercial and residential areas. Design

The 329 guest rooms and suites, pool, beach club, spa and restaurants are all built into the hotel's curvy architecture, which, not coincidentally, mimics the Mandarin Hotel Group's fan logo. Along with the modern lobby's soaring ceilings and views of Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic, and the plush rooms with marble bathrooms and top-notch amenities (all of which also garner guests waterfront views), the spa is an elegant knockout.

It's a 1,394-square-metre sanctuary of relaxation rooms, steams and saunas, yoga studio and group pedicure area, all of which are done up in blond wood and glass, veined marble floors of light earthen hues, bamboo shutters and cozy cotton chairs with Thai silk pillows and Japanese accents. There's also a cutting-edge fitness centre, 10 treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy room and six private spa suites. A lovely offshoot of the spa is the hotel's new 1,858-square-metre private white-sand Beach Club, with palm trees and beach butlers, hammocks, and blousy white cabanas for outdoor massages.

Clientele

There are vacationing families, amorous couples (mostly European and Asian) and cruise-ship passengers waiting for their ship to sail (or their return flight to take off), but most guests are corporate clients taking advantage of the business facilities. At the spa, there was a steady steam of men checking in for massages and facials. Little known fact: Luciano Pavarotti was the first guest to experience the spa's Oriental Suite.

Treatments

The three-floor spa takes a holistic approach inspired by the ancient traditions of Chinese, Ayurvedic, European, Balinese and Thai cultures, so treatments include Thai massage and Balinese synchronized massage. The spa just launched an innovative concept called Time Rituals, by which a grouping of highly personalized treatments are performed in the spa suites and clients are charged by their time spent in the suite, rather than the price of preselected treatments off the à la carte spa menu.

My Ayurvedic Holistic Body Treatment took place in one of the aforementioned split-level suites on the spa's top floor. All suites feature floor-to-ceiling windows with picture-perfect bay views, private shower and deep-dish tub.

With candles burning, the ritual starts with the ringing of Tibetan bells. Then comes a treatment in which the feet are soaked in a petal-scattered basin of warm water doctored with aromatherapy oils. The feet are massaged while you sniff to select the other ESPA-brand holistic products to be used, and sip an herbal infusion. Next up, a full body exfoliation scrub, a mini-facial, a clay hair mask, and an Ayurvedic Marma massage that concentrates on the energy centres of the face and body. This translates into oil-slicked strokes and some pinpoint accuracy, one side of the body at a time, all meant to release tension and restore vitality. It ends with a chakra head and scalp massage -- and a final ringing of the bells.

Food and drink

There are two superb restaurants on site: Café Sambal (named one of America's best by Gourmet magazine) and the fine-dining Azul, where chef Michelle Bernstein whips up five-diamond fare such as Caribbean bouillabaisse.

Service

Aesthetician Liz was relaxed, informative, friendly and strong. From presetting the shower to the perfect temperature, to a winning pitch with those Tibetan chimes, you got the feeling that she, too, was getting something spiritual out of the ritual. Throughout, the hotel the service was refreshingly can-do.

Bottom line

The place exudes an air of quiet confidence, which is decadently well earned.

Information

Mandarin Oriental Miami: 500 Brickell Key Dr.; 1-800-526-6566; mandarinoriental.com. The Ayurvedic Holistic Body Treatment lasts about two hours and costs $325.