MLife through Hyatt = No Benefits w/RCI

[Regguy]

I have no status with RCI, but am platinum in MLife based on my Hyatt activity and level. I tried to get MLife benefits on an upcoming RCI cruise and the guy was able to see that my status was from Hyatt not from MGM play, and so no benefits.

 

I know that this is also the case for those who get their MLife status through Crown and Anchor, but it has been an open question on some travel blogs that I follow whether this will still work for those who qualify through Hyatt. Apparently, as recently as 2016, RCI didn't know or didn't care if your status was from Hyatt and you could get benefits, but apparently they can see it now.

 

I wasn't expecting to get anything anyway, but thought it was worth a phone call.

[SRF]

Interesting.

 

I was M Life Gold from Hyatt back in 2014 and got benefits from RCI. And I got my Hyatt level from my United credit card. :)

 

Oh well.

 

But with the new system, I have a lower level of M Life benefits.

[Regguy]

Just following up to my old post to note that I tried again today and I was successful.  My Mlife status comes from Hyatt stays.  My understanding has been that status through Hyatt works to get benefits on RCI but that status from matching to Mlife from C&A does not.  I called in April to see and was denied for a cruise that is coming up in a few weeks.  Given that the cruise is coming up, I decided to try again today and it was successful.  

 

I think the issue might have been that when I called back in April my Mlife status was only good through September 2018, and so maybe that was the problem since the cruise is later this year.  Maybe now that I requalified for Mlife status through 2019 it made a difference and the OBC was able to be applied.  Not sure.  

 

So, anyway, didn't want to leave this misinformation out there.

[lazydayz]

Congrats on getting the Mlife benefits!

[Regguy]

Thanks.  It was a nice surprise.

[John&LaLa]

Are you going to request MLife benefits onboard?  That is where we were getting shot down in the past.

[Regguy]

On 11/3/2018 at 4:52 AM, John&LaLa said:

Are you going to request MLife benefits onboard?  That is where we were getting shot down in the past.

 

I don't think I'll bother.  Are there any benefits that really matter?  All I saw was the "welcome amenity," which would be nice but I'm not really going to go out of my way to worry about it.  The $200 OBC is great and what I cared most about.

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, Regguy said:

 

I don't think I'll bother.  Are there any benefits that really matter?  All I saw was the "welcome amenity," which would be nice but I'm not really going to go out of my way to worry about it.  The $200 OBC is great and what I cared most about.

 

Free drinks in casino, free meal in speciality restaurant, no 5% up charge to get money, free internet, etc...

[LrgPizza]

What level does one need to be with mLife to get benefits on RCI? I'm just Pearl right now, but some years I make it to gold. I hadn't heard of this, but I usually don't sail RCI.

[Regguy]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Free drinks in casino, free meal in speciality restaurant, no 5% up charge to get money, free internet, etc...

 

I thought they changed the benefits last year.  This is all I can find.  Do you have something published that still shows the free specialty dinner, etc.?  If there's something somewhere in writing, I may bring my Mlife card and try to get it, but my understanding was that the on board benefits changed to what's shown in the following:

 

https://www.mgmresorts.com/en/mlife-rewards-program/preferred-partners/royal-caribbean-and-celebrity-cruises.html

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Regguy said:

 

I thought they changed the benefits last year.  This is all I can find.  Do you have something published that still shows the free specialty dinner, etc.?  If there's something somewhere in writing, I may bring my Mlife card and try to get it, but my understanding was that the on board benefits changed to what's shown in the following:

 

https://www.mgmresorts.com/en/mlife-rewards-program/preferred-partners/royal-caribbean-and-celebrity-cruises.html

 

It may have changed, that is what we were getting last year 

[Regguy]

2 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

It may have changed, that is what we were getting last year 

 

Gotcha -- I'll just bring my card and see.  I'll report back.

[bobrocket]

Did you check through you travel agent, call Celebrity directly, or bring your Mlife players card onboard?

[Danswife12]

Is it still based on spend or is do they go off of your tier level?  I am Mlife Gold through Hyatt and when I called Royal to try to get a match they told me that I could only be matched based on my annual spend at a Mlife casino.

[TechieTravels]

Just tried to get my Mlife benefits applied.  Called number on MGM website to match, they said since I booked through a travel agent, the agent would have to call.  Called travel agent and asked them call RC to apply the benefits.  They came back and said that I am not entitled to any benefits since I booked through a travel agent. 

 

So it looks like booking through a travel agent excludes you from mlife status benefits even though that doesn't appear anywhere on the T&C that I can see.

[Clarea]

Just now, TechieTravels said:

Just tried to get my Mlife benefits applied.  Called number on MGM website to match, they said since I booked through a travel agent, the agent would have to call.  Called travel agent and asked them call RC to apply the benefits.  They came back and said that I am not entitled to any benefits since I booked through a travel agent. 

 

So it looks like booking through a travel agent excludes you from mlife status benefits even though that doesn't appear anywhere on the T&C that I can see.

 

Never heard about this restriction before.  Either they gave you bad info, or the rules have changed very recently.

[TechieTravels]

3 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Never heard about this restriction before.  Either they gave you bad info, or the rules have changed very recently.

 

Yeah, I have gotten the benefits through Celebrity in the past but this is my first RC cruise.  The only thing I see that could be construed as excluding is below.  However, it still doesn't seem to exclude travel agent bookings. 

 

"Benefits must be requested at the time of the initial booking and at least ten (10) days prior to the cruise’s departure date". 

 

I will probably try again tomorrow to see if I get a different answer.

[TechieTravels]

Tried again via phone and email.  Both times response was the same.  Can't apply Mife benefits to travel agent booking.

 

Looks like a another undocumented rule change.

[zengzheng19830719]

On 8/20/2019 at 12:20 PM, TechieTravels said:

Tried again via phone and email.  Both times response was the same.  Can't apply Mife benefits to travel agent booking.

 

Looks like a another undocumented rule change.

 

Same, they said they can't apply Mlife benefits to ta booking.