MLife Cracks Down on OBC

[marieps]

I have just been told by the Blue Chip desk that MLife, within the last two weeks, has severely restricted the OBC benefit for Gold members and above.  The OBC will now only be offered on annual benefit cruises, not on common bookings.  MLife had apparently complained that Blue Chip was too liberal with the OBC.  They were just following what's on the website (which has not been changed).  The welcome gift, entertainment tour and other bennies are still intact, according to Cole, with whom many Blue Chip members are familiar.  Bummer.  I got my $200 on Connie last month just under the wire.

[BennyBrun]

Wow that is not a change I like to hear.  According to MLife website it does not say anything about the OBC being applied to the annual cruise benefit at all, it lists that as part of the benefit.  As MLife members know that the annual cruise benefit is not great for Platinum and lower so I think that is a step down.  Cole is very knowledgeable over there at Celebrity and very helpful so I am going to say that this will be the rule of the land going forward unless you get an agent that has not been briefed yet.

[marieps]

9 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

Wow that is not a change I like to hear.  According to MLife website it does not say anything about the OBC being applied to the annual cruise benefit at all, it lists that as part of the benefit.  As MLife members know that the annual cruise benefit is not great for Platinum and lower so I think that is a step down.  Cole is very knowledgeable over there at Celebrity and very helpful so I am going to say that this will be the rule of the land going forward unless you get an agent that has not been briefed yet.

I got Susan Saturday and she didn't know.  That's why I called since it hadn't hit my cruise planner when she said she'd validated me.  

[BennyBrun]

1 hour ago, marieps said:

I got Susan Saturday and she didn't know.  That's why I called since it hadn't hit my cruise planner when she said she'd validated me.  

Yeah … I haven’t dealt with Susan before.  I mostly get Cole for some reason.  I guess it pays to call back to double check.

[EffortlessVoyages]

Just out of curiosity what is the entertainment tour?  I am a M-Life Pearl and it's basically the only benefit I would get

[dleahy4444]

I’m so unclear on what my Mlife gold card status entitles me to. I read that as a Gold card holder I was entitled to free play but when I called the Blue Chip club they said I wasn’t entitled to it because I booked my cruise through Blue Chip Club and it wasn’t a cruise comped through Mlife. Do I get anything at all???

[marieps]

24 minutes ago, dleahy4444 said:

I’m so unclear on what my Mlife gold card status entitles me to. I read that as a Gold card holder I was entitled to free play but when I called the Blue Chip club they said I wasn’t entitled to it because I booked my cruise through Blue Chip Club and it wasn’t a cruise comped through Mlife. Do I get anything at all???

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

[marieps]

Also from the MLife page:

 

M life Rewards members acknowledge and agree that M life Rewards membership and its benefits are provided at the discretion of management. Management reserves the right to unilaterally change, amend, suspend, cancel or terminate any aspect of the M life Rewards Program, its benefits and/or its Terms and Conditions in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice for any or no reason.

[BennyBrun]

1 hour ago, EffortlessVoyages said:

Just out of curiosity what is the entertainment tour?  I am a M-Life Pearl and it's basically the only benefit I would get

I have been on MLife cruise as a Platinum and I only got the tour once but I think that was not the entertainment tour, they put me with the whole ship backstage tour.  I mean I guess you could say it’s an “entertainment” tour but it was a very detailed tour about what’s happening behind the scene tour.

[BennyBrun]

36 minutes ago, dleahy4444 said:

I’m so unclear on what my Mlife gold card status entitles me to. I read that as a Gold card holder I was entitled to free play but when I called the Blue Chip club they said I wasn’t entitled to it because I booked my cruise through Blue Chip Club and it wasn’t a cruise comped through Mlife. Do I get anything at all???

Never had free play I only get the OBC.  As Gold and I guess going forward you only get OBC with your annual cruise benefit.

[WonderMan3]

This Mlife-Celebrity connection is getting less and less worth anything. Mlife already changed the rules to max out matching tiers to Gold. It used to max out with a Platinum tier match for Elite Plus and Zenith. I was getting that Platinum match for a couple years now due to my Elite Plus status. Now starting in 2022 I’ll only be able to match to Gold. But I already achieved Gold based on my 2021 play at MGM casinos so that’s useless now. And I always book my cruises directly through Blue Chip which is supposed to make any Mlife benefits void (from what I’ve always been told). 

[BennyBrun]

You definitely get more cruise benefit playing with the ship’s casino if you want to continue to get cruise offers.

[PinkSandGirl]

For my October 2021 cruise I had MGM OBC applied.  The cruise was booked Jan 2021.  I booked an October 2022 cruise in November 2021 and called to get the MGM OBC added and was told it was now only for cruises booked with Blue Chip.  I was pleasantly surprised at the discounted rate so I switched my booking to be booked with Blue Chip and the MGM OBC was added to the reservation.  It shows on the invoice and is part of my OBC in my Cruise Planner. 

 

I will be booking another cruise this month and was hoping for more MGM OBC.   I'll try and see what they say and report back.  😉

 

🍹

 

 

[BennyBrun]

Keep you eyes on the OBC or use them up because they removed the OBC for a cruise in 2022 I had two months ago and I had to call back to have them added back after a few hoops.  I figure I would wait until next year to use the OBC.  Needless to say I used them up as soon as it hit the account.

[dleahy4444]

6 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Never had free play I only get the OBC.  As Gold and I guess going forward you only get OBC with your annual cruise benefit.

I misspoke. I meant to say OBC not free play

[dleahy4444]

7 hours ago, marieps said:

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

Thank you for your reply. I actually misspoke on my original posting .I said free play when I meant OBC. According to this link, as a gold tier player I am entitled to 125 OBC, But when I called the Blue Chip Club they said I wasn’t entitled to it because it is only available to people who were booking a Mlife comped cruise offer, which was not what I was doing. I was booking a discounted rate through the Blue Chip Club. I must be dense, since I still don’t quite understand it. 

[BennyBrun]

MGM casinos offered comp cruises prior to Covid where you have to go to pick up a certificate and then book the cruise along with the annual cruise benefit they offer to Platinum and Noir.  You can apply the OBC to MGM offers but not any cruise booked using Blue Chip offers or discounted rates.  You used to be able to also apply the OBC to cruises you booked with Celebrity (NOT Blue Chip) but apparently that is no longer the case.  It can only be applies to the annual cruise benefit now.

[dleahy4444]

4 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

MGM casinos offered comp cruises prior to Covid where you have to go to pick up a certificate and then book the cruise along with the annual cruise benefit they offer to Platinum and Noir.  You can apply the OBC to MGM offers but not any cruise booked using Blue Chip offers or discounted rates.  You used to be able to also apply the OBC to cruises you booked with Celebrity (NOT Blue Chip) but apparently that is no longer the case.  It can only be applies to the annual cruise benefit now.

Thank you for explaining this.

[mfs2k]

I’m MLife Gold and booked a 9 night cruise using the MLife dedicated number. I think I’m Blue Chip too but not sure. Last month I was able to get 50% off a suite guarantee casino rate in addition to the MLife OBC. It was a huge savings for me. No complaints. 

[marieps]

36 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

I’m MLife Gold and booked a 9 night cruise using the MLife dedicated number. I think I’m Blue Chip too but not sure. Last month I was able to get 50% off a suite guarantee casino rate in addition to the MLife OBC. It was a huge savings for me. No complaints. 

Yep, that must have been early last month.  I did too on Connie Nov 7.  Things have changed since, apparently.