RSD Travel
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My recent trip with RDS travel
Having been with RDS to Turkey with friends a couple of years ago, and having a couple of concerns then, our friends persuaded us that this trip leaving 21.04.18 to Cyprus including Golden Beach sounded good as it had only 2 hotels and we could pre-book the gourmet package which meant you went from B/B status to half board, which when you consider that on the previous trip some of the hotels had been miles from any other restaurants, this seemed a good addition. There was a slight hic cup on the paperwork which we amended and was dealt with smoothly, although our friends hic cup wasn't quite so easily resolved, and then we were waiting to receive our flight instructions which came 2 weeks before departure. We knew that as our trip was to Northern Cyprus there would be no direct flight in to Ercan and we would have to go to Turkey then on, we didn't anticipate having joined the plane at Gatwick, we would stop at Manchester for others on this tour to be picked up, then stopping at Atalia then going on to Ercan, we finally reached our first hotel Artemis, about 9.30 pm there time, weary, tired, hungry and really only ready for bed . However our guide said that the hotel had put on a small buffet as we were too late for the evening meal. After finding our rooms and bunging our bags into the room we made our way to the restaurant for the "small" buffet. Well being a foody I thought if this is a "small" buffet WOW. This hotel was palatial, our rooms were lovely the food was to die for, with a huge beautifully kept swimming pool and terrace down to the beach, several bar and sitting areas a small café where you could buy reasonable meals if you felt like a snack if you hadn't been on a trip or felt peckish when you came back from one BUT no lifts in the outlaying buildings and we were all of the grey haired brigade and some couldn't manage the stairs to their room. Our room backed on to the grounds of another hotel who had an outdoor disco which was "LOUD" till 3 am in the morning, great if you're there enjoying yourself, but bad if you're hoping to get some sleep before your early morning call to get up and get out. And the quest for getting more money out of you started then, with being told that if we wanted to upgrade to "All inclusive" while at this hotel it was £12 per person per day, which as it goes wasn't a bad deal if you were there all day lounging round the pool or going down to the beach but not such a good idea for those of us who were going out on the tours which meant we left on or around 6.30 - 8 am in the morning and didn't get back till approximately 6 pm that night. We were there for the Sat, Sun and Mon nights and up nice and early on the Tuesday to do carpet warehouse and tours and get to our other hotel. My only concern on this days itinerary was the "carpet" factory. Knowing from last time that this is scheduled in all the tours as these subsidise the holidays I had expected it, but again was totally overcome by the huge pressure put upon you by their salesmen/women to buy a carpet, any carpet as long as you bought one. Having had 2 family weddings 6 months apart, this "cheap" holiday was all that we could afford this year, and we had no other money left especially when you were expected to spend up to £1000 or more on a carpet, lovely though they were. We then got to our 2nd hotel The Ship. Oh what a let down. It was really one up from a B n B possibly 3* at most. No gourmet food here and our room looked out on to a building site, and a dog that started to bark at first light and didn't give up till the work men came at 7 a.m. We did complain and the staff were excellent in getting us transferred to a quieter room. Again no lifts and for some the 5 flights of steps to their rooms was a few steps too far. It did have a lovely pool and pool area and a small bar/café where you could relax and enjoy a cool drink or snack. As the original itinerary had been changed we decided that we would have a day off on the Wednesday and not join the "Extra" day trip which would have cost us another £116, which the guide had been touting since day one, together with an "Extra" day on the Friday which was supposed to be "our" day off which would have cost another £70 if we booked it with the other extra day or £90 if we just wanted to do that trip. We did have a very pleasant day lounging by the pool, having a nice snack and cool drinks then getting ready for the evening meal. Thursday loomed we had to be up and out and at it by 7.30 am as we were doing the jewellery and leather warehouses in the morning and historic places in the afternoon. Oh my gosh what a horrible experience. I have never experienced such intensive bullying tactics as used by the sales men in both places. They wouldn't take no for an answer and intimated that my husband didn't love me or care for me enough because he wouldn't lay out £1500 in the jewellery place and £650 in the leather place. It didn't matter how much you told them that IF I had wanted these items and had not had the expense of 2 family weddings within 6 months of each other, my husband would have bought them for me. There was no way I could justify spending all this money, which we didn't have and would have been hard pressed to find, even if we had paid some there (as intimated by salesman) and then paid the rest when we got back to England. Then rushed of to see 2 historic places the Bellapais Monastery and Kyrenia castle and ship museum. We would have loved to have more time at both places the first to experience the peacefulness of this little town and the second to have time to look at all that the castle and museums had to offer. Then rushing back to the hotel so that those who had booked the "extra" day on Wednesday had to get back to have their meal and get out for the Cypriot evening (and the feedback from those who went said it wasn't worth going to). This experience spoilt what for me had been a fairly good holiday up and until then, apart from some little ups and downs. This was one of many days spoilt with too much being pushed into one day so that the "Extra" days could be accommodated. For example when we went to the Golden Beach, firstly what a disappointment. When you are at the top looking down yes it looked lovely, but when you got down there it was find yourself a path through the discarded bottles, beer cans, and other rubbish left on the beach. We had half an hour here to get in and out of the sea and get back on the coach to rush off to the next "historic" site. Then it was our last night, and earlier a coach load of Germans had arrived, not certain if it was their arrival or not but the food was somewhat better that night!!! Then up at 1,30 a.m. to get the plane back to the UK.. We thought that this was going to be much better than the flight to N Cyprus, but no when we got to Antalya we all had to get off the plane and nearly everyone was body searched and checked for explosives/drug residue, which although they tried to reassure us that this was something they were doing and flights were picked randomly it made you feel slightly uneasy together with if they had got a tip off about something then they were doing something about it, but another nail in the coffin, although to be honest RDS probably could do nothing about that. All in all would I travel with RDS again a resounding NO. IF they were more upfront with their pricings and allowed those with tight pockets to be able to say NO to the carpet, jewellery and leather factories, but could still go on the other historic sites, then I might reconsider. Also the tour guides on both occasions left a lot to be desired. I know its probably their job to push all the extras all the time and try to get us to buy things at the carpet, jewellery and leather factories, BUT all this bullying just left me never wanting to join a RDS tour again.