RSD Travel
View company profile →
RSD Cultural Trip
Croatia, BH, Montenegro. I did say I'd been on the tour of Crete with RDS in December last year, and booked this trip as a result, and that I would review it when I came back. I made one major mistake.. I was not aware when booking that if travelling as part of a small group I should have expressly said so at time of booking. I was separated from my friends, and we seldom met up, were only three nights of the seven in the same hotel and on different buses and timetables. We saw this straight away on arrival but were told we'd mostly be in the same hotel, it was only the first night, etc. Then, nothing could be done because of insurance. Little information was forthcoming from guides, and that grudgingly about the next day, until late evening. We "What's apped" and met when we could, but were often arriving when they were leaving and v.v. A major disappointment. The gourmet package is not always gourmet. In this case it was very different from Crete where bread, salad and fresh vegetables were always and copiously available at evening meals, and the food was always good. On two occasions, covering three nights, we were a captive audience in hotels in the middle of nowhere, half construction sites where the food was poor and no bar/ supermarket to make up for it. In both Croatia, and Montenegro, wine producing countries the price for a glass of wine with dinner was high, as was water. (4 to 6 euro a glass and 4 for a bottle of water.. ). Lunches were good - the local guides were quick to point out the best places to eat, but of course you pay for those. In general, the evening meal was often poor except for the final night in Dubrovnik. Okay, so poor? What do I mean by that..over cooked fish, half cooked meat, and all of it in canteen format. Some of it left far too long under heating lamps in bain mairies.. some of the fish left stewing in watery juice until inedible. Frozen veg from packets, or greasy roasted veg. On the third night, chicken nuggets and chips went down well, because it was the first time we had recognisable potatoes or rice. Again, it was the final night in Dubrovnik before we had the famous pasta from the area. Seven nights and six hotels make it hard to be specific, but some hotels.. Regina in Medjugorje had excellent salads but didn't replenish and late arrivals were disappointed. The breakfasts were better if you eat bread, eggs and fruit/ yoghurt. For coffee drinking countries the breakfast coffee was a real disappointment, either cups served by waiters who had something better to do, half cold weak Cona/ percolated with semi warm milk or self service machines that produced what you wanted if you were lucky pressing the buttons. That sounds like we go for the food.. but it's not true. After a long day out, walking, reviewing, seeing stuff... it would be really nice to have a relaxing evening and a bath - and before a big day, a decent breakfast. So twice I ended up in a double, not a twin bed. I am a smoker, and twice I ended up in a room that had no balcony and a window that would barely open. In one of these cases, the hotel shut down the smoking area at 11pm.. In many cases there was no water, no tea making service, no room service and no bar. The 3 star rooms seemed to go with 4 star food and vv.. On an up note, the 4 star spa hotels had their spa and sauna, pools open, which was not the case, last year in Crete, where everything was closed, or understaffed. And here's my big but : In both Croatia and Montenegro I found the hotel staff surly, and unhelpful. This was not my experience down town. The hotel staff were rude, inexperienced and down right surly. The exception was Bosnia where we only stayed one night.. and even there, they were less than pleasant. I saw everything I ever wanted to see of Croatia and Montenegro in 7 days.. and at least I know I won't be going back. Finally, a word on the carpet, jewellrey and leather factories. I was subjected to intense pressure to buy a carpet that I had no interest in, and not the means to buy - as I had expressed an interest in the hand craft and work and artistic merit involved. It was a lovely carpet. I found it easy to avoid the next two stops but only by being abused by sales men who insulted me to my face. I would have looked and maybe even bought, but their attitude to my emphatic "no thank you, I'm just looking" (after my experience in the carpet factory) means that this is a black mark on RSD travel. Finally, it is still one of the cheapest holidays I have ever had. I saw more in less time, maybe less than perfectly, but you get what you pay for. If I had anything to say to RSD, then be more open with your factory shops about who is travelling with you and what we actually have to spend, and do something about educating your sales people. We'd probably buy more if you were less aggressive. Also, the surliness of hotel staff, just because we are travelling low season and discount, the attitude is not acceptable. Maybe some of their reps should do a cultural tour of Ireland?