RSD Travel
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RSD tours can offer good value but there is a price to pay
I recently returned from RSD’s 15 day, 5 star tour of Northern Cyprus. My wife and i and have been on 4 previous tours with RSD and I feel they offer value for money but after our recent trip I will not travel with them again The tours are cleverly marketed. The Cyprus tour basic price was £249 for 2 weeks and this is clearly aiming to get potential customers hooked. You then pay an extra £35 to travel from London, though Manchester is at no extra cost. Next come the “seasonal price increases” ranging from £0 in early March to £240 in mid-May. Thus, the basic cost has immediately doubled if you opt to travel in mid-May The basic package includes hotel room and breakfast but you can pay £129 for half-board terms with a “ delicious buffet” every evening in the hotel for the first week.. Our past experience has led us not to take this offer as the buffets are invariably very average in quality with warm/cold food of limited variety. We also preferred to try to eat out at local restaurants and have always been successful so far The basic price includes coach excursions with guide but they then offer further “optional” excursions of around £70 each On the touring week you are obliged to visit 3 retail outlets - carpet, jewellry and leather outlets for around 2 hrs each. These are not without interest (when you visit them for the first time) but after a demo of, for example, how carpets are made, you are ushered into the marketing hall when a large team of aggressive salespersons press you very hard to buy grossly overpriced goods. On our trip, one person bought an attractive leather jacket for £1500 but the initial asking price had been £8000. On a previous trip I had asked an obviously off-message salesman why no goods ever had price labels; the answer “ we are told to ask any price we can get away with”. RSD reps insist you go into these outlets and are very unhappy/angry if you ask to leave early or make no purchase. Beware, these visits do not support local craftworkers but are cynical attempts to fleece you by rich companies who clearly have a business relationship with RSD who provide them with regular busloads of tourists The episode than led me to decide not to use RSD again occurred on our arrival night. We got to Ercan Airport late - at about 9.45pm.. As i boarded the coach, the first thing the local rep said to me was I was the only one who hadn’t bought the dinner package and i needed to decide now. I told him I wished to see the hotel and its location before deciding in the morning..He was clearly angry at this and on 3 further occasions during the transfer to the hotel he approached me saying i had to decide that night. As I continued to refuse to decide that night he became increasingly aggressive and as my tolerance for this behaviour rapidly dwindled we ended up shouting at each other to everyone’s embarrassment on the coach. On arriving at the hotel near 11pm, he started once again becoming angry and aggressive in speech and manner. He said I would have to leave the tour and I, in turn demanded a change of rep and change of coach. He never apologised all week and we simply disregarded each other . I have formally complained to RSD about this person and await their response. I am not seeking any compensation but truly felt they needed to know how appallingly one of their reps had behaved when i chose not to take an “optional” dinner package. On previous trips the reps had been generally pleasant but they all pushed the optional extras hard and made one feel very uncomfortable about declining them So, in summary, these tours can offer good value but the basic cost can easily treble or more, and you must be prepared for considerable pressure from reps to buy optional extras and tolerate the marketing outlets and their own very hard-pressing sales staff