Travelled with RSD to Nepal in June
Travelled with RSD to Nepal in June. Very good holiday, saw lots of interesting places, guide was superb and hotels were of a good standard. I would recommend the RSD holiday to Nepal
3.4
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356 reviews
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Review summary
RSD Travel has mixed reviews from customers. Customers particularly appreciate great value and service, though some mention concerns about customer service and expensive.
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Based on reviews, created with AISee what reviewers are saying
Cultural trip to Sri Lanka
I have travelled with RSD a few times and have never had a bad experience. An excellent way of seeing a country at an affordable price.
Fantastically beautiful country with lovely people
Went to Sri Lanka with RSD - fantastic countryside, amazing friendly people, good hotels and an amazing journey around the country in all its guises - one of the best trips of my life (I travel 10 mths a year) - why so good - people, no hassles of any kind going out, low cost economy, wonderful weather - an absolute gem of a holiday full of variety with something for everyone.
An Absolutely Fantastic Trip To The Balkans!
We had a wonderful holiday seeing so many UNESCO sites in Kosova, North Macedonia, Montenegro & Albania. Except for the last one, which was a little bit "Soviet era", the hotels were lovely with excellent food, very comfortable indeed. Our Turkish guide Gdoikca went above & beyond to help all passengers on her coach, even rescuing a hearing aid, which had fallen out in Cafe Mozart in Budva, Montenegro & organising for someone to drive it to our hotel at least 2 hours away so we had it before the coach left next morning.
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www.rsd-travel.co.uk
All reviews
356 total • Write a review
Showing 161 - 170 of 352 reviews
JG
What it says on the tin - but read it carefully!
Just returned from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro tour. First and foremost, you get what you pay for. The first week, for flights, half board accommodation and including the core 5/6 day tour package cost under £500 each. The second week is "free'', if you opt for bed only at the beach resort, so not bad, at that, in current times. We found the first week rather hectic and each visit will require further reflection on returning home but, for us, the hotels were of a decent standard and the food, while slightly variable in quality, more than adequate for the cost. I have read many complaints here about the carpet factory / leather/ jewellery visits and they were certainly of little interest to us - but they were part of the advertised package and the buses going there quite obviously contributes to keeping the overall cost down. Just don't buy if you don't want to - but the reality is that you may have to thole some pretty tough sales pitching. The optional Mostar trip, however, deserves specific mention. Describing a city that has been left out of the core Balkans tour as the " must see " in The Balkans is sharp practice, and for the courier to suggest that not paying to go was like " visiting Egypt and not going to the pyramids " was simply out of order, as was the 59 euro per head cost for a 30 mile round trip by bus and a half hour with a tour guide - however fascinating the town itself. Team up and get a taxi for four people! The visit to the religious shrine in Medjugorje seemed a bizarre and rather niche choice for a general tour but I suspect it was selected for its plentiful cheap hotels. As it turned out, the meal in our small, family pensione was probably the best of the tour. Week two was actually pretty good, despite the very variable weather. Our room in Hotel Otrant was tired but clean and the pool and sport facilities were of a better than average standard. There were a few choices for eating and plenty of small supermarkets within 15 minutes' walk, and the old town was a short taxi ride or pleasant 90 minute coastal walk away. These, however, are tours ( in our limited experience ) frequented, primarily, by older clients, and many felt forced - the tour courier undoubtedly played a part in this - to take the half board / all inclusive options in Week 2 for fear of walking distances and even the lack of anything being open. In terms of costs, our food and drink for the week were almost identical to the RSD price - 250 euro per head. Whatever the standard of the catering at the hotel, I suspect anyone would tire of 14 days' consecutive buffets. The language ability and manner of the courier were questioned by some in our group. His English wasn't great ( he normally takes German speaking groups ) and he tried hard to convey detailed historical and geographical background but he may have been better served simply restricting his information to housekeeping arrangements. It's worth pointing out that the few important problems that arose were solved by the RSD courier. The official tour guides on all visits were very good - but please don't give me that nonsense about Romans and the vomitoreum : it's just wrong! Altogether a decent experience and an opportunity to tour Balkan towns and cities that would take a considerable amount of time and effort to visit independently. As we were so near the Albanian border, we hired a car and went to Tirana for an overnight, which we really enjoyed. Driving in the city centre was simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying! The hotel did offer an optional bus tour to the old Albanian capital, and Kruje which many of our group enjoyed. The RSD Tour, in our opinion, delivered what it said on the tin.
Date of experience: November 1, 2023
rs
We were out in Azul Beach resort…
We were out in Azul Beach resort calling itself 5 Star. I would not give it more than 3 Star. The main swimming pools were closed telling us end on season. There were no sauna or steam rooms and no other activities. We booked as vegetarians but in the first 10 days no hotel gave us vegetarian food. The tea me guide even told us lies to get us to but the food package telling us that there were no supermarkets or restaurants around. I would not recommend anyone buying a package from RSD, cheap put add ons as surprises. Updated, today , had a frank talk with RSD Travel and they amicably sorted out the matter with suitable compensation. They were very helpful to this end Ramnik updated 3 November 2023
Date of experience: October 30, 2023
RP
Stay away
I wish I took the other reviews under consideration and cancelled even if I lost my deposit. The cultural tour to Croatia was anything but, we spend almost the entire time on the bus and some of the hotels were awful. We had no free time to learn, explore and enjoy the destinations. We spent lots of money too, despite this being advertised as a cheap way to travel - when you add the food, the tourist taxes and tips everywhere the costs jump considerably. Our guide told us he wasn't rich enough to go on a cheap holiday so he only stayed in 5 star hotels (!). Sadly for us that wasn't the case but I wish we self organised and went for a week rather than 2 - the 2nd week hotel was abysmal; I only resisted flying back during the 2nd week as I was trying to avoid any additional costs.
Date of experience: October 29, 2023
JF
The holiday as a whole was fine.
The holiday as a whole was fine. Nowhere did it say that extra would have to be paid in cash for extra excursions or more importantly for any food for the second week. 3 of the excursions were supposed factory visits. All these showed you nothing of the factory other than finished products, followed by an hours hard sell. At the carpet factory, we asked to go outside to discuss and think. Not liked by the sales people, who insisted on keeping us separated until we were forced to be rude and insist we were leaving. Our tour guide. Well, yes he spoke English, but he lied constantly and anywhere he didn't like, he tried to race us round. Final straw was him dictating what tips he wanted and when we should give them. He was rude enough to hand back tips he thought weren't enough. And the instant he'd got the tips he said his job was finished and refused to communicate with us again. Out of the 4 coach loads that arrived on this holiday, ours was one of the best experiences, so I sympathise with the others. Would I use this company again, or recommend them. NO
Date of experience: October 28, 2023
LH
L Hynes
US
In Montenegro at the moment
In Montenegro at the moment, I can honestly say one of the worst experiences I have ever had.At the the Pearl resort which it definitely is not a pearl. Described as a luxury week with gourmet package at 250 euros extra which for the food provide is a total rip off. The whole place is shut down and in the middle of building sites. Amenities consist of a freezing cold indoor pool and an unusable gym. There is an outdoor pool but due to the weather not in use. Got a kettle for the room when requested. Dogs and cats roaming all over the resort including the restaurant under the tables where we are sitting and flies and wasps everywhere. Food always cold and very little variety and several travellers including myself have had days confined to their rooms with diarrhoea. The beach is barely a beach and is strewn with rubbish. I went to North Cyprus with RSD last year which was so good I decided to travel again with you. There is no option to attach photos which I would like to have done so. No option to review less than 1 star unfortunately
Date of experience: October 28, 2023
TN
Tony Nye
US
RSD sell their holidays in a misleading…
RSD sell their holidays in a misleading way and confusion is added when the tour guide also misleads. We went on the Croatia,Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina tour. The 7 day cultural tour is in reality 5 days. Day 1 is travelling to Dubrovnik. The arrival at the hotel was at 9.00 pm and we were told we were ‘ lucky’ that the staff had kept the buffet open. There were approximately 180 RSD customers arriving together and flight was on time, so a puzzling comment. The next 5 days involved getting up very early and cramming too much into each day. Day 7 did not involve Budva, that was crammed into Day 6. Day 7 was a very early start in order to visit jewellery and leather factories. We stopped at a viewpoint to see Sveti Stefan and were then dropped for free time in an ad hoc stop as the beach resort hotel were not prepared to book us in. Again free time was so limited we were rushing to eat and get back to the coach. The RSD site is still showing Day 7 as part of the seven day cultural tour with a stop in Budva but it is a wasted transit day. The beach hotel was fine when the weather was good but freezing when not. Some staff were polite and helpful but restaurant staff frequently rude. The food was lukewarm at best and food reappeared frequently so stomach upsets occurred.We ended up eating at a restaurant across the road as the buffet experience was vile. The guide was unprofessional. He drove off because a client was 2 minutes late and only stopped the coach because the rest of us were very vocal about this not being right. He told us that there were no restaurants near the hotel so we would need the extra food packages. A lie. Extra packages amounted to £450 per person. On Day 14 we vacated our rooms at 10.00 waited six hours to be collected and arrived at the hotel in Dubrovnik at 9.45 pm Exhausting and boring. We will not be repeating a holiday with RSD.
Date of experience: October 23, 2023
S
Susan
US
Lovely holiday in Rhodes and Turkey
We’re almost a week back from our Rhodes and the Aegean holiday and keep wishing we were back there. We were the first RSD holiday to Rhodes after a 7 year break, and it’s fair to say the first week was a bit chaotic due to the newness of the holidays on Rhodes. It did seem that the hotels were taken by surprise by our large group, hence some initials complaints. However, overall, we had a lovely holiday. We enjoyed the variety of the tour week, with time in Turkey which was great. Some teething problems with the boarding on the Katamaran and customs which delayed us, but hopefully these will be sorted for others. Hotels, except for the first one, we’re all very good and food in our holiday week was lovely. For the amount we pay, even going all inclusive on the second week, we can’t fault these holidays. Sometimes you have a good room, sometimes not as good, but that’s part of the holiday in our opinion. If we wanted the full 4/5 star experience then we wouldn’t book RSD, but we like their business model of supporting the local economies out of season and we were very happy with our holiday.
Date of experience: October 23, 2023
RE
Very disappointing experience and definitely not worth the money
We've just returned from the Croatia Cultural Tour. This is absolutely the worst holiday we have ever been on. The alleged 4 star hotels, with the exception of our first and last night stay in Dubrovnik were nothing like 4 star as advertised. The tours were interesting but far too much time spent travelling and very little time to explore such lovely sites - some days 6/7 hours on the coach!! The tour guide was extremely rude and unpleasant - he banned 4 people from getting on the coach to our final relaxation week as he claimed they were rude, definitely not true, and anyone who said you can't leave people behind was threatened with being banned also!! The trips to the carpet, jewellery and leather showrooms were very unpleasant as we were virtually told we should buy something- some sort of commission for the the tour guide springs to mind. The final straw was the week in Pearl Beach Resort, our alleged luxury 4* hotel relaxation week. The rooms were shabby and never cleaned - curtains were torn and hanging off curtain rails. The food appalling and virtually inedible. The same food was served at each meal. Everything cold, dried up and with flies all around and on the trays of food. There was no choice or indication of what was suitable for vegetarians, nor any information for those with allergies, especially nut allergies. Needless to say there were lots of tummy bugs going around. We felt bullied in to paying the additional all inclusive gourmet food package as we were told there was no where else to eat- not true as there was a restaurant about 10 minutes walk away - again commission springs to mind! For us the all inclusive package was a complete waste of money! The staff were rude and not interested in any issues raised. This was our first experience with RSD and we definitely will not be booking through them again.
Date of experience: October 21, 2023
MB
Never again
We have travelled with RSD twice before - once to Northern Cyprus and then to Crete. On both these occasions although the organisation was 'hit and miss' the guides were very good and did their best to sort out any problems. Also the distances involved were not far. Our recent trip to Capadocia started off badly. Our flight left Gatwick at 8.50pm and arrived in Antalya at 3am. Hardly a "convenient flight time". The bus driver got lost on the way to our hotel and the hotel was dreadful. Our room had a shower over the bath but no connection to the shower. The wiring in the second room was hazardous. We eventually got to bed at 5.30 am. Breakfast at 7.30 was a joke. The only items of food left were a few pieces of dry bread. The evening meal wasn't much better. After 2 awful nights in the hotel we set off to Capadocia. Halfway there the coach broke down and we had to wait 2 hours for a replacement which wasn't even clean. The distances involved in travelling from Antalya to Capadocia are immense - 300 miles. The guide was rude and unhelpful and definitely didn't like anyone asking questions. His main aim seemed to be stopping at as many roadside restaurants as he could so he could smoke and drink with his friends. It was very hot and I became ill with heatstoke and needed to go to hospital. When the ambulance arrived we asked the guide where it was taking us and how we would get back to our hotel. He said RSD would sort it all out. They did nothing. If it hadn't been for the interpreter at the hospital I don't know how we would have managed. We spent so much time stopping at unnecessary stops we didn't have enough time in the really interesting places such as Konya. There was no First Aid kit on the coach and it was never cleaned. The guide left us alone on the coach at one stage with the driver, who didn't speak English and was on his hand held phone for the one hour journey. The only saving grace was the lovely staff at the Simena hotel where we spent the last week. When we had serious problems at Antalya airport on the way home there was no RSD rep to be seen. I would never travel with RSD again
Date of experience: October 10, 2023
C
CAROLYN
US
Most disappointing operation
I was recommended this holiday by a previous guest, sadly it’s gone downhill. A not very informative guide, we learnt more from the internet. I objected to the lock in at the hard sell leather, carpet & jewellery outlets, this is not what I went to Turkey for. Our other complaint concerned the lunchtime stops. If you didn’t buy the lunch package you were left outside a petrol station each of 4 days to sit on the pavement, beyond a joke. I actually booked myself a flight home after the first week I was so disappointed. Waste of money
Date of experience: October 9, 2023
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