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
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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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Showing 331 - 340 of 352 reviews
lS
from a seasoned RSD Traveller
my trips with RSD : 3 times in Turkey , 2 times in DubaΓ―, 1 Cyprus (the North, turkish), 1 Morocco where I took the offered second week, lovely place, I had books and found friends ; now going to the Baltic cruise ending in St Petersburg. Going to China in March..... Very well organised, sometimes speedy on the first days but always very interesting. of course the guide is the key but they mostly are very good! some are out of the ordinary, and only once we had a poor guide bored by his job. In Turkey we had S.A. an outstanding and cultivated guide!!!! wonderful. So I can recommend these not really expensive trips! and even the second week....but bring your computer, books and knitting !!!! or organise expeditions at you own expenses of course.....
Date of experience: October 14, 2018
M
Mandekin
US
We have travelled twice with RSD andβ¦highly recommend.
We have travelled twice with RSD and would happily use them again. Just returned from Sri Lanka, excellent trip. Great hotels, great guides, fantastic value. Virtually everyone in our group was a regular RSD traveller. Only one not so good hotel and yes flight details only become available two weeks before departure. Hotels are not advised before travelling apart from final stay. But if that isnβt a problem then these holidays are fantastic value and very well planned and executed.
Date of experience: September 27, 2018
NR
Had excellent holiday to Marocco.Tourβ¦
Had excellent holiday to Marocco.Tour guide was attentive at all times. Week one was hard work but worth it to see all the interesting places. Second week in Marrakesh was also good and so relaxing after the hectic first week. It was one of the most interesting holidays l have had. Only two complaints: There should be no trips to the factories and two of the hotels the first week left a lot to be desired.
Date of experience: September 25, 2018
Ms
Will never book with this company again.
Description of holiday within letter of law, but deceptive. Vastly overpriced. A Baltic cruise turned out to be a trip on a ferry, with a miniscule cabin, with very few facilities. An expensive gourmet package gave us tickets to only one restaurant, at a precise time, queueing with about thousand other people and being asked to leave when our due time was up. We had to carry our own baggage. The courier spoke very little English and we played second fiddle to two parties of Germans, whom she favoured. In spite of three requests, we were given a double bed. The gourmet package in the two nights in a hotel consisted of salad leaves as a starter, no choice for main course and fruit salad for dessert. It took a very long time to disembark the ferry each stop, so we saw very little of our Baltic towns. Very poor, very expensive and will never use them again.
Date of experience: September 22, 2018
TH
A Company That Deliberately Deceives Customers
We are subscribers to the Sunday Times Travel Magazine, which endorsed a 'subscribers only' trip to North Cyprus. Because of the endorsement, I failed to check Trust Pilot, signed up and paid a deposit. I planned to hire a car and not participate in any tours. Subsequently, I read some Google reviews which terrified me, and then I checked Trust Pilot which confirmed my fears. Within a few days of our booking, RSD Travel mailed to state that our travel dates had changed and they would pay us Β£18pp by way of compensation. The mail failed to state that legally, we are entitled to cancel and request a refund, which we did. This refusal to provide me with my rights and obligations infuriates me. The company tried to press me into changing dates but I insisted on the refund. Thanks to all other reviewers who warned me via Trust Pilot.
Date of experience: August 10, 2018
SL
Sarah Li
US
Tour to Northern Cypru
We went on the tour to Northern Cyprus on May 26, 2018. the itineary scheduled for our flight (Freebird airline) to depart from Gatwick airport at 12,25 pm. Lo and behold, !2,25 pm came and went. The schedule board showed that our flight was delayed until 3 pm, then 4 pm, 5 pm, 6 pm. It wasn't until 7 pm before we boarded the plane. No representative from RSD company or Freebird airline came forward to explain to us why our flight was delayed. We were just abandoned there. We heard from heresay story about the flight having technical problems whilst it was still in Turkey. Someone handed out food Vouchers of Β£10 to compensate for the delay. We didn't know who this person was and how he managed to find all of us at the main concourse! Our flight then flew to Manchester, dropped off some passengers and picked up more passengers. Then onward we bound for Antolia. There the crew changed shift and we took off again. Considering we had waited up to 7 hours for our flight to Manchester, you would expect that you would offered a conplimentary drink for consolation but none was forth-coming. When we finally landed at Ercon International airport, it was almost 6 am in the morning. So we missed a day and a night of our 8-day tour. The intierary informed us that there would be someone meeting us at the arrival area, but there was no one. We looked for this person, we found him outside the arrival area. So I sent him in to greet the passengers! We met our tour guide who was pleasant. He acknowledged that we had missed a day of our tour but he said nothing about compensation. The hotel Crown Plaza was nice enough but the air-conditioning system in our room was not working. We had to sleep with our balcony door open. The next day I was covered in Mosquito bites when I woke up. I called the reception three times to send someone up to see to the airconditiong unit but no-one came forth to do the job. Whilst we were at the hotel, my relatives spent hundreds of US dollars on two 'LV' handbags. Afterwards, they went online to check the product, They were faked LV handbags. The man in the shop told them they were genuin LV bags. Luckily our tour guide managed to reclain=m the full amount. The money was delivered by hand but the tour guide asked my relatives to pay for the taxi that brough this man thee. I supposed it was fair enough. They were lucky we had a tour guide who was helpful. We enjoyed the options tours but this tour was full of commercial visits. The tour guide and the salesman benfited from our purchases, We could have spent more days on sight-seeing! Then on the fourth day of our tour, our tour guide told us he had finished his work with us and reminded us to pay him and the driver tips. On the fifth day, we had a new tour guide and a new bus driver. I am wondering now if this was a strategy of the guides to extract more money from us. I think I forgot to tip the new guide anyway. Why did we have to have a new guid midway through our trip? The return flight with freebird was normal enough. But when we landed in Turkey (antalia, we were told to leave the plalne and board another one. They told us there was a technical fault on our scheduled plane. We had to go through very tight and strict security. We were body-searched, frisked and had all our bags turned inside out. We were rewarded with a free drink each. We were delayed for more than an hour. We finally arrived at Gatwick. When I got home, I went on the ?Which website, clicked on flight delays, filled the boxes with scheduled flight times and the date of travel. The Which informed me that I was entitled to be compensted for 400 euros (for each passenger ) if our flight was more than three hour delay. The which website drafted a standard letter and sent it to my email. I copied it and sent it to Freebird customer service. True enough, Freebird headquater (operated from Turkey) responded immediately. They offered a fast paymen of 250 Euros each, but if we opte for 400 euros, the process will take a long time. This is very odd. I opted for 400 Euros and I sent an email today with scanned copies of my passport, boarding pass and my account number which they asked for. I checked for authenticity and it is. I am waiting. I asked for compensation of a lost of one night hotel stay. I am not being greedy. I was so tired for day 2 of the option tours that I did not enjoy it! Freebird said it was not their remit to pay for lost hotel time. They asked me to write to RSD. We shall wait and see how this unfolds! We have booked to go to India with this company and I am dreading it!!! Sarah
Date of experience: June 14, 2018
KA
RSD Travel Ltd - OH DEAR!
Oh Dear! since our return from N Cyprus I've tried to do a direct assessment of our experiences with RSD Travel Ltd and will continue to do so, but here is a "shortened" version of what I wanted to say:- 1) my contacts with them in the UK have been good 2)RSD's partners in Cyprus - thats Northern Travel - should certainly be looked at with caution, however. Our holiday was spoiled chiefly because visits to Carpet, Jewellery and Leather outlets took about a day and a half out of our 6 days there, which denied us the time to embrace other aspects of the culture in the Turkish part of Cyprus. I don't know if there's a tie-up between the two companies - there must be - but it'll do no good in the long run for RSD's standing in UK holiday trade 3) in many years of travel overseas this was the first time we were lectured by our group travel manager on gratuities for her and drivers. She said that the practice of leaving loose local currency and any change in envelopes was insulting and that any gift of less than Β£20 sterling or multiples thereof was unacceptable! She then made the mistake of adding that she'd rather not have anything at all - needless to say, many passengers chose the latter option 4) rather strange practice on the third day when their company sold the bus out from under the driver and fired him. Pity, as he was a nice fella. A new vehicle and driver appeared next day and a quite healthy collection as suggested by our tour manager was made and given to the original driver, who appeared that evening at our hotel to receive it. Only a cynic would wonder if this was a scam! 5) Many stories circulated about the behaviour of our manager, usually unflattering - my wife and I had no problem with her, although she was to our minds somewhat less than caring for the less mobile among the party
Date of experience: June 5, 2018
CA
NEVER AGAIN RSD, NEVER AGAIN
NEVER AGAIN RSD, NEVER AGAIN!!! Last year their Turkey/Greece 15 days holiday was excellent. This year their MOROCCO Cultural Tour was abysmal and definitely NOT recommended....unless you fancy: being constantly harassed for "big tips" at the week's end -- from the first morning onward; visits to "factories" which were nothing but retail warehouses with shark-like salespersons selling goods of dubious quality and provenance; being put for up to three days in "dry" hotels (I know the country is Muslim and anti-alcohol but most hotels are exempt from this); in each room we were in there was damage or missing items; a guide who could only guide from his laptop; mostly so-so food; a constant hard-sell for additional trips -- the Horse Show and Night Tour of Casablanca were risible (further details available) but Essaouira was good; the second week "four-star dream hotel in the world-famous city of Marrakesh" was AQUA MIRAGE CLUB (really a holiday camp) and 11 kms into the countryside with black mould on the wall of our room, broken toilet seat, broken shower seat, safe not working, toliet door locks broken and hanging off, soap dispenser empty and off the wall, 12 hours daily loud music over nearly all the site, poor food usually overcooked and tasteless; and add for a little added jollity being manhandled by dining-hall staff accusing one of not paying for a half-bottle of wine despite having a receipt and a witness!!! Oh yes, the shuttle bus into the city didn't turn up for the scheduled return journey (we did, to be fair, get a grudging refund after a lot of hassle). There are tip boxes everywhere and much poor staff attitude. Now, if you feel that this is just what you need: sign up quickly! But I wouldn't if I were you. All of this with back-up documentation is being put to ABTA as RSD Travel is nothing but full of specious apologies.....and a Β£60 voucher (now returned) towards another holiday!!! You couldn't make it up!!!!
Date of experience: May 14, 2018
HM
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 cafΓ© 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 Β£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 Β£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/cafΓ© 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 Β£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 Β£70 if we booked it with the other extra day or Β£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 Β£1500 in the jewellery place and Β£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.
Date of experience: May 3, 2018
mc
RSD Tour to North Cyprus: Hidden Commercial Sponsors and Sharp Practices
RSD Travel has developed a business model which allows it to offer holidays at extremely low prices. This is based on sponsorship by various commercial interests; e.g. In North Cyprus a carpet warehouse, jewellery store and leather factory. The low holiday price attracts large numbers of clients who are then taken to the various outlets during the course of their holiday where they become a captive audience for high pressure sales pitches. This was revealed by our guide during heated discussions with clients objecting to forcible attendance at lectures on the making of carpets when they could otherwise be enjoying the historic sites and attractions they had gone to Cyprus to experience. This model, fundamental to their operation, is not revealed by RSD to prospective purchasers of their tours. If it were, presumably less people would sign up to participate and the model would fail. Yet, the amount of time used up in these endeavours, including the travel to and fro across the mountains to Nicosia or the endless trawling of the Famagusta docklands while waiting for a slot at the factory gate, amount to several hours, i.e. a sixth of the holiday. Had we been informed of this major aspect of the tour we would not have booked to go with RSD. There are other sharp practices employed by the company and/or the guides. For instance, they re-order the week's programme of tours so as to compress five days' visits into four, thereby creating an extra day when they can sell a further "optional" excursion, which of course is then offered at extra cost. The net effect of this manipulation, plus the factory jamboree, is to seriously restrict the amount of time available at the genuine advertised sites of the tour. Under the same head I would include the ploy of not revealing the names of the hotels where clients are lodged until they actually arrive in the Country and the use of airline schedules that require a departure time from the final hotel of 2.50am. Moreover, the offer of flights direct from Manchester conceals the fact that the return is via Gatwick, thereby adding considerably to the already extended journey time, and this on top of the ludicrous departure time already referred to. You arrive home completely exhausted. Again, in our case, this would certainly have dissuaded us from booking this trip. The hotels that we experienced, Artemis and Riverside, were ostensibly of a good standard although the Riverside was distinctly in need of an upgrade. The feeding arrangements, in both, were diabolical: canteen feeding of hundreds of tourists in a single packed venue over an extended sitting. The quality of the food at Riverside was dreadful, though you do have the option of going 'a la carte' for extra cost. So much for the vaunted prepaid "gourmet" package strongly sold on the basis that there is no practical alternative. Here again therefore, we see the sharp practice that underlies so much of this appalling travel company's operation. The tour guides were no doubt of mixed ability and competence but I have to say the one allocated to our bus was lazy, argumentative, sometimes uninformed, and obsessed with the amount of final tip he might be able to extract from his group. Comments from other travellers on different buses suggest our experience in this regard was not abnormal. Northern Cyprus is a pleasant venue for this type of holiday with interesting and enjoyable towns and historic sites, e.g. northern sector of Nicosia old town, Famagusta old town, Kyrenia, and Bellapais. The climate is ideal at this time of year and the flowers are abundant, e.g. the rose gardens and hanging bougainvillea at the Riverside hotel. Would we go with this company again? Most definitely not, either to Cyprus or any other unfortunate country where they may have set up operations. RSD is an outfit whose advertising is disingenuous and whose operations are exemplified by cost-cutting and sharp practice. Avoid this company at all costs.
Date of experience: May 3, 2018
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