RSD Travel

Back last Thursday night after doing the Footsteps of Alexandra the Great..... I am still tired! ha ha

Reached first hotel at 5 am. Had to be ready to meet the coach at 8 am. Long drive to Demre for a short visit to the Church of St. Nicholas, lunch in town followed by a 3 hour drive to Fethiye arriving at about 7.30pm about 195 miles that day. At least we had a proper nights sleep on day two in readiness to spring into action for 8.30 start on day three.

Days 4 and 5 we stayed at a super spa hotel that offered turkish bath,massge etc., at a much better price than going off on the optional tour the guide offers. Everyone that went off on the "optional" came back very upset feeling that they had had very poor service and certainly did not recommend the experience.


Pamukkale was so disappointing. Just a 40 minute stop at a little tourist area where you could just look up at an exterior section and could see people walking on the terraces but unless you jumped the fence that was all you were going to see. I would have willingly paid to go in and paid to get out of the carpet factory experience that we had to come. We had a very long drive to Antalya to spend about 3 hours in the carpet factory......kind of felt we were being held hostage. The first 20 minutes presentation is okay then the hard sell starts. Do not show the slightest interest in any one carpet, the salesmen will stick to you like glue.

We were told on the way to Antalya that the coach driver will probably not take us to the Turkish evening nor to the airport run and not to do a group collection but to tip individually, and if people were running out of money there would be an opportunity to go to a cash point on Day 7.

Day 7 walk around Antalya was just a 60 minute whizz around not seeing anything like the itinerary suggested stopping at a juice bar for 20 minutes and ending at a row of cash points where we met the coach. Off to the jewellery factory and after dinner the leather factory. ........don't give your rings,bracelets etc,, to them to" clean for free" as you will not get them back till the very last minute and again hard, hard sell. Lunch then offer to the leather factory................such a waste of a day.

The frequent stops en route are tourist road side cafes just waiting for the coach loads of tourists coming and going of which there are many. All over-priced and they want paying in Euro.
One place we stopped at to use cash machines had a notice up saying "coffee and cake" 5e. I was the last to leave and I noticed on my way out they were taking down the signs!

There are a few points I want to make:=

If you like a cup of tea take a kettle. Only two hotels we stayed at had tea and coffee making facilities. On spa hotel actually charged 8 tl to use one of the tea bags on the tray! Quite a few people got caught out when they were handing back their keys.

All drinks are chargeable at the meals except breakfast. If when you go to lunch someone greets you with trays of pomegranate juice inviting you to take one only take it if you want to pay for it.....again quite a few people got caught out and it was expensive.

At one of the hotels you could pay 15e for house drinks including tea,coffee and fresh juices. Just check they have fresh juice before you pay as at the time of our visit there was none only cordial.....no refunds!

I paid 6tl for a cup of tea (small cups) tea is generally very strong so I drank a little and asked for some hot water to dilute the tea. A waiter came up to me giving me a bill. I showed him the bill for the tea but he insisted I had had two cups. He got quite aggressive when I tried to explain to him the tea was strong so I just wanted to dilute it but he would not accept that. I ended up paying the extra 6tl just to stop him making a scene.

We drew the short straw in that we had the most awful guide, Hilmay. He was so unprofessional, kept calling an elderly lady "the old woman" had very limited knowledge of the sites we visited, was rude and just did not "guide". His catch phrase after saying a little about where we were was to say " enough of that, we will talk in more detail later" but later never came. We all got the impression he did like his own country, let alone tourists as he told us Kusadasi was nice until the tourists came and built holiday homes and hotels. After giving us the keys to our rooms he ran off not to be seen until the following morning and at every hotel rooms got muddled up in as much doubles given instead of singles etc., all to be sorted by ourselves.

As to optional tipping. I have already said we were told not to pass an envelope around for the driver and to give individually and our walk in Antalya conveniently took us to a cash machine. Tipping is not optional.

Our coach driver made no attempt to help the elder people off and on the coach and was as unpleasant as the guide - they were a right pair.

A group of three ladies gave 20e. The driver approached one of the ladies asking if it was from all three of them, she replied yes and he told her she owed him more money! Everyone who gave less than what he was expecting was challenged.

RSD suggest 85p - £1.70 for the coach driver and £1.70 for the guide....be warned give less and you will be questioned. Oh, the driver does turn up to take you to turkish night and the airport.
People we got chatting to in Antalya airport who had done another tour were also told the same story that the driver will be finishing on day 6 but turned up on the 7th.

Our last hotel was Inter-Continental in Antalya. We decided not to go to the Turkish Evening thinking it would be a large affair,noisy etc., most of the lunch and dinners were loud, busy affairs with heaps of people from other tour groups. Food was plentiful,tasty and pretty much the same from day to day. Our guide said it was unlikely that the IC would not be able to give us dinner because it was too late in the day to ask them (about 4pm). I said I would be surprised if a large international hotel chain could not find something to eat for three people. Hilmi said he would try his best for us...........needless to say Hilmi was later able to tell us tell us that he managed to persuade them to give us dinner.......again buffet style, well presented and very tasty with sweets to die for. As I expected the Turkish Evening was below par, reports back were that the venue was packed with tourist groups,very loud,dinner was not at all nice but entertainment was fun.It was all very rushed as they had to be out by 9 for another sitting.

Do you have to take the "optional packages"

Over night hotels are out of towns.....nowhere else to eat.
Lunch stops, are tourist traps with souvenir stalls, fresh juices,etc., I am sure you would be able to buy a tea or coffee. You would be a bit stuck if you wanted a meal. If I remember correctly Demre visit was a small town and after visiting the church( you could pay to go in) we lunched in a local cafe and there were plenty of other places to eat. Boat trip to Kekova was passable I would have preferred to stay by the harbour. Sirince wine village is just one big tourist village - with places to eat and tons of shops, I don't think they would lock you in the coach whilst everyone is walking around.

Everyone paid the £85 extra on our trip.

Yes, price wise a good deal.

People on the plane home who had done different tours were praising their guide and content of their itineraries. I really felt we drew the short straw as far as the guide was concerned. There are a couple of other trips I would like to do but I would say I found the first two days very hard as I am unable to sleep on planes/coach if there was not such an early start on day 2 and I was guaranteed not to ever come across Hilmi again, yes I would go.

Most people on my trip were disappointed with Hilmi and the coach driver. On these types of holidays the Guide is so important and can make or break a holiday. I think RSD are going to get a lot of letters next week.

Weather was lovely, warm and sunny. Only rained the day we did Ephesus but it did not spoil our day.

Sorry if I have gone on a bit.

I have just received a flyer from RSD as I am sure you all have offering a choice of three trips for £139.00 each plus all the extra's etc., I am very tempted by the Cappadocia tour.

On day 6 Antalya & The Old Town did you get a decent tour of the city before going to the jewellery and leather workshops? Were there any additional tours in addition to the £85 package?

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Great report, but could you expand a little on why the 'explorer' package was not really optional? Presumably someone who had opted out could just pay for their own lunch (even at the same restaurant) and stay in the hotel while the optional trips were happening, or not?

I can't speak for the other traveller but our plane load of tourists was split between 5 coaches, we got the hard sell for the "large package " but one coach was told that they had to take it. Two couples on our coach didn't take either package and paid entrance fees at some of the sites (some are free) and their evening meals. I took the small package (entrance fees to the sites and evening meals) I can't eat a three course meal every lunchtime and those that did eat them complained that they had the same lunch at every stop. Drinks are extra everywhere and are often expensive ,(even for water) the restaurants don't allow you to bring your own water from the coach.