Rovos Reviews

Beware - food poisoning

Firstly and to be fair Rovos are tied to SA railways so there s little they can do about the screeching squeaking and clattering of wheels on rail but it doesn t make for a peaceful journey nor for a good night s sleep unless you are stationary again awaiting repairs or a new driver or some such The two day trip from Cape Town to somewhere nearish to Pretoria the last part of the line was still not operational and sported a coach replacement service has been extended to three days to cater for the constant problems and hold-ups The scenery was sadly uninspiring changing little except for getting drier as we travelled north The accomodation was tiny even the de-luxe cabin It IS a train and that s to be expected but to have large containers of dirty linen stored under the bed the only place to put your suitcase unless you could lift it onto a rack above your head was a bit gross The cabin telephone didn t work the window shutters had to be down whenever we vacated the carriage - and they were not easy to operate and the loo seat fell off twice once after having been fixed Had I been happy with the company these minor irritations would have been just that The food is constant and plentiful served in charming reproduction carriages Two days of this constant eating and inactivity would have been plenty Sadly on our trip the kitchen hygiene or maybe the ingredients were not up to standard and 8 of our group of 24 plus several from other groups and individual travellers went down with a violent bout of food poisoning spoiling half of the very expensive trip and some of the remainder of the holiday More seriously I was unable to take the anti-malaria meds necessary for the following week The train manager was nowhere to be seen Either he was out of touch with his staff or he just didn t care No one bothered to try to track down the source of the infection and the company has subsequently blamed in turn an african bug an infection originating prior to travel and the anti-maliarial medication which we were unable to take Beware As to the Rovos assertion below that there were no other reports of illness this is a blatant lie There are other reports on here that our guide was certainly aware of He asked the group to raise a hand if they had been ill and many did Rovos continued denials do nothing to recommend them Date of experience October 2023

Complete and utter waste of money

Complete and utter waste of money While the staff are lovely and food good the amount of time waiting on the line is unacceptable and the ride is bumpy and noisy so sleep at night is impossible So its stop start stop start crash bang repeat

Very poor experience not luxury just average

Considering the cost of their experiences this company are not worth the money However what is far worse is the response to feedback Rovos Rail clearly do not like criticism and lash out at anyone who dares to give them an unfavourable review There are so many excellent experiences in South Africa with brilliant customer service to spend your money on - buyer beware when considering this one

Dreadful Dreadful Dreadful

Dreadful Dreadful DreadfulStill have nightmares about our experience on Rovos Rail after 3 years I have absolutely no idea how it gets it Luxury rating We d been on the Rocky Mountaineer prior to our Rovos experience - that was superb Since our dreadful Rovos experience we been on the Ghan again superb The carriages are lovely on Rovos rail as are the staff and service on the train But we didn t travel very far out of Cape Town before spending the night stationary - waiting to be bused back to Cape Town the next day It was the most miserable experience and certainly not one I would recommend This was supposed to be the highlight of our SA holiday what a joke

Book Rovos Rail at your peril

Luxurious train would not be my description - our compartment had a very small bathroom with a wardrobe next to the shower The bed was only accessible from one side which meant a disturbed night for my partner when wanting to use the bathroom Our cabin attendant was caring and very attentive On then to the journey The Durban Safari described by our holiday company Distant Journeys as a varied and spectacular journey through gold and diamond mining areas and rolling hills Their brochure shows a couple looking out from the viewing carriage with binoculars looking for wildlife The only view we had was of a rail yard siding The train journey was disrupted noisy and verged on being dangerous I accept that things go wrong which are outside of Rovos control but the result was a view of a township and little more The only time we enjoyed ourselves was when we were not on the train The outings to the Nelson Mandala capture sight the 2 safaris were excellent as was the Ardmore Ceramics gallery The Rovos staff on board try really hard the food was of a high standard the wine waiters knowledgeable and it must be very trying if they are constantly fielding complaints that are outside of their control This is an expensive add on which regrettably I personally would never ever recommend

Very luxurious train trip from Angola

Very luxurious train trip from Angola to Zimbabwe Luxurious cabins exquisit food friendly staff

A great experience with a couple of cautions

Rovos Rail has a wonderful attentive staff and provides a genuine 1920 s train trip experience The dining cars are luxurious and the meals are way above average Lunch and dinner is 4 course and includes fine South African wines The train is all inclusive including the mini bar in the suites Caution number 1 is that smart casual is anything you care to wear except for dinner Anyone who can afford this train doesn t have any clothes that will offend A jacket and tie are mandatory for dinner but any suit will do Caution number 2 is that the train cars are rebuilt to the exact standards of a 1920 s train No modern suspensions or modern sound deadening You get the genuine experience My wife and I had a wonderful time on the trip and would recommend it to our friends

We took the Sholongolo Express Southern

We took the Sholongolo Express Southern Star route from Pretoria to Victoria Falls Yes we did have a couple of setbacks due to the rail problems but it was all part of the adventure Our cabin was small as expected but had everything we needed The staff was excellent as was the food Our off train experiences were wonderful - on foot trek to see rhinos priceless

Traveling on Rovos to Victoria Falls

I rarely if ever write reviews but was motivated by some of the negative reviews I traveled on Rovos in February 2023 and I rate every aspect of the journey as excellent It seems to be naive not to expect that traveling on restored equipment on shared lines across several borders might have the occasional disruption I had a great journey with great service and food I know that every member of our group had a wonderful experience