Entry to the ship was made easy by well trained and friendly embarkation staff.Stateroom was very pleasing at first appearance and continued to be a pleasure to be in during the cruise thanks to the marvellous staff, Clever and Gladys. Dining in the Rhapsody in blue Dining room was initially very good. The company was excellent and the waiter we had, Brian, was superb. Unfortunately, as the cruise went on the food went right off. Steak was very tough, seafood meals were atrocious. On a couple of occasions, we had to dine at Windjammer or the Cafe Promenade as the Main dining food was inedible.Windjammer buffet was always quite good with a diverse range and also pleasant staff.The shows on board were excellent, particularly the Four Seasons show as well as the Ice Show.The ports we visited on the cruise were marvellous. Following 2 Excursions organised by the ShipMessina and Turkey we found we were better off going ashore on our own.The Messina Sicily trip to Mt Etna was good except, the guide did not want to go to the top as she claimed it was too windy and dangerous. Following insistance from the people on the bus we did make it to the top but we were brought back prematurely to visit a Jewellery Factory. This was not on the itinery. As this was a high security area, once we went in we were not permitted to leave,wasting an hour or so that we could have spent on Etna or at least walking around the small town.This was raised with the Mariner Excursions people , however, they indicated that they could do nothing. One problem for RCI was that the ship had come directly from Brazil and it is apparent that the Excursions office on the ship had limited idea of the area of local excursions.One of the highlights on the trip was to be The ruins at Ephesus in Turkey.We booked an appropriate trip from the Ship to include this. When we arrived at the bus the guide, indicated that there had been much confusion. we were taken to a small town in the hills, Sirince, which was part of the tour and was lovely.On the way back we were taken to an old church and we believed that we would soon be going to the ruins, instead we went to a carpet factory.It seems that RCI did, after 7 days realise there was a problem. On the morning of each excursion, participants were to meet and were given bus numbers. The problem was, that insufficient care was taken to match the bus number with the actual trip.At the end of our cruise we completed a comprehensive review, however, since then RCI has not followed up with us as I would have expected. Very annoyed that what was to be a highlight of the trip, Ephesus Ruins (21 hour flight to meet ship) was not forthcoming and soured what was otherwise a good cruise.