First a little about ourselves.....we are married in our mid-50's....this our 5th cruise. Previously, we have cruised with the recently defunct tub Regal Empress, Celebrity Mercury, Princess Grand , and the Norwegian Sun. We are not party hardy types, and a good cruise for us is good food, a nice show and some low-impact shore excursions. Since this was Easter week and we didn't want to be inundated with kids on the mega-liners at the advice of AAA and my brother we decided to book on Holland America. The Maasdam met our date requirement.
Embarkation/Debarkation
This was handled very well by Holland. Numbers were passed out and no lines to stand in waiting forever. I saw no real beefed up security in the post 9/11 era. Unless you were carrying an Uzi or 20 kilos of drugs in your luggage I doubt anyone would have known.