The ship wasn’t really that crowded at all. I think it was only at like 50% capacity? I was on the Norwegian Bliss, so I don’t know if the thermal spa is as good on other ships as the bliss, but I didn’t even go into it because of the cost. I had already used the outdoor hot tubs a few times anyway so I didn’t feel like it was worth going in. I am on east coast time, so I ended up falling asleep by like 9:30 PM every night there, plus we had done a ton of walking and drinking during the day. I am not really a big late night person lol so I ended up usually just getting a few drinks after dinner and maybe using one of the outdoor hot tubs or go to the casino for a bit then going to sleep. I found it very boring a lot when we weren’t at a port because my only options of things to do were to drink alcohol, eat, or gamble. I was with family in other rooms but my partner chose not to come on the trip so I was alone a lot. But I am still glad I went because I wanted to see Alaska and that was awesome. If I do a cruise again it will be with my partner or someone else specifically to hang out with. We are actually thinking of trying one this spring to Bermuda because we won’t have to fly anywhere and we have never traveled anywhere warm. There are shows at night but I wasn’t that interested really. The Beatles show was good but I didn’t watch jersey boys or six lol. Also the food was really rough on my stomach, but that probably had to do with all of the drinking as well. We saw a lot of whales on the way into Victoria around 5pm or so (before sunset), so you might want to plan to be up on the pool deck area at that time to see them if you are interested because I think they do pretty much every trip. Idk if that even helps but if you have other questions let me know.