Ship's officers and crew must be able to communicate with passengers. In nearly every cruise ship casualty passengers reported panic, incompetence, and a complete failure of the crew to communicate timely emergency information due to language barriers. Maritime law, including certain provisions of the Jones Act - which cruise ship owners wish to nullify, is rich with precedent in declaring vessels unseaworthy when operated under the conditions found on many cruise ships. Seaworthiness means far more than the physical condition of a ship's hull and machinery. Seaworthiness is determined as much by the competence of a ships officers and crew as the strength of its keel.
Seaworthiness depends on the owner's and crew's approach to safety and maintenance.
Seaworthiness depends as much on crew training as the number of lifeboats. Ships which grounded due to carelessness and incompetence were unseaworthy long before striking bottom. Vessels operated under a corporate culture of indifference to all but profit and image are unseaworthy. Cruise ships which drift, dead in the water with burned out engine rooms were probably unseaworthy long before fire finally erupted. Ships crewed by untrained, uncertified and inexperienced seafarers and officers with counterfeit licenses are unseaworthy.