It is my understanding that once a ship lists past a certain degree there is a good chance the lowering mechanisms won't work properly if you can even get into the lifeboat.

But why would you need lifeboats? Didn't you know that cruise ships are nearly 100% safe.

Also, as someone astutely pointed out, when things start going wrong it can be all over quickly. Lowering enough lifeboats to save everyone on board quickly is probably pipe dream. The logistics of mass exodus would be hard to manage under the best circumstances.

I wonder if anyone has conducted a test to determine how long it would take to disembark a super-cruiser full of passengers into life rafts under ideal conditions. I suspect it takes much longer than would be acceptable in a crisis.