Another Issue
'The Captain returned from a break'. Quite possibly he may have been sleeping in a legal in flight rest period. if woken from sleep, sleep inertia may well have made his decision making skills somewhat erratic for anything up to twenty minutes after he awoke. On the assumption that he was alerted of the situation immediately by the cruise crew, he had only three and one half minutes to regain his composure. Posiibly not long enough to provide a valid input to the situation. Just a random thought.