It's a real sound economic decision. Not so much for people on the ship.
My past few cruises, I've noticed not just cutting corners on entertainment, food, free stuff to do. Turn around times of just a few hours in home port seem to have cut into basic maintenance and doing a deep cleaning between cruises. On the cruise after ours on the Pride, they lost most engine and limped through an altered cruise of full duration. I got that because it was Thanksgiving week, and alternate plans might've been near impossible. They gave people a credit for another cruise. The week after that, they did the cruise, which people could either take financial benefits or cancel for free! That would go with your philosophy.
I bring this up because it supports your statement. They lose the most money if they don't sail, so they suck up the risk.
But when does the risk/reward equation change? At what point do people still willing to put up with the mounting imperfects not fill all of those mega-ships vying for a consumer base?
I can’t stand the new two-class cruising heralded by the Mega Ships. The worst cruise I ever had was on HOTS. Over crowded and understaffed. The ship was clearly designed for less than 2/3 of its full capacity. And our cruise was full capacity. You had to have a suite to have block-bookings available at shows and venues. Reservations for the non-suite ‘steerage class’ for these events was sold out months in advance.
Unfortunately, even the older single-classed ships are being retrofitted to cram in more cabins and suites extending the First Class/Steerage Class model to all the ships. I took my daughter on the Paradise twice before its refit and we had a fantastic time. No waits anywhere. Not anymore though. Sorry, but I’m not paying a thousand dollars a person for a steerage class cruise. Combine that with the deteriorating conditions in the Caribbean and future vacations will probably be a 5-day at an all inclusive resort in Mexico or elsewhere.